Maurice, is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse. After showing promise as a two-year-old he disappointed in 2014, being well-beaten in all four of his races. In 2015 he emerged as one of the best milers in the world with an unbeaten record of six wins from six races. After two minor wins early in the year he recorded his first important success in the Lord Derby Challenge Trophy before taking the Grade I Yasuda Kinen. He returned in autumn to win the Mile Championship and then defeated a strong international field in the Hong Kong Mile. His performances in 2015 saw him named Best Japanese Sprinter or Miler and Japanese Horse of the Year. In the following year he won the Champions Mile before moving up i distance in the autumn to win the Tenno Sho and the Hong Kong Cup.

The Yasuda Kinen is a Japanese International Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at the Tokyo Racecourse in Tokyo. Raced annually each June, the Yasuda Kinen is run at a distance of eight furlongs on turf and is open to horses three years of age and up. The event was first run in 1951 as the Yasuda Sho in honor of Izaemon Yasuda, the founding chairman of the Japan Racing Association. Following the death of Mr. Yasuda, in 1958 the race name was changed to the Yasuda Kinen.