Stay Gold (Japanese: ステイゴールド, Hepburn: Sutei Gōrudo; March 24, 1994 – February 5, 2015) was a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse and multiple graded stakes winner. Racing 50 times in five years, Stay Gold raced often in Grade 1 (G1) races, but was known as a "Silver Collector", as he often placed second or lower rather than win.
In his final race, the 2001 Hong Kong Vase, Stay Gold was finally able to achieve a G1 victory through a narrow win over the Godolphin-trained horse Ekraar. Due to his victory here and his earlier win over another Godolphin stable horse Fantastic Light at the 2001 Dubai Sheema Classic, he earned the nickname "Godolphin Killer".
Through his victory at the Hong Kong Vase, Stay Gold was the first Japanese horse to win a G1 race outside of Japan. He became a very successful sire in Japan after his retirement from racing, including siring the Triple Crown racehorse Orfevre.
Contents
Background
Stay Gold was bred at the Shadai Group's Shiraoi Farm in Shiraoi, Hokkaido. He was sired by Sunday Silence and was out of the mare Golden Sash, a daughter of Dictus. He was notable for being a very small horse, standing 15.3 hands (160 cm) tall at maturity, and weighing a maximum of 436 kilograms (961 lb) during his racing career. One of his defining traits other than his rather small physical stature was his personality - Stay Gold was a particularly violent and bad mannered horse, with his trainer Yasutoshi Ikee remarking that "he was so violent, he might even eat meat if I gave it to him," and his jockey Shigefumi Kumazawa saying that Stay Gold would rear, kick and bite even during regular exercise.
Racing career
Stay Gold made his racing debut at Hanshin Racecourse on December 1, 1996, and won his first race, a 4 year-old maiden race on May 11, 1997. He would then go on to win 2 more races, the latter of which being the "Lake Akan-ko special (阿寒湖特別)" on September 6, 1997. He would not win another race for approximately two years and eight months, from September 6, 1997, to May 20, 2000.
In the years of 1998 to 2000, Stay Gold ran prominently in many of Japan's top races, including the Diamond Stakes, Tenno Sho (Spring), Takarazuka Kinen, Arima Kinen, and Tenno Sho (Autumn). He collected 9 places and 7 shows, but victory proved elusive.
Despite the fact that he had not won any graded races thus far, Stay Gold accumulated significant earnings due to his consistent podium placements. His title was "Major Racing Wins: Lake Akan-ko special" and he was deemed "the successor to Nice Nature," another Japanese racehorse who won 6 graded races but was better known for his many placed efforts.
On May 20, 2000, he was ridden by Yutaka Take and in the Meguro Kinen and obtained victory for the first time in 2 years and 8 months. It would be his only win of the year.
The year 2001 began with Stay Gold winning first place in the Grade II Nikkei Shinshun Hai. He then aimed at the Dubai Sheema Classic (then a UAE-G2) at Nad Al Sheba Racecourse. Fantastic Light, winner of the previous year's World Series Racing Championship, was the clear favourite, with Stay Gold a 33-1 shot. Fantastic Light took the lead a furlong out, but Stay Gold rallied to get up on the line, winning by a nose after finding an opportunity to move through a gap in the final straight. It was the first victory outside Japan for Sunday Silence's progeny.
In October 2001, he took on two of Japan's best thoroughbreds, T M Opera O and Narita Top Road, in the Kyoto Daishoten and finished in first place. However, during the race he cut off Narita Top Road, injuring both the horse and his jockey, and leading to his disqualification from the race.
His last run was for the Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin Racecourse, Hong Kong. There, he wore a saddle towel with his name written as "黃金旅程" in the Traditional Chinese language, which translates to "Golden Journey". "黃金旅程" is pronounced in standard Chinese as "huáng jīn lǔ chéng". On the final straight, Stay Gold closed a gap of approximately 5 lengths and caught up to Ekraar in the final strides and won by a head. After the race, Yutaka Take, who rode him, said, "Wings grew on his back." At the end of the season, Stay Gold was awarded by the Japan Racing Association with the JRA Special Award for becoming the first overseas G1 race winner that was born and trained in Japan.
Racing form
Stay Gold won seven races out of 50 starts with 20 more podiums finishes. The data available is based on JBIS, netkeiba, racingpost and HKJC. All of Stay Gold's races were run on turf, except for his 3YO Maiden race ran on February 15 1997, which was ran on dirt.
Stud record
At the end of his racing career, Stay Gold was retired to become a breeding stallion and proved to be a very successful sire, fathering 13 Group 1 winners. Orfevre won the Japanese Triple Crown and finished second in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe for two consecutive years. Gold Ship won six Grade 1 races including the Arima Kinen, Kikuka Shō, and Takarazuka Kinen twice; Oju Chosan won nine Grade 1 jump races and reigned as the undisputed steeplechase champion; Dream Journey and Fenomeno also achieved considerable successes.
He died suddenly on February 5, 2015, at the age of 20, due to an arterial rupture.
Major winners
c = colt, f = filly, g = gelding
In popular culture
An anthropomorphized version of Stay Gold appears as a character in the Japanese multimedia franchise Umamusume: Pretty Derby, voiced by Satsumi Matsuda. She is depicted as a petite woman with dark-brown hair and a trench coat who enjoys travelling for long periods of time. She is aware of Umamusume being reincarnations of real-world racehorses, and seeks to prevent the tragedies that resulted in the deaths of racehorses and ensure that their Umamusume counterparts live better lives. She also serves as the leader of a friend group of admirers called the "Gold Clan", among them her roommate Gold Ship, Nakayama Festa, Dream Journey, Orfevre, and Fenomeno, all of whose real-world selves were progeny of Stay Gold.
Initially, Stay Gold was represented by "Kin'iro Ryotei", a background character in the first season of the franchise's anime adaptation, before officially being featured in the Japanese version of the mobile game in 2025.