In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. With plenty of interest from an American-bred perspective this weekend, here are the runners for Saturday's programs at Tokyo and Hanshin Racecourses. A pair of juveniles will be features in this space in Sunday's TDN:
4th-TOK, ¥13,400,000 ($96k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1400m
GREAT SAND SEA (c, 2, Into Mischief–Game for More, by More Than Ready), purchased for $385,000 at Keeneland September with an eye on the juvenile sales, was the recipient of a nice pedigree update a short time thereafter when his year-younger half-brother Giant Game (Giant's Causeway) finished third in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. The Apr. 6 foal, also a half-brother to the versatile MGSW & GISP Isotherm (Lonhro {Aus}) and to GISP Gio Game (Gio Ponti), did his part to enhance his value by working a furlong in :10 flat ahead of this year's OBS April Sale and was hammered down for $825,000. Yuga Kawada takes the ride. B-H Allen Poindexter (KY)
5th-HSN, ¥13,400,000 ($96k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1200mT
SMOKIN' BILLY (c, 2, Free Drop Billy–Buy for Less, by Bodemeister) made just $8,500 as a weanling at Keeneland November in 2020, but improved into a $40,000 Fasig-Tipton October yearling and fetched a strong $230,000 at OBS April after he breezed in :10 flat. That price ranks as the highest of 17 juveniles (19 ring) reported as sold from the first crop of his sire (by Union Rags). Smokin' Billy is the first foal from a winning daughter of SW Ayla Bella (Touch Gold). B-Mullikin Thoroughbreds (KY)
6th-HSN, ¥13,400,000 ($96k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1400m
JOVIAN (c, 2, Justify–Runway Doll, by Majestic Warrior) debuts in the yellow-and-red silks of Kazumi Yoshida, with the visiting Cristian Demuro set to take the reins aboard the $250,000 OBS March breezer (:9 4/5). A half-brother to an Uncle Mo colt that sold to Donegal Racing for $200,000 at the Fasig-Tipton July sale, the bay is out of a half-sister to SW Song Warrior (Songandaprayer), who was acquired by this breeder for $380,000 in foal to American Pharoh at KEENOV in 2018. B-DS Stable LLC (KY)
ESSENTIAL ONE (f, 2, Bernardini–Indelible, by Tiznow) was acquired in utero for $130,000 at the 2019 Keeneland November Sale about 12 months before her dam's 'TDN Rising Star' half-brother Essential Quality (Tapit) closed a championship season with a victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. On the heels of that success, Indelible was put through the 2020 Fasig-Tipton November Sale, where she realized a final bid of $1.6 million from Japan's Nobutaka Tada. This is the family of champion Folklore (Tiznow), whose daughter Rhodochrosite (Unbridled's Song) is the dam of Japanese Triple Crown hero Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}). B-Ocala Stud, J Michael O'Farrell Jr & William J Terrill (FL)
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