Symboli Kris S

Symboli Kris S (Japanese: シンボリクリスエス; foaled January 21, 1999 – December 8, 2020) was an American-born, Japan-based Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was voted Japanese Horse of the Year in 2002 and 2003. He was retired at the end of 2003 and was syndicated for $15-million.

From 2002 to 2003, Symboli Kris S achieved the first consecutive wins in the history of the Tenno Sho (Autumn) (GI) and became the fourth horse to achieve consecutive wins in the Arima Kinen (GI). In his final race, the 2003 Arima Kinen, he won by an overwhelming 9 lengths, a record margin for the race at the time.

After retiring as a racehorse, he became a sire, producing GI winners such as Le Vent Se Leve [ja], Success Brocken [ja], and Epiphaneia, as well as Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) winner Rey de Oro in 2017.

Symboli Kris S, a dark bay stallion, was foaled on January 21, 1996, on Mill Ridge Farm in Kentucky, USA. He was sired by Kris S., an American Thoroughbred racehorse who is best known as a highly successful sire. Symboli Kris S was out of the American-bred mare Tee Kay, who won the Martha Washington Stakes (G3) in 1994, among other achievements, with a record of 31 races and 4 wins.

Symboli Kris S made his debut on a 1600 metres maiden race in Tokyo Racecourse, where he won the race by a neck against the second place, Asakusa Kininaru.

After his debut, Kazuo Fujisawa who was his trainer rested him for the next three and half months before turned up again at the Saintpaulia Sho on January 27. Symboli Kris S scored podium in the next three races he joined with second place once and third place twice. Although this races were showing good promises, all those loses came in the same pattern - failure to catching up from the back. This made the Fujisawa to change up a bit on the strategy at his fifth race, The Yamabuki Sho. In this race, he took the lead from the start, maintained his position and won the race by one and three-quarters length ahead the rest of them for his second career victory.

On April 27, Symboli Kris S would start for his first graded stakes race, the Aoba Sho. Instead of his normal jockey (Yukio Okabe), he would be controlled by Yutaka Take this time. Starting from gate 3 in stall 2, he positioned himself well on the inside. With 200 meters to go, he broke away from the innermost part of the track and widened the gap. He crossed the finish line two and a half lengths ahead of Bamboo Juventus, who came from the far outside, and achieved his first graded stakes victory. This win allowed him to compete for the Tokyo Yushun. For this race, he was placed as the third favourite behind No Reason (Satsuki Sho's winner) and Tanino Gimlet (Satsuki's Sho third place finisher). When the race began, he positioned himself on the midpack in the early phase. At the third corner, he started moving outside to gain advantage. He surpassed several horses like Machikane Akatsuki and Gold Allure for the lead. The race was not meant for him in the end as Tanino Gimlet's late surge at the homestretch caught him up before the line. He finished second on the day one length behind.

He took a rest on summer at Monbetsu before resuming his season at the Kobe Shimbun Hai, a trial race for the Kikuka Sho. Just like in the Tokyo Yushun, Symboli Kris S stayed at the middle pack at the start. However, this time he was blocked on the third corner and could not find the way to move on the outside. He delayed his burst on the final straight and this was working well as he overtook all horses to win his second graded stakes races, two and a half lengths ahead of No Reason. His returning jockey, Okabe later in his biography, described this race as a turning point for Symboli Kris S as he used to slow start and got into the race slowly before this one, where he took the initiative with positive attitudes on the raceday. This result also made Fujisawa convinced Wada to switch his races from the Kikuka Sho to the Tenno Sho (Autumn) as he thought the horses was good enough for the older horses competition. The race would be held on the Nakayama Racecourse as the normal venue, the Tokyo Racecourse was under renovation. He started well at the beginning, positioning himself on the sixth out of 18 horses competing that day on the inner track. The middle pack became more densely clogged near the third corner as the horses from the back tried to gather themselves for the position. Break Time and Ibuki Government blocked Symboli Kris S near the end of the third corner but as T.M Ocean surged forward, Break Time marked that movement and created a gap between him and Ibuki Government. Symboli Kris S capitalized that gap and pulled away from the rest with a blazing run on the final straight. Narita Top Road, who had been waiting behind him for awhile made a late charge from the outside in the straight but fell out three-quarters of a length behind as he watched Symboli Kris S crossed the finish line first for his inaugural GI victory.