Pixie Knight

[5] In the Shumeigiku Sho over the same distance at Hanshin Racecourse in November he started favourite but finished third behind Blue Spirit and Grande Fiore, beaten two and a quarter lengths by the winner.

[7] After a break of almost three months he returned in the Grade 3 Arlington Cup at Hanshin when he started second favourite but finished fourth behind Ho O Amazon, Rickenbacker and Raymond Barows after leading for most of the way.

[8] Pixie Knight was dropped back to sprint distances on 4 July for the Grade 3 CBC Sho a handicap race over 1200 metres at Kokura Racecourse, which saw him matched against older horses for the first time.

In a change of tactics he was restrained by Fukunaga in the early stages before producing a strong late run but failed by half a length to overhaul the five-year-old First Force who was carrying a kilogram less.

From the beginning of his career, I’ve always believed in the strength and potential this colt obtains and have voiced it too, but to be honest, I never thought he would give such a strong performance and land a Grade 1 win this fast.

[11] Pixie Knight went on to race at the Hong Kong Sprint held at Sha Tin Racecource, where he was involved in a four-horse spill that led to two other horses being euthanized.

[12][13][14][15][16] Pixie Knight finally returned to the race track at the Takamatsunomiya Kinen on March 26, 2023, with Keita Tosaki as his new jockey as Fukunaga retired to become a horse trainer,[17] but came in 13th place behind First Force.

Pixie Knight's former jockey Yuichi Fukunaga