THE ROOTS: 

Kaze no zawameki farm

Thoroughbred horses became their own breed by accident. Story of their success is laid in a row of misfortunes of one young man, chasing his father’s dream.

Saito Hiroshi was the youngest son of Saito Ichiro, renowned breeder of thoroughbred horses in Japan. His farm, Kaze no zawameki, was home to such unbeaten stars as Crystal Dancer, Raymond Beam and Asahi. Saito Ichiro was a great expert in horses and had an excellent, almost unnatural feel when it came to matchmaking of his praised stallions and mares.

Asahi, a striking flaxen chestnut stallion, was not only a great racer but proved himself as a very successful stud. Homebred stud, sired by Crystal Palace, Asahi was Ichiro’s favorite,  a true horse of his life.

Unfortunately Ichiro passed away untimely due to a sudden heart attack. It was a heavy blow to the family and to the business of the farm. Without Ichiro`s expertise to guide them, a lot of bad choices (and mistakes) were made. Under the supervision of the oldest son, Saito Hediaki, the farm barely brought in any income. To make things worse, after just two years at stud, Asahi died quite suddenly. The prized stallion was spooked; reared and slipped on ice, he sustained a heavy blow to his head upon falling, ending his life instantly.

In a year the Kaze no zawameki farm was closed and all horses were sold off. The farm would also have been sold off, but due to agreement complications, Hediaki`s deal on selling the farm and the land failed.

That was the time when Saito Hiroshi, the younger brother, stepped up. Having been excluded from inheritance due to an old big dispute with father, and having no say in the farm’s destiny, he offered to buy the land from Hediaki. 

BRAVE DREAM: 

Asauchi

Having no other viable financial offers, Hediaki agreed. It cost a fortune to Hiroshi, but he was hell bent to restore father’s legacy and dream. His main goal was not to just start over again, but acquire the bloodstock that his father had worked on through all of his life.

But Asahi, the best stallion, sired many fine fillies, but not a single worthy colt at the time. However; Golden Cat, a mare bred by Asahi, was sold off while pregnant. She gave birth to a palomino colt, named Asauchi.

This colt had a prominent  racing career at Ireland tracks racing under Seinos Grand Stables silks. Hiroshi planned to acquire breeding rights to this stunning horse, but owners of Asauchi did not rush to retire the stallion from racing career and enter him into stud business. Most likely his owners did not see his value in a way that Hiroshi did.

And then Seinos Grand Stables changed hands through questionable circumstances. Eichri Elias, the owner, went missing in a plane crash. The investigation was long and tiresome, it took a long time and deliberation but considering the severity of the crash and unresultful search missions, Eichri Elias was declared dead.

The reins passed to his wife. Janet Elias. This woman was still Mr.Eliase`s wife on the papers, but in reality they parted their ways a long time ago. They did not divorse back in the appropriate time simply because back then it was more beneficial to both of them not to do so. Janet was given hefty “wages” on a regular basis for not asking for the divorse and Eichri did not have to part with a half of his wealth. The couple had came together very early on, in their teens and did not think of making proper contracts or even hoping to get out of the modest lower middle class league.

Though the marriage was not a happy one for Janet and she kept a big strong grudge for Eichri and him basically ruining her life and neglecting her, being far more involved with his equine passion and business. To make things worse Janet’s nephew, Ervin on the contrary grew fond of horses and equestrian sport, spending a lot of time at Seinos Grand stables, learning from Eichri. Ervin also happened to be on that fateful flight and perished with Eichri.

Janet was devastated, in her grief and anger she vowed to take revenge on Seinos Grand Stables. She was determined to destroy Eichri’s life work as (she perceived) he’d destroyed her life and taken her nephew from her. She was not so irrational and ruthless however; as to order the horses be killed off, that would be too much even for her (and way less profitable). What she did instead was to sell off most of the mares to amateur private owners and hobby riders. The real blow though came to Hiroshi upon learning that all the stallions, who presented reasonable value for any breeding program, had been gelded. Asauchi was among those stallions and only then did she put them for sale. 

RISE LIKE A PHOENIX: 

Smoldering hopes & visioner`s take

While Janet Elias was busy burning the legacy of her husband in Ireland, Saito Hiroshi was burning his stomach with shots of sake way back in Tokyo, sharing his great misfortune with the long term friend of his, Hasegawa Yamato. 

Hasegawa and Saito studied together in university and now Yamato was working for Hashimoto Labs. While they talked and drank, Yamato proposed an idea to Hiroshi, an unconventional possible solution to his failed plans.

He suggested Hiroshi buy out Asauchi and clone him. That was one of the things Hashimoto Labs were good at and  Yamato could even get this affair to be a part of his research project, promising a lower price for such a plan.

Hiroshi was hesitant at first, as cloning was not approved by thoroughbred associations and racing committees. Yamato managed to convince Hiroshi to go through with the plan, as cloning of animals was getting serious traction worldwide and quite a few horse breeds registrants and associations already allowed cloned horses in their lists. Being a visioner, Yamato was sure in his predictions.

So Asauchi left Ireland and went back to his true homeland, Kaze no zawameki farm in Japan.

As cloning back then was not as reliable as it is now, there were 5 attempts made, with an expectancy of 1 to 2 clones developing properly and surviving.

Another blow was yet to come when in the winter, the Thoroughbred association of Great Britain declined the proposal of accepting cloned horses into their registry and breeding program. That sent ripples around the world. No one else dared to come to another resolution. Therefore cloned horses were forbidden from thoroughbred registry all over the world as well as AI breedings.

By the spring Hiroshi had 5 living cloned colts that no one wanted.

The risky investment became a hurting waste of finances which were far from being abundant in Hiroshi’s pockets.It would seem that his fathers legacy was truly finished.

NEW BEGININGS: 

Nine lives of one dream

Yamato, though, feeling guilty for coaxing his friend into this venture, suggested instead of

selling those colts off, bring them into the Kyoto asian shedu racing events.

That was an event which Yamato came up with and was hosting on a constant basis. He raced asian shedus and added horses to the track to make the race more interesting. While at first it was a desperate attempt to pump some interest in asian shedu racing (which was less impressive than classic shedu racing for obvious reasons), the idea was met with huge excitement, pitting against each other equine fans and feline followers.

But there never were any truly fine TBs on those tracks. So Yamato saw great opportunity here for both sides. The colts were specifically trained to be around shedus from a young age and in two years they hit the track for the first time.

Those early races were a huge success and the first time horses posed true competition to shedus, raising interest and hype.

Seeing this, Yamato announced that only horses of Kaze no Zawameki registry will be allowed to run against shedus. At the time of the announcement there was no Kaze no Zawameki registry, so Hiroshi had to create one, he and his horses became gatekeepers for asian shedu vs horses racing.

Hiroshi allowed AI breedings and cloned horses. The horses themselves were allowed to race only after they hit 3 full years of age.

Breeding practices within this registry were restricted strongly to mitigate effects of the ease that AI breeding gave (instead of taking mares to stallions) and therefore cut the problem of overbreeding.

Yamato still ran his research on Asauchi clones and started to introduce genetic engineering  modification to future foals at the farm, introducing shedu genes to the pool, starting with mild things, such as coat coloration.

That is how the Asauchi Thoroughbred Horses came to be. The Kaze no Zawameki farm has a monopoly on horses that race against shedus. Their striking coat colours and good racing results serve as promotion for genetic research and for the ideas that even most traditional sports and industries should go hand in hand with progress.

While Asauchi horses get mixed reactions, there are very many fans of striking horses and a lot of people who are happy to get themselves fancy unique horses.