Up until his four-year old season (2021)

Ushba Tesoro was bought by Kenji Ryotokuji, founder of Ryotokuji University, at the JRHA Select Sale Foal Session for 25 million yen.^[6][7]

He would make his debut at a maiden race on August 25, 2019, at the Niigata Racecourse, but finished in fifth place.^[8]

Ushba Tesoro would win his first race after seven unsuccessful races at a maiden race held at Tokyo Racecourse. The following month, the horse entered the Principal Stakes, a trial race for the Japanese Derby, but came in fourth place. The horse would return to allowance races but could not win a 2nd race for the rest of that year.

On his third race of his four-year old season, Ushba Tesoro won his first race in over a year. Later that year, on November, he scored his third victory at the Sanriku Tokubetsu.^[9]

2022: Five-year old season

Ushba Tesoro's jockey Kazuo Yokoyama

Ushba Tesoro ran three allowance races but lost all three of them. After coming in 6th place in the last of those three, it was decided that the horse's next race would be on a dirt track. On April 30, Ushba Tesoro entered the Yokohama Stakes (dirt 2100m) and was the 7th favored. Once the race started, Ushba Tesoro passed all the other horses from the back on the final stretch, finishing his first dirt race in a victory.^[10] On the Radio Nippon Sho in September, the horse came up from 10th place and covered the last three furlongs the fastest but came in third place.^[11] The following month, Ushba Tesoro won his first Listed Race at the Brazil Cup, where he covered the last three furlongs at 35.5 seconds and passed all the other horses from behind.^[12] Ushba Tesoro won his next race. the Canopus Stakes, as well in a similar fashion, where he came in from 10th place and passed the other horses in the final stretch, covering the last three furlongs in 37.3 seconds.^[13] Ushba Tesoro would run his first group race at the end of the year at the Tokyo Daishoten, which doubled as the horse's first Group I race. The horse went in as the second most favored behind Meisho Hario, the winner of that year's Teio Sho, another 2000m dirt race held at Oi Racecourse. The horse stayed with the group for most of the race, and started to go forward as it went around the fourth corner. The horse went from the outside and passed the likes of Shonan Nadeshiko and Sunrise Hope that was running in front of him, and crossed the finish line with a 1.75 lengths gap behind Notturno, who came in second place. This victory marked his first group race win and Group 1 win for the horse, after just five races on the dirt track.^[14] The horse covered the last 3 furlongs at 37.2 seconds, once again the fastest of the entrants.^[15] This race also marked the first dirt G1 race win for the horse's jockey, Kazuo Yokoyama.

2023: Six-year old season

Ushba Tesoro started the season with the Kawasaki Kinen. In that race, he ran with the pack, and quickly took the lead after passing the final corner, winning his second Group 1 race with a half-a-length lead behind T O Keynes.^[16][17]

On February 24, it was officially announced that the horse was invited to that year's Dubai World Cup.^[18] As Yokoyama was already scheduled to ride Titleholder at the Nikkei Sho as well as Aguri on the Takamatsunomiya Kinen, it was also announced that Yuga Kawada would be riding the horse in Dubai.^[18] At the race, Ushba Tesoro trailed the pack from behind for most of the duration, coming up and passing them from behind on the final stretch. This victory marked the first time since Victoire Pisa in 2011 for a Japanese horse to win the race, and the first time ever that a Japanese horse won the race since the race was switched from track surface to dirt.^[19] During the post-race interview, Kawada commented "There were hurdles to overcome in logistics and surfaces, as it was the horse's first time abroad, but the horse moved very well during training, so I focused on whether it can channel that in this race when I rode him" and "Ushba Tesoro worked hard to win the number one race in the world, so I'm proud that I was able to show that a Japanese jockey can fight in the global stage."^[20]

On mid-April 2023, Ushba Tesoro's trainer announced that after taking a break for the summer, the horse will run at this year's Nippon TV Hai before moving on to the BC Classic in Santa Anita. Kawada would reprise his role as jockey.^[21]。

References