2013: three-year-old season
Kizuna made his three-year-old debut in the Grade 2 Hochi Hai Yayoi Sho at Nakayama Racecourse on 3 March. In a blanket finish, he took fifth place in a field of twelve runners, less than three-quarters of a length behind the winner Camino Tassajara. Three weeks later, Kizuna started the 1/2 favourite for the Grade 3 Mainichi Hai at Hanshin. Ridden by Yutaka Take, he won by three lengths from Geyersworth, with Bad Boy three and a half lengths back in third. Despite being eligible the Satsuki Sho, the first leg of Japanese Triple Crown, Kizuna's connection decided not to field him in the race, but to focus on the Tokyo Yūshun, the Japanese derby.
On 4 May Kizuna entered one of the preparation races, the Kyoto Shimbun Hai over 2200 metres at Kyoto. He started the 2/5 favourite and won by one and a half lengths from Peptide Amazon. Kizuna was one of eighteen colts to contest the 80th running of the Tokyo Yūshun at Tokyo Racecourse and started the 19/10 favourite ahead of the Satsuki Sho winner Logotype. Take produced the colt with a strong late run on the outside to take the lead in the final strides and win by half a length from Epiphaneia in a time of 2:24.6.
Kizuna was sent to Europe in the autumn of 2013 to be prepared for a run the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. On 15 September he contested the Prix Niel at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris where he faced a strong field of European colts including The Derby winner Ruler of the World and the Grand Prix de Paris winner Flintshire. Take restrained the colt towards the back of the field before making his challenge on the outside in the straight. He took the lead inside the last 100 metres and held off the late challenge of Ruler of the World to win by a head. After the race Kizuna's trainer Shozo Sasaki said "This was his first run abroad so I'm very pleased. He was about 80% compared with the Japanese Derby, so we will work hard to get the final 20% before the Arc." On 6 October started the third favourite in a field of seventeen runners in the Arc de Triomphe. Date held the colt up at the back of the field before moving up on the outside approaching the turn into the straight. He stayed on well in the closing stages to finish fourth behind Treve, Orfevre and Intello.
In January 2014 Kizuna won the JRA Award for Best Three-Year-Old Colt taking 238 of the 280 votes.
