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Japanese Globetrotters Boost Record JRHA Select Sale

Clearance rates narrowly in excess of 95% for both days of the Japan Racing Horse Association (JRHA) Select Sale speak to the consistent demand for fledgling racehorses in the country where the leading bloodstock auction has once again set new high markers in all sectors of the market.

At the final count, 447 foals and yearlings (from 469 offered) changed hands for a new record aggregate of ¥25,762,500,000 (£159m/€187m), up 14% on last year's previous high. The average also increased significantly, by 12%, to ¥57,634,228 (£355,000/€419,000) for the sale as a whole. The foal session's contribution to that overall tally on Tuesday was ¥12,892,500,000 (£98m/€116m) spent on 225 foals from the 236 offered. That figure represented an 18% increase, while the average of ¥57,300,000 (£353,000/€417,000) was up by almost 12%.

“It was a record-breaking market here last year and I did not expect to beat it this year,” said leading breeder Teruya Yoshida of Shadai Farm, who is also the chairman of the JRHA. “The market was very strong from the top end through to the bottom end, and I am very impressed with the depth of buyers. High demand for young horses was kept thoughout the two days and the clearance rate of 95.3% is unbelievable.”

He added, “I am very happy to see that so many people are interested in enjoying ownership of racehorses and very glad to witness that they are very keen to make a big investment in the bloodstock market.”

Just as Ireland and Britain have lost the influential Galileo (Ire) and Pivotal (GB) from the stallion ranks in recent years, the Japanese breeding scene is now contemplating life after the big-hitters Deep Impact (Jpn) and King Kamehameha (Jpn), both of whom died in 2019.

Duramente (Jpn), a Classic-winning son of King Kamehameha, had been starting to hint at his own prowess, but he was lost to an attack of colitis last August leaving 629 foals from his four seasons at stud. With his eldest runners now four, Duramente is responsible for this season's G1 Japanese 1000 Guineas and G1 Oaks winner Southern Stars (Jpn), as well as Titleholder (Jpn), a member of his first crop who claimed last year's G1 Japanese St Leger and has added another two Group 1 wins to his record this season in the Tenno Sho and Takarazuka Kinen.

The late stallion featured prominently among Monday's yearling results and, with a member of his final crop he topped the final day when the second foal of the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks winner Champagne Anyone (Street Sense) brought the hammer down at ¥320 million (£1.97m/€2.33m). The colt (lot 393) was offered by Shunsuke Yoshida, the son of Northern Farm owner Katsumi Yoshida who is now in his second year consigning, and was bought by Red Horse.

The death of Giant's Causeway was also much lamented, and this year's Select Sale has featured the first yearlings of his talented son Bricks And Mortar, a four-time Grade I winner, including the Breeders' Cup Turf, and one of four sires imported to Japan from America for the 2020 breeding season. His 11 yearlings in the sale were led by lot 104, a colt from the dual Group 3 winner and Classic-placed Maximum De Paris (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) who sold for Y135 million (£831,400/€982,800) from Shadai Farm to Hirosaki Toshihiro.

The 8-year-old stallion was also represented by 13 foals on Tuesday and these included the day's second-top lot (325). The graduate of Northern Farm was offered alongside his dam Awake (Jpn), a Group 2-placed daughter of Daughter Impact (Jpn) from the family of the globetrotting Stella Veloce (Jpn) (Bago {Fr}), and was sold for Y310 million (£1.9m/€2.25m) to Tetsuhide Kunimoto.

“I visited Northern Farm several times in the last few months and found that this colt, out of Awake, kept improving. That is what I like about him,” said Kunimoto. “To be frank, I do not know who [will be] the next leading sire, though I think Bricks And Mortar is a very suitable stallion for racing in Japan, as he is a turf champion himself and most of his yearlings look like sharp and speedy turf horses. This colt lets me have a dream.”

The Australian four-time Group 1 winner Mosheen (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) had her name in lights on Monday when her Maurice (Jpn) colt topped the yearling session at ¥450 million (£2.7m/€3.25m), and she made an appearance herself on Tuesday in the company of her colt foal by Epiphaneia (Jpn). Offered as lot 367 by breeder Katsumi Yoshida of Northern Farm, her youngest offspring was also in demand and sold for ¥300 million (£1.84m/€2.18m) to Ver Co Ltd. Epipheneia, whose leading offspring include the Fillies' Triple Crown winner Daring Tact (Jpn), was also the sire of another of the day's bestsellers, lot 353, another from Northern Farm and out of the GI Del Mar Debutante S. winner She's A Tiger (Tale Of The Cat). The top-priced filly among the foals, she was knocked down to Hiroyasu Takeuchi, racing manager of Nicks Co Ltd for ¥280 million (£1.72m/€2.03m).

“I studied her pedigree and am convinced she should have inherited a lot of speed,” said Takeuchi. “She is very valuable as future broodmare as well and I believe she is worth paying this amount of money.”

Fifteen foals by Epiphaneia were sold on Tuesday for an average price of ¥111,100,000 (£684,000/€808,800).

Fourteen members of the first crop of G1 Japanese 2000 Guineas winner Saturnalia (Jpn) were for sale on Tuesday and the stock of the son of Lord Kanaloa (Jpn) received a thumbs-up from buyers, with two ending up among the top 10 lots of the day. These included lot 339, a three-parts-brother to G1 Mile Championship winner Stelvio (Jpn) (Lor Kanaloa {Jpn}) who fetched ¥300 million (£1.84m/€2.18m). Their dam L'Archetto (Jpn) (Falbrav {Ire}) had also provided one of the leading yearlings of the opening day–a colt by Rey De Oro (Jpn) who sold for ¥220 million. Both youngsters were bought by Kaneko Makoto of Deep Impact fame.

Concluding his review of the two-day sale, Teruya Yoshida added, “The quality of mares we have in Japan is very high and the quality of young horses offered here yesterday and today was very high as well. Japanese-bred horses are running very well in international races in the USA and Middle East, and I understand that it helps to boost this market.”

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Yoshida Hails ‘Amazing Market’ As JRHA Records Tumble

It doesn't seem to matter where you are in the world: bloodstock sales are booming. That was certainly the case for the opening day and sole session of yearlings at the JRHA Select Sale, which reached new highs after last year's record-breaking trade.

At Y12,870,000,000 (£78.7m/€93m), the aggregate for the session improved by 10.6% from 2021 with a staggeringly high clearance rate of 95.3%, which was yet another record. Only 11 of the 233 yearlings offered returned unsold to their vendors, with the average price driven up 12.6% to an all-time high of Y57,972,973 (£355,000/€419,000).

“This is an amazing market. As it was a record-breaking market last year and I thought it would be difficult to beat it this year, this is a pleasant surprise,” said Katsumi Yoshida of Northern Farm, the largest consignor at the sale, who was responsible for the top eight lots in the sale.

“I am very impressed with the depth of buyers, which include a lot of newcomers. And the most important aspect of today's market is very high clearance rate.

“While this year's catalogue does not include any yearlings by Deep Impact, several stallions, such as Duramente, Epiphaneia, and some others, played the role of his replacement. I am very happy with the depth of young stallions in Japan now.”

Taking top honours on day one was lot 76, Northern Farm's colt by Maurice (Jpn) out of the treble Australian Classic winner Mosheen (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), who was bought by Masahiro Noda of Danox Co Ltd for ¥450 million (£2.7m/€3.25m).

“The foals out of Mosheen have been getting better and better, crop by crop, and this yearling, who is the eighth foal out of Mosheen, is a fantastic individual,” said Yoshida. “Therefore, I set the highest reserve price [for him] in our consignment. Many owners and trainers who visited and saw him at Northern Farm were enchanted by him and I expected he would be expensive. But the price, 450 million yen, is much more than I expected.”

Noda was one of the leading buyers of the session and among six yearlings bought was another colt by Maurice, this one out of the 1,000 Guineas winner Homecoming Queen (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), who was sold for ¥220 million (£1.3m/€1.6m).

The Japanese Guineas and Derby winner Duramente (Jpn), who died last year from colitis after becoming the country's leading first-crop sire of 2020, was responsible for the day's second-most expensive yearling (lot 96). The colt is the first foal of Jaywalk (Cross Traffic), a former champion 2-year-old filly in the U.S. and Breeders' Cup winner. He was knocked down at ¥300 million (£1.8m/€2.2m) to Two One Racing.

At the head of the fillies' division was another from Northern Farm, the daughter of Daiwa Major (Jpn) and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf runner-up Coasted (Tizway), who was offered as lot 58 and brought a top bid of ¥210 million (£1.3m/€1.5m) from Fujita Susumu.

Frankel (GB) has already been represented by three Grade I winners in Japan and his sole yearling in the catalogue (lot 23) was out of the Irish 1,000 Guineas winner Jet Setting (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}). The mare was previously one of the stars of the Goffs London Sale when selling for £1.3 million to China Horse Club in 2016, and her colt fetched a bid of ¥155 million (£948,000/€1.1m) from American Turf.

The sales action continues in Hokkaido on Tuesday with the concluding foal session which includes a half-brother to Monday's session topper by Epiphaneia (lot 367).

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No Deep Impact But JRHA Select Sale Still Set To Make Its Mark

There are bloodstock sales and then there's the JRHA Select Sale. The premier sale for Thoroughbreds in Japan, held at Hokkaido's Northern Horse Park, is truly out of the ordinary as far as these events go.

The yearling section of the sale, which this year features 234 entries taking into account withdrawals at the time of writing, follows a fairly traditional format (though the sale's website does include a document noting the yearlings' heights, girth and cannon bone measurements, vices, and any surgical intervention), but it is the following day's session of foals that gives the JRHA Select Sale its unique feel. The foals arrive with their dams at Northern Horse Park early on the morning of the sale, though potential buyers have already visited the individual consigning farms for yearling and foal shows prior to auction. On sale morning, there is a two-hour window for further viewing, with several hundred foals and their usually fairly illustrious mothers standing in lot order among the trees in the park for the fanciest mass line-up of Thoroughbred stock in the world. They then proceed to the ring in tandem, and the foals, once sold, return to their original farm until they are weaned.

During the first year of the pandemic, figures dipped slightly from the then-record-breaking year of 2019, but by 2021, more records were set, with the highest turnover ever seen across the two-day sale of ¥22.5 billion (€163m/£138m) for 226 yearlings and 213 foals sold. Covid restrictions are now more relaxed in Japan and the JRHA's international representative Naohiro Goda says they they expect to have more trainers, owners, agents and media returning to the sale this year, with some American and Australian agents having already arrived in Hokkaido.

For the first time, and in a move which has proved highly effective in other jurisdictions, the JRHA will be accepting online bidding from international buyers.

Japanese bloodstock continues to advertise its merit on racecourses around the world, and inspection of the Select Sale catalogue demonstrates just how highly prized top-class international form is for Japanese breeders when it comes to assembling broodmare bands. Whatever your nationality, there will be mares throughout the pages who are instantly memorable, usually because of their Group/Grade 1 racing form.

For the first time since he arrived on the scene as a stallion of note, there will be no Deep Impact (Jpn) yearlings on offer in Hokkaido, the great sire having died in 2019, leaving a small final crop born in 2020. Poignantly, his 31-year-old dam Wind In Her Hair (Ire) (Alzao) still resides within sight of the sale at the Northern Horse Park with her pony companions.

Deep Impact does still have the edge in Japan's leading sires' table so far this season, but his lead over the former leading first-crop sire Lord Kanaloa (Jpn) is slim. The latter, also a Shadai stallion, is represented by 11 yearlings and nine foals in the JRHA Select catalogue, including a yearling filly (lot 14) out of the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac winner Lily's Candle (Fr) (Style Vendome {Fr}), who was bred in Normandy by Monique Lepeudry at Elevage de Tourgeville. Her close family also includes the former Japanese Horse of the Year and G1 Cox Plate winner Lys Gracieux (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}).

Homecoming Queen (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) and Jet Setting (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}), 1000 Guineas winners in England and Ireland respectively, are each represented by yearlings in the sale. The former, a half-sister to Arc winner Dylan Thomas (Ire) and champion 2-year-old filly Queen's Logic (Ire) (Grand Lodge), has a colt by Maurice (Jpn) catalogued as lot 55, while Jet Setting's Frankel (GB) colt is slated as lot 23.

Another close relation to a European Classic winner can be found as lot 16, who is the half-brother to Irish Oaks winner Covert Love (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}) and by the current first-crop sire Satono Diamond (Jpn).

G1 VRC Oaks winner Mosheen (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), whose other top-class victories included the G1 Australian Guineas and G1 Royal Randwick Guineas, is another to have visited Maurice in 2020, and her yearling colt is consigned by Northern Farm as lot 76. The 14-year-old mare is already the dam of treble Group 3 winner Primo Scene (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and she is doubly represented in the sale as her Epiphaneia (Jpn) colt foal is due to sell on Tuesday as lot 367.

Yoshida is a name which will be oft-heard through the sale: the brothers Teruya and Katsumi are the most dominant breeders and consignors represented, each with sizeable drafts in both sectors, while another brother, Haruya, will also play a part via his Oiwake Farm. But Yoshida (Jpn) also appears on the sires' list through one of his first crop of American-conceived yearlings. The son of Hearts's Cry (Jpn) stands at Winstar Farm and is the sire of lot 77, a granddaughter of the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and GI Matron S. winner Folklore (Tiznow).

The dual Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow (Ire) is another with first yearlings and he has two catalogued, lots 192 and 203.

The foal section includes lot 314, an Epiphaneia half-brother to Japanese Derby winner Roger Barows (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), whose dam Little Book (GB) (Librettist) is a half-sister to Group 1 winner Donna Blini (GB) (Bertolini), later better known as the dam of dual Japanese Horse of the Year Gentildonna (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}). Three of the first crop of foals of Juddmonte's G1 Irish 2000 Guineas winner Siskin will also make an appearance.

Looking ahead to the start of the sale on Monday, Naohiro Goda said, “The quality of the catalogue this year is the best I have seen. This is first JRHA catalogue which does not include Deep Impact, and we understand that it is impossible that one single stallion plays his role. Instead, however, the variation and depth of stallions we have in this year's catalogue is amazing, as there are so many young proven stallions, such as Lord Kanaloa, Epiphaneia, Duramente (Jpn), Maurice, Kizuna (Jpn), Drefong, and so on. In addition, hugely exciting unproven stallions will be represented by their young crops, such as Rey De Oro (Jpn), whose first foals made such a big splash last year, Bricks And Mortar, Suave Richard (Jpn), New Year's Day, Siskin, Nadal, Admire Mars (Jpn), Le Vent Se Leve (Jpn), and Saturnalia (Jpn).”

Goda added, “It will not be easy to break last year's new record but we hope the market at the 2022 Select Sale is as active as it was last year.”

The JRHA Select Sale starts on Monday with the yearling session, followed on Tuesday by the foals.

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Top Class Pedigrees on Offer as Entries for Two-Day Sale Announced by JRHA

Progeny of the 1,000 Guineas winner Homecoming Queen (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), Irish 1,000 Guineas scorer Jet Setting (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}) and American Oaks heroine Spanish Queen (Tribal Rule) feature among the high-class offerings at the two-day Japan Racing Horse Association Select Sale on July 11 and 12.

Japanese-breds have starred on the international stage in recent times, highlighted by the success of Marche Lorraine (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) and Loves Only You (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), both trained by Yoshito Yahagi, who made history by becoming the first Japanese-trained winners at the Breeders' Cup last season.

The strength of Japanese racing was further highlighted by an impressive haul of five wins at the Dubai World Cup meeting at Meydan back in March and some of the best bred yearlings and foals the country has to offer will go under the hammer next month.

The sale will be kick-started by 243 yearlings, of which there are sons and daughters of Frankel (GB), Gun Runner, Heart's Cry (Jpn), Lord Kanaloa (Jpn), Mind Your Biscuits, Omaha Beach, Saxon Warrior (Jpn) and Thunder Snow (Ire) on July 11.

There are 241 foals listed for the following day, with progeny by top-notch stallions Al Ain (Jpn), American Pharoah, Caravaggio, City of Light, Duramente (Jpn), Justify, Karakontie (Jpn), Kizuna (Jpn), McKinzie, Nadal, No Nay Never and Nyquist on offer.

Homecoming Queen was a brilliant winner of the 1,000 Guineas in 2012 and is already a proven producer of talent with her daughter Shale (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) winning the Group 1 Moyglare Stud S. at the Curragh in 2020. Jet Setting famously took the scalp of Minding (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) when winning the Irish 1,000 Guineas in 2016 while Spanish Queen gained her American Oaks win in 2015.

The catalogue is available online at www.jrha-selectsale.com and print copies will be sent out by June 4. The JRHA will have Covid-19 safety protocols in place for the live two-day sale. For more information, email lem00454@nifty.ne.jp.

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