Copano Rickey

Copano Rickey is a Japanese thoroughbred racehorse.
His major wins include the February Stakes, the JBC Classic, the Kashiwa Kinen, the 2016 Teio Sho, the Mile Championship Nambu Hai, and the 2017 Tokyo Daishoten. With 11 GI/JpnI wins, this makes Copano Rickey the Japanese-trained horse with the most wins. He was nicknamed the "great actor of the dirt.

Racing career

2012-13: Two-and-three year old seasons

Copano Rickey made his debut on December 2012 at a debut race for 2-year olds but finished at 8th place. After winning a maiden race on January 2013, he won his second race in a row; which was an allowance race. Following a 3rd place finish at the Hyacinth Stakes and a victory at the Fukuryu Stakes, Copano Rickey won his first graded race by winning the. After this win, he was planned to be entered in to the Tōkyō Yūshun, but was forced out of the races after a fracture was discovered in the radius of the right forearm.

2014: Four-year old season

Copano Rickey started the season with his first Grade I race, the February Stakes. As the horse was selected for the final open slot of the gate in a 50/50 draw against, the horse was the least favored to win in a field of 16 horses. During the race, the horse was placed in second of the pack, and after taking the lead in the final stretch managed to stave off Hokko Tarumae, who was making a push to take the lead. This was the first Grade I victory for both the horse, and jockey. The win payout for that race, 27,210 yen, was the second highest return in JRA GI history since won the 1989 Queen Elizabeth II Cup.
Later, the horse was entered in to the Kashiwa Kinen held on May 5, and won. In that race, Copano Rickey did not start out well, but moved in to the outside of the pack and started to push up at around the 3rd corner and caught up to the front of the pack by the 4th corner, surpassing the pack on the final stretch and winning the race. The crop was only used twice. The race had coincided with the birthday of the owner, Sachiaki Kobayashi, and Tanabe commented that he was relieved that despite the pressure from that fact he was able to win the race. Osamu Saito, who wrote an article of the race on web Furlong 2014, noted that those who saw the victory at the February Stakes as a mere fluke would have had to change their minds. Saito also wrote that he believed that the horse would be a central figure of the Dirt GI/JpnI races in the coming years.
On November 3, Copano Rickey entered the Japan Breeding Farms' Cup Classic and won. After the race, Tanabe commented "I always thought the horse was strong, so whenever I'm told 'your horse is strong', I can only agree to that", showing trust towards the horse. The horse's trainer, Murayama, also expressed hope in the horse becoming stronger, stating that "his potential is high, and I believe we can go to a level further."

2015: Five-year old season

Copano Rickey started the year off with the Tokai Stakes, with Yutaka Take as his jockey. After taking the lead at the 4th corner he finished the race with a 4-length lead. After this race, Copano Rickey was entered in to the February Stakes once again, where the horse once again ran in second, trailing front-runner for most of the race before taking the lead and keeping the lead even as closed in, winning the race by a half-length lead. A few days later, it was announced that the horse had suffered a left distal radius fracture and reported that it would take six months to recover.

2016-17: Six-to-seven-year old seasons

In 2016, Copano Rickey won three JpnI races; the Kashiwa Kinen, the Teio Sho, and the Mile Championship Nambu Hai.
In 2017, Copano Rickey ran his final race, the Tokyo Daishōten. There, the horse took the lead early on and became the front-runner and ran the race in his own pace, before lengthening his lead in the final stretch, and not let take over the lead; winning the race and achieving his 11th GI/JpnI race, the most wins for any Japanese horse at the time. A retirement ceremony was held at Kyoto Racecourse on January 6, 2018, and his racehorse registration was withdrawn on January 10. Following his retirement, the horse was sent to the to stand stud there.

Racing statistics

The following form is based on information available at netkeiba.com.

Date	Racecourse	Race	Grade	Distance	Runner	BK	Draw	Odds	Finished	Time	Difference	Jockey	1st place（2nd place）
2012.12.22	Hanshin	2YO Debut Race		Dirt 1800m	11	6	7	42.8	8th	1:55.2	1.3	Ryota Sameshima	Hirono Emperor
2013. 1.12	Kyoto	3YO Maiden Race		Dirt 1800m	16	7	14	35.9		1:52.4	-0.8	Haruhiko Kawasu
1.27	Tokyo	3YO Allowance		Dirt 1400m	14	7	12	1.9		1:25.5	-0.9	Christophe Lemaire
2.17	Tokyo	Hyacinth Stakes	OP	Dirt 1600m	16	4	7	2.2		1:36.8	0.2	Yuichi Fukunaga	Charlie Brave
3.31	Nakayama	Fukuryu Stakes	OP	Dirt 1800m	15	8	14	2.8		1:53.6	0.0	Yuichi Fukunaga
5. 2	Sonoda	Hyogo Championship	JpnII	Dirt 1870m	11	7	9	1.5		1:58.4	-1.0	Yuichi Fukunaga
11.17	Tokyo	Shimotsuki Stakes	OP	Dirt 1400m	16	2	3	4.0	10th	1:24.8	1.1	Hiroyuki Uchida	A Shin Top
12.23	Nakayama	2013 Farewell Stakes	OP	Dirt 1800m	16	3	6	6.6	9th	1:52.3	1.4	Keita Tosaki	Jebel Musa
2014. 2.23	Tokyo	February Stakes	GI	Dirt 1600m	16	7	13	272.1		1:36.0	-0.1	Hironobu Tanabe
5. 5	Funabashi	Kashiwa Kinen	JpnI	Dirt 1600m	8	5	5	2.4		1:39.2	-0.4	Hironobu Tanabe
6.25	Ohi	Teio Sho	JpnI	Dirt 2000m	16	8	15	1.6		2:03.9	0.4	Hironobu Tanabe	Wonder Acute
11. 3	Morioka	JBC Classic	JpnI	Dirt 2000m	16	8	15	4.8		2:00.8	-0.5	Hironobu Tanabe
12. 7	Chukyo	Champions Cup	GI	Dirt 1800m	16	7	14	3.0	12th	1:52.2	1.2	Hironobu Tanabe	Hokko Tarumae
12.29	Ohi	Tokyo Daishōten	GI	Dirt 2000m	16	4	7	4.1		2:03.8	0.8	Hironobu Tanabe	Hokko Tarumae
2015. 1.25	Chukyo	Tokai Stakes	GII	Dirt 1800m	14	4	6	2.5		1:50.9	-0.7	Yutaka Take
2.22	Tokyo	February Stakes	GI	Dirt 1600m	16	2	4	2.1		1:36.3	-0.1	Yutaka Take
10. 7	Funabashi	Nippon TV Hai	JpnII	Dirt 1800m	12	3	3	1.6		1:52.2	2.0	Yutaka Take	Sound True
11. 3	Ohi	JBC Classic	JpnI	Dirt 2000m	16	8	15	6.2		2:04.4	-0.5	Yutaka Take
12. 6	Chukyo	Champions Cup	GI	Dirt 1800m	16	4	7	3.3	7th	1:51.2	0.8	Yutaka Take	Sambista
12.29	Ohi	Tokyo Daishōten	GI	Dirt 2000m	14	7	11	2.7	4th	2:04.5	1.5	Yutaka Take	Sound True
2016. 2.21	Tokyo	February Stakes	GI	Dirt 1600m	16	2	3	7.9	7th	1:34.6	0.6	Yutaka Take	Moanin
5.5	Funabashi	Kashiwa Kinen	JpnI	Dirt 1600m	12	1	1	6.3		1:39.2	-0.7	Yutaka Take
6.29	Ohi	Teio Sho	JpnI	Dirt 2000m	12	3	3	6.6		2:03.5	-0.7	Yutaka Take
10.10	Morioka	Mile Championship Nambu Hai	JpnI	Dirt 1600m	13	7	12	1.8		1:33.5	-0.3	Hironobu Tanabe
11. 3	Kawasaki	JBC Classic	JpnI	Dirt 2100m	14	5	7	2.1	5th	2:16.0	0.7	Hironobu Tanabe	Awardee
12. 4	Chukyo	Champions Cup	GI	Dirt 1800m	15	6	11	6.3	13th	1:51.6	1.5	Christophe Lemaire	Sound True
12.29	Ohi	Tokyo Daishōten	GI	Dirt 2000m	14	2	2	5.4	5th	2:07.5	1.7	Keita Tosaki	Apollo Kentucky
2017. 2.21	Tokyo	February Stakes	GI	Dirt 1600m	16	2	4	9.0	14th	1:36.5	1.4	Yutaka Take	Gold Dream
5.5	Funabashi	Kashiwa Kinen	JpnI	Dirt 1600m	10	1	1	3.2		1:39.9	-0.4	Yutaka Take
9.23	Funabashi	Nippon TV Hai	JpnI	Dirt 1800m	12	8	12	1.0		1:50.6	-0.7	Yutaka Take
10. 9	Morioka	Mile Championship Nambu Hai	JpnI	Dirt 1600m	16	6	11	3.1		1:34.9	-0.6	Hironobu Tanabe
11. 3	Ohi	JBC Sprint	JpnI	Dirt 1200m	16	5	10	3.0		1:11.4	0.0	Taito Mori	Nishiken Mononofu
12. 3	Chukyo	Champions Cup	GI	Dirt 1800m	15	1	1	13.2		1:50.2	0.1	Hironobu Tanabe	Gold Dream
12.29	Ohi	Tokyo Daishōten	GI	Dirt 2000m	16	7	13	4.7		2:04.2	-0.6	Hironobu Tanabe