Heart's Cry

Heart's Cry (Japanese :ハーツクライ 15 April 2001 – 9 March 2023) was a retired Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a racing career which lasted from January 2004 until November 2006 he ran nineteen times and won five races. In his first two seasons he was placed in many important races including the Tokyo Yushun, Takarazuka Kinen and Japan Cup before recording a 16/1 upset victory over the Japanese Horse of the Year Deep Impact in the Arima Kinen at Nakayama Racecourse in December 2005. In the following year Heart's Cry proved himself in international competition when winning the Dubai Sheema Classic in the United Arab Emirates and finishing third in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in Britain. After his retirement from racing he became a successful breeding stallion. Background Heart's Cry was a bay horse with a narrow white blaze and a white sock on his left hind leg, bred by the Yoshida family's Shadai Farm. He was sired by Sunday Silence, who won the 1989 Kentucky Derby, before retiring to stud in Japan where he was champion sire on thirteen consecutive occasions. His dam Irish Dance was a successful racemare who won twice at Group Three level. The horse was named after a number from the show Riverdance. Racing career 2004: three-year-old season Heart's Cry began his racing career by winning a ten furlong race at Kyoto Racecourse on 5 January 2004. A month later he was moved up to Group Three level and finished third in the Kisaragi Sho at the same course. He then won a ten furlong race at Hanshin Racecourse before finishing unplaced in the Satsuki Sho, the first leg of the Japanese Triple Crown. In May Heart's Cry won his first important race when he took the Group Two Kyoto Shimbun Hai, a trial race for the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), beating Suzuka Mambo by half a length. In the Tokyo Yushun four weeks later, Heart's Cry finished second of the eighteen runners, one and a half lengths behind the winner King Kamehameha.