El Condor Pasa

Foaled on 17 March 1995, El Condor Pasa was both bred and owned by Takashi Watanabe. He was trained at Miho by Yoshitaka Ninomiya, a partnership that remained central as the horse progressed from introductory dirt races in Japan to elite turf competition in Tokyo and France.

His pedigree brought together two major international influences. He was by Kingmambo out of Saddlers Gal, whose sire was Sadler’s Wells. The family also included Memories of You, Nice Wenger and Sistine Chapel. That background accompanied a race record notable for its range: El Condor Pasa won over distances from 1,400 to 2,400 metres and performed on both dirt and turf, although his defining achievements came as a middle-distance turf horse.

El Condor Pasa made his turf debut in the Grade 2 New Zealand Trophy Yonsai Stakes at Tokyo on 26 April 1998. He faced 17 rivals over 1,400 metres on soft ground, drew stall 17 and maintained his unbeaten record. The result showed that his early dirt form transferred immediately to graded turf company.

Three weeks later, he returned to Tokyo for the Grade 1 NHK Mile Cup. Racing over 1,600 metres on going described as good to soft, he won under Matoba against a field of 17. It was his fifth victory from five starts, his first at Grade 1 level and an important confirmation that he belonged among the leading members of his generation.

His winning sequence ended in the Grade 2 Mainichi Okan at Tokyo on 11 October. With M. Ebina taking the ride, El Condor Pasa moved up to 1,800 metres and finished second in a nine-runner field. The defeat did not halt his progress. Instead, the race served as the immediate lead-in to the domestic performance most closely associated with his career.

On 29 November 1998, El Condor Pasa contested the Grade 1 Japan Cup at Tokyo. The race presented a substantial new test: 2,400 metres on good turf, considerably farther than the distances over which he had previously raced.

Drawn 11 in a field of 15 and again partnered by Ebina, he won. The victory established that the speed he had displayed in the New Zealand Trophy and NHK Mile Cup could be carried into an elite middle-distance contest. It also gave him a second Grade 1 triumph within his three-year-old season.

The Japan Cup became his signature domestic achievement. It marked the culmination of a campaign that had begun on dirt only a year earlier and had progressed through success at 1,400 and 1,600 metres to one of Japan’s leading 2,400-metre races. His official profile records ¥376.08 million in JRA earnings, reflecting the scale of his Japanese accomplishments.

On 4 July, El Condor Pasa contested the Grade 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud over 2,400 metres. Starting from stall one in a field of ten, he won on good-to-soft turf with Ebina aboard.

The victory was the clearest confirmation of his ability to reproduce top-level Japanese form abroad. It also extended his range of winning conditions: earlier victories had come on good and heavy dirt as well as good-to-soft and soft turf, while the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud added a major European success on an easier surface.

For a horse whose first three races had taken place on Japanese dirt, the progression was striking. In less than two years, he had developed into a Grade 1 winner over 2,400 metres in both Japan and France.

El Condor Pasa’s record traces a clear development from versatile novice to specialist middle-distance performer. He began with three dirt victories from 1,600 to 1,800 metres, then won his first two turf starts at 1,400 and 1,600 metres. By the end of 1998, he had captured the Japan Cup over 2,400 metres; in 1999, three of his four French races were run over that same distance.

His effectiveness was not confined to one type of ground. He won on heavy dirt, soft turf, good-to-soft turf and good turf, while his final Arc placing came on heavy ground. Nor was he restricted to a narrow band of opposition or race shape: his victories came in fields ranging from three runners in the Prix Foy to 18 in the New Zealand Trophy.

The continuity of his human connections was equally important to the shape of the career. Watanabe combined the roles of breeder and owner, while Ninomiya trained him from Miho and through the international campaign. Matoba rode him through his first five victories, including the NHK Mile Cup. Ebina partnered him for the later middle-distance phase, encompassing the Japan Cup and all four starts in France.

El Condor Pasa retired with an elite record spanning Japan and France. His Japanese victories included two Grade 1 races at markedly different distances—the 1,600-metre NHK Mile Cup and the 2,400-metre Japan Cup—while his overseas campaign produced victory in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and second place in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Official recognition followed the French campaign. He was named JRA Horse of the Year for 1999 and JRA Best Older Male Horse, honours that reflected the standing of performances achieved outside Japan as well as his established domestic record. In 2014, he was inducted into the JRA Hall of Fame.

His place in Japanese racing history rests on the full arc of his career: an unbeaten start on dirt, immediate Grade 1 success after switching to turf, a Japan Cup victory over 2,400 metres and a concentrated European campaign at four and five years of age under Japanese ownership, training and race-riding connections. The Hall of Fame honour formalized a legacy already defined by range, international achievement and sustained performance at the highest level.