So to get a bit personal, let’s talk about gender.
I personally identify as Non-Binary, to be more specific I see myself as someone who’s brain feels wired like a woman’s but that doesn’t mind inhabiting a man’s body at all. Or as I always describe it “Girl OS in Boy hardware”.
When I say it like that I make it sound easy to explain, but this is a position that took me weeks of constant (read: every waking moment) meditation to get to. I tried other clothing styles and such only to find the boundaries of who I actually was within that new frame of mind.
I wasn’t effeminate enough to be the fruity guy, I was happy being in a man’s body from how convenient it can be, and yet the realization that I felt inadequate as a man all my life because I was pushing myself into being a way that didn’t come naturally to me… but not quite fully there when it came to feminine way of being.
This realization came in March of 2021. Nowadays I’ve come to love this weird identity of mine (and by extension myself) instead of resenting that I wasn’t quite enough of anything one way or another.
…but why resentment? Because you see, the thing they don’t tell you about the least transited roads is that you gotta carve that path yourself sometimes.
And that’s scary.
Quick note before we start: As I’ve built more context about Daiwa Scarlet by now, the post will snowball a bit more… and I’m still holding back stuff for later.
Vodka was born from Tanino Sister and Tanino Gimlet.
Tanino Sister was a lottery horse (ちゅうせんば, Chuusenba) with lineage that goes to Shiraoki (a notorious mare I should detail sometime) and a final race record of 5 victories in 33 races, including participation in the Ouka Sho.
Lottery horses are usually throughbreds with no particular demand that wouldn’t be auctioned and are as such sold in a lottery to members of an organization. In this case Yuzo Tanimizu (from where the “Tanino” kanmei comes from) made a bid for her since trainer Hideyuki Mori just started a stable and needed horses to fill the stalls and all the colts had big bids put for them.
Vodka’s name, however, comes from her father, Tanino Gimlet.
Tanino Gimlet was a descendant of Brian’s Time, if the name sounds familiar it’s because Brian’s Time is also the father of Narita Brian (and Mayano Top Gun).
Tanino Gimlet had a really promising career in 2001, including a victory in the Nihon Derby. But sadly he was diagnosed with injuries in his rear left leg’s superficial flexor tendon. It was theorized that he could recover in six months, but missing the fall season would be tough for any classic era horse, so he was retired in 2002.
How does this factor into the name? Well, Tanimizu wanted the calf between Tanino Sister and Tanino Gimlet to be as strong as her father, so they thought of the name Gin since “Gimlet” is a cocktail with a Gin base (for those curious, it also includes lime juice and simple syrup to sweeten it). However, they soon decided instead on “Vodka”, because while Vodka and Gin are similarly strong, Vodka is served undiluted more often than Gin.
Thus in that name, the newly named calf carried the hopes to be stronger than her father.
And she was off to a good start, in fact she was being hyped as a “Cesario-level filly” and would often train with older horses than her and win.
Even at this stage, Vodka showed a really amazing ability to snap into different directions, so much so that she needed to be taught to help guiding her direction by moving her head.
Vodka had a really impressive debut in the 2-year old New Horse race of Kyoto, but ended second in her next race in the Kigiku Sho. The reason for ending second was interesting though. Vodka was getting ahead too often and trainer Katsuhiko Kadoi wanted to avoid her becoming an escapist horse so intructed a change in strategy.
Surprisingly, her next race was already a G1, the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies. Apparently there were up to 24 horses signed for that race. The top 10 (measured by lifetime money winnings) was set and the rest would be decided by lottery. Vodka was 11th in that ranking.
The amount went from 14 to 9 as more horses were pulled from the race and ultimately Vodka managed to get in via the resulting lottery. And thank God she did. This is the race that put Vodka on the map, having a shocking display with one last burst of speed cutting through everyone to snatch victory at the end. This helped in the JRA naming her 2-year old filly of the year of 2006.
Oh yeah, she won against some horse I think I wrote about ages ago.
Vodka was soon entered into the Elfin Stakes, an open race where she was facing against horses that hadn’t won top two or any open race, prompting 56 extra Kg of weights to be attached to her (a common practice to equalize the racing conditions in some races) which was 2 Kg more than the rest. Despite this she won the Elfin Stakes by THREE LENGTHS (as in, there were 3 Vodkas in length between her and the second place).
After this, Vodka’s team aimed for the Ouka Sho, so they participated in the Tulip Sho, where she snatched her third consecutive victory against a filly called Daiwa Scarlet. However, Daiwa Scarlet’s trainer was a man called Kunihide Matsuda, who trained Vodka’s father and Vodka’s trainer… and he wasn’t going to let this affront pass, declaring Vodka as Daiwa Scarlet’s rival.
Matsuda made good on his word when, during the Ouka Sho, Daiwa Scarlet broke Vodka’s streak of consecutive victories; by one and a half lengths no less.
As an extra sidenote, apparently Vodka was in heat the week before the race but was fine by the time the race came around.
So before the next race we have to backtrack for a second.
Plans for Vodka to participate in the Nihon Derby were discussed since January. The idea made sense since it was Tanino Gimlet’s one G1 victory and Vodka seemed to have the aptitude for it. At the moment it was decided that if Vodka won the Ouka Sho then that would indicate she has the qualifications for the race.
As stated though, that never happened, in fact, after the race the plan was to participate in the Oaks and repay the defeat to Daiwa Scarlet… but after the Ouka Sho, the team kept going back to the idea of participating in the Nihon Derby. Ultimately, Tanimizu left the choice to Kadoi, who went with it.
This idea was surprisingly shocking and controversial, with many critics calling it rash. It was also a novelty since a filly hadn’t run the Nihon Derby in 11 years, with the last attempt being by Biwa Heidi. However, at the very least there was no problem with skipping with the Daiwa Scarlet rematch because she had to pull from the Oaks due to a cold.
Interestingly, for the Nihon Derby Vodka was fitted with spiked horseshoes for the ocassion.
That Nihon Derby featured both the 1st and 3rd place winners of the Satsuki Sho (the first step for the Triple Crown, of which the Nihon Derby is the second), but Vodka won. In fact, not only did she win, she won by three lengths again.
And this victory cannot be overstated. For starters, as mentioned, it had been 11 years since the last time a filly entered the Nihon Derby, Not only that but she was the first filly to win in 64 years and third overall, with the last two being Kurifuji (1943) and Hisatomo (1937), which makes her both the first post WW2 filly to win AND the first one to win since the Nihon Derby was moved closer to spring.
But it doesn’t stop there, This makes her and Tanino Gimlet the first Father-daughter pair to win the same G1 race and to win the Nihon Derby specifically.
Years later Buena Vista would join these accolades, but we’re still in 2007 and her debut wasn’t until 2008.
There’s a bunch of extra accolades like how this was Kadoi’s (trainer) and Hirofumi Shii’s (jockey) first nihon Derby, or how it’s the farm’s fourth Nihon Derby winner which is impressive considering the relatively low volume of simultaneous horses they mantain. And wouldn’t you know it, that day Crown Prince Naruhito (current Emperor Reiwa) was attending the racecourse to see the exhibits inside the building and catch the race.
And would you look at that, then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie Abe were also in the course that day and both bought tickets betting in favor of Vodka (the Prime Minister buying a multi-win and his wife buying a single-win).
Everything was looking up Vodka, so they aimed for the L’arc in France.
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…sorry, I thought myself freed from The French finally, but here we are.
In preparation for this race they entered Vodka in the Takarazuka Kinen, but indecision in the last stretch led to an 8th place. It was more about the experience than the victory though, and plans were made to ship her to France… but she got laminitis in her right rear leg, and even though it healed in about four days it was determined safer to cancel the overseas expedition.
Then came the Shuuka Sho and the long-awaited rematch against Daiwa Scarlet! That Vodka lost 3rd place in, though as noted before it was a really close 3rd place.
Plans for the Elizabeth Cup were canned when Vodka had health issues near the race, and then mild symptoms during the Japan Cup resulted in her getting 4th place.
Next she aimed for the Arima Kinen. The Arima Kinen like many G1s tend to be based on fan votes or money earned by the horse. Vodka was voted most popular for that Arima Kinen, making her the third ever filly to get that popular in the race right after both Hishi Amazon and Air Groove.
This Arima Kinen is the race in the Daiwa Scarlet Rivalry that “doesn’t count” because Daiwa Scarlet ended 2nd and Vodka 11th.
That year Vodka didn’t get the Best 3-year filly award from the JRA, which actually went to Daiwa Scarlet. Vodka did, however, still get a special prize due to her achievements in the Nihon Derby.
Needless to say, things weren’t exactly fine in the Vodka camp. And they weren’t getting any better, opening the year with a 6th place in Kyoto Kinen.
Despite this, an overseas run to Dubai was attempted, but she ended up 4th in the Dubai Duty Free. Then after returning to Japan she ended up 2nd in the Victoria Mile.
Vodka had officially not seen a single victory in one calendar year since the Nihon Derby.
Regardless, an attempt was programmed for the Yasuda Kinen, with the Jockey being changed to Yasunari Iwata. Interestingly, Vodka was the first Nihon Derby winner to attempt the Yasuda Kinen since Sakura Chiyono O.
And I DO find it interesting, I LIVE for all these ultra specific accolades. Speaking of which, Vodka won! Not only that but she was the third filly to win the Yasuda Kinen since it became a G1 race, right after North Flight and Daiichi Ruby incidentally.
Vodka was voted most favorite to participate in the Takarazuka Kinen, but she avoided the race, taking a break during summer instead.
She ran in the Mainichi Crown in October but ended up second… and just when you think Vodka is back to the slump, the Autumn Tenno Sho happens.
If you’ll remember, this is the “this shit only happens ever 20-30 years“ Tenno Sho, the “Vodka won by 2cm Tenno Sho”, the “They had to check the photo and took 13 minutes to decide a winner” Tenno Sho.
It doesn’t end there though. Vodka beat Special Week‘s then-unbroken time record in 1999 by 0.8 seconds, first time in three years since Heavenly Romance that a filly won the Tenno Sho, first time SINCE 1958 EXACTLY 50 YEARS AGO that two fillies were in first and second place, and the first time Yutaka Take had won the Autumn Tenno Sho two years in a row (following Meishou Samson the year before).
Although Vodka was voted most popular to participate in the Arima Kinen, she avoided that race and went for the Japan Cup instead hoping for a revenge attempt… alas, she ended 3rd in this attempt. She did snatch one last accolade though. She was voted Best 4-years and older horse of the year AND best horse of the year 2008. The last filly winner of the first prize was actually Air Groove in 1997.
Normally this is where the career ends, but Vodka ran for an extra year and spare.
That extra year opened with a second attempt at travelling to Dubai. They shipped her one month earlier and even participated in the Jebel Hatta, but she finished 5th. Vodka was actually rated the most popular by the British, but in the last stretch she entered second, finally ending up 7th.
The British kept an eye on Vodka though, and she was offered a spot in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, but they rejected the offer to focus again on domestic racing. And thank god she did because she entered the Victoria Mile and actually won first place for a change.
…I say “for a change”, but this victory not only made her tie the record for most G1s by a filly at that time held by Mejiro Dober, but she had surpassed Air Groove and Hokuto Vega in terms of lifetime prize money by a filly.
She then ran the Yasuda Kinen and won. A win two years in a row by the same horse in the Yasuda Kinen hadn’t been achieved since Yamanin Zephyr, so of course Vodka was also the first filly to get the accolade, and this also made her stand above Mejiro Dober in terms of G1 victories.
Afterwards she was voted most popular for Takarazuka Kinen again, and also again she rejected that.
The Mainichi Crown was attempted again, but she ended up 2nd. She then challenged the Autumn Tenno Sho again but she ended up 3rd.
As the Japan Cup approached, it was believed an attempt with a different jockey should be tried, resulting in the hiring of Christophe Lemaire (remember that name for the future). Which seemingly worked, because Vodka actually won first place in the Japan Cup.
This was her seventh G1. To give you an idea of how important this was, Vodka wasn’t being measured against other fillies anymore, she was now officially in the same category as Symboli Rudolph (who was nicknamed The Emperor), TM Opera O (who was nicknamed The Emperor of the New Millenium), and Deep Impact (Who was the force behind what’s called the third horse racing boom).
After the Japan Cup, it was discovered that Vodka had a nosebleed and she was suspended for one month for safety. Despite this, she was voted most popular to participate in Arima Kinen for THE THIRD YEAR IN A ROW but the nosebleed situation made that impossible.
After the Victoria Mile near the start of the year, Tanimizu declared Vodka would retire by the end of 2009, but the plan changed and they decided to hold the retirement until after one more try at the Dubai Duty Free.
At the end of this year, Vodka was unanimously voted the best horse 4 years and older of the year. and 2009 horse of the year. Making her the first filly to win horse of the year two years in a row, and sixth overall horse ever to get that. Also, despite surprassing Mejiro Dober in terms of G1 races, she tied to her in terms of consecutive yearly accolades by the JRA at 4 years in a row (funny how it’d be 5 if Scarlet hadn’t taken one away).
At the start of 2010 they went to Dubai and participated in the Maktoum Challenge, but ended 8th, and right after it a second nosebleed was discovered, cancelling any other race plans and finally declaring Vodka’s retirement.
As one last accolade, she was inducted into the JRA’s Meritorious horse registry, following Kurifuji (who if you remember won the Nihon Derby pre-WW2), Tokitsukaze (the first notorious post-WW2 filly), and Mejiro Ramone (first Triple Tiara winner).
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So to explain Vodka inside the game, let me explain briefly something about “cool” characters. And for clarity I mean カッコイイ (“Cool” like a biker) rather than クール (“Cool” like a Blue Sentai).
As I see it, there’s three type of cool characters.
The first is the character that is cool naturally. This is the type of character whose natural way of being is so cool that they don’t even think about it, they might even be surprised if this is pointed out to them. Symboli Kris S, for example, might have a goofy moment and still look cool because she doesn’t really act or feel as if being one way or another is gonna make less of something they put effort into.
The second is the character that acts cool because if they don’t a less cool side will show through. As an example, Narita Brian has to constantly keep to herself and does her best to act as cool and aloof as she can, because the moment she doesn’t then the capricious crybaby little sister side shows through unrequested.
The third are characters that believe themselves cool. Unlike the first type they’re aware of their coolness, and like the second one it’s something they deliberately do… but likewise, just like the first type they don’t feel their coolness threatened by anything. The best example is TM Opera O, who believes herself the most majestic being to ever exist and the result is a character that despite believing themselves cool shows a broader range where they can be uncool and funny without breaking character.
Vodka is none of them. Vodka, however, looks up to all of them.
She’s in her “rebellious” phase, but rather than smoking and partying she’s still a middle schooler which means it’s more in the vein of saying cool one-liners and dressing with leather jackets. She’s barely in the stage of “don’t treat me like a child”, kinda like being in the stage right before full Chuunibyou (AKA Eighth grade syndrome AKA Tanino Gimlet oh my GOD).
You can kinda see it very clearly in her dressing style outside the academy, actually. Rather than picking a singular cool getup, she’s clearly picked individual pieces that she thinks are cool for a result that’s adorable in its own way.
And as you can appreciate by reading the real horse’s career, that kinda sums up that run. You cannot say Vodka was just a Mile runner because she clearly could put up quite the show on longer races, and you cannot say Vodka is a butch just on appearance alone because she’s arguably girlier than Scarlet sometimes. Like how she’s overwhelmed by romance stories while Scarlet is known to read them a lot, or how Scarlet is relatively speaking more stoic overall.
Would you expect the girl with the leather jacket that refers to herself as “ore” to be good at cooking? Or to like salads? Exactly.
Vodka’s relationship with her trainer is super interesting too, if I had to make a tier list of girl-trainer relationships from most blatantly romantic to least so, Vodka would actually be near the bottom, I feel. Yet simultaneously, if I had to make a second tier list of how close a girl is to their trainer, Vodka would definitely be near the top.
She describes her trainer as her buddy, while the relationship isn’t casual necessarily there’s an air of both of them seeing eye to eye on the same level nonetheless. If Vodka is an “Outlaw” then her trainer is her partner in crime.
As with Scarlet, Vodka’s training path is trimmed down big time and mainly stays in relation to her G1 races and her story with Scarlet. Not “The races she ran with the real Daiwa Scarlet” but “races that further that relationship in some way”.
I think her debut race actually sets up the perfect tone for her training. In it, she gets a little bit of stage fright because “oh boy this is a real race with stakes on the line” but between seeing all other girls in a similar position and some fans heckling her as “just talk” she decides it’s time to show them all up.
In the heat of the moment after victory, Vodka decides to aim high and be the kind of cool girl that runs a G1 race in her first year, so she aims for the Hanshin JF… she doesn’t know what “JF” means, just that it sounds cool, and also her trainer doesn’t insist, suspecting that she wouldn’t pronounce it or remember it.
And then Scarlet teases her with the fact that she can’t pronounce or remember “Juvenile Fillies”.
During the Hanshin JF, Vodka is starting to feel the pressure again, but this time it’s different. This time it’s not the pressure of beginners debuting, but of determined people feeling everything’s on the line, and she hates that, she hates that sort of “no fun” pressure.
Interestingly, you can lose this race, and many of the initial races that the historical Vodka won early on, in fact. This makes sense from a gameplay standpoint (they’re tough objectives as-is but also Vodka isn’t a rookie-friendly girl to train AND she’s free from the start) but it surprisingly builds up to one of the core themes of her story.
That theme being basically: You miss every shot you don’t take. Instead of focusing just on how the real Vodka had a really impressive early showing, the game instead focuses on what you might see in the career as a whole, that persistence on an individualistic route even if you fall in a year-long slump.
Back to Vodka, from her side of the story you see that she was intending to get into the Nihon Derby since early, and the Ouka Sho was a G1 on the way there. The race against Scarlet in the Tulip Sho right before it is framed instead as a challenge from Scarlet that Vodka couldn’t reject, leading to a funny scene where they start talking smack like they’re in a wrestling promo before devolving into just venting petty complaints about each other.
During the Tulip Sho, Vodka is calmer and more excited to race than she was in the earlier races… because Scarlet is there, and she said that she was the Tulip Flower and Vodka was just the stem and she cannot let that insult go unanswered.
Even the trainer sees this and goes “Oh, Scarlet’s presence calms Vodka down, that’s nice”.
After the race, it’s when the Nihon Derby conflict starts to rear its head again.
Vodka is pumped to race against Scarlet again, but if she takes the Ouka Sho, then the natural pogression would be for the Oaks next, but participating in the Oaks means no Nihon Derby, and even if Vodka wanted to try getting both Triple Crown AND Triple Tiara, it’s basically not logistically possible.
This gets worse during the Ouka Sho, the conflict with Scarlet has her pumped to keep racing against her… but the Derby is still so cool, and not only that but the idea that no Horse Girl has ever shifted midway to the Derby and won? Wouldn’t that be the coolest thing ever?
But some might see it as giving up or running away from the Tiara rotation…
So of course, Vodka goes to get advice from Narita Brian who after evading her a lot goes off about how the Nihon Derby isn’t where you chase your dreams but where you devour everyone else’s dreams, and because Vodka is a dum-dum that operates in the same wavelength she appropiately translates this as “that’s not an objective for anyone not willing to put their goals above everything else”.
So Vodka goes to the Derby, and just like the other objectives she can actually lose. If she wins she sees her path validated and if she loses… well, she’s already in her path anyways, she just needs to get stronger.
A summer overseas expedition is planned! …aaaand Vodka snaps her leg in the airport, canning all of that.
She does decide to go for the Shuuka Sho for one more race against Scarlet, though, after which Scarlet challenges her to the Arima Kinen, a race completely out of Vodka’s expertise but a challenge she cannot really turn down now that it’s been thrown.
So… this one isn’t a “you can lose it” situation it’s more of a “you can win it” since with Vodka you have to actively go out of your way to make her able to run a long-distance race.
It’s not Haru Urara levels of hard, but it’s still one hell of a tricky affair.
And this is perhaps the most pivotal moment for Vodka’s character. This is where her bravado fully breaks and she needs some introspection. She stopped seeing Scarlet’s dogged consistency and persistence as “uncool” just because it’s something Vodka wouldn’t do, but rather, she started seeing it as very cool BECAUSE it’s something Vodka can’t do.
There’s even a moment where she talks about how she thought salarymen were lame for being in their routine every day, but now she sees that persistence as really cool.
The trainer suggests to race in the Victoria Mile, if Vodka’s brand of cool is the fast and explosive type, then maybe a fight of pure speed instead of tactics is more fitting for her. After all “you can’t change your roots” and if Vodka has come this far just chasing cool stuff, why change that?
After the Victoria Mile, Vodka can grasp her own strengths better, that explosive last stretch that makes or breaks the race no matter the earlier results. The trainer wonders if she should race the Takarazuka Kinen before changing it to the Yasuda Kinen instead (in a neat nod to real life).
Vodka wonders after the Yasuda Kinen what race Scarlet might be racing next and the trainer correctly guesses the Autumn Tenno Sho. You know, the “this only happens every 30 years etc” race.
Compared to the more melancholic end of Scarlet’s training, Vodka is jubilant all throughout, she even thanks Scarlet in her victory speech because, after all. she can only be pushed to those extremes with a proper rival.
The last scene of the Tenno Sho has Vodka introducing everyone to her trainer, her buddy. The one person that was always there as she traversed her untravelled path.
Vodka’s story continues further! But not in training, and not in this post.