“We partnered with WinStar on Tiznow and Folklore was in his first crop,” said Mark Taylor of Taylor Made Farm, where Folklore was raised. “She was bred by Bob and Beverly Lewis. At the time, they used several different trainers and Wayne Lukas was one of them. Folklore was kind of slated to go to the sale. We had others for them that were by more high-profile sires at the time, higher-bred yearlings. Lukas was told he could pick one. He locked on her right away. He didn't even look at the pedigree, didn't care who she was by or what her family was. He wanted her and he just knew. And of course she turned into a Breeders' Cup winner and a champion. She really kicked off Tiznow's stallion career, him being such a special horse in Breeders' Cup lore, then to get her in his first crop. I give Lukas a lot of credit. He was right.”

Folklore, now 20 and still owned by a branch of the Lewis family, has a yearling filly by Practical Joke, a weanling filly by Yaupon, and was bred to Mo Donegal for 2024. Her first daughter is the dam of multiple Japanese champion and Triple Crown winner Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}).

Folklore (2003 bay mare, Tiznow–Contrive, by Storm Cat)

Lifetime record: Ch. 2yo filly, MGISW, 8-4-3-1, $945,500

Breeders' Cup connections: B/O-Robert Lewis & Beverly Lewis (KY); T-D. Wayne Lukas; J-Edgar Prado.

Current location: Taylor Made Farm, Nicholasville, Ky.

The post Catching Up with 2005 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Winner Folklore appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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To his immediate inside breaks Legalize (Constitution), a $500,000 OBSAPR purchase this past spring for a large partnership led by Twin Brook Stables, Belladonna Racing, Nice Guys Stables, and West Point Thoroughbreds, et. al, who is a half-brother to SW Workaholic (Sky Mesa); MSP Fouette (Nyquist); and GSP Tomato Bill (More Than Ready). This is the direct female line of GI Kentucky Oaks victress Summerly (Summer Squall).

Call Protection (Good Samaritan), a $340,000 pick up for Klaravich Stables at OBSAPR, will head to post for Chad Brown while the Heiligbrodt and Spendthrift Farm color-bearer Skelly Road (Mitole) will look to get his connections into the same winner's circle that 'TDN Rising Star' Booth (Mitole) did earlier in the meet. Ethan Energy (Uncle Mo), a homebred half-brother to MGSW Royal Charlotte (Cairo Prince) for Stonestreet will head out from the barn of Brad Cox. TJCIS PPs

3rd-GP, $50k, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, 1:50p.m. ET
Going to post for MyRacehorse and Mathis Stables, $375,000 OBSAPR grad Here's the Kicker (Liam's Map) will start her career in the sunshine state against a field of seven. Out of a half-sister to GISW Patternrecognition (Adios Charlie) and MSW Florida Fuego (Kantharos), the Todd Pletcher trainee hails from the family of GISW Battle of Midway (Smart Strike) and MSW & MGSP Moretti (Medaglia d'Oro). This is the extended family of champion female sprinter MGISW Musical Romance. TJCIS PPs

The post Oct. 22 Insights: Expensive Debuters Assemble at Keeneland Post-Dowager appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The country's most recent Triple Crown winner Contrail (Jpn) was the star of the foal section of the JRHA Select Sale in July, and the Shadai stallion is represented by two of his first-crop weanlings in the Mixed Sale. Lot 6 is a Contrail filly out of the American Grade I winner Mirth (Colonel John), while lot 11 is a half-brother to the GI Kentucky Oaks winner Cathryn Sophia (Street Boss). Contrail's sire Kitasan Black (Jpn) also has a youngster in the sale, lot 8, a filly out of the Argentinean champion race mare Elvas (Arg) (Catcher In The Rye).

A Kingman (GB) colt out of the well-related Deep Impact (Jpn) mare Ikat (Jpn) features as lot 9, while the sale opens with a son of Japanese champion sire-elect Lord Kanaloa (Jpn) out of the G2 Kilboy Estates S. winner Red Tea (GB) (Sakhee).

An international array of bloodlines can be found in the filly and broodmare section. Three daughters of Deep Impact are included, with two of them being the offspring of Argentinean Grade I winners. Of those, Culminate (Jpn), out of the champion three-year-old Cursora (Arg) (Candy Stripes), is offered as lot 111 in foal to Jim Bolger's 2,000 Guineas winner Poetic Flare (Ire).

The Heart's Cry (Jpn) mare Premiere Score (Jpn) is catalogued as lot 103 and is a winning daughter of the G2 Oaks d'Italia and G1 Premio Lydia Tesio victrix Final Score (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}) from the family of Irish Oaks winner Sea Of Class (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}). She has been covered by the Japanese Derby winner Rey De Oro (Jpn).

Another daughter of Heart's Cry catalogued as lot 151 is the three-year-old filly Lebens Beruf (Jpn), whose claims to being a future enticing broodmare prospect are backed up by her strong page. She is a three-parts-sister to the Japanese champion juvenile filly Danon Fantasy (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and out of the dual Grade 1 winner Life For Sale (Arg) (Not For Sale {Arg}).

The post International Bloodlines on Offer at Northern Farm Mixed Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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There were plenty of strands to an enthralling St Leger that would have made for good storylines: two of those, victory for Desert Hero with his owners present on Town Moor, or a final British Classic for Frankie Dettori, may well have propelled the dear old Classic to the front pages on Sunday. As it was, and for less obviously mainstream reasons, the win of Continuous was extremely satisfying. 

His success completed a full set of British Classics for Sunday Silence as paternal grandsire, with three of his sons having provided this quintet. The most significant contributor was of course Deep Impact (Jpn), Sunday Silence's most influential offspring, but Saturday provided the chance for Heart's Cry to have a posthumous moment in the limelight, some six months after his death at the age of 22, which came two years after he was pensioned at Shadai Stallion Station in Japan.

Heart's Cry, out of the dual Grade 3 winner Irish Dance (Jpn), herself a daughter of the Arc winner Tony Bin (Ire), has lived in the shadow of his more famous stud-mate Deep Impact. This is despite Heart's Cry having been the only horse to have beaten him on Japanese soil, in the G1 Arima Kinen in the year of Deep Impact's Triple Crown success. Heart's Cry was a year older, and after winning the G2 Shimbun Hai went on to run second in the Japanese Derby to another legend of the Shadai stallion ranks, King Kamehameha (Jpn). Campaigned at three, four and five, he will doubtless be best remembered as a racehorse for his defeat of Deep Impact, but he was beaten only a nose by the English-trained raider Alkaased in the Japan Cup a month before that, and after his Christmas Day triumph went on to Nad Al Sheba, where he was the easy winner of the Dubai Sheema Classic, with Ouija Board (GB) and Alexander Goldrun (Ire) among those to have finished behind him that day.

In 2007, both he and Deep Impact retired to Shadai's imposing stallion roster, and three years later they were first and second on the first-season sires' table. By 2012, Deep Impact was champion sire, a position he is only likely to relinquish this year, four seasons after his death. Heart's Cry worked his way up the table and has never been out of the top five stallions in Japan in the last decade, with his highest placing coming in 2019 when he was once again runner-up to his old rival.

In the 2,000 Guineas winner Saxon Warrior (Jpn), Oaks victrix Snowfall (Jpn) and this season's Derby, Irish Derby and Irish Champion S. winner Auguste Rodin (Jpn), we have seen Deep Impact blend well with mares by Galileo (Ire). It is fair to assume that that is where Fluff (Ire), the full-sister to Saxon Warrior's dam Maybe (Ire), was heading in 2019 in the season in which Deep Impact became incapacitated before his death in the August of that year. Heart's Cry stepped in and on Saturday, as Continuous unleashed a lethal injection of pace to cruise to make the front-running Gregory (GB) look as if he was standing still, it was easy to spot the thick silver lining to what may have once felt like a black cloud. 

Natagora (Fr), the 1,000 Guineas winner of 2008 after her previous season's victory in the G1 Cheveley Park S., is the only outlier to the group. Conceived during the three seasons in which her sire Divine Light (Jpn) stood in France, she is out of the Lagardere-bred Reinamixa (Fr) (Linamix {Fr}).

Deep Impact has also been represented by three French Classic winners in Study Of Man (Ire) and Beauty Parlour (GB), both out of Storm Cat-line mares, and Fancy Blue (Ire), whose dam is a full-sister to High Chaparral (Ire) (Sadler's Wells).

Heart's Cry can't match him in the depth of his haul of Group 1 winners but he has been no slouch himself. In Australia, he has sired the Cox Plate winner Lys Gracieux (Jpn) and the Caulfield Cup winner Admire Rakti (Jpn). The latter was another to have been out of a mare by an Arc winner, this one being Helissio (Fr), who also started his stud career at Shadai.

A nice postscript in the year of Heart's Cry's demise is that his son Suave Richard (Jpn), one of his two winners of the Japan Cup, is currently leading the freshman sires' table in Japan. 

What will arguably be most important to Japan on the reputational front, however, is if Heart's Cry appears as the sire of an Arc winner himself. It's a tall order to turn out a relatively lightly-raced colt again just 15 days after his St Leger triumph but it is hard not to feel that Continuous, who will need to be supplemented, has much in his favour to make an impact at Longchamp on the first Sunday of October. 

The only thing that would make the Japanese fans happier on Arc day than a win for Continuous would be if the spoils went instead to Through Seven Seas (Jpn). The five-year-old mare is by Dream Journey (Jpn), a grandson of Sunday Silence, and she was last seen running the mighty Equinox (Jpn) to a neck in the G1 Takarazuka Kinen in June. Trained by Tomohito Ozeki, Through Seven Seas arrived in Chantilly on Friday and is boarding at Nicolas Clement's stable in the build-up to the Arc.

More than thirty Japanese horses have tried their luck in vain in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Will Through Seven Seas be the one to put an end to this quest for the ultimate title? #Qatar #ArcDeTriomphe @Q_REC @JRA_WorldRacing @HorseRacing_JPN @christo68914587 pic.twitter.com/uovN16Xfva

— France Galop (@francegalop) September 16, 2023

A Valued Test

While there is plenty of head-shaking at the shuffling off to National Hunt studs of St Leger winners in this part of the world (NB: this doesn't prevent Flat breeders from using their services), the picture is entirely different in Japan.

As Triple Crown winners, Deep Impact and his immensely popular young stallion son Contrail (Jpn) of course both won Japan's St Leger equivalent, the Kikuka Sho. So did Kitasan Black (Jpn), the sire of Equinox and the busiest stallion in Japan this year with 242 mares covered. So too did Orfevre (Jpn), who was beaten a neck into second in the following year's Arc, and also Epipheneaia (Jpn), who went on to win the Japan Cup and sired the Fillies' Triple Crown winner Daring Tact (Jpn) in his first crop. They too remain popular members of the Shadai roster. 

Another For the Late Adlerflug

Doncaster's was not the only St Leger to be run over the weekend, as the German equivalent was also staged at Dortmund on Sunday, though this, like the Irish St Leger, has in recent years been opened up to older horses. 

This year's winner, the Gestut Hof Ittlingen homebred Lordano (Ger), is a four-year-old, and the son of Adlerflug (Ger) went one better than his full-brother Loft (Ger), who was second in the same race two years ago.

The most famous member of this family that has served Ittlingen so well, in international terms at least, is Lando (Ger) (Acetanango {Ger}), a full-brother to their grand-dam, Laurella (GB). At home, Lando took the scalp of Monsun (Ger) in the Deutsches Derby and in the following season's Grosser Preis von Baden. Twice named German Horse of the Year, he spread his wings to win two Group 1 races in Italy and, finally, the Japan Cup of 1995. He makes an appearance in modern-day pedigrees most usually as the damsire of the talented but subfertile Farhh (GB), who already has four young sons at stud: Far Above (Ire), King Of Change (GB), Wells Farhh Go (Ire) and Dee Ex Bee (GB).

Despite twice beating Monsun (Ger), Lando could not be held in the same regard as him as an influence at stud. In reflecting on Monsun's reign it is worth remembering that his sire Konigsstuhl (Ger) won the German Triple Crown, while his damsire, the Deutsches Derby winner Surumu (Ger), also features as the paternal grandsire of Lando.

Class will out, if only we give it a chance.

Hotter Still

As the two-year-old racing steps up a notch in Europe, it is hard not to be impressed with the start Too Darn Hot (GB) has made to his stud career. 

After the previous weekend's victory for his daughter Fallen Angel (GB), whose owner-breeder Steve Parkin outlined plans for his own stallion operation in Monday's TDN, Too Darn Hot was represented by another eye-catching success in the facile winner of the G2 May Hill S., Darnation (Ire), for owner-bredeer Newtown Anner Stud.

Karl Burke is the trainer behind both of these fillies and he's pretty darn hot himself at the moment with a 30% strike-rate. Burke also provided Ballyhane Stud's Soldier's Call (GB) with his first group winner over the weekend in the G3 Prix Eclipse scorer Dawn Charger (Ire), as well as winning the Listed Stand Cup S. at Chester with Al Qareem (Ire) (Awtaad {Ire}). At Ireland's Champions Festival, Burke had also saddled G2 Dullingham Park S. winner Flight Plan (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}).

Another highly impressive juvenile performance at Doncaster came from Iberian (Ire), winner of the G2 Champagne S. for Charlie Hills. The son of Lope De Vega (Ire) was bred by Ballylinch Stud, who retained a share in him when he was bought by Johnny McKeever on his trainer's behalf, and Ballylinch now races him in partnership with Teme Valley Racing. With luck we will see this progressive colt next in the Dewhurst.

Lope De Vega, whose first-crop son Belardo (Ire) won the Dewhurst in 2014 and was also bred by Ballylinch, has sired more winners (138) in Europe than any other stallion so far this year, and that haul includes 14 black-type winners. 

Iberian's success capped a good 36 hours for bloodstock agent Johnny McKeever, who saw two of his in-training selections for the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott stable land group wins in Australia. Just Fine (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) won Saturday's G3 Kingston Town S. at Randwick after being bought from from last year's Horses-in-Training Sale, while Goffs London Sale purchase Military Mission (Ire) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) landed the G3 Newcastle Gold Cup.

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What's really important, of course, is what happens in two or three years' time when these youngsters make it to the track, but the first test, on the commercial market, has been passed with flying colours. Graduating at the head of his class was lot 360, the Northern Farm-bred colt out of Argentinean Grade I winner Conviction (Arg) (City Banker {Arg}), who made Monday's yearling trade look almost abstemious when bringing a sale-topping price of ¥520 million ($3.7m).

“This is my gift to the new trainer,” said buyer Koji Maeda of North Hills, who bred the sleek, near-black Contrail and posed with the trainer-to-be, Yuichi Fukunaga, who is better known for now as the jockey who steered Maeda's star Contrail to five Grade I victories, consisting of the Japanese Triple Crown, the Japan Cup, and the Hopeful S. as a two-year-old.

A brother to two winners to date, the Contrail colt became the third-most expensive foal ever to be sold at the JRHA Select Sale and he was not the only foal by the Shadai stallion to carry a hefty price tag.

With an average of ¥128.6m ($915,000) for 20 foals sold, Contrail's offspring at the Northern Horse Park included eight who changed hands for more than $1 million. Shinji Maeda, the brother of Koji in whose name Contrail raced, bought lot 329, who was consigned by Grand Stud and is out of Bye Bye Baby (Ire), a Group 3-winning daughter of Galileo (Ire) and sister to the Derby winner Serpentine (Ire). His second dam Remember When (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) is closely related to Dylan Thomas (Ire) and Homecoming Queen (Ire).

With several hours of trade left on Monday a new record aggregate for the foal session had been set, and by the time the 219 foals to have changed hands had all been rung through the till, the tally came in at ¥14.78 billion (£81.5m/€95.6m/$105.2m), which was up 11.5% on last year's trade. The day's clearance rate was 94.8%.

It follows then, with records achieved in each individual session, that the overall turnover was also at a new high of ¥28.1 billion (£155.2m/€182.1m/$200.4m)), from ¥25.8 billion last year. The average of ¥64.7 million (£356,820/€418,738/$460,793) was up from ¥57.6 million in 2022, and the clearance rate for the two days was 96%.

Throughout both sessions, only four horses were sold to non-Japanese owners. A new buyer from Hong Kong, Karson Ka Ching Cheng, signed for two foals, and Sheikh Fahad of Qatar Racing, bought a yearling filly by Suave Richard (Jpn). The extraordinary level of trade for both yearlings and foals is yet another emphatic indication of the extraordinary interest and investment in racing and breeding in Japan.

Another Commercial St Leger Winner…

There were of course plenty of other stallions of note besides Contrail represented at the sale, and those with the most significant results were almost all racehorses who plied their trade at the highest level at a mile and a half-plus. 

The Japanese St Leger and Japan Cup winner Epiphaneia (Jpn) now has not just his half-brother Saturnalia (Jpn) but also his son, the 2021 JRA Horse of the Year Efforia (Jpn), alongside him at the Shadai Stallion Station. Epiphaneia proved from the outset that he could get a good one when his first-crop daughter Daring Tact (Jpn) won the Fillies' Triple Crown, and he remains popular in Hokkaido. 

Among his best-selling foals was lot 417, a half-brother to the Grade I-winning miler Schnell Meister (Ger) (Kingman {GB}) out of the G1 Preis der Diana winner Serienholde (Ger), a daughter of Soldier Hollow (GB).

Oh to live in a country where you can send an Oaks winner to a St Leger winner and have a hugely commercial foal. That's not uncommon in Japan, and Serienholde's colt sold for ¥300 million ($2.1m) to Tabata Toshihiko. He wasn't the most expensive foal by Epiphaneia, however. That honour went to lot 332, Northern Farm's son of Pixie Hollow (Jpn) (King Halo {Jpn}) who is already the dam of champion sprinter Pixie Knight (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}). He was sold for ¥330 million ($2.3m) to Susumu Fujita.

…And Another 

Kitasan Black (Jpn) played a leading role in Monday's yearling session, and he opened the batting for the foals in similar style when his elegant young son out of the Monsun (Ger) mare Fadillah (Ger) sold for ¥280 million ($2.65m). 

The 10-year-old mare, a dual winner in England, was bought from the Tattersalls December Sale by Katsumi Yoshida for 700,000gns and her family continues to thrive. Her second dam Sacarina (GB) (Old Vic {GB}) established a notable dynasty in Germany where she is the dam of the Classic winners Samum (Ger), Schiaparelli (GB) and Salve Regina (Ger), who are all by Fadillah's sire Monsun. Another of their full-siblings is Sanwa (Ger), the dam of German Derby winner Sea The Moon (Ger), who last weekend sired the winner of that same race, Fantastic Moon (Ger). The family has also been represented this season by the Derby Italiano winner Goldenas (Ire) (Golden Horn {GB}), a great grandson of Sacarina.

The final foal of the day to breach the million-dollar mark came when lot 499, the last by Kitasan Black to grace the ring, was knocked down after a boisterous exchange of shouting bid-spotters at ¥290 million ($2m). The colt in question is out of the treble winner War Chronicle (Jpn) (War Emblem), whose half-siblings Chrono Genesis (Jpn) and Normcore (Jpn) are both Grade I winners.

She Still Reigns

The aforementioned Saturnalia, the half-brother to Epiphaneia whose win in the G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2,000 Guineas) earned him the title of champion three-year-old of his generation, had his first yearlings on sale on Monday.

From his second crop came a filly foal out of the Golden Slipper winner and Australian champion juvenile filly, She Will Reign (Aus). The daughter of Manhattan Rain (Aus) has had just one foal to race to date, and that is the G2 Kyoto Shimbun Hai runner-up Danon Tornado (Jpn). Her youngest daughter will eventually race in the same colours, having been bought for ¥200 million ($1.4m) by Masahiro Noda of Danox Co Ltd.

Gentildonna's Sister for HK Owner

If you're planning to get involved at the pricey JRHA Select Sale, it helps if your name is Ka Ching. Karson Ka Ching Cheng, to use the new buyer's full name, is no stranger to top-class winners on the track as his father Keung Fai Cheng raced the Hong Kong Derby winner Designs On Rome (Ire), whose success on the island was legion.

Cheng Jr made his first visit to the sale worthwhile with the purchase of a filly foal with one of the best pedigrees in the book. He bought the half-sister to dual Horse of the Year Gentildonna (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) for ¥210 million ($1.5m). The daughter of Drefong is the final foal of Donna Blini (GB) (Bertolini), winner of the G1 Cheveley Park S. in her racing days in England and also the dam of G3 Sekiya Kinen winner Donau Blue (Jpn). The latter is a full-sister to the six-time Group 1 winner Gentildonna and both sisters are now stakes producers. Gentildonna's daughter Geraldina (Jpn) (Maurice {Jpn}) won the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup in November. The family also includes Japanese Derby winner Roger Barows (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), who is out of Donna Blini's half-sister Little Book (GB) (Librettist).

Cheng, who plans to race the Drefong filly in Japan eventually, said, “I was underbidder on Donna Blini's yearling yesterday. I liked her on type and I love the foal, too.”

The mare's yearling filly from the final crop of Duramente sold for the same price (¥210m) to TN Racing. 

Cheng returned later to buy a Lord Kanaloa (Jpn) half-brother to G2 Kinko Sho winner Gibeon (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) from Shadai Farm for ¥200 million ($1.4m). The colt's dam Contested (Ghostzapper) won the GI Acorn S. and is out of a half-sister to the GI King's Bishop S. winner Pomeroy.

That's a Wrap

Teruya Yoshida, acting chairman of the JRHA and head of Shadai Farm, was out photographing foals during the inspection session at 8am, and almost 12 hours later he gave a televised address to the media as two days of frenetic action came to a close.

“The market was surprisingly strong and we welcome the many new buyers,” he said. “The yen is quite weak at the moment, which was why some more foreign visitors attended, and we hoped that they would be more involved, but I think that the increased prices were beyond what they were expecting.”

Thirty-five foals sold for more than a million dollars on Tuesday, including six by Kitasan Black and eight by his younger stud-mate Contrail. Across the sale as a whole, 63 horses surpassed that mark.

Yoshida continued, “Kitasan Black has of course had the champion Equinox and Satsuki Sho winner Sol Oriens this season, so that has enhanced his popularity.

“Contrail is not a big stallion but his foals are well balanced with good conformation, and in addition to that many people think favourably of him as a Triple Crown winner, so that has increased their desire to buy his stock.”

In an earlier interview with TDN, Yoshida had spoken of Deep Impact's great influence in succeeding his own dominant sire Sunday Silence at Shadai Stallion Station.

“Maybe Contrail will come next,” he said. Maybe he's right.

The post Contrail Steals the Show as Maeda’s Gift Horse Tops JRHA appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Both they and the young horses in their care are well prepared for the two inspection days ahead, despite having only arrived on the sales ground that morning. For months now, the Japanese trainers and agents have been doing the rounds of the farms on Hokkaido and will have their lists, long and short, ready for refinement. Visitors only now arriving in Japan need not fear, however, as this is almost certainly the best organised sale they are ever likely to attend. 

Reams of staff are on hand at each consignment, with the next horse waiting patiently alongside the viewer's allotted runway for the one in front of him to finish. Crib sheets are available, detailing weights and heights, and, perhaps most usefully, their reserve prices. One can only imagine the hullabaloo that would break out were this system to be suggested for use at European sales, but really it would save an awful lot of faffing and faking.

Katsumi Yoshida, whose Northern Farm bred the world's top-rated horse Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}), is very much the man at the helm of Japan's biggest bloodstock auction. It is, after all, held in his vast park, which is both a tourist destination and competition ground for all manner of equines, from ponies to showjumpers. Extraordinarily, in the midst of it all, one of the most celebrated broodmares in Japan lives here in her dotage. Wind In Her Hair (Ire) (Alzao), a granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II's dual Classic winner Highclere (GB), is now 32 and has outlived her most famous son, Deep Impact (Ire), while another, Black Tide (Jpn), and many of their descendants, continue to feature prominently in the pedigrees of the young stock to be offered for sale on Monday and Tuesday. 

The days of Deep Impact's stock dominating this auction are now long gone, with the dual Derby winner Auguste Rodin (Ire) one of the members of his small final crop. There has been another sad farewell in the Japanese stallion ranks for Duramente (Jpn), a former winner of the first two legs of the Japanese Triple Crown who died two years ago at the age of nine, just as his offspring were starting to show real promise. 

This season, his daughter Liberty Island (Jpn) has carried the flag forward by securing the first two stages of the Triple Tiara, with just the Shuka Sho left to come on October 15. Her sire's final batch of yearlings on offer at the Select Sale numbers 14 and includes a half-sister to a filly who has already been adorned with the Triple Tiara and so much more. Offered as lot 94, the Duramente filly is the penultimate offspring of the Scottish-born Donna Blini (GB) (Bertolini), winner of the G1 Cheveley Park S. when trained by Brian Meehan and then bought by Katsumi Yohisda as a broodmare prospect for Northern Farm. And what a signing she turned out to be. Most celebrated of her offspring is her daughter Gentildonna (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), twice Horse of the Year in Japan and now a Group 1 producer herself, while her full-sister Donau Blue (Jpn) is a Grade 3 winner and stakes producer. What a family, and there are two chances to buy Donna Blini's offspring this week as her final foal, a Drefong filly, will enter the ring alongside her mother on Tuesday as lot 321.

This is another unusual feature of the Select Sale. Given the time of year, most of the 240 foals for sale are not yet weaned from their dams, and they appear as pairs on the morning of the sale during a viewing session of several hours before trade begins. They later return to their home farm, usually under new ownership, for weaning to take place eventually. 

Ready for action at the Northern Farm draft | Emma Berry

Before that, there are around 220 yearlings to go under the gavel on Monday. There are a few by European-based stallions, notably a full-brother to the Breeders' Cup and Prix Jean Romanet heroine Audarya (Fr), who does a very passing impression of his Coolmore sire Wootton Bassett (GB) and is catalogued in the Shadai draft as lot 102. Similarly eye-catching is his draft-mate, lot 158, a colt from the second crop of the American champion turf horse Bricks And Mortar, who appears to be stamping his stock pretty well. 

Those stallions with first-crop yearlings on offer include Classic winner Saturnalia (Jpn), whose average price at last year's foal session was almost 15 times his stud fee and who is represented by 13 yearlings and 17 foals this time around. The latter group includes a filly out of the Golden Slipper winner She Will Reign (Aus) (Manhattan Rain {Aus}) as lot 345.

Two-year-old champion and Hong Kong Mile winner Admire Mars (Jpn) also has his first yearlings at Northern Horse Park, as does Juddmonte's Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Siskin, who is now at Shadai Stallion Station. The GI Arkansas Derby winner Nadal, who has developed into an imposing animal, is also in that category, along with the Scat Daddy horse and Japanese Grade 1 winner Mr Melody, who stands at Yushun Stallion Station. 

Hotly anticipated, especially by their sire's owner Teruya Yoshida, are the first foals of Triple Crown winner Contrail (Jpn). One or more of his 21 youngsters may well steal the limelight during the second session, in which four foals from the first crop of Classic winner Poetic Flare (Ire) also feature.

It is the first year since the pandemic struck that visitors have been able to travel easily to Japan, and this comes at a time when Japanese horses have been riding high across world racing. The Dubai World Cup winner Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) graduated from this sale as a foal back in 2017 for ¥25,000,000 (£137,000/€160,000). His fellow winner at Meydan, the G2 UAE Derby hero Derma Sotogake (Jpn) (Mind Your Biscuits), hailed from the yearling session of 2021, bought for ¥18,000,000 (£98,000/€115,000). 

Their success, along with the likes of Saudi Cup winner Panthalassa (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) and another Dubai World Cup night winner, the aforementioned Equinox, all point to this being yet another blockbuster auction for the JRHA.

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Smallish in stature but a Goliath in influence and reputation, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Northern Dancer gave the European breeding industry many stars including, crucially, Sadler's Wells, whose line holds strong predominantly through Galileo (Ire) and his heir apparent, Frankel (GB). Northern Dancer also blessed Japan with an important influence in Northern Taste, bought as a yearling at Saratoga in 1972 by Zenya Yoshida before winning the G1 Prix de la Foret and then establishing a formidable stud career as the most successful stallion Japan had ever seen. Until Sunday Silence came along.

The latter, who inherited the feisty temperament of his sire Halo and was handed far-from-perfect conformation, had a storyline that was as chequered as it is fabled. Sunday Silence famously found little favour with American breeders when he retired from racing, despite having won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness S. and Breeders' Cup Classic, all the while engaging in a gripping two-season battle with Easy Goer. His part-owner Arthur Hancock III decided, wisely at the time, to quit while he was ahead with the near-black horse who had played a significant part in saving his Stone Farm from bankruptcy. With Sunday Silence already part-owned by Zenya Yoshida, who had bought into him at the end of his three-year-old season, the rest of the stallion was offered for sale to stand in Japan without ever covering a mare in Kentucky. It was very much America's loss.

Yoshida, whose sons Teruya, Katsumi and Haruya now dominate Japanese racing and breeding, died when members of Sunday Silence's first crop were still yearlings. Little could he have envisaged the influence the horse would have 30 years later, not just within the Shadai Stallion Station, where 14 of the 32 resident stallions are his male-line descendants, but across Japan and beyond. This year, on the Epsom Downs and the Curragh, his grandson Auguste Rodin (Ire) has given a mighty last shake of the rattle to Sunday Silence's most powerful son, Deep Impact (Jpn), who died woefully early at just 17, in 2019. Who now will pick up the baton for this line of succession?

Kizuna (Jpn), the second of Deep Impact's seven winners of the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), started well by becoming the champion first-season sire of 2019, and he is currently sitting in third place in the Japanese sires' table behind Lord Kanaloa (Jpn) and the late Duramente (Jpn), both of whom are sons of King Kamehameha (Jpn), who himself died just a fortnight after Deep Impact. It is quite clear, however, which horse Teruya Yoshida, head of Shadai Farm, wishes to see take up the mantle. 

“Contrail (Jpn) is coming this year and my first impression is that he could be a very good stallion–maybe Coolmore will start to send their mares again,” he says of the horse who emulated Deep Impact when winning the Japanese Triple Crown in 2020 and was a champion in each of his three seasons on the track, culminating in victory in the Japan Cup. Contrail's first foals will be on display this Tuesday during the JRHA Select Sale in Hokkaido's Northern Horse Park. 

His 21 youngsters catalogued include a son of the Argentinean Grade I winner Conviction (Arg) (City Banker {Arg}). The February-born colt, who is lot 360 in the Northern Farm draft, has been issued a reserve price of ¥50,000,000 (approximately £274,000 or €320,000) in a system which is unique to Japan, and which would knock hours off sales in other jurisdictions, whereby the auctioneer opens the bidding at the published reserve. 

Much is made of the turf/dirt debate, but the divide can be slim when it comes to horses acting on the respective surfaces. The 'dirt horse' Sunday Silence begat Deep Impact, who raced solely on turf, but rarely on anything easier than firm, and whose dam was the Irish-bred Wind In Her Hair (Alzao), herself only three generations down from Northern Dancer. American influences have long been strong in Japan, and the current flavour of the month, maybe more, is the dirt sprinter Mind Your Biscuits (Posse), who waltzed off with leading freshman honours last year. He is the sire of the wide-margin winner of the G2 UAE Derby, Derma Sotogake (Jpn), who went on to finish sixth in the Kentucky Derby.

“Mind Your Biscuits covered more than 200 mares this year,” says Yoshida. “The really good mares are still going to turf stallions but most of the breeders in Japan with more ordinary mares have a tendency to go to stallions who run on dirt. Most of the races in Japan are performed on dirt, so that's what the buyers want, and they have a dream to go to Dubai or to the Kentucky Derby.”

He adds, “We keep trying to buy good stallion prospects, not only from America, and sometimes they turn out to be good, but not every time. It's the same with yearlings.”

A slower burner among the younger stallion brigade in Japan has been Kitasan Black (Jpn). The winner of seven Grade 1 races, from 10 furlongs to two miles, he is a son of Deep Impact's brother Black Tide (Jpn), who plies his trade at the Breeders Stallion Station. Kitasan Black moved in to the Shadai Stallion Station on his retirement in 2018 and, though not under-subscribed, he wouldn't have been among the busiest on the roster. However, from his first batch of 84 foals emerged the horse now being ascribed superstar status, Equinox (Jpn), while his second crop contained this year's Japanese 2,000 Guineas winner and Derby second Sol Oriens (Jpn). His numbers, unsurprisingly, are on the up.

“People are very keen on Kitasan Black,” says Yoshida. “He produces very tough horses, but he wasn't so popular at the start. Now, from this year, people have started to breed their best mares to him, and he's a very fertile horse.”

While we already knew that Equinox, currently the top-rated horse in the world, would not be appearing in Europe this season, it is now almost certain that he won't leave his home nation again, even for the Breeders' Cup, with the Japan Cup on November 26 his key target before retirement.

Equinox is not alone in avoiding Britain this season. There were no Japanese runners at Royal Ascot, and nor will there be at York and Goodwood. And it's not just the lower level of prize-money in the UK that is an issue.

European classification of the racing is very correct. If we buy Group 2 or Group 3 mares in Europe, that is their true level.

Yoshida says, “English racing is not easy for us. If Japanese horses go to Europe during the summer when it's dry then maybe we have a better chance of success, but we have many races in Japan too, so it is not easy to send a horse to Europe to race.”

The expanding racing programme and huge sums of money on offer in the Gulf nations through the winter are already having an effect on the horse population in Europe, and it may well mean that we will see fewer Japanese horses contesting races on the more irregular and often undulating tracks of Britain, Ireland and France. 

“We are racing [on the Flat] all year round, so it is easier for us to send horses to race in the Middle East in February and March,” Yoshida explains. “For European horses it is not so easy as there are not the big races through the winter. Japanese horses like fast ground and level ground. In England, the courses are more natural and it's not so easy for Japanese horses. In Dubai or Saudi it is more similar to racing in Japan. If we go to Europe we can encounter soft ground or a different way of running.”

One thing that is unlikely to change is the frequency with which Japanese buyers appear at the European sales.

“We are looking for good horses from anywhere in the world and buying the good-quality mares from Europe is very important,” says Yoshida. “European classification of the racing is very correct. If we buy Group 2 or Group 3 mares in Europe, that is their true level. In some other countries we can't believe in it, but if we buy them in Europe we know that they are good-class horses.”

And it is not only in America that the Yoshida family goes shopping for stallions. Jim and Jackie Bolger's 2,000 Guineas winner Poetic Flare (Ire) joined the Shadai roster last year and is another with first foals at the forthcoming JRHA Sale. While Harbinger (GB) remains at Shadai, his fellow King George winner Novellist (Ger) has moved to Lex Stud.

Yoshida says, “We had very good success with Tony Bin (Ire), an Italian winner of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Everybody said at the start that he was so-so but he became a very good stallion. We don't know until we try. That happens with horses. Nobody knows what will happen. Like Wootton Bassett (GB), at the start people didn't care so much but now that has changed.”

He continues, “Sunday Silence became so good and now he is grandsire of the English Derby winner. It was great for Coolmore to send their best mare to breed to Deep Impact, and then for [Auguste Rodin] to turn out to be so good, and now a stallion prospect.

“I was a bit apprehensive when I saw him walking from the parade ring to the starting gate because he was dancing, and you want mile-and-a-half horses to be relaxed, but he always does it and still he runs well.”

If my father hadn't bought the farm in Kentucky, this wouldn't have happened. Economy-wise, it was a big mistake because we lost a lot of money in having that farm, but in the end we got the best investment ever.

Sunday Silence himself did a little more than just dance when he was in training but, still, he ran well. So too did many of his offspring.

“Most of our good runners in Japan now have Sunday Silence blood somewhere,” Yoshida says, and casts his mind back to his own days in the Bluegrass.

“My father bought a farm in Kentucky, and it was very near to Arthur Hancock's farm. I was there for four or five years and during that time I became a good friend of Arthur. When Sunday Silence appeared I congratulated Arthur and he suggested to me that we should own some of the horse. 

“After that he found that not many people were interested in him as a stallion in America and he asked me to buy the horse. I bought the horse without any hesitation. At the time, $11 million was very expensive, but the Japanese economy was very good and we were able to say yes. It was the luckiest moment in my life.”

He adds, “If my father hadn't bought the farm in Kentucky, this wouldn't have happened. Economy-wise, it was a big mistake because we lost a lot of money in having that farm, but in the end we got the best investment ever. Sunday Silence changed Japanese racing.”

And let's not forget, he arrived just before the end of Northern Taste's reign in the sires' championship in Japan, that ran from 1982 to 1992.

“If you look at the history of Kentucky Derby winners, not that many become really good stallions, so I understand why American breeders were cautious,” Yoshida notes. “But at that time we were very innocent in American racing so when they asked us if we wanted to buy the horse, we did it without hesitation. Lucky! Knowing too much is not always good.”

In the quest to continue a line that has become so dominant, Yoshida knows that despite having a number of sons of Deep Impact in the pipeline, not all will light the spark that could ignite a successful second career. 

“Look at Northern Dancer: as stallions, not all of his good sons became successful,” he says. “When I went to Saratoga to buy Northern Taste I didn't know he would become a Group 1 winner in Europe and that he would become the leading sire in Japan 11 years straight. He was a very inbred horse and I was a little bit worried about that. But he lived a long time, he died when he was almost 30 years old, and he was always a very healthy horse.”

Yoshida adds, “It was just lucky, and that happened in the beginning. Then Sunday Silence came. Then Deep Impact. Maybe Contrail will come next.”

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The 6-year-old Knicks Go earned a rating of 129 for his Classic win at Del Mar, and is widely expected to be named the U.S. Horse of the Year at the Eclipse Awards on Feb. 10 off a campaign that also included victories in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S., the GI Whitney S., the GIII Cornhusker H. and the GIII Lukas Classic S. Knicks Go, who is trained by Brad Cox and owned by the Korea Racing Authority, is set to defend his title in the Pegasus this weekend before heading to stud at Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky.

“He's got a ton of class and he's a very intelligent horse,” said trainer Brad Cox during the virtual ceremony. “He's been at this for a few years now. Some of the things that set Knicks Go apart from other very good horses is definitely his ability to shut off things mentally. He's aggressive training, but when he's finished training he takes a deep breath and relaxes. He's gotten better as he's gotten older mentally and I think that's one thing that really benefitted him this past season.

“Going into the Classic we had a lot of confidence in him. He was training really well and he obviously had a fantastic start to the season. We had a little bit of a setback with a race in New York, the [GI] Met Mile [when fourth], but then he really started capping off a nice string of races. Obviously his second half of the year was fantastic with big wins at Saratoga and Churchill, and ultimately the Breeders' Cup Classic was the race that put him in a position to become the top-rated horse in the world.

“He had a fantastic year and this was the cherry on the top with regards to what he could accomplish in 2021. It's a very prestigious honour to be mentioned along with the past recipients of this award, champions throughout the world, and to be at the top is just a true honour and something we're very proud of.”

A trio of European-trained runners were joint-second with ratings of 127. Godolphin's G1 Derby winner Adayar (GB) (Frankel {GB}) earned that mark with his win over older horses in the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S.-the Charlie Appleby-trained colt was the first 3-year-old to record the Derby/King George double since his grandsire Galileo 20 years earlier.

“It was a great performance from a great horse, and the horse is very straightforward to ride,” said jockey William Buick. “He won at Epsom, he won the King George against older horses. He's won in big fields, small fields, slow ground, faster ground, so he's very versatile. He is everything a good horse should be.”

Adayar, who stays in training at four, was the joint highest-rated 3-year-old in the world last year with the Coolmore partners' St Mark's Basilica (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), who went unbeaten in four starts on the season encompassing the French Classic double of the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains and the G1 Prix du Jockey Club, the G1 Coral Eclipse S. and the G1 Irish Champion S. to be named Europe's Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old colt. St Mark's Basilica, who covers his first book at Coolmore this season for €65,000, earned his rating of 127 in the Coral-Eclipse.

“St Mark's Basilica was a tremendous horse,” said jockey Ryan Moore. “He'd relax so well in his races and he'd just do whatever you wanted him to do; whatever you asked him to do, he'd do it straight away. So he was very unique, and the turn of foot was something exceptional. He was an excellent racehorse.”

Adayar and St Mark's Basilica were joined at 127 by Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}), who compiled an intercontinental Group 1 campaign. The 2020 G1 Prix du Jockey Club winner won the Saudi Cup before it achieved Group 1 status, as well as the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic in the Gulf region. He returned to Europe to hit the board behind St Mark's Basilica and Adayar in the Coral-Eclipse and the King George before romping by six lengths in the G1 Juddmonte International, where he earned a rating of 127. Mishriff is preparing to defend his Saudi Cup title next month.

Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) flew the flag for Japan last year, returning from his Triple Crown-winning campaign of 2020 to scoop the G1 Japan Cup, earning a rating of 126. Contrail's compatriot and G1 Tenno Sho Autumn conqueror Efforia (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) was also a worthy representative for Japan, earning marks of 124 for that victory and also for his win in the G1 Arima Kinen. Both of those were victories over older horses for the then-3-year-old. A rating of 124 was also earned by American runners Flightline (Tapit), Life Is Good (Into Mischief) and Medina Spirit (Protonico), as well as Australian sprinter Nature Strip (Aus) (Nicconi {Aus}).

Four runners from three different nations are tied on a rating of 125. Shadwell's Baaeed (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) burst onto the scene in June last year as a 3-year-old and eventually went unbeaten through a six-start campaign, culminating in wins in the G1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp and the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. The William Haggas-trained Baaeed earned a 125 for his win in the QEII, in which he beat the subsequent European champion older horse Palace Pier (GB) (Kingman {GB}). That was the John and Thady Gosden trainee's lone defeat during a season in which he took the G1 Lockinge S. (125 rating), G1 Queen Anne S. and G1 Prix Jacques le Marois. Palace Pier stands this season at Dalham Hall Stud for £55,000.

Torquator Tasso also achieved a mark of 125 for his victory in last year's world's highest-rated race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, in which he defeated a star-studded field at odds of 72-1. Torquator Tasso, owned by Gestut Auenquelle and trained by Marcel Weiss, had previously bested the G1 Deutsches Derby winner Sisfahan (Fr) (Isfahan {Ger}) in the G1 Grosser Preis von Baden, and was Germany's highest-rated horse last year.

Golden Sixty (Aus) proved the highest-rated Hong Kong-trained runner of 2021, earning a rating of 125 for his title defense of the G1 Hong Kong Mile. The 6-year-old Golden Sixty had a 16-race win streak snapped on the weekend when he was second in Sha Tin's G1 Stewards' Cup.

ParisLongchamp's 'Arc' was named the World's Best Horse Race for the fifth time in its 100th running. The World's Best Horse Race is based on annual race ratings, which are calculated from the first four finishers, and in the Arc last year those were Group 1 winners Torquator Tasso, Tarnawa (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}), Hurricane Lane (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Adayar. The Arc achieved a rating of 124.75, and was followed by the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (124.5) and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II Qipco S. (123.5).

Jockey Rene Piechulek, who rode Torquator Tasso to victory on the first Sunday in October, talked the audience through his ride in the Arc during the ceremony.

“We jumped off and I had a good position behind Adayar so I stayed behind him,” he said. “I spoke with the trainer before and he said, 'we have to run on the outside so we don't go between horses' and that's why I was happy with my position. William Buick [on Adayar] took the lead after a slow race and I said 'ok, I can't follow him, I have to stay where I've been'. I was happy with my position going around the last bend and I was waiting for somebody to try to pass me. [Deep Bond] was the first one to try this so I waited until he was close to me, and when he was close to me I started to push. When I switched the whip to the left side he started to run very fast. The last 200 metres I thought, 'I'm going to earn money', but I didn't think I could win the race. In the last 100 metres, I knew I was going to win.

“It was an amazing race and I still can't believe it. It's the dream of every good jockey.”

Ryan Moore was announced in December as the Longines World's Best Jockey of 2021, an award decided based on performance in the 100 highest-rated Group and Grade I races in the world. Moore, who was also the world's best jockey in 2014 and 2016, said, “I've always felt throughout my time riding that racing was a global sport and the most important thing was to be competitive all around the world, then you know where you are.

“You only win these awards because of the horses you're riding and I'm very lucky I get to ride some of the best horses for some of the best owners all around the world. You can't do anything without the horse, so it's only because of them.”

The Longines World Racing Awards are co-organized by Swiss watch brand Longines and the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities. Click here for the complete list of ranked horses and the top 100 Group 1 races for 2021.

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A son of the Heart's Cry (Jpn) mare Katie's Heart (Jpn) and from the same family as fellow Horse of the Year Admire Moon (Jpn) (End Sweep) and multiple champion Hishi Amazon (Theatrical {Ire}), Efforia won the G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) to run his record to a perfect four-from-four in April, then was just caught on the wire by Shahryar (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) the following month. Rested thereafter, Efforia outbattled last year's champion 3-year-old and Triple Crown hero Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) to take out the G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn) and closed his season with a sound success in the G1 Arima Kinen late last month. Efforia trains on in 2022

For third straight season, Contrail has taken home championship honors, this time as older male. Sparingly campaigned, the son of Rhodochrosite (Unbridled's Song) was third in a boggy-turf renewal of the G1 Osaka Hai on his 4-year-old debut in April and runner-up in the Tenno Sho before dominating the G1 Longines Japan Cup in his career swansong in November (video).

The exploits of Loves Only You at home and abroad were rewarded with champion older female honors. The 2019 G1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) heroine made just two of her six seasonal appearances in Japan, winning the G2 Kyoto Kinen in February ahead of a third to Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) in the G1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic and a victory in the G1 FWD QE II Cup in Hong Kong in April. Runner-up to Sodashi (Jpn) (Kurofune) in the G2 Sapporo Kinen, Loves Only You became the first Japanese winner at the Breeders' Cup meeting, scoring the GI Filly & Mare Turf in dramatic fashion (video) before concluding her career victoriously in the G1 Longines Hong Kong Cup in December.

Though not as brilliant as in her championship 2-year-old season in 2020, Sodashi was named best of her generation in 2021, winning the G1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) and the aforementioned Sapporo Kinen over Loves Only You.

Gran Alegria (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) successfully defended her title as Japan's champion sprinter/miler, her third championship overall after being named best 3-year-old filly of 2019. Facile winner of the G1 Victoria Mile against fellow females in May, the daughter of the late Tapitsfly (Tapit) fell just short in defense of her crown in the G1 Yasuda Kinen before getting a breather. A gallant third to Efforia in the Tenno Sho, she backed up to arguably her best trip and defeated top 3-year-old miler Schnell Meister (Ger) (Kingman {GB}) to win the G1 Mile Championship for the second year in a row in November (video).

With victories in the G1 Asahi Hai Futurity and G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, respectively, Do Deuce (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) and Circle of Life (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) took home top honors in the 2-year-old male and filly divisions. T O Keynes (Jpn) (Sinister Minister) was named champion dirt horse on the strength of a powerhouse score in the G1 Champions Cup, while legendary 10-year-old Oju Chosan (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn}) was tabbed champion steeplechaser for the fourth time in his career.

WATCH: Efforia stamps his authority on the G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn)

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Breaking well from the second most inner stall, Contrail was settled under Fukunaga in mid-pack and two-wide, while Kiseki made rapid headway in the backstretch from the rear, taking over the front at the third corner, extending his lead by six to seven lengths. By the time the field hit the top of the straight, the brown colt had shifted to the outside with clear running room in front of him and displayed his trademark explosive kick, shaking off Shahryar after a brief rally at the furlong pole then turned up an extra gear to easily put away Authority 100 meters out for a convincing two-length win.

“All I have now is mixed feelings of relief and lonesomeness,” said trainer Yoshito Yahagi. “In the colt's latest start (Tenno Sho (Autumn)), he broke poorly so I told him, while he was walking in the paddock earlier, to stay calm at the start. It worried me a bit since the pace was slow and he wasn't in that good a position, but we had tuned him up to perfection and the colt gave us all he had in the straight. I have to admit I was under a lot of pressure during the two years he was at my stable, but I think it has helped me in becoming more mature, and I can't thank him enough. Wouldn't it be wonderful to win the Arc with an offspring of his someday?”

“The colt had issues before his debut, so there were always concerns about his form, but I am so proud of how he proved himself today—I'm overwhelmed,” commented jockey Yuichi Fukunaga after the race. “All I did today was believe in him. He broke well and everything went just perfectly. He has given me every jockey's dream and I am utterly grateful. The colt shone a bright light over a gloomy year due to the pandemic last season. I'm relieved that we can send him off to his next career with this victory.”

Posted third favorite, 4-year-old Authority sat in fourth behind Shadow Diva, turned wide into the lane while passing Wagnerian and ran strongly, inheriting the lead from the tiredpacesetter300 meters out, but was gunned down in the last half furlong by the eventual winner for second.

Second favored 3-year-old colt Shahryar ran in fifth down the backstretch, entered the straight right behind Authority and in front of Contrail, ran willingly up the hill but was checked when rallying with the closing winner and had nothing left to tag the runner-up, finishing 1-1/2-lengths behind Authority in third.

French raider Grand Glory was the top finisher among the three foreign contingents. Unhurried after the break, the Olympic Glory mare saved ground along the rails in mid-division in ninth or tenth position. Angling out off the rails coming into the final turn, Grand Glory exerted an impressive turn of speed going up the long uphill stretch and geared up further from the 200-meter marker to make ground and finish fifth, five-lengths from the winner.

“I am very satisfied with her performance and her result at fifth-place. She appeared to lose a bit of balance and lean to the inside but thankfully Cristian got her back on her feet by the stretch. She's mentally very strong and the experience to run in the Japan Cup was fantastic for us. It's a great race and we would love to come back with another horse,” commented trainer Gianluca Bietolini.

“We couldn't have asked for a better result—having finished fifth in this competition is almost like winning for us. She was in super form, almost as good as when I rode her in the Prix Jean Romanet—which we won. The pace was very fast for this mare, but she handled it remarkably,” commented Cristian Demuro.

Japan broke sharply from an outside stall but was eased back to mid-field, choosing to move to the inside to save ground behind Grand Glory. Angled out at early stretch for a clear run, the Galileo horse attempted to make his bid with the eventual winner in view but was unable to cause a serious threat but held on for eighth.

“The track may have been a bit too fast for this horse. He was able to secure a good spot but wasn't able to keep up with the pace,” commented Patrick Keating.

Broome was slow out of the gate and gradually worked his way up to mid-division along the backstretch outside Grand Glory, but struggled to find another gear with 400 meters to go and even paced to finish 11th.

“He missed his break and that cost him,” said Patrick Keating. “He missed his break. The pace was slow but he wasn't able to pick up speed in the end,” added Ryan Moore.

Other Horses:
4th: (12) Sanrei Pocket—sat in front of winner, angled out, showed effort although unable to threaten top finishers while besting the rest
6th: (14) Uberleben—raced near winner, struggled to find clear path at early stretch, showed 2nd fastest late speed, belatedly
7th: (11) Shadow Diva—chased leaders in third, remained in contention until 100m out, weakened
9th: (9) Aristoteles—disputed lead and made pace, opening gap to 4 to 5 lengths, gave way to Kiseki while keeping second position, unable to sustain bid and overtaken
10th: (5) Kiseki—held back after break, headway along backstretch, led rounding 3rd corner and pulled away to open gap to 6 lengths, soon used up and outrun by foes at furlong pole
12th: (16) You Can Smile—further back than mid-division early, weakened after uphill stretch
13th: (13) Mozu Bello—near rear, raced wide throughout and unable to make up ground
14h: (15) Makahiki—raced second from last, unable to reach contention
15h: (10) Lord My Way—broke a fraction slow and raced behind, unable to make ground from wide turn
16th: (1) Muito Obrigado—trailed in rear, never a factor
17th: (8) Windjammer—mid-division early, even paced and outrun in last furlong
18h: (17) Wagnerian—broke sharply and tracked leader in 2nd, tired and faded

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