Curren Chan

Curren Chan began racing as a juvenile on dirt. At Hanshin on 26 December 2009, she finished second to Takano King in a 1,200-metre maiden, with Yutaka Take aboard. Her first victory followed at Kyoto on 16 January 2010, when she won another 1,200-metre dirt maiden from the outside stall in a field of 16.

Her switch to turf was immediate and successful. At Chukyo on 7 February, she won the 1,200-metre Moegi Sho, defeating Jody’s Line in an 18-runner field. That result established the distance and surface around which the rest of her career would largely be built.

The following month brought her first test in graded company. She stepped up to 1,400 metres for the Group 2 Fillies’ Revue at Hanshin and finished eighth behind Sound Barrier. Rather than ending her progress, that defeat helped mark the distinction between her emerging sprint aptitude and the demands of longer races against stronger opposition.

Back at 1,200 metres, Curren Chan finished second to Keiai Daisy in the Aoi Stakes at Kyoto in May. Kenichi Ikezoe rode her there for the first time in the recorded results, beginning an association that would encompass most of her major achievements. In June, the pair won the Shiosai Tokubetsu at Hakodate, defeating Sakura Idaten.

Those three-year-old performances showed a mare moving steadily through the sprint ranks. She had won on both dirt and turf, proved competitive in open company and begun to establish the partnership with Ikezoe that would define her championship seasons.

Takayuki Yasuda’s handling of Curren Chan produced a measured rise through the Japanese racing program. Her first two starts came in dirt maidens, after which she moved successfully to turf and advanced through allowance, open and graded company. Although she won the 1,400-metre Hanshin Himba Stakes, 1,200 metres became her defining distance: seven of her nine career victories came over that trip.

Kenichi Ikezoe was the jockey most closely associated with her leading performances. He rode Curren Chan for her first open-class placing in the 2010 Aoi Stakes, her win at Hakodate later that season and four straight graded victories in 2011. He was also aboard for both Group 1 triumphs, as well as her runner-up finish to Lord Kanaloa in the 2012 Sprinters Stakes.

Her overall record—nine wins, three seconds and one third from 18 appearances—shows both efficiency and consistency. Thirteen top-three finishes came from a career that progressed rapidly once she found her place in short-distance turf racing.

Curren Chan retired as a dual Group 1 winner and one of the most decorated Japanese sprint mares of her period. Her 2011 championship was built on an exceptional four-race graded winning sequence, while the 2012 Takamatsunomiya Kinen proved that her success was not confined to a single peak campaign.

Her legacy rests especially on the combination of those two Group 1 victories. The Sprinters Stakes crowned her rise through the summer sprint program, and the Takamatsunomiya Kinen extended her authority into the following season. Together with her consecutive JRA honors and ¥449,061,000 in earnings, they secured her standing as the finest representative of Spring Ticket’s family and a leading gray mare of Japan’s early-2010s sprint division.

• netkeiba horse profile and career record
• JBIS-Search profile and pedigree
• Curren Chan career overview
• 2011 Hanshin Himba Stakes result
• 2011 Hakodate Sprint Stakes result
• 2011 Keeneland Cup result
• 2011 Sprinters Stakes result
• 2012 Takamatsunomiya Kinen result
• 2012 Sprinters Stakes result
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