Admire Groove (Japanese: アドマイヤグルーヴ, Hepburn: Adomaiya Gurūvu; April 30, 2000 – October 15, 2012) was a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare who won the 2003 and 2004 Queen Elizabeth II Cup.
Contents
Background
Admire Groove was foaled out of Air Groove, who was the 1997 Japanese Horse of the Year and won the Yushun Himba and Tenno Sho (Autumn) in her career. Air Groove's dam, Dyna Carle also won the Yushun Himba back in 1983, making Admire Groove the third generation horse in line that managed to win Grade 1 races. Her half-brothers through the dam were Rulership (2012 Queen Elizabeth II Cup) and Forgettable (2009 Stayers Stakes). She was sired by the thirteen times leading sire in Japan and 1989 American double crown (Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes) winner, Sunday Silence.
She was being auctioned at the 2000 summer select sales for foals at hip number 33. The bid for her started at the 70,000,000 ¥ mark. In the end, she was sold for 241,500,000 ¥ to Riichi Kondo, which at that time was the highest price ever paid at the select sales and also the highest price ever for a filly. Her name was chosen from fan votes in which the name Admire Groove won by landslide with 215 suggestions from the community.
The name itself was a combination of a Kondo's preferred crown name for his stable (Admire) and also her mother's name (Groove).
Racing career
Admire Groove won her very first race, on November 10, 2002, at Kyoto. She also won her next two races at Hashin Racecourse, which included a win at the Wakaba Stakes.
Admire Groove's first major win was at the Grade-2 Rose Stakes on September 21, 2003. She came close to capturing the October Shūka Sho just weeks later, but finished second behind the second favourite, Still in Love who sealed the triple tiara at the very same race. She then picked up her first Grade-1 victory, by winning the 2003 Queen Elizabeth II Cup when she sneaked out with a nose margin over Still in Love.
Admire Groove picked up another win, at the 2004 Mermaid Stakes, on July 11, 2004. In the second half of the year, she competed in the Tenno Sho (Autumn) where she finished in third place, behind Zenno Rob Roy and Dance in the Mood. Then, she returned to the Queen Elizabeth II Cup in 2004, where she successfully defended her title.
Admire Groove tried to repeat the feat again at the 2005 Queen Elizabeth II Cup, but finished in 3rd place.
On December 18, 2005, she grabbed her final win in her last race by winning the 2005 Hanshin Himba Stakes. A retirement ceremony soon followed.
Racing form
Admire Groove won eight races and placed in another four out of 21 starts. This data is available based on JBIS and netkeiba.
Legend:
Turf
Breeding career
Admire Groove's descendants include:
c = colt, f = filly
Death
On October 16, 2012, the JRA announced that Admire Groove had suddenly died the day prior at the Northern Farm, where she was a broodmare. It was only two days after her daughter Admire Sceptre won the Hakushu Stakes.
In popular culture
An anthropomorphized version of Admire Groove appears as a character in the Japanese multimedia franchise Umamusume: Pretty Derby, voiced by Hina Suzuki. She is depicted as a cold, unruly, and standoffish girl who grew up as an orphan with no memory of her parents, which references how Air Groove's owner and trainer, Satoshi Yoshihara and Yuji Ito, were unable to purchase her real-life counterpart when she was auctioned as a foal. Due to feeling unable to understand love since her childhood, she despises friendship and attachment, and has an especially heated rivalry with Still in Love. She holds a grudge against Still in Love due to her prestigious accomplishment of winning the Triple Tiara, even despite her exceptional racing talents and having more public recognition.