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| Sumita Pawar |
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On Saturday, Obamburumai made a remarkable performance as he sprinted towards the finish line, making history as the first horse from Japan to win the prestigious A$10 million James Squire Golden Eagle.
The young raider, trained by Keiji Yoshimura, made an impressive overseas debut by skillfully navigating through traffic on the final straight and narrowly defeating Pericles to claim a share of the A$5.25 million purse. The Obamburumai camp was understandably overjoyed with their victory at Rosehill Gardens.
“My voice is breaking up. I’ve been doing some roaring in the last five minutes, I tell you,” said jockey Joshua Parr, a last minute fill-in for Yutaka Take who was injured just before his ride in the Tenno Sho (Autumn) last weekend. “What a moment this is in my career, in my life, everything. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to pick up this horse today.
“Obviously the disappointment of Yutaka Take missing out through injury, that doesn’t sit right with me. But the fact that I was Johnny on the spot, I got the ride and I produced one of my better ones to get the victory, I’m speechless.
“He is one hell of an animal, isn’t he? I actually had a phone call with my mum last night and mum said, ‘what can I expect?’ I said, ‘I’m pretty sure he’s the best horse I’ve sat upon but he’s going to need a lot of luck.’
“He got the luck and he showed his ability.”
A talented racehorse named Obamburumai, the son of Discreet Cat from Pink Gerbera, had a remarkable comeback race. After a hiatus since the Group One NHK Mile Cup in May, Obamburumai secured third place in The Golden Eagle, which was his sixth career start.
During the race, there was a moment where Parr and his partner seemed to be trapped along the rails as the field of 17 turned for home. However, with only 300 meters to go, Obamburumai found a small opening and quickly seized the opportunity to surge forward towards the finish line. Despite Golden Mile leading the race with only 50 meters remaining, Obamburumai, with Pericles on his left, charged ahead to claim victory over the competition.
“He got a good jump out of the gate,” Yoshimura said, reflecting on the race. “When he took position a little towards the back, I was a little worried he might be stuck - not that he had issues during the trip.
“But the race opened up on the straight. He had a lot of horse left in him because he came around on the inside and did the business, just in the nick of time. I have nothing but gratitude for Obamburumai; he worked harder than any of us.”
Added Parr, “The race went according to plan, which was to mark Hawaii Five Oh from the middle who was going to be near the front. The pace was slower than expected and I knew it would come down to the finish.
“He adjusted well to the pace and felt great which is how we managed to come through. I know how difficult it is to travel from Japan to a race in Australia. I wanted to win for the Japanese horse, for Japan - and I couldn’t be happier we got the job done.”