Tag: Japan

Firenze Fire to Stand Stud in Japan

Firenze Fire (Poseidon's Warrior–My Every Wish, by Langfuhr), whose many accomplishments include a win in the GI Champagne S., will be retired after his upcoming start in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint and head to Japan, where he will stand stud at Arrow Stud.

Owner Ron Lombardi said the offer from Arrow Stud was just one of many he fielded.

“I had offers from California, Kentucky, New York, Maryland, Florida and Japan,” he said . “I would have liked to have kept him in the U.S., but the Japanese made me an offer I couldn't refuse. They really wanted him. They came to the table and are very excited to have him. He will be standing there with California Chrome and Shanghai Bobby, so they have a nice little network of horses over there.”

Trained by Jason Servis until his indictment in March 2020 and transferred to Kelly Breen after that, Firenze Fire, who is six, won the 2017 Champagne as a 2-year-old and went on to finish 11th in the 2018 GI Kentucky Derby. After the Derby, the connections focused on shorter, one-turn races and Firenze Fire went on to be one of the top sprinters in the country. Wins in the 2020 and 2021 GII True North S., the 2020 GII Vosburgh S. and the 2018 GIII Gallant Bob S. are among his nine graded stakes wins and 13 overall stakes victories. He most recently second in both the Aug, 28 GI Forego S. and Oct. 9 GII Vosburgh S., the former of which he attempted to savage winner Yaupon (Uncle Mo). Firenze Fire's record currently stands at 37-14-7-3 and earnings of $2,710,350.

“I'm going to miss him a lot,” Lombardi said. “I got the final offer, I signed it, I scanned it and started writing an email back. It took me about 45 minutes to push send. I was really thinking it over, but I am good with the decision. I think this will be good for him. I have two full-brothers to him, a 2-year-old and a weanling, and then I have a yearling half-brother by Speightstown. Hopefully, the bloodlines will continue.”

Firenze Fire will be making his fifth straight appearance in the Breeders' Cup. His best showing came when he was third in the 2020 Sprint.

“I would love to go out a winner,” Lombardi said. “I even get a kicker if that happens. Hopefully, there will be a little speed duel up front we can sit off of that and make our move. He's doing great. We're pretty excited.”

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Firenze Fire To Enter Stud In Japan After Breeders’ Cup Sprint

Grade 1 winner Firenze Fire will enter stud at Arrow Stud in Japan for the 2022 breeding season, following a projected final start in the upcoming Breeders' Cup Sprint, Daily Racing Form reports.

The 6-year-old son of Poseidon's Warrior has won 14 of 37 starts heading into this year's Breeders' Cup, earning $2,710,350 as a Florida-born homebred for Mr. Amore Stable.

Firenze Fire has been a stakes winner in each of his five seasons, starting with his 2-year-old campaign when he won on debut at Monmouth Park and took the Grade 3 Sanford Stakes, before highlight his season with a triumph in the G1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park.

He was put on the Triple Crown trail at three, winning the listed Jerome Stakes and earning enough qualifying points to earn a spot in the 2018 Kentucky Derby, where he finished 11th. Firenze Fire was then moved to the sprint ranks, where he saw immediate dividends, with wins in the G3 Dwyer Stakes and G3 Gallant Bob Stakes, and a third in the G1 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes.

The horse's 4-year-old campaign featured listed wins in the Runhappy Stakes, Fabulous Strike Stakes, and Gravesend Stakes in the Mid-Atlantic region, and Grade 1 placings in the Forego Stakes and Vosburgh Stakes. His 5-year-old season started with a win in the G3 General George Stakes, and later included scores in the G2 True North Stakes and G2 Vosburgh Stakes, before running third in the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Keeneland.

His 2021 campaign started with wins in the G3 Runhappy Stakes and G2 True North Stakes. He enters the Breeders' Cup off a pair of runner-up efforts in the G1 Forego Stakes and G2 Vosburgh Stakes.

Firenze Fire is out of the placed Langfuhr mare My Every Wish.

Firenze Fire will join a roster at Arrow Stud that also includes Eclipse Award winners California Chrome and Shanghai Bobby.

The post Firenze Fire To Enter Stud In Japan After Breeders’ Cup Sprint appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Aguri Becomes First Japanese Winner for Caravaggio

Sent off the $2.30 (13-10) favorite to make the necessary improvement off a debut third at Hanshin in late June, Aguri (Jpn) (Caravaggio) became the first Japanese winner and 22nd winner overall for leading freshman sire (by Scat Daddy) with a facile victory in a one-mile maiden over the turf at Tokyo Racecourse Saturday afternoon.

Drawn the middle of the gate in a field of 13, the gray colt took up a forward position beneath jockey Yuga Kawada, settling just off the pacesetter behind modest early sectionals. Maintaining that stalking role into the final 600 meters, Aguri was held together while traveling on the bridle into the final furlong, was shaken up mildly and strode home a very comfortable three-length winner (see below). He covered his final three furlongs in :35 flat and stopped the clock in a solid 1:35.3.

Aguri is the first foal out of the privately acquired One Time Waltz (War Front), a winning daughter of champion Together (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a Group 3 winner and four times placed at Group 1 level in Europe and winner in America of the 2011 GI Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland. Old Time Waltz foaled Aguri Mar. 4, 2019, and the colt took his place at the 2020 JRHA Select Sale on the island of Hokkaido, hammering to owner Masahiro Miki for ¥105 million ($982,202). Old Time Waltz is also the dam of a yearling colt by Daiwa Major (Jpn) that fetched ¥64 million ($596,511) at last year's JRHA Select Foal sale and a weanling colt by Suave Richard (Jpn) that was hammered down for ¥58 million ($525,582) at this year's foal sale.

Caravaggio, who has now sired winners in five different countries, has already been represented by four black-type winners, two at group level, including G1 Juddmonte Cheveley Park S. heroine Tenebrism as well as MGSW/G1SP Agartha (Ire). Caravaggio's GSW half-sister My Jen (Fusaichi Pegasus) resides in Japan and is the dam of five winners from seven to the races, including GSP Satono Gold (Jpn) (Gold Ship {Jpn}) and the 2-year-old colt Purpur Ray (Jpn) (Isla Bonita {Jpn}), a two-time winner from three runs who broke his maiden at second asking at Niigata in a record time of 1:33.3.

Having stood at Coolmore Ireland from 2018, Caravaggio was relocated to Coolmore America for this season, where he commanded a fee of $25,000.

WATCH: Aguri becomes the first Japanese winner for leading first-crop sire Caravaggio

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Notable US-Bred Runners in Japan: Oct. 23-24, 2021

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. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Tokyo and Hanshin Racecourses. The 3-year-old fillies' Classics concluded with last weekend's G1 Shuka Sho and 3-year-old males get their final chance at Classics glory in Sunday's G1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St Leger) at Hanshin. A full field of 17 colts and one filly includes the progressive US-bred Air Sage (Point of Entry), winner of three of his four starts to date:

Saturday, October 23, 2021
2nd-TOK, ¥9,680,000 ($85k), Maiden, 2yo, 1400m
SPEED GLAMOUR (f, 2, Into Mischief–Island Escape, by Petionville) debuted with a solid fourth behind the highly promising $4.7-million juvenile colt Dobune (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn} x Premier Stars {Ire}) at Sapporo Sept. 4 and just missed over this course and distance Oct. 10. A $250K Keeneland September buyback turned $500K OBS March breezer (under-tack video), the bay filly is out of a dual stakes winner whose daughter Tricky Escape (Hat Trick {Jpn}) was successful three times at the graded level on the turf. B-Machmer Hall (KY)

4th-HSN, ¥13,400,000 ($118k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1400m
ADVANCE DREAM (c, 2, Speightstown–Jolene, by Malibu Moon) was acquired for $220K in utero by David Fennelly's Mountmellick Farm and was the last of four KEENOV purchases ($970K gross) in 2018 for the native of County Cork, Ireland. Advance Dream was sold on for $150K as a weanling at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton November Sale and was retained on a bid of $190K at KEESEP last fall a few months before his half-brother Arabian Prince (Mshawish) finished third in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. Advance Dream's stakes-placed dam is out of MSW Velvet Snow (Subordination). B-Mountmellick Farm (KY)

PER AA (f, 2, American Pharoah–Nomee, by City Zip), a $210K graduate of the 2019 KEENOV sale, is out of an unraced half-sister to MGSW Secret Gypsy (Sea of Secrets), whose three other graded placings include a runner-up effort in the 2008 GII Lexus Raven Run S. Secret Gypsy was sold to Shadai Farm for $540K at KEEJAN in 2011 and has produced six winners from as many to start. Her final foal is the unraced 2-year-old colt Herrenchiemsee (Jpn) (Isla Bonita {Jpn}), who fetched the equivalent of $230K at the 2019 JRHA Select Foal Sale. B-Zayat Stables LLC (KY)

Sunday, October 24, 2021
8th-HSN, ¥19,110,000 ($168k), Allowance, 2yo, 1400m
CONCH PEARL (f, 2, American Pharoah–A Z Warrior, by Bernardini) finished runner-up on debut behind 'TDN Rising Star' Command Line (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) on the turf at Tokyo June 5 and the form was flattered when the latter resumed from a four-month absence to scoop the G3 Saudi Arabia Royal Cup two weekends ago. Third in a local grass maiden June 26, Conch Pearl most recently broke the track record when graduating by eight lengths over 1700 meters in her first spin on the dirt Sept. 4 (see below, gate 7). The daughter of the 2010 GI Frizette S. heroine, a $340K KEESEP yearling acquisition, cuts back to seven furlongs for this test. B-Triemore Stud (KY)

 

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