Admire Vega

Admire Vega was a bay horse with a white blaze and a white sock on his left hind leg bred in Japan by the Yoshida family's Northern Farm. He was smaller than average for a male Thoroughbred, with a maximum racing weight of 464 kg. 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 other major winners included Deep Impact, Stay Gold, Heart's Cry, Manhattan Cafe, Zenno Rob Roy and Neo Universe. Admire Vega's dam Vega was an outstanding racemare who won the Oka Sho and the Yushun Himba in 1993. As a broodmare Vega also produced the multiple Grade I winner Admire Don and Historic Star, the dam of Harp Star. Vega was a descendant of the American mare Nellie Morse, making her a distant relative of Bold Forbes and Bet Twice. The colt was acquired by Riichi Kondo and was sent into training with Mitsuru Hashida. ==Racing career==

1998: two-year-old season Admire Vega began his racing career by finishing fourth to Mayano Matador in a 1600-metre maiden race at Kyoto Racecourse on 7 November and recorded his first win four weeks later when he won the Erica Sho over 2000 metres at Hanshin Racecourse. On 26 December the colt was moved up in class for the Grade III Radio Tampa Hai Sansai Stakes over the same course and distance as the Erica Sho. He gained his first major success as he won from Matikane Kinnohosi and Osumi Bright. On 6 June Admire Vega was moved up in distance to contest the sixty-sixth running of the Tokyo Yushun over 2400 metres at Tokyo Racecourse. Ridden by Yutaka Take he faced seventeen opponents including T. M. Opera O, Narita Top Road and Osumi Bright. He won by a neck from Narita Top Road, with T. M. Opera O a length and a quarter back in third place. After a break of more than four months Admire Vega returned in the Group Two Kyoto Shimbun Hai at Kyoto on 17 October and won from Narita Top Road. For his final race the colt was moved up in distance for the Grade I Kikuka Sho over 3000 metres at Kyoto on 7 November. He finished sixth of the fifteen runners, four lengths behind Narita Top Road, who won by a neck from T. M. Opera O. He remained in training as a four-year-old but suffered from ligament problems and did not race again. == Racing form ==

The following form is based on information available on JBIS Search and netkeiba. • * Finished first but disqualified after running interference with another horse ==Stud record==

Admire Vega was retired from racing to become a breeding stallion at Shadai Stallion Station. He had some success in four seasons at stud, siring the Grade I winners Kiss to Heaven (Oka Sho) and Blumenblatt (Mile Championship). He died suddenly on 29 October 2004 at the age of eight. An autopsy revealed that the cause of death was an accidental stomach rupture. Major winners c = colt, f = filly == In popular culture ==

An anthropomorphized version of Admire Vega appears in the media franchise Umamusume: Pretty Derby, voiced by Hitomi Sasaki. The character is featured together with T. M. Opera O and Narita Top Road in the spinoff anime Umamusume Pretty Derby: Road to the Top. The real horse's shorthand nickname of Adobe/AdVe () was changed by developer Cygames to Ayabe () for the Umamusume character, ostensibly to avoid possible trademark infringements with Adobe Inc. ==Pedigree==