10 Pedigree fun facts: Crown Pride
Mar 31, 2022 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com
3. Crown Pride’s grandsire and broodmare sire both won the Japanese Derby.
Reach the Crown is by Special Week, a son of Sunday Silence who was favored in all three jewels of the Japanese Triple Crown in 1998. The hero of the Japanese Derby, Special Week also placed third in the Satsuki Sho and second in the Kikuka Sho. He excelled as a four-year-old in 1999, winning the Japan Cup and turning a prestigious double in both versions of the Tenno Sho (“Emperor’s Prize”). Special Week captured the Tenno Sho Spring (at about two miles at Kyoto) and Autumn (at about 1 1/4 miles at Tokyo in a then-record time of 1:58.0).
Crown Pride’s dam is by champion King Kamehameha, who blazed to victory in the 2004 Japanese Derby in 2:23.3, then a stakes record. King Kamehameha was coming off a blistering win in the NHK Mile Cup, also at Tokyo, in 1:32.5. Boasting a 7-for-8 career record, he unfortunately had to retire due to injury in the fall of his sophomore season.
4. Special Week’s best offspring were fillies.
Special Week sired Buena Vista, Japan’s 2010 Horse of the Year and a champion in all four seasons of racing. The winner of two fillies’ classics, Buena Vista defeated males in such major events as the Japan Cup and Tenno Sho Autumn.
Another champion daughter of Special Week, 2005 Japanese Oaks star Cesario, crossed the Pacific and romped in the American Oaks (G1) at old Hollywood Park. Cesario became a prolific broodmare, producing 2014 Japan Cup winner Epiphaneia (now a successful sire) as well as champions Leontes and Saturnalia.
6. King Kamehameha’s half-brother won the Santa Anita Derby.
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