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Air Messiah

Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse

Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Air Messiah (Japanese: エアメサイア, Hepburn: Ea Mesaia; 4 February 2002, 12 September 2014) was a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse and a broodmare. Her major wins include the Rose Stakes and Shuka Sho, both in 2005. Her name comes from the crown name Air, and Messiah, which means saviour in English.

01Racing career

She raced only once in 2004, winning her debut race. The next year, she placed second in Shiraume Sho and won the Elfin Stakes. Then, she went onto the Fillies' Revue, a major trial race for the Oka Sho, over 1400 metres at Hanshin on 19 February. She battled mostly with the eventual winner, Rhein Kraft and finished in third, a neck behind her. She also lost to Rhein Kraft in the Oka Sho, where she ineffectively tried to run on the outside track, but failed to catch up and ended up in fourth place. The next month in the Yushun Himba, she ran closely to the lead, but lost to Cesario by a neck. In the autumn campaign, she opened this section with a comfortable win in the Rose Stakes over Rhein Kraft when she overtook her just before the finish line. She repeated this feat again in the Shuka Sho wherein she chased the middle of the pack throughout the race, then took the lead early in the straight and won by a neck ahead of Rhein Kraft. She finished her season with a fifth-place finish in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup, ended the winning streak of Yutaka Take in this competition.

The next season, she started her year early in the Nakayama Kinen. Balance of Game ran out early in that race and won it by five lengths over Daiwa Major, whilst Air Messiah herself ended up in third place, one and three quarters length behind him. She had another battle with Rhein Kraft in the Hanshin Himba Stakes in which she lost by a neck to the line. In the inaugurated race of Victoria Mile, she ran mostly at the back and chased at the end of the race but just a bit short of Dance in The Mood and finished second, one and a quarter length behind. Air Messiah suffered an ingrown nail injury after the race, sidelining for the rest of the year. Her condition never improved, and she had to be retired on 28 February 2007.

02Racing form

Air Messiah won four races and placed in another six out of 12 starts. All the data available is based on JBIS and Netkeiba.

Date Track Race Grade Distance
(Condition)
Entry HN Odds
(Favored)
Finish Time Margins Jockey Winner
(Runner-up)
2004 , two-year-old season
Nov 16 Kyoto 2yo Newcomer 1,600 m (Firm) 15 5 1.4 (1) 1st 1:38.0 , 0.2 Yutaka Take (Bubble Fantasy)
2005 , three-year-old season
Jan 15 Kyoto Shiraume Sho ALW (1W) 1,600 m (Firm) 13 9 4.5 (2) 2nd 1:36.8 0.3 Yutaka Take Dia de la Novia
Feb 5 Kyoto Elfin Stakes OP 1,600 m (Firm) 12 6 4.9 (2) 1st 1:36.0 0.0 Yutaka Take (Judeite)
Mar 13 Hanshin Fillies' Revue 2 1,400 m (Firm) 15 10 5.3 (3) 3rd 1:21.3 0.1 Yutaka Take Rhein Kraft
Apr 10 Hanshin Oka Sho 1 1,600 m (Firm) 18 15 6.5 (3) 4th 1:33.9 0.4 Yutaka Take Rhein Kraft
May 22 Tokyo Yushun Himba 1 2,400 m (Firm) 18 5 8.6 (2) 2nd 2:28.8 0.0 Yutaka Take Cesario
Sep 18 Hanshin Rose Stakes 2 2,000 m (Firm) 15 9 2.4 (2) 1st 2:00.1 , 0.1 Yutaka Take (Rhein Kraft)
Oct 16 Kyoto Shuka Sho 1 2,000 m (Firm) 18 10 2.5 (2) 1st 1:59.2 0.0 Yutaka Take (Rhein Kraft)
Nov 13 Hanshin Queen Elizabeth II Cup 1 2,200 m (Firm) 18 11 2.5 (1) 5th 2:13.2 0.7 Yutaka Take Sweep Tosho
2006 , four-year-old season
Feb 26 Nakayama Nakayama Kinen 2 1,800 m (Soft) 12 12 8.2 (4) 3rd 1:50.0 1.1 Yutaka Take Balance of Game
Apr 8 Hanshin Hanshin Himba Stakes 2 1,400 m (Firm) 12 12 3.3 (2) 2nd 1:21.7 0.5 Yutaka Take Rhein Kraft
May 14 Tokyo Victoria Mile 1 1,600 m (Good) 18 18 5.4 (3) 2nd 1:34.2 0.2 Yutaka Take Dance in the Mood

Legend:
  Turf

03Broodmare career and death

She entered broodmare duty in Shadai Farm in 2007 and foaled her first progeny in 2008 which was Air One Piece. Her fourth progeny, Air Spinel had a good career when he won three graded stakes race (Kyoto Kimpai, Fuji Stakes and Daily Hai Nisai Stakes) whilst her final foal, Air Windsor was the winner of the Challenge Cup. She died in an accident whilst grazing around on 12 September 2014.

04Pedigree

Pedigree of Air Messiah (JPN), bay mare, 2002
Sire
Sunday Silence (USA)
1986
Halo (USA)
1969
Hail to Reason Turn-to
Nothirdchance
Cosmah Cosmic Bomb
Almahmoud
Wishing Well (USA)
1975
Understanding Promised Land
Pretty Ways
Mountain Flower Montparnasse
Edelweiss
Dam
Air Deja Vu (JPN)
1995
Northern Taste (CAN)
1971
Northern Dancer Nearctic
Natalma
Lady Victoria Victoria Park
Lady Angela
I Dreamed a Dream (USA)
1987
Well Decorated Raja Baba
Paris Breeze
Hidden Trail Gleaming
Tobacco Trail (Family:4-r)
Watch videos about Air MessiahExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Air Messiah, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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