Kamunyak (; foaled April 14, 2022) is a Japanese thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2025 Yushun Himba and Flora Stakes.
Racing career
Background Kamunyak's name is derived from the term "the blessed one" in Samburu.
She was bought by the Kaneko Makoto Holdings at the 2023 JRHA Select Sale for Yearlings for 77 million yen including taxes.
2024: Two-year old season Ridden by Yuga Kawada, Kamunyak debuted at a debut race for two year olds held at Chukyo Racecourse on August 11. She was the most favored to win that race with the betting odds at 1.2, of which she won and scored her first victory. She was later sent to contest the Artemis Stakes held on October 26, where she was also the most favored to win. She was positioned third for most of the race, but fell behind on the final stretch and finished sixth.
2025: Three-year old season Kamunyak started the year off by entering in to the , where she was placed in the rear of the pack and tried to take the lead at the final stretch, only to finish fourth. After this race, she was entered in to the Flora Stakes, a trial race for the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks), held on April 27 at Tokyo Racecourse, with Andrasch Starke as her new jockey. During the race, she raced in the center of the pack, before taking over the lead in the final 100 meters of the race, clinching her first graded race victory and gaining a slot for the Yushun Himba with a race record of 1 minute 58.6 seconds.
On May 25, Kamunyak was entered in to the Yushun Himba with Starke once again riding her. She was the fourth most favored to win. During the race, she was placed among the pack, with the horse moving up after entering the final stretch, catching up with Arma Veloce who was in the lead, before beating her by a head. This was Kamunyak's first Grade I victory, and the first Japanese Grade I victory for Starke, the first time trainer Yasuo Tomomichi won the Yushun Himba, as well as the first time a Flora Stakes winner won the Yushun Himba since Saint Emilion in 2010.
For the second half of the season, Kamunyak returned on the Rose Stakes at Hanshin Racecourse. Trainer Tomomichi convinced that Kamunyak would be able to deliver results on the day. After 1000 metres mark, Kamunyak was comfortable sitting between sixth and seventh position on the outside track. Despite encountering interference at the fourth corner when bumped by rivals, she surged powerfully through the middle of the track in the stretch, pulling clear to win by one and a-half lengths over the second place, Theresa. She closed out her season with an attempt of getting a second classic title at the Shuka Sho. The race did not went well for Kamunyak as she gassed out whilst entering the final straight and fell back to 16th-place in the end.
2026: four-year-old season In this new season, Kamunyak would start her campaign in the Hanshin Himba Stakes. She would be pitted against her classic rival, the double tiara Embroidery and the reigning Victoria Mile winner, Ascoli Piceno for this one. Kamunyak did well for this outing as she positioned himself on the outside before sprinted surpassed the pack and only lost the race to Embroidery by a neck in the end. Her jockey, Yuga Kawada stated that she showed more patience than before in the race whilst trainer Tomomichi glad that she was able to adept to the early slow pace of the race and kept her mental strength for the whole session that day. Her next target race would be the Victoria Mile. In the final training session before the big day, Tomomichi said that the horse was calm, moving well, did not lost any weight and in good condition the race. When the race begun, Kamunyak broke smoothly and settled around seventh, tracking right behind Embroidery. She continued to stalk the race favorite in the stretch and, although unable to threaten the winner, crossed the wire one-and-a-quarter lengths clear of the rest of the field to finish second. After the race, Kawada said Kamunyak ran the race as she usually did and Tomomichi said she did her best and thought that possibly the defeat came from the lack of compatibility with the race distance. Due to this analysis, Tomomichi aimed her for the Queen Elizabeth II Cup in the autumn due to the horse's affinity with longer distance race.
Racing statistics The following data is based on information available on netkeiba.com and JBIS-Search. DateTrackRaceGradeDistance (Condition)EntryHNOdds (Favored)FinishTimeMarginsJockeyWinner (Runner-up)2024 – two-year-old seasonAug 11Chukyo2YO Debut2,000 m (Firm)911.2 (1)2:04.20.6Yuga Kawada(Rouge Sequel)Oct 26TokyoArtemis StakesGIII1,600 m (Firm)11103.1 (1)6th1:34.80.2Yuga Kawada(Brown Ratchet)2025 – three-year-old seasonFeb 10KyotoElfin StakesL1,600 m (Firm)923.8 (3)4th1:36.10.8Yuga KawadaVoulezvousApr 27TokyoFlora StakesGII2,000 m (Firm)181014.7 (7) -0.2Andrasch Starke(Valkyrie Birth)May 25TokyoYushun HimbaGI2,400 m (Firm)181514.3 (4)2:25.70.0Andrasch Starke(Arma Veloce)Sep 14HanshinRose StakesGII1,800 m (Firm)18112.9 (1)1:43.5 -0.2Yuga Kawada(Theresa)Oct 19KyotoShūka ShoGI2,000 m (Firm)18172.1 (1)16th2:00.21.9Yuga KawadaEmbroidery2026 – four-year-old seasonApr 11HanshinHanshin Himba StakesGII1,600 m (Firm)1057.8 (4)1:31.60.0Yuga KawadaEmbroideryMay 17TokyoVictoria MileGI1,600 m (Firm)1885.3 (2)1:31.10.2Yuga KawadaEmbroidery Legend: indicated that it was a record finish time.
Pedigree
Kamunyak shares similar pedigrees as Kitasan Black, as both horses are sired by Black Tide and Sakura Bakushin O is their mutual damsire. Kamunyak's half brother, Keep Calm, won the 2025 Shirasagi Stakes. Kamunyak's great granddam, Dance Partner, won the 1995 Yushun Himba and the 1996 Queen Elizabeth II Cup. Dance Partner's full brother is Dance in the Dark (1996 Kikuka-shō winner) and their full sister is (2004 Oka Sho and 2006 Victoria Mile winner), who are also half brothers to (1994 Aoba Sho winner). Kamunyak's granddam, Dance All Night, has a half brother named , who won the Nakayama Kimpai and Nakayama Kinen in 2012. Kamunyak's uncle is , who won the 2018 .
References