Sweep Tosho (Japanese: スイープトウショウ, foaled 9 May 2001 — died December 5, 2020) is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. Bred and owned by Tosho Sangyo and trained throughout her racing career by Akio Tsurudome she won eight of her twenty-four races between October 2003 and November 2007 including Grade I victories in the Shuka Sho, Takarazuka Kinen and Queen Elizabeth II Cup.
In 2003 Sweep Tosho won two of her three races including the Grade III Fantasy Stakes. In the following year she won the Tulip Sho and finished second in the Yushun Himba before winning the Shuka Sho. The mare reached her peak as a four-year-old in 2005 when she finished second in the Yasuda Kinen before defeating top-class male opposition in the Takarazuka Kinen and winning the Queen Elizabeth II Cup at her second attempt. She remained in training for two more years, winning the Kyoto Daishoten in 2006 and being placed in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup in 2006 and 2007.
After her retirement from racing she became a broodmare and has had some success as a dam of winners.
Background
Sweep Tosho is a bay mare bred in Japan by her owner Tosho Sangyo Corporation. She was sired by End Sweep an American horse who won six races in the United States including the Grade III Jersey Shore Breeders' Cup Stakes in 1994 and was later imported to Japan to become a breeding stallion. His other progeny have included Admire Moon, Swept Overboard (Metropolitan Handicap) and Rhein Kraft (Oka Sho). Sweep Tosho's dam Tabatha Tosho showed modest racing ability, winning one minor race in 1997 from five starts. She was a distant, female-line descendant of the influential British broodmare Ballantrae.
During her racing career Sweep Tosho was trained by Sadao Watanabe before moving to the stable of Akio Tsurudome in 2004. She was ridden in most of her races by Kenichi Ikezoe.
Racing career
2003: two-year-old season
Sweep Tosho made a successful track debut in a contest for previously unraced over 1400 metres at Kyoto Racecourse on 18 October. Three weeks later she was moved up in class for the Grade III Fantasy Stakes over the same course and distance and won again, beating Royal Selangor and ten other fillies. She was stepped up in class again in December for the Grade I Hanshin Juvenile Fillies over 1600 metres. In a blanket finish, she finished fifth behind Yamanin Sucre, Yamanin Alcyon, Concordia and Royal Selangor, beaten less than one and a half lengths by the winner.
2004: three-year-old season
On her first appearance as a three-year-old Sweep Tosho won the Hobai Stakes over 1400 metres in January before contesting the Grade III Tulip Sho (a trial race for the Oka Sho) over 1600 metres at Hanshin in March. She won from Azuma Sanders with Yamanin Sucre in third place. In the Oka Sho, over the same course and distance on 11 April she finished fifth of the eighteen runners behind Dance In The Mood, Azuma Sanders, Yamanin Sucre and Move of Sunday. On 23 May the filly was moved up in distance for the Yushun Himba over 2400 metres at Tokyo Racecourse and finished three-quarters of a length second to Daiwa El Cielo with a gap of three lengths back to the others who were headed by Yamanin Alabaster, Dance In The Mood and Yamanin Sucre.
After a break of almost four months Sweep Tosho returned in September for the Grade II Rose Stakes (a trial for the Shuka Sho) over 200 metres at Hanshin and finished third behind Les Clefs d'Or and Glorious Days. In the Shuka Sho over the same distance on 17 October she faced seventeen opponents including Les Clefs d'Or, Glorious Days, Dance In The Mood, Yamanin Sucre, Yamanin Alabaster and Azuma Sanders. Sweep Tosho recorded her first Grade I success as she won by half a length from Yamanin Sucre with the pair finishing five lengths clear of Winglet in third place. On her final appearance of the season the filly was matched against older fillies and mares in the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup at Kyoto in November and finished fifth behind the four-year-old Admire Groove.