Horse racing: 7-time Japanese G1 champion T M Opera O dies

T M Opera O, whose seven G1 race victories are tied for most by a Japanese horse, has died of a heart attack, the Japan Racing Association announced Sunday.The 22-year-old stallion was Japan's horse of the year in 2000, when he won eight major races including five in the G1 category. T M Opera O was inducted into the JRA Hall of Fame in 2004.T M Opera O competed in 26 races, all with jockey Ryuji Wada aboard, and won 14 of those. At the time of his retirement after his final G1 victory in the Arima Kinen, the horse's total earnings were a record 1.835 billion yen ($16.56 million). That reco…READ FULL ARTICLE