Sounds Of Earth

Sounds of Earth was a dark bay Japanese racehorse of the 2010s, foaled on 12 April 2011 and bred by Shadai Farm. He raced in the colours of Teruya Yoshida and was trained from Ritto by Kenichi Fujioka, a steady set of connections that remained central to his career. Although his official record shows only 2 wins from 30 starts, that bare total does not fully capture the kind of horse he was on the JRA circuit.

By pedigree, Sounds of Earth was by Neo Universe out of First Violin, with the American influence of Dixieland Band as damsire. He came from a Shadai Farm family that also included Bariolage, Kreutzer, and Stoke d'Abernon. The pedigree combined an established Japanese sire line with an international female background, fitting the profile of a horse bred for serious competition.

His listed major win was the 2014 Hanamizuki Sho, an allowance-level success that stood as the headline victory of his racing résumé. Yet his career is also notable for the contrast between a modest win total and very substantial earnings: ¥467.45 million in JRA prize-money. That figure points to a horse who was able to compete productively at a high level and keep collecting major placings and cheques even without building a long list of wins.

That makes Sounds of Earth an interesting example of a racehorse whose reputation rests less on quantity of victories than on durability and class. Across 30 starts, he stayed in strong company long enough to amass earnings far beyond what is typical for a two-win horse. In archive terms, he stands out as a reminder that a race record can tell two stories at once: one in wins, and another in sustained competitiveness.

He has since been listed as retired. The available record does not support further details on his later life, but his racing career remains easy to recognize for its unusual shape—light on wins, heavy on high-level value—and for the strong major-stable framework of Shadai Farm, Teruya Yoshida, and Kenichi Fujioka that carried him through it.

Sources

• netkeiba: Sounds of Earth
• JBIS horse profile