2021 Eclipse Awards: Loves Only You

The 2021 season for Loves Only You began and finished with important stakes wins in the Far East. In between, she made an historic trip to the United States, becoming the first Japanese-based horse to win a Breeders’ Cup race.

The entirety of the season was a remarkable campaign, one that has left Loves Only You as a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding turf female of 2021.

The well-traveled Loves Only You began the year with a win in the Grade 2 Kyoto Kinen at Hanshin Racecourse in Japan in February. She spent the rest of the year displaying top efforts throughout the world, racing in four countries.

At Meydan Racecourse in the United Arab Emirates in March, Loves Only You was a game third to the brilliant Mishriff in the Group 1 Sheema Classic, a $5 million race at 1 1/2 miles. A month later, Loves Only You won the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup against males at 1 1/4 miles at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong, her first win at the highest level since the Grade 1 Japanese Oaks in 2019.

Top Japanese runners tend to be rested for most of the summer. Loves Only You did not race again until late August, when she finished second at 9-10 in the Grade 2 Sapporo Kinen in northern Japan, losing by three-quarters of a length.

She was not beaten again.

:: Full list of 2021 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories

In the Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, Loves Only You was a well-regarded 4-1 third choice in a field of 12. Ridden by Yuga Kawada for trainer Yoshito Yahagi, Loves Only You raced behind the leaders for the first mile of the 1 3/8-mile race. Kawada rode a brilliantly confident race. Loves Only You was in traffic with a quarter-mile remaining before space developed between stretch leader War Like Goddess and longshot My Sister Nat.

Loves Only You rallied between those rivals to take the lead in the final strides, winning by a half-length over My Sister Nat.

“I’d like to say thank you to my horse,” Yahagi said during the Breeders’ Cup press conference. “She did a great job. It’s a dream come true for Japanese horse racing history.”

Owned by DMM Dream Club Co., Loves Only You remained at Del Mar for a few weeks after the Breeders’ Cup before she was sent to Sha Tin for the Group 1 Hong Kong Cup. Loves Only You’s win in that race, once again against males, at 1 1/4 miles was as dramatic as the Breeders’ Cup. Loves Only You rallied to win by a nose as the 8-5 favorite in her final career start and the last race of a remarkable international season.