Deirdre (foaled 4 April 2014) is a retired Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse. As a two-year-old she raced six times, winning one minor race and running third in the Fantasy Stakes. In the following year she developed into a top-class performer in autumn as she took the Shion Stakes and Shuka Sho. As a four-year-old she won the Queen Stakes and the Fuchu Himba Stakes as well as being placed in both the Dubai Turf and the Hong Kong Cup. In 2019 she became the first Japan-trained horse in 19 years to win a major race in the United Kingdom when she won the Nassau Stakes. She retired from racing in November 2020 at the end of a season in which she did not win a race. Over her career she raced in eight countries.
Background
Deirdre is a bay mare with a white blaze and white socks on her hind legs bred in Hokkaido by Northern Farm. As a yearling she was consigned to the 2015 Select Sale and was bought for 22,680,000 JPY by Touji Morita. The filly was sent into training with Mitsuru Hoshida.
She was from the third crop of foals sired by Harbinger, a British horse who was rated the best racehorse in the world in 2010 when he won the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes by eleven lengths. Since retiring to stud in Japan his other foals have included Normcore, Blast Onepiece, Mozu Katchan (Queen Elizabeth II Cup) and Persian Knight (Mile Championship).
Deirdre's dam Reizend showed very little racing ability, failing to win in four starts but was a half-sister to the dam of Logi Universe, and a granddaughter of the outstanding racemare Sonic Lady. Sonic Lady was not, technically, a Thoroughbred as her female ancestry could not be traced to one of the foundation mares of the breed. She was a product of the half-bred Verdict family, whose ancestry could be traced no further back than an unnamed Perion mare foaled in 1837. So many non-thoroughbreds from this family won major races that the descendants of the Perion mare were admitted to the General Stud Book in 1969 as Half-Bred Family 3. Members of this family include Quashed, Attraction and Sonic Lady's great-grandmother Lucasland, the winner of the July Cup in 1966
Racing career
2016: two-year-old season
Deirdre began her track career by running second in a maiden race over 1400 metres at Chukyo Racecourse on 2 July and then finished fourth in a similar event over 1600 metres at the same track three weeks later. After a summer break she returned on 15 October to record her first victory in a maiden over 1400 metres at Niigata Racecourse. The filly was stepped up in class for the Grade 3 for the Fantasy Stakes at Kyoto Racecourse and came home third of the twelve runners, beaten one and a half lengths and a head by Mi Suerte and Show Way. In her two subsequent races that year Deirdre finished fourth in the Shiragiku Sho at Kyoto on 27 November and second in the Tsuwabuki Sho at Chukyo on 17 December.
2017: three-year-old season
Deirdre began her three-year-old season by running third in the Kobushi Sho at Kyoto in February and then finished second to Rising Reason in the Listed Anemone Stakes at Nakayama Racecourse in March. In the Grade 1 Oka Sho at Hanshin Racecourse on 9 April she started at odds of more than 207/1 but exceeded expectations as she produced a strong late run to finish sixth behind Reine Minoru, beaten less than three lengths behind the winner. After winning the Yaguruma Sho at Kyoto on 7 May Deirdre finished fourth to Soul Stirring, Mozu Katchan and Admire Miyabi in the Yushun Himba two weeks later.
After a break of over two and a half months Deirdre returned in August with a win in the HTB Sho over 2000 metres at Sapporo Racecourse. At Nakayama on 9 September the filly started favourite for the Grade 3 Shion Stakes, a race which serves as a trial race for the Shuka Sho. Ridden as in most of her previous starts by Yasunari Iwata she came from eleventh place on the final turn to win by a nose from Caribbean Gold with Port Vendres a further nose away in third place.