Yuji Uchikoshi is excited to represent both his region and one of the smallest racecourses in Japan when his stable star Shimme Daisy contests the JPN1 Teio Sho (2000m) at Oi on Wednesday.
The Teio Sho is one of Japan’s domestic Grade 1 races held annually at Oi Racecourse in Tokyo at the end of June. As with the Tokyo Daishoten at the end of the year, it is a grand prix where strong contenders from the Japan Racing Association (JRA) and the National Association of Racing (NAR) compete on the dirt. However, no NAR horse has won since Furioso of Funabashi triumphed in 2013. Last year, two horses from Kochi, Heroic Tale and Transcendence, participated, but no horse from Kochi has ever won this race.
Shimme Daisy is the only runner in the Teio Sho not affiliated with the JRA or the Minami-Kanto region. The four-year-old debuted at Kochi on the NAR circuit at the end of 2023 and after six consecutive wins became the inaugural champion of the newly established Nishinihon Classic in Hyogo prefecture.
With that momentum, the horse became the top three-year-old in western Japan and challenged for the JPN1 Tokyo Derby, an inter-regional exchange race at Oi. The result was a fourth-place finish behind Ramjet, but that was the highest finish by a regional horse.
Shimme Daisy, whose sire Copano Rickey boasts the most G1 or JPN1 wins in Japan, continued to make his presence felt in the 2024 dirt classic series, finishing fifth behind Forever Young in the JPN1 Japan Dirt Classic in the autumn.
Since then, the colt has competed in three inter-regional graded races, failing to win but showing remarkable consistency with two second-place finishes and one third-place finish. In his latest race, the JPN2 Nagoya Grand Prix, Shimme Daisy led throughout and finished second, two lengths behind the winner, Sunrise Zipangu, who stretched well around the home turn.
Uchikoshi has given Shimme Daisy a period of rest and the horse heads to the Teio Sho refreshed.
“The horse is in good condition,” the trainer told Idol Horse. “The competition will be very strong, but I hope we can create another exciting moment.”
However, Uchikoshi himself is surprised by how strong his horse has become.
“He’s a small horse, but he tries really hard,” he said. “I think it’s amazing. Of course, I never thought he would run this well at first. The horse has become tougher now, but even so, when he goes to those exchange races, the horses around him still have much more impressive physiques.”
“Honestly, last spring, I thought his stablemate was superior,” he added.
The trainer was referring to Preflop All In, an Animal Kingdom four-year-old who achieved the fifth Kochi Triple Crown in history in 2024.
“Because their running styles are different, and the straight at Kochi is short, I thought Preflop All In, who runs on the pace, would have an advantage. But at Oi, where the straight is long, it turned out to be Shimme Daisy, who comes from behind,” he said.
Uchikoshi, who hails from Kochi, on the island of Shikoku, worked as a stablehand at his father Hatsuo’s stable before going out on his own in 2012. He has achieved a total of 2,230 wins to date, and last year, he received his fifth NAR Award for Most Wins by a Trainer and his first Award for Best Winning Percentage by a Trainer.
“To be honest, I didn’t initially intend to become a trainer,” he said. “But I learned how to handle horses and prioritise them from my father, and gradually, the desire to become a leading trainer emerged.”
His stable boasts 40 horses and over a dozen staff members, making it one of the largest in Kochi. Among them, he places immense trust in jockey Minoru Miyagawa. Despite losing the sight in his left eye due to a fall in 2009, Miyagawa continues to be one of Kochi’s top jockeys.
“I truly respect him; we’ve worked together for a long time,” Uchikoshi said. “I believe I’ve caused him a lot of pain regarding race results, leading positions, and interactions with owners, but I can’t let emotion alone guide me. That’s why my feelings for him are strong. There’s no doubt that I am who I am today because of him.”
When asked about the future of Kochi horse racing and his own prospects, Uchikoshi paused briefly before stating: “Developing jockeys.”
“I want Kochi horse racing itself to grow in a good way, but what worries me is that the top jockeys in the current rankings are quite old. Many jockeys are retiring, so I hope the younger jockeys coming up can become nationally recognized. I want Takuya Okamura, Seiya Tatara, and Ryotaro Oka to become leading jockeys nationwide. After all, if there are no jockeys, we can’t even talk about it.
“We also have Eita Inoue in our stable; I have high hopes for him,” Uchikoshi said with a smile, then refocused on his immediate goal, the storied Teio Sho.
“But first, on Wednesday, I want to achieve the best possible result.” ∎
