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SARGA.CO - Admire Moon, the 2007 JRA Horse of the Year and a 3-time G1 winner, has passed away at age 23 from an illness. Darley Japan announced his death on its official Twitter/X account on 7 September, after he had spent his final years in retirement following a distinguished racing and breeding career.

For a champion remembered for his fierce competitiveness on the track, he was also described as the opposite off it. 

Foaled on 23 February 2003 at Northern Farm in Hokkaido, Admire Moon was sired by End Sweep out of My Katies, a daughter of the prolific sire Sunday Silence. He won his first 3 starts as a two-year-old, including the G3 Sapporo Nisai Stakes, before adding the G3 Kyodo News Hai and G2 Yayoi Sho as a three-year-old. 

The Classics, however, proved less rewarding. He finished fourth in the Satsuki Sho and seventh in the Japanese Derby, leaving his highest highs for later at age four.

Then, in 2007, Admire Moon won the 1,800-metre Dubai Duty Free, an international G1 race now known as the Dubai Turf, becoming the first Japanese-bred/trained horse to do so.

Next, he returned to Japan and took the 2,200-metre Takarazuka Kinen. Finally, he obtained his biggest victory in the 2,400-metre Japan Cup against future legends like Vodka, Meisho Samson and Fusaichi Pandora. It was also Admire Moon's final race.

10 wins from 17 starts, including 3 G1s of different distances and 8 graded-race wins overall, were enough to earn him the title of 2007 JRA Horse of the Year.

Retiring to Darley Japan in 2008, Admire Moon began a second legacy as a stallion. According to netkeiba's current statistics, he sired over 1,000 registered progeny and produced multiple graded stakes winners during his breeding career.

Most notably, he sired Takamatsunomiya Kinen winners Fine Needle and Seiun Kosei. Fine Needle went one step further in 2018 by also winning the Sprinter Stakes, completing the Japanese sprint G1 double. Another notable son, Hakusan Moon, defeated future champion sire Lord Kanaloa in the G2 Centaur Stakes before finishing runner-up to him in the following Sprinters Stakes.

Admire Moon was pensioned from stud duties in 2024 and spent his last days at peace before his death this September.

Although it lasted only 17 starts, Admire Moon's career distilled a great deal of achievement. Later, he became a stallion whose sons carried his legacy into another generation. Outside racing, he was remembered for his calm temperament.

As such, the moonlit champion leaves the world with more than a victorious record. In his wake are a generation of races, rivals and memories, as well as a bloodline that continues to run through Japanese racing.