The legendary crazy racehorse, Gold Ship, and his extraordinary character
There have been many horses in the history of the Japan Racing Association, but this may be the only horse known as “crazy”.
His name is Gold Ship. With a lifetime record of 13 wins in 28 races, he is good enough to go down in history.
Also, the way he wins is amazing. Many horse racing fans are said to fall in love with this horse, which usually starts slow, but then overtakes other horses with overwhelming speed in the last straight. His stamina is particularly high, and he looks beautiful when he runs as fast as he can in long-distance races, even when the other horses are tired.
In the 2012 race, he got off to a slow start and was in the last position, but just before the finish line, he made a strong chase and quickly took first place. He is a legendary horse with strength that some say compares to coming out of a warp.
In this article, I will focus on just how crazy this horse is.
Cute-looking
He has a pure white body, big round eyes, and a very pretty pink nose, and many people fall in love with him because of his looks. The gap between his looks and his character is startling.
Is he a horse or a human?
He often stands up and walks on his hind legs. Does he think he is a human being?
Given the horse’s body structure, it would be quite difficult for it to walk on two legs. It is therefore rather off that he is often seen standing up.
Selfish
Gold Ship kicks whoever he doesn’t like. It doesn’t matter if the person is a horse or a person. Many people have been sent to hospital after being kicked by Gold Ship. However, for some reason, he loves and spoils the people in the stables. Seeing this rambunctious horse rubbing up against his favorite person in the stables is so cute.
During a race, the jockey whips the horse’s hide to make it go faster, but no matter how much Gold Ship is whipped, he ignores it.
Amazingly, he is so strong despite being an uncontrollable horse; so uncontrollable that he could almost be disqualified as a racehorse.
レーススタート直前にゲートに入って各馬が並びますが、そこでも大きな声を上げ、周りを威嚇することがしょっちゅうだそうです。
Just before the start of the race, the horses enter the gate and line up, but Gold Ship will often make a lot of noise and intimidate the others.
The 12-billion-yen incident
Gold Ship did something extraordinary in the 2015 race.
Having won back-to-back races, many people placed bets totaling about 12 billion yen, but Gold Ship suddenly stood up on his hind legs just after the race started. It’s hard to say if he was excited or just wanted to show off, but he couldn’t catch up with the other horses and finished 15th.
This is the only horse in history that has turned this much money from betting tickets into worthless paper for something like this!
He truly is crazy.
He’s also powerful in a game
There is a game called “Umamusume”, which anthropomorphizes racehorses, and Gold Ship also appears in it. The game developers came for an interview with the horse owners, ready to receive anger from them for making Gold Ship too crazy, but the answer they got back was,
”The real Gold Ship is crazier. Make it crazier!”
The developers were instructed to do just that.
Craziness passed on to offspring
Gold Ship, a retired racehorse, now lives comfortably on a farm in Hokkaido, Japan.
Being such a strong horse, he has some offspring, and they have inherited his human-like traits, including standing up on their hind legs.
Gold Ship is a human-like horse that will go down in history.
We look forward to seeing his children take over his crazy genes and add vigor to the Japanese horse racing industry.
ABE KENGO
