Success Brocken Surprises All
Trainer Hideaki Fujiwara knew that he had a very good horse in Success Brocken. He believed that his four year old had immense potential and that Success Brocken would become a spectacular horse racing athlete. Though Fujiwara has confidence in Success Brocken, not even he could have predicted the major upset that would unfold at the Tokyo Racecourse on Sunday, 22 February 2009, during the running of the Grade 1 February Stakes. It was a momentous event and a day that left Fujiwara, and many spectators, at a loss for words.
The reason for entering Success Brocken into the February Stakes was to find out how he would hold up against more experienced horses and to explore his potential. Fujiwara was hoping that Success Brocken would pose a worthy challenge at the sixteen horse event, and make horses such as the legendary Casino Drive fight for victory. Out of the superior mare, Success Beauty, and ridden by Hiroyuki Uchida, Success Brocken undeniably had the breeding and the ability to win the February Stakes, as 1 600 meter events have shown to be his strength, but no-one expected that he would be the one holding off challengers for the winning position.
Many spectators believed that the race would come down to two horses, namely Casino Drive and Kane Hekili. Even though neither of these top horses put a foot wrong on the racecourse, Success Brocken had the speed, endurance and power to sneak past both the top competitors in the last two hundred meters and snatch victory away from Casino Drive, who finished second and Kane Hekili in third. They were followed home by Espoir City, Ferrari Pisa, Vermilion, Admire Subaru, Bamboo Ere, Tosen Bright, Hishikatsu Leader, Café Olympus, Victory Tetsuni, Nanyo Hilltop, Kikuno Salire, Sunrise Bacchus and Officer.
Winning at Tokyo Racecourse has given Success Brocken his sixth win from eleven career starts, and his trainer was as much surprised as he was elated, saying “I honestly didn’t think he could win it today. We were obviously aware of his potential, but I just thought a victory like this would be much further down the line.” He was careful to add, “This was the race we had been targeting all long, and we built him up for it. I’m not trying to take anything away from him, but I really thought he would need more time to get the most out of himself.” Future horse racing events for Success Brocken have not been discussed as yet, as Fujiwara has indicated that he will first be enjoying a well deserved break.
