Loves Only You 1st Japan-trained horse to win Breeders’ Cup

By Kazuari Hirayama / Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent

November 7, 2021

DEL MAR, Calif. — Loves Only You became the first horse trained in Japan to win a Breeders’ Cup race at the Del Mar racetrack in California on Saturday.

The 5-year-old mare, trained by Yoshito Yahagi, won the Filly & Mare Turf, a 2,200-meter race, under jockey Yuga Kawada, who earned his first win at an overseas top-level Grade 1 race.

Loves Only You is the daughter of late legendary racehorse Deep Impact and bred at Northern Farm in Hokkaido.

“She used her legs well and won the race,” Kawada said with delight. “I am proud that a horse from Japan has left its name in the long history of U.S. horse racing and that I was able to be there as the jockey.”

Shortly after Loves Only You triumphed, another horse trained in Japan won a Breeders’ Cup race. Marche Lorraine won the Distaff, a Grade 1 race on a 1,800-meter dirt track, under Irish jockey Oisin Murphy. The 5-year-old mare was also trained by Yahagi and bred at Northern Farm.