🐴 Seeking the Pearl: The Quiet Upstart Who Beat Everyone to History
In 1998, trainer Hideyuki Mori had one dream: see a Japanese-trained horse win Europe's first-ever Group 1 for Japan. He didn't think Seeking the Pearl could beat Taiki Shuttle head-on, so instead, he entered her in the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville, one week before Taiki Shuttle's own attempt at the Prix Jacques le Marois.
On August 9, 1998, going off as just the 5th favorite, she won comfortably, becoming the first Japanese-trained horse in history to win a European Group 1. Everyone in Japan knew Taiki Shuttle had gone to Europe. Almost nobody knew she had too. Taiki Shuttle's own team was blindsided, having fully expected to claim that milestone themselves. The win made headlines across French and British newspapers.
Mori later said he simply wanted to show the world the power and value of Japanese horses, at a time when almost nobody even attempted the trip.
Riding her that day: Yutaka Take, the same legendary jockey behind several of Japan's biggest racing moments.
Years later, retired to broodmare duty in Kentucky, she was found dead in her pasture at Lane's End Farm, no signs of injury or struggle, likely struck by lightning, while carrying a foal.