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Shonan Pandora (Japanese ショウナンパンドラ, foaled 10 March 2011) is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare, best known for her victory in the 2015 Japan Cup. After finishing second on her only start as a juvenile in 2013 the filly made steady progress in the following year and won the Grade 1 Shuka Sho on her penultimate appearance. She reached her peak in 2015 when she finished third in the Takarazuka Kinen, won the Sankei Sho All Comers and ran fourth in the Tenno Sho before defeating a strong international field to take the Japan Cup. Her performances that year saw her being awarded the JRA Award for Best Older Filly or Mare. She was retired from racing after finishing third twice as a five-year-old.
She is from the fourth crop of foals sired by Deep Impact, who was the Japanese Horse of the Year in 2005 and 2006, winning races including the Tokyo Yushun, Tenno Sho, Arima Kinen and Japan Cup. Deep Impact's other progeny include Gentildonna, Harp Star, Kizuna, A Shin Hikari, Satono Diamond and Makahiki. Shonan Pandora's dam Cutie Gold failed to win a race in five attempts but was a half-sister of the leading racehorse and sire Stay Gold. She was a female-line descendant of the British broodmare Salecraft, a half-sister of the Epsom Derby winner Straight Deal.
On 19 October at Kyoto, Shonan Pandora was one of seventeen three-year-old fillies to contest the Grade 1 Shuka Sho, the third leg of the Japanese Fillies' Triple Crown. The Yushun Himba winner Nuovo Record started odds-on favourite ahead of Red Reveur (Hanshin Juvenile Fillies) with Shonan Pandora being made the Fractional odds third choice in the betting. Ridden by Suguru Hamanaka, Shonan Pandora raced in mid-division before moving up to track the leaders on the final turn. She moved up on the inside rail to take the lead halfway down the straight and held off the late challenge of Nuovo Record to win by a neck. The winning time of 1:57.0 was a new record for the race. Explaining his tactics Hamanaka said "We got off to a very smooth start and I couldn’t have asked for a better position during the trip. We were able to turn for home without hitting a single bump. The turf on the inside was clearly faster so I was set on taking that route". He went on to say "We’ve always thought the world of her, but she matured a lot both mentally and physically over the summer. You can notice it right away in the workouts, in the races. She’s a G1 winner now so I hope she keeps racing well and lives up to that title from here on".
On her final run of the year Shonan Pandora was matched against older fillies and mares in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup at Kyoto in November and finished sixth behind the four-year-old Lachesis.
On 29 November Shonan Pandora was one of sixteen horses to contest the 35th running of the Japan Cup over 2400 metres at Tokyo and was made the 8.2/1 fourth choice in the betting market behind Lovely Day, Gold Ship and Mikki Queen (Yushun Himba, Shuka Sho). The race attracted four challengers from Europe, namely Trip To Paris, Erupt (Grand Prix de Paris), Nightflower (Preis von Europa) and Ito (Grosser Preis von Bayern). The best-fancied of the other Japanese runners were Sounds of Earth and Last Impact (Kyoto Daishoten). Ikezoe settled the filly in mid-division as the outsider Curren Mirotic set the pace, but began to make steady progress approaching the final turn. Lovely Day went to the front in the straight but Shonan Pandora launched a strong challenge on the outside, closely followed by Sounds of Earth, whilst Last Impact made rapid progress on the inside rail. The filly gained the advantage in the final strides and won by a neck from Last Impact with Lovely Day a neck away in third. The first fifteen finishers were covered by only four and a half lengths. Asked about the filly's future, her trainer Tomokazu Takano said "She is a very small-built filly and there are a lot of races in Japan where she could show her strength. It will be totally up to the owner. She is a filly with an independent mind. She isn't a bad horse but she is territorial". Ikezoe explained "For the Tenno Sho, she had been in good shape but we couldn’t get a good position. I felt that God was testing me, giving me this chance to make good on things. Today, I decided not to wait as much before making my move. I rode more aggressively. She was nicely in hand and feeling very supple and very light-footed. She gets that from her sire... there was a lot of bumping around. She got bumped too but it didn’t bother her. She squeezed through. Today, I really seriously rode to win. And, since I won, I think God would now approve".
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