is a Japanese thoroughbred racehorse. His major wins include the February Stakes (2014, 2015), the JBC Classic (2014, 2015), the Kashiwa Kinen (2014, 2016, 2017), the 2016 Teio Sho, the Mile Championship Nambu Hai (2016, 2017), and the 2017 Tokyo Daishoten. With 11 GI/JpnI wins, this makes Copano Rickey the Japanese-trained horse with the most wins. He was nicknamed the "great actor of the dirt ().
Racing career 2012-13: two-and-three year old seasons Copano Rickey made his debut in December 2012 at a debut race for two-year-olds but finished in 8th place. After winning a maiden race in January 2013, he won his second race in a row, which was an allowance race. Following a 3rd-place finish at the Hyacinth Stakes and a victory at the Fukuryu Stakes, Copano Rickey won his first graded race by winning the . After this win, he was planned to be entered in to the Tōkyō Yūshun, but was forced out of the races after a fracture was discovered in the radius of the right forearm.
2014: four-year-old season Copano Rickey started the season with his first Grade I race, the February Stakes. As the horse was selected for the final open slot of the gate in a 50/50 draw against , the horse was the least favored to win in a field of 16 horses. During the race, the horse was placed in second of the pack, and after taking the lead in the final stretch managed to stave off Hokko Tarumae, who was making a push to take the lead. This was the first Grade I victory for both the horse, and jockey . The win payout for that race, 27,210 yen, was the second highest return in JRA GI history since won the 1989 Queen Elizabeth II Cup.
Later, the horse was entered in to the Kashiwa Kinen held on May 5, and won. In that race, Copano Rickey did not start well, but moved in to the outside of the pack and started to push up at around the 3rd corner and caught up to the front of the pack by the 4th corner, surpassing the pack on the final stretch and winning the race. The crop was only used twice. The race had coincided with the birthday of the owner, Sachiaki Kobayashi, and Tanabe commented that he was relieved that, despite the pressure from that fact, he was able to win the race. Osamu Saito, who wrote an article about the race on web Furlong 2014, noted that those who saw the victory at the February Stakes as a mere fluke would have had to change their minds. Saito also wrote that he believed that the horse would be a central figure of the Dirt GI/JpnI races in the coming years.
On November 3, Copano Rickey entered the Japan Breeding Farms' Cup Classic and won. After the race, Tanabe commented "I always thought the horse was strong, so whenever I'm told 'your horse is strong', I can only agree to that", showing trust towards the horse. The horse's trainer, Murayama, also expressed hope in the horse becoming stronger, stating that "his potential is high, and I believe we can go to a level further."
2015: five-year-old season Copano Rickey started the year off with the Tokai Stakes, with Yutaka Take as his jockey. After taking the lead at the 4th corner, he finished the race with a 4-length lead. After this race, Copano Rickey was entered in to the February Stakes once again, where the horse once again ran in second, trailing front-runner for most of the race before taking the lead and keeping the lead even as closed in, winning the race by a half-length lead. A few days later, it was announced that the horse had suffered a left distal radius fracture and reported that it would take six months to recover.
His recovery was progressing well throughout the summer, and he made his return on the Nippon TV Hai in October, as he was sticking with Take again as his jockey. In the race, Copano Rickey led for the majority of the race until he faded out on the final straight and finished third on the day, behind and . His next race was the JBC Classic. Take similarly rode him as the previous going and for this time around, he managed to held on to win by two-and-a-half lengths over Chrysolite whilst Hokko Tarumae placed third. He also became the fifth horse in history to win this race in back-to-back years. Despite having a good year so far, he closed the season on bad note in December as he only managed to finish in seventh place at the Champions Cup and fourth place at the Tokyo Daishōten. Post race, Take admitted that Copano Rickey was marked so well by other horses that made him hard to get to the right position at the corners. For his excellent performance for the year with three graded stakes win in six starts, he was awarded as the best dirt horse of the year by the JRA.
2016: six-year-old season For this season, he began his season with the February Stakes as a defending champion for two years running and aimed for the historic third win in a row. As the race started, he settled on the rail side during the early to mid-race. Running into the final straight, Copano Rickey held on in the front group but gradually lost pace near the end, finishing in seventh place for the day. Since this time around he was voted to start at the inside gate, Take decided to switch his usual front-running approach to pace-chasing but as it showed, the horse did not have the pace for the day to seal the deal. Murayama commented that he determined that the horse would get his revenge in the future Kashiwa Kinen on May. Early on at the gate voting, it was looking bleak as he was selected to start from the innermost gate 1 for this race. Turned out this was a blessing as he nailed a good start, maintained his position on second in the front group behind , drew alongside him at the final bend, overtook him into the final straight and turned on the jets to get his first win of the season. Maruyama noted that he concerned that the horse might get boxed in due to inside gate start but relieved that he came through and positioned himself at the right place the whole race. One month later, Copano Rickey would participate in the Teio Sho for the second time after losing to Wonder Acute two years prior. When the gates opened, the horse was calmed down and maintained by Take in the third position. After the third corner, Take triggered the horse to move forward, surpassed two horses in front of him, and pulled away for the rest of the time. He won convincingly by three-and-a-half lengths over the second place, .
For the second half of the season, he resumed his feat at the Mile Championship Nambu Hai. Maruyama has an early initiative to send him abroad but changed his decision and focused on the horse's domestic campaign instead. On this occasion, Tanabe would be back as his jockey due to Take being assigned to Kyoto on the same day. Despite the jockey change, Copano Rickey did not have any problems in the race as he pulled away from third position to the lead at the final straight to win in a record time over Best Warrior in second and Hokko Tarumae in third. This would be his eighth GI/JpnI title, and Maruyama boldly declared that he wanted the horse to win the Champions Cup and Tokyo Daishoten in the pursuit of a record-breaking 11th title. This claim was fully tested as once again Copano Rickey failed to place well in his final three races of the season where he failed to defend his JBC Classic title and only finished in fifth place, failed to match the race pace and fell back to 13th place at the Champions Cup, and lost the final drag race to the line and finished in fifth. His three JpnI titles in the season were worthy of being given the special award from NAR for the year.
2017: seven-year-old season Take was back in his saddle for the February Stakes, which he would start from gate 4, which was the gate he got back when he won the race two years ago. Maruyama said it was a good omen this time for the horse, which turned out to be the opposite on the day as he backed off the order from briefly leading it at the final stretch 300 metres from the line, which saw him finish in 14th place. His next scheduled race would be the Kashiwa Kinen, in which there were concerns about his recent form despite his being the two-time winner of said race. The concern was dismissed after Take rode him in sixth position before sprinting away at the final straight to take the win by two lengths over for his ninth GI/JpnI. He was supposed to end his spring campaign with another run at the Teio Sho but he was diagnosed with arthritis in his right knee which effectively removed him from the contention with no clear return date.
He eventually returned in October at the Mile Championship Nambu Hai, back with Hironobu Tanabe as his jockey. He started the race nicely and positioned himself in third position in the pack. At the fourth corner, he showed excellent momentum and tried to catch the leaders, and then pulled away from the rest of the field in the straight to win the race by four lengths. This was his career's tenth GI/JpnI title. One month later, he joined the JBC Sprint and would be ridden by a local jockey, Taito Mori. Mori did well in his first ride of the horse as he rode him from the back and moved to the lead in the final phase to finish in second place just a head behind the winner, . After this race, it was decided that Copano Rickey would retire from racing after the final two race of the season, the Champions Cup and the Tokyo Daishōten, in which Tanabe was picked as his final jockey. In the Champions Cup, the horse had a duel with in the final straight before both of them were overtaken by the eventual winner, which was jockeyed by Ryan Moore in the final 50 metres. Copano Rickey finished third for the day behind both Gold Dream and T M Jinsoku. Despite not winning the race in his final attempt, Tanabe expected this race would went to the line with T M Jinsoku and said the horse had run an ideal race just now.
On December 25, he had a final workout session for the Tokyo Daishoten under Murayama. Four days later on December 29, Copano Rickey ran his final race, the Tokyo Daishōten. There, the horse took the lead early on and became the front-runner and ran the race at his own pace, before lengthening his lead in the final stretch and not letting Sound True take over the lead; winning the race and achieving his 11th GI/JpnI race, the most wins for any Japanese horse at the time. A retirement ceremony was held at Kyoto Racecourse on January 6, 2018, and his racehorse registration was withdrawn on January 10. Copano Rickey ended his racing career on a high note after he won the special award from NAR for the second year in a row. Following his retirement, the horse was sent to the to stand stud there.
Racing statistics The following form is based on information available at netkeiba.com.