Agnes Tachyon

Background

Agnes Tachyon was sired by Sunday Silence and his dam Agnes Flora (by Royal Ski); Agnes Flora won the Oka Sho, and his granddam, Agnes Lady, won the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks), while Sunday Silence had won the 1989

Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, and was Japan's leading sire from 1995 to 2007. Agnes Tachyon was the younger brother of the 2000 Tōkyō Yūshun winner Agnes Flight.The name "Tachyon" is derived from tachyonic particles, hypothetical particles which travel faster than the speed of light.

Agnes Flora had mated with Sunday Silence several times before Agnes Tachyon's birth, with their first time occurring in Agnes Flora's first year as a broodmare, 1992. At the time, Sunday Silence had not yet sired any runners at Shadai, as it was his second year season as a stallion. In the following year, 1993, their first foal was born, a colt. As successful horses from Sunday Silence had begun gaining popularity, this first foal was named "Agnes Takao", using Watanabe Takao's name. Agnes Takao was entrusted to trainer Mitsumasa Hamada, but he could not perform as expected due to inherited leg weaknesses from his mother. After mating twice with Tony Bin, Sunday Silence was once again chosen as Agnes Flora's mating partner in 1996, resulting in Agnes Flight being born on 2 March 1997 at Shadai Farm. Agnes Flora and Sunday Silence were paired again later the same year, leading to Agnes Tachyon's birth in 1998.

Racing career

2000: 2-year-old season

He made his debut relatively late, in a maiden race over 2,000 meters on the turf at Hanshin Racecourse in December 2000. Although he attracted much attention, being the full brother of Agnes Flight, his training times were not particularly impressive, so he was only the third favorite. However, in the race, he recorded a final three-furlong split in a 33-second range, winning by a commanding three-and-a-half-lengths margin over the runner-up, Libroadcast. The favorite, Born King, finished fifth.

In the subsequent Radio Tampa Hai Sansai Stakes for 3-Year-Olds (now the Hopeful Stakes), the competition was even tougher, but he went on to win, setting a record time for a 2-year-old over 2,000m. Jungle Pocket finished second by two and a half lengths, and Kurofune came in third—a high-level contest in which future G1 winners took the top three spots. Despite adopting a strategy known as "early move", or sensing the slow pace, he began to surge as early as the third turn, and was neck-and-neck for the lead by the fourth turn. He recorded the fastest final three furlongs of any horse in the field, at 34.1 seconds. After the race, jockey Kawachi was recorded saying, "I'm convinced this horse is in a league of its own." Trainer Nagahama highly praised Agnes Tachyon's performance, stating, "His racing style is better than his older brother's."

In the selection for Best 2-Year-Old Colt, a press vote where the winner of the Asahi Hai Stakes had historically been chosen, Agnes Tachyon garnered an exceptional 119 votes. However, was defeated by Asahi Hai winner Mejiro Bailey, who received 147 votes.

2001: 3-year-old season

Agnes Tachyon's owner had described him as having the potential to win the Triple Crown, and so he was entered into the Yayoi Sho, a major trial race for the Satsuki Sho, since both races are run over the same distance. On a heavy track, he won by five lengths over the second-place finisher, Born King, while the future Kikuka-shō winner, Manhattan Cafe, finished fourth.

Having performed so well in the qualifier race, and with Agnes Gold (who had been considered a top contender alongside Agnes Tachyon) withdrawn due to injury, he entered the Satsuki Sho as the overwhelming favorite. He started the race with a win-only betting support rate of 59.4%, the second-highest in history at the time. He won the race by easily kicking off in the final spurt from a good mid-pack position, in fourth or fifth place.

With this, he had won all four of his highly competitive races, and, since each victory had been achieved without any real threat, expectations were high for him to win the Triple Crown. However, on 2 May, he developed superficial flexor tendonitis in his left front leg and had to withdraw from the Japanese Derby. Nagahama, who had expressed concern even while celebrating his Satsuki Sho victory, saying, "I'm happy, but I'm worried he might end up like Agnes Gold (who fractured his leg)" saw his fears become a reality.

He was subsequently sent to Shadai Farm for pasture rest, and following discussions among his trainer and owner, the decision was made to retire him. His retirement was announced to the public on 29 August. A retirement ceremony was held at Hanshin Racecourse on 30 September.

Racing form

Agnes Tachyon won four races out of four starts. This data is available on JBIS and netkeiba. He raced on turf track in all of his races.

R indicated that it was a record time finish

Stud record

Agnes Tachyon was assigned to the stud duty at Shadai Stallion Station. By 2008, he had produced many great foals, such as Daiwa Scarlet and Deep Sky. He was awarded as the leading sire in Japan that same year. He died the year after from heart failure, at the age of eleven years old.

Agnes Tachyon's prominent descendants include:

c = colt, f = filly, bold = grade 1 stakes

In popular culture

An anthropomorphized version of the horse appears in Umamusume: Pretty Derby, voiced by Sumire Uesaka. She is depicted as a mad scientist obsessed with pushing the limits of Umamusume, with her implied motive being that she wishes to overcome the limits of her fragile legs using scientific methods. She regularly pesters others to be her "guinea pig" for her myriad experiments, most notably the player trainer and her friend Manhattan Cafe, the latter repeatedly turning her down and getting her out of trouble. Her junior Daiwa Scarlet is one of the few people who displays interest in her experiments, even volunteering to be Tachyon's test subject and overwhelming her with her enthusiasm. A movie featuring the character titled Umamusume: Pretty Derby – Beginning of a New Era released in Japan on 24 May 2024.