Special Week

Foaled in Japan on 2 May 1995, Special Week was bred by Hidaka Taiyo Bokujo. He was a son of Sunday Silence, the American-bred stallion whose sire line became a major force in Japanese racing, and Campaign Girl, a daughter of Maruzensky. His maternal granddam was Lady Shiraoki.

Special Week’s earliest days were marked by the death of Campaign Girl shortly after she foaled him. The orphaned colt consequently had to be hand-fed by the farm’s staff. From that difficult beginning he developed into one of the leading Japanese racehorses of the late 1990s.

He raced for owner Hiroyoshi Usuda and was trained by Toshiaki Shirai at Ritto. Yutaka Take rode him in most of his races and was aboard for the central achievements of his career, including the Japanese Derby and all three of his Grade 1 victories in 1999.

The Japanese Derby at Tokyo on 7 June became the defining victory of Special Week’s three-year-old season. Ridden by Take, he won the 2,400-metre race on good-to-soft turf, defeating Bold Emperor in a field of 18.

The result established him as a classic winner and remains the signature achievement of his career. It also completed a rapid rise: less than seven months after his racecourse debut, Special Week had advanced through the Kisaragi Sho and Yayoi Sho to capture Japan’s foremost race for three-year-olds.

Returning in the autumn, he won the Grade 2 Kyoto Shimbun Hai over 2,200 metres, with King Halo finishing second. He then stepped up to 3,000 metres for the Kikuka Sho, the Japanese St Leger, and finished second to Seiun Sky. That result continued a season-long rivalry in which Special Week had beaten Seiun Sky in the Yayoi Sho but finished behind him in two classics.

Special Week closed 1998 by facing older and international opposition in the Japan Cup. With Yukio Okabe riding, he finished third over 2,400 metres at Tokyo; the American-bred El Condor Pasa was second. Although Special Week did not win, his placing in the international Grade 1 completed a three-year-old campaign in which he had already won four graded races, headed by the Derby.

Special Week’s career was closely associated with trainer Toshiaki Shirai and jockey Yutaka Take. Shirai prepared him from the Ritto training centre for owner Hiroyoshi Usuda, while Take rode him in 15 of his 17 races. Their major successes together encompassed the 1998 Japanese Derby and the four Grade 1 wins that form the core of Special Week’s reputation.

His record was notable for consistency as well as achievement. From 17 starts he won 10 times, finished second four times and third twice. His only finish outside the first three was seventh in the 1999 Kyoto Daishoten, after which he immediately won the Autumn Tenno Sho and Japan Cup.

His important rivals also linked the different phases of his career. Seiun Sky opposed him through the 1998 classic campaign; Mejiro Bright was runner-up in both of his major long-distance victories during spring 1999; and Grass Wonder defeated him in the Takarazuka Kinen and the concluding Arima Kinen. Bold Emperor, King Halo, Stay Gold and Indigenous filled second place behind him in other major wins.