Victoire Pisa has had an uncomfortable time of it recently. The old champion’s libido was firing when the covering season started at the Turkish Jockey Club’s Karacabey Stud farm on February 15, but something else wasn’t.
Two days in, the stallion wasn’t feeling himself. The mind was willing, but the flesh was sore. Equine herpes was suspected: swabs were taken, but the tests said not.
“It was the night, he had a fever, and in the morning we took some bloods. He had an infection in the blood and also some cracks on the penis glans, so we stopped the coverings,” says Dr. Gunes Sonmez, the farm veterinarian since 2001.
Two weeks of care and treatment – ointments and painkillers – and the signs were that the soreness was gone, no cracks, no lesions, no herpes positive either, but still Victoire Pisa was not able to cover his mares.
“He wanted to do it but he couldn’t do it,” Dr. Sonmez says. “So, we thought about his urethra, we thought it was retreated, so we took more swabs and some samples from the urine and made an antibiogram.”
That analysis of what was and wasn’t working, plus the ointments and the application of aloe vera, has Victoire Pisa returning to full health.
“The treatments are all finished,” Dr. Sonmez says. “For nearly a week now, he’s been covering mares, two each day, in the morning and again at 4pm in the afternoon, and at the moment there is no problem.
“We will keep looking at him to make sure he is well,” she continues. “He’s 19 years old, we want to make sure we are taking very good care of him.”
That’s good news in the week of the 15th anniversary of Victoire Pisa’s most famous win. It came in the G1 Dubai World Cup on March 26, 2011; it came amid turmoil and grief in his homeland, 15 days after the 9.0-9.1 magnitude earthquake unleashed a massive tsunami and tremors that delivered destruction and death to Japan.
Victoire Pisa’s win did not remove the pain or alleviate the suffering of the homeless and the bereaved, but it did shine a beacon of hope: here was Japan’s own, a hero horse on the world stage embodying the spirit of Japan’s ability to overcome trauma and even triumph in adversity. It made him an icon and that profile has given him new exposure as a character in the Umamusume: Pretty Derby game franchise.
Mirco Demuro was Victoire Pisa’s jockey that night at Meydan. He executed a brilliant, decisive move down the back side and Japan had its first Dubai World Cup winner.
“I thought I was dreaming,” Demuro tells Idol Horse. “That was the first thing that came to my mind. That was the best time to do it: the timing was amazing.
“It was the strongest earthquake and they lost so many people, everything was so sad. It was terrible damage for the country and people were so worried. They were really down, so the Japanese people in Dubai, they had to run the horses because they were there. Everybody wore the shirt with hope, with the flag, and everyone was having a hard time.”
Demuro says he remembers clearly the contrasting post-race minutes: “Every single moment is in my brain: it’s never going to be deleted; so many emotions.
“I always thought Japan had the best horses in the world, they breed the best horses in the world. For thirty years they bought the best – the stallions, the mares – so when you win this kind of race, you’re proud for believing.
“I told them Japan was the best, that’s why I spent so much time going to Japan. That’s why I tried so hard over there and that was the payment I got back – I felt so happy.”
Victoire Pisa had won the G1 Satsuki Sho the previous spring and a hard campaign brought defeats in the Japanese Derby and a fruitless trip to France for the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe; he ran third in the G1 Japan Cup and won the great end of year grand prix, the G1 Arima Kinen, defeating the brilliant mare Buena Vista by a nose.
“It took 20 minutes to find out the winner because it was so close,” Demuro says.
After that an easy G2 Nakayama Kinen win and then the World Cup. Injury followed in Hong Kong preparing for the G1 QEII Cup and the following January Victoire Pisa retired to Shadai Stallion Station.
He was sold to Turkey in 2020, standing at Izmit Stud – his home last year – and Karacabey where this year he is one of six stallions including fellow Japanese Satono Ares and Kluger.
Victoire Pisa has made his mark. Last year he was third in the sires’ list, his son Cutha won the Turkish Derby and his daughter Boon Nam won the Turkish Oaks. He covered 122 mares last year at Izmit Stud, at a pregnancy rate of 85.12 per cent, and has a book of 120 this year.
“This is the second time he’s been here and he’s a very calm horse, we didn’t have any problems doing the treatments, he always lets us do anything we want,” Dr. Sonmez says.
“He doesn’t want for anything more, he’s getting old. He’s a really nice horse.”
Niceness is something Demuro also remembers: “He was so nice. The horse was unbelievable, he would do everything I wanted him to do, just like his father, Neo Universe, who I won the Derby with.
“Neo Universe was a bit more of an outwardly happy horse, Victoire Pisa was serious, very professional, and tough: it was hard to pass him, he was very competitive.”
The niceness Demuro and Dr. Sonmez describe is certainly reflected in Victoire Pisa’s Umamusume character, portrayed as a pure, warm-hearted angel of hope.
“He’s a good horse,” the vet adds. “We like him.” ∎
