Do Deuce
Do Deuce and Yutaka Take at the Tōkyō Yūshun
Sire	Heart's Cry
Grandsire	Sunday Silence
Dam	Dust And Diamonds
Damsire	Vindication
Sex	Colt
Foaled	7 May 2019[1]
Country	Japan
Colour	Bay
Breeder	Northern Farm
Owner	Kieffers Co Ltd
Trainer	Yasuo Tomomichi
Jockey	Yutaka Take
Record	16: 8-1-1
Earnings	1,775,035,800JPY[2][note 1] Japan: 1,752,639,000 JPY France: 9,100EUR[4] UAE: 150,000USD[5]
Major wins
Ivy Stakes (2021) Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (2021) Tokyo Yushun (2022) Kyoto Kinen (2023) Arima Kinen (2023) Tennō Shō (Autumn) (2024) Japan Cup (2024)
Awards
JRA Award for Best Two-Year-Old Colt (2021) Japanese Horse of the Year (2024) JRA Award for Best Older Male Horse (2024)
Last updated on January 7, 2025

Do Deuce (Japanese:ドウデュース, foaled 7 May 2019) is a retired JapaneseThoroughbredracehorse. He was the best two-year-old colt in Japan in 2021 when he was undefeated in three races including the Ivy Stakes and theAsahi Hai Futurity Stakes. The highlight of his second campaign came when he defeatedEquinox to win theTokyo Yushun. As a four-year-old in 2023 he won theKyoto Kinen in February and ended the year by taking theArima Kinen. He then won the autumn edition of theTennō Shō and theJapan Cup as a five-year-old in 2024. He was also votedJapanese Horse of the Year andJRA Award for Best Older Male Horse in the same year.^[6]

Do Deuce is a bay colt with a whiteblaze bred in Japan byNorthern Farm. During his racing career he was trained byYasuo Tomomichi and raced in the grey and white of Kieffers Co Ltd.

He was from the twelfth crop of foals sired byHeart's Cry a horse whose wins included theArima Kinen and theDubai Sheema Classic, as well as the only racehorse that was able to defeat Japanese legendary racehorseDeep Impact on Japanese soil. His other foals have includedJust A Way,Cheval Grand,Suave Richard,Admire Rakti, andLys Gracieux.^[7] Do Deuce's dam Dust And Diamonds was bred in Kentucky and raced with considerable success in the United States where she won theGallant Bloom Handicap and ran second in theBreeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. In November 2016 atKeeneland she was bought for $1,000,000 by Katsumi Yoshida and exported to Japan.^[8] She was a great-granddaughter of Darling Lady, a half-sister to the dams ofDancing Brave andJolypha.^[9]

Do Deuce began his racing career in a contest for previously unraced juveniles over 1800 metres ongood to firm ground atKokura Racecourse on 5 September 2021. Ridden byYutaka Take he started the0.7/1 favourite and won by a neck fromGaia Force. Take was again in the saddle when the colt was stepped up in class to contest the Listed Ivy Stakes over the same distance atTokyo Racecourse in the following month. He started second choice in the betting and prevailed by a neck and three quarters of alength from Gran Cielo andAsk Victor More after taking the lead in the straight.^[10]

On 19 December atHanshin Racecourse, Do Deuce was stepped up to Grade 1 class to contestAsahi Hai Futurity Stakes over 1600 metres and went off the 6.8/1 third choice in the betting behind Serifos (winner of theNiigata Nisai Stakes) andGeoglyph (Sapporo Nisai Stakes). Take positioned the colt on the outside in mid-division before producing a strong run down the centre of the straight. He got the better of a sustained struggle with Serifos in the last 200 metres to win by half a length. After the race Take, who was winning the race for the first time, said “Do Deuce is an honest colt. We were able to run in a good position and in good rhythm while observing the others. He responded well going into the straight and although the favorite was stubborn and hard to beat, he dug in remarkably all the way to the line. He’s getting stronger by every race—we can look forward to the spring classics next year."^[11]

In January 2021, at theJRA Awards, Do Deuce was namedBest Two-Year-Old Colt, taking 251 of the 296 votes.^[12] In the official Japanese rankings Do Deuce was rated the best two-year-old of 2021, one pound ahead of Serifos and theHopeful Stakes winnerKiller Ability.^[13]

On his first run as a three-year-old, Do Deuce started favourite for the Grade 2Yayoi Sho over 2000 metres atNakayama Racecourse on 6 March. He tracked the leaders for most of the way and finished strongly but sustained his first defeat as he failed to run down Ask Victor More and was beaten a neck into second place. In theSatsuki Sho over the same course and distance on 17 April the colt started the 2.9/1 favourite in an eighteen-runner field but despite producing a strong late charge from the rear of the field he was unable to reel in the leaders and came home third behind Geoglyph andEquinox.^[14]

On 29 May Do Deuce was one of eighteen three-year-olds to contest the 85th running of theTokyo Yushun over 2400 metres at Tokyo Racecourse, and, with Take again in the saddle went off the 3.2/1 third choice in the betting behind Danon Beluga and Equinox. The other contenders included Geoglyph, Ask Victor More,Justin Palace,Killer Ability, Matenro Leo (Kisaragi Sho) and Ask Wild More (Kyoto Shimbun Hai). After racing towards the rear of the field he began to make progress and moved up into contention on the wide outside on the final turn. He made relentless progress in the straight, overhauled the leader Ask Victor More 150 metres from the finish and held off the late challenge of Equinox to win by a neck. Yutaka Take, who was winning the race for the sixth time said "This is a truly emotional experience for me... Though my colt isn’t such a good starter, we were able to sit in an ideal position so the fast pace didn’t bother me. He had so much left in the tank at the final corner when I asked him for his run—he responded amazingly and took the lead earlier than planned but held on well."^[15]

Do Deuce then went to France to run in thePrix Niel before running in thePrix de l'Arc de Triomphe. He finished fourth to Simca Mille for the Prix Niel and finished 19th againstAlpinista for the l'Arc de Triomphe, which was the worst out of the four Japanese horses that ran that year.^[16][17][18]

After returning to Japan, it was announced that he would take the remainder of the year off before returning to the races at next year'sKyoto Kinen, with theDubai Turf in mind.^[19][20]

Do Deuce became the first Derby winner in 75 years to win the Kyoto Kinen, after he became the most favored to win.^[21][22][23] However, he was ultimately scratched from the Dubai Turf due to his near-fore being lame during a pre-race medical check.^[24]

He would not return to racing until October 29 when he was entered in to theAutumn Tennō Shō to face Equinox once again. However, Do Deuce finished at 7th in that race, with his usual jockey being injured as a result of being kicked by another horse that day and instead ridden byKeita Tosaki, who was a last minute replacement.^[25][26] Tosaki would reprise his role as Do Deuce's jockey in the followingJapan Cup, as Take was still recovering from his injuries at the time,^[27] but finished fourth behind Equinox.^[28]

Take returned to race with Do Deuce for theArima Kinen, held on December 24, where he was the second favorite. At the race, the horse managed to run past the pack at the final corner, overtaking the likes ofStars on Earth andTitleholder, winning his third Grade I race with a half length lead.^[29][30] After the Arima Kinen; Take, Tomomichi, and Matsushima (head of Kieffers) expressed their desires to return to Dubai and France once again.^[31][32][33]

Do Deuce was entered into theDubai Turf as planned, and finished 5th to Facteur Cheval after a late start. Back in Japan, he entered theTakarazuka Kinen as the most favored horse, but suffered due to the heavy turf and finished 6th to Blow the Horn. After the Takarazuka Kinen, Kieffers Co. announced that he would not be participating in the arc as originally planned, and would retire in the year after racing in theAutumn Tennō Shō,Japan Cup andArima Kinen.^[34]

Do Deuce returned to the racetrack as planned for the Fall Tennō Shō on the 27th of October, and was the second most favored horse afterLiberty Island (horse). He won the race from behind, overtaking the runner Ho O Biscuits and holding off a late challenge fromTastiera (horse) to take his 4th Group 1 title, with a new JRA record speed of 32.5 seconds for the final three furlongs. With this win, he also became the first male racehorse in JRA history to have won a Group 1 title each year from age 2 to age 5.^[35]

On 24 November, Do Deuce entered the 44thJapan Cup which attracted a group of international racers, such as multiple Group 1 winnerAuguste Rodin (horse) and Goliath, the winner of the 2024King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and was the most popular horse in the race. He showed his chasing ability once again and overtook the leaders at the final straight, holding off a sustained challenge from the leadersDurezza andShin Emperor to win by a nose.^[36]

After the race, the horse was entered into theArima Kinen as his retirement race in an attempt to become the first horse to win the Japanese Autumn Triple Crown (Autumn Tennō Shō, Japan Cup, Arima Kinen) sinceZenno Rob Roy did in 2004.^[37] He received a record-breaking 478,415 votes in the Arima Kinen poll^[38] and was planned to start at gate 2 for the race, but was diagnosed with lameness after training and withdrew from the race 2 days before it started.^[39] He retired on the next day with the Japan Cup becoming his final start.

Do Deuce now stands stud atShadai Stallion Station for a fee of 10,000,000JPY.

Below data is based on JBIS Search^[40], netkeiba.com^[41] and theFrance Galop^[42].

• Do Deuce ininbred 4 × 4 toLyphard, meaning that this stallion appears twice in the fourth generation of his pedigree.

• 2019 racehorse births
• Racehorses bred in Japan
• Racehorses trained in Japan
• Thoroughbred family 3-d
• Tokyo Yūshun winners
• Arima Kinen winners
• Japan Cup winners
• Japanese Thoroughbred Horse of the Year

• CS1 uses Japanese-language script (ja)
• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata