The winner in 2015 of the G1 Satsuki Sho and G1 Tokyo Yushun – the Japanese 2,000 Guineas and Derby equivalents – Duramente was quick to make an impression following his retirement to stud in 2017. The champion first-season sire of 2020, he has progressed through the senior ranks at an eye-catching rate, finishing 11th in the general sires' table in the year of his untimely death, and then fifth in 2022. 

Duramente's outstanding daughter Liberty Island (Jpn) played a major role in her sire's  first championship. Out of the top-class Australian mare Yankee Rose (Aus) (All American {Aus}), whose exploits on the track included Group 1 wins in the Inglis Sires' and Spring Champion S. as well as finishing runner-up to Capitalist (Aus) in the G1 Golden Slipper, Liberty Island followed up her Grade 1 success as a juvenile by landing the Fillies' Triple Crown of 2023. She then found only the mighty Equinox (Jpn) too good for her in the G1 Japan Cup.

Duramente's leading first-crop son Titleholder (Jpn) was still running for him in 2023 at the age of five, and to his three Grade 1 wins of 2021 and 2022, which included the Kikuka Sho (St Leger), he added the G2 Nikkei Sho, as well as finishing third on Christmas Eve in the G1 Arima Kinen.

With a Classic winner from each of his crops to date, Duramente was also represented in 2023 by Stars On Earth (Jpn), his Oka Sho and Yushun Himba (1,000 Guineas and Oaks) winner of the previous year who was third in the Japan Cup and second in the Arima Kinen behind Do Deuce (Jpn).

Dura Erde (Jpn), the G1 Hopeful S winner of 2022, managed two Grade 1 placings in December, while Champagne Color (Jpn) won the G1 NHK Mile last May. The latter is a rarity in that his dam Memorial Life (GB) is by the subfertile and later gelded Reckless Abandon (GB).

Duramente, who was a son of the dual Grade 1 winner Admire Groove (Jpn), herself a half-sister to the Shadai stallion Rulership (Jpn), owned a pedigree replete with the dominant names of the Japanese breeding scene over the last decades, with his first three dams being daughters of Sunday Silence, Tony Bin (Ire) and Northern Taste respectively. It is easy to see why he succeeded in the short time granted to him at stud, and even easier to see that he will be missed. 

King Kamehameha, who was also champion broodmare sire for 2023, was responsible for the quinella in the table, with another of his sons, Lord Kanaloa (Jpn) finishing a close second – a spot he has occupied for the last four years, the previous three being behind the 11-time champion Deep Impact (Jpn). 

Among the top six sires in Japan for 2023, three were Japanese Derby winners, one a runner-up in that same Classic, and one a Japanese St Leger and Japan Cup winner. Lord Kanaloa is something of an outlier among this elite crew as five of his six Grade 1 wins came over 1,200m, with the other being the Yasuda Kinen over 1,600m. He is best known as a stallion, however, for siring the Fillies' Triple Crown and dual Japan Cup winner Almond Eye (Jpn). In 2023 he was represented by the G1 Saudi Cup winner Panthalassa (Jpn), who has himself just joined the stallion ranks at Arrow Stud, and by his fellow Grade 1 winners First Force (Jpn) and Brede Weg (Jpn).

Kizuna (Jpn), a son of Deep Impact and the leading first-season sire of 2019, has managed a top-five finish in each of the last three seasons and was third overall for 2023. His globe-trotting daughter Songline (Jpn) led the way, completing back-to-back wins in the G1 Yasuda Kinen in June after winning the G1 Victoria Mile. She also won the G3 1351 Turf Sprint at the Saudi Cup meeting of 2022, and that same race was won by another of Kizuna's offspring, Bathrat Leon (Jpn), in 2023.

Heart's Cry (Jpn), whose racing claim to fame was being the only horse to beat Deep Impact on Japanese soil when winning the G1 Arima Kinen of 2005, died in March 2023, three years after being pensioned at Shadai. He added a new Group 1 winner to his list last season, but not in Japan. His major flag-bearer was Continuous (Jpn), trained in Ireland by Aidan O'Brien and winner of the St Leger in England. Heart's Cry's previous year's Classic winner, the Japanese Derby hero Do Deuce (Jpn), holds similar dragon-slaying credentials of his own, having beaten Equinox in that race, and he was back for more in 2023, which ended with another top-level win for him in the Arima Kinen.

Heart's Cry ended up in fourth place in the table, having finished in the top three in the six years prior to that. Four years after his death, Deep Impact finally relinquished the title, and was fifth in 2023, a year in which he too was represented in overseas Classics by the Derby and Irish Derby winner Auguste Rodin (Jpn), who is a member of his final crop of just 14 foals.

Justin Palace (Jpn), from Deep Impact's penultimate crop, was his leading scorer in Japan and won the G1 Tenno Sho in the spring. That success has doubtless contributed to the move of his 14-year-old half-brother, the GI Belmont winner Palace Malice (Curlin), to Darley Japan after he spent eight seasons at Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky. Incidentally, along with the brand new recruits Adayar (Ire) and Hukum (Ire) from Europe, Darley Japan has also taken in another former American-based stallion for 2024 in Heart's Cry's son Yoshida (Jpn), a name which is certainly not unfamiliar in Japanese breeding circles and beyond.

Sixth in the general sires' list for 2023 was Kitasan Black (Jpn), whose fame reached new heights courtesy of his son Equinox (Jpn), the highest-rated horse in the world last year. Kitasan Black, who is by Deep Impact's full-brother Black Tide (Jpn), is the kind of horse who simply wouldn't get a look in at a Flat stud in Europe these days, but that's a pity. His seven Grade 1 wins came between 2,000m and 3,200m and just about everything in between. His back-to-back wins in the two-mile Tenno Sho (Spring) were not off-putting to Japanese breeders, however, and he was the busiest stallion in the country in 2023, covering 242 mares. His load may well be eased somewhat during this coming season, with his son Equinox now having retired to stand alongside him at Shadai. Father and son are the two most expensive stallions in Japan at ¥20 million (€124,000) and the 'book full' sign went up for Equinox as soon as his fee, which is a record for a first-season sire, was announced. 

Up and Coming

Suave Richard (Jpn), who was runner-up to Rey De Oro (Jpn) in the 2017 Japanese Derby before winning the G1 Osaka Hai at four and the Japan Cup (under Oisin Murphy) as a five-year-old, was the champion first-season sire in Japan for 2023.

The stand-out among his 21 winners is Regaleira (Jpn), who beat Sottsass's brother Shin Emperor (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) to win the G1 Hopeful S. on December 28. She owns a special pedigree, her dam Roca (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}) being out of a three-parts-sister to Deep Impact. Regaleira's recent victory was also the first at Grade 1 level for Harbinger as a broodmare sire. The King George winner of 2010 finished 11th in the general sires' table. 

While Suave Richard, by Heart's Cry, was also responsible for G2 winner Corazon Beat (Jpn) and was the easy winner on progeny earnings, he was not the most prolific when it came to number of winners. That honour went to Moanin, the Grade 1-winning dirt miler by Henny Hughes who was represented by 44 winners, a staggering number by Japanese two-year-old standards, and all recorded on dirt. In fact, the second, third and fourth in the table were all American-bred stallions. Giant's Causeway's son Bricks And Mortar finished runner-up with 14 winners, including the G3 Saudi Arabia Royal Cup scorer Gonbade Qabus (Jpn), and New Year's Day, whose career started in Kentucky but whose first Japanese-bred runners came last season, was represented by 23 winners. 

The aforementioned Japanese Derby winner Rey De Oro was fifth with 13 winners, the same number recorded by the dual Dubai World Cup winner Thunder Snow (Ire), who was seventh, just behind Kentucky Derby and Preakness hero California Chrome, who is another to have been moved from America to Japan.

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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}).

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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.

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The names on the list of buyers were exclusively Japanese, bar that of David Redvers, who signed for a filly from the second crop of Suave Richard (Jpn). Encouragingly for breeders in Japan, that list included a number of new buyers at the top end of the market. 

Various factors are at play, and they should be the envy of every other major racing nation in the world. The success of Japanese horses worldwide has been written about at length in recent years, and we can only expect to see more runners from this country tackle the global festivals, particularly those in the Middle East with vast sums on offer in prize-money. But vast sums are also the reward for staying at home, and the purses in Japan, along with mass engagement with racing fans of all ages, are elements which are not unrelated and which have driven turnover at this sale to have doubled in a decade. 

It is easy for people unfamiliar with the Japanese currency on a daily basis to look at the string of noughts after a number and think, “Ah well, that's yen.” But with a useful dollar conversion on the bid board for each lot one suddenly realises that almost all of the 222 yearlings offered were making six-figure dollar prices (only six did not reach that mark on Monday, and a further six were unsold) and 19 of those  sold for more than a million dollars. Of course, this is a select sale featuring the elite of the Japanese Thoroughbred crops of 2022 and 2023, or at least those that are offered for sale, but the sheer breadth of the domestic buying bench, which includes plenty of racing clubs, and a clearance rate of 97.3% are both noteworthy.

When speaking to the TDN on Friday, Teruya Yoshida, the owner of Shadai Farm and president of the JRHA sale company, referred to the strength of the racing clubs, which have been a feature in Japan for around 40 years, long before other countries followed suit.

“As you know, our prize-money is so good,” he said. “So not only do [the members] enjoy racing but they get a good return on their money, so why not? Racing has been very popular in Japan for many years but still now the number is increasing. Many young people come to the racetrack, and I think this is quite different from Europe. They bet a huge amount and that returns to the purses. That's the biggest advantage for Japan: that way we can afford to buy plenty of mares for many years, and that's why we have become so successful. 

“Japanese owners have a tendency to race their horses as much as possible. In Europe they are racing for breeding in the future but our goal is racing. That's the biggest concern for our owners.”

From wealthy individuals to the collective buying power of the club, a wide range of purchasers drove the demand for yearlings from many of those top-class mares sourced from around the globe into new record territory. The day's aggregate stood at ¥13.36 billion ($93.75m/£73.3m/€85.6m) and the average at ¥61.88 million ($434,509/£339,411/€396,279).

[JRHA Select Sale 2023] Hip No.4 Kitasan Black – Include Betty c. was purchased for 310 million yen. https://t.co/PJV5dfhaz1 #SelectSale pic.twitter.com/DziRsaBr5S

— JRHA-SELECT SALE (@SELECTSALE_eng) July 10, 2023

The Main Talking Points

• Masahiro Noda's Danox Co Ltd is a familiar name on the buyers' sheet at JRHA and was prominent once more. Noda signed for seven yearlings, including the day's co-topper, lot 4, the ¥310 million ($2.2m) colt by Kitasan Black (Jpn) out of the GI Mother Goose S. winner Include Betty (Include), who was bred and sold by Katsumi Yoshida's Northern Farm.
• Kitasan Black, a brilliant racehorse himself with seven top-level wins including the Japan Cup and Arima Kinen, is now known as much for being the sire of the world's top-rated racehorse Equinox (Jpn). The Shadai Stallion Station resident had six yearlings offered on Tuesday, sold for a collective ¥977 million ($6.8m) at an average of ¥163 million ($1.14m).
• European sires did not, understandably, feature in abundance in the catalogue, but one of the highlights of the day came with the sale of the sole Wootton Bassett (GB) yearling in the catalogue, a full-brother to Alison Swinburn's GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf and G1 Prix Jean Romanet winner Audarya (Fr).  Teruya Yoshida had bought her dam, the Doumen-bred and-trained Green Bananas (Fr) (Green Tune), in a private transaction and sent the mare on a return visit to Wootton Bassett at Coolmore before bringing her to Japan. From the family of top world travellers Jim And Tonic (Fr) and Mauralakana (Fr), the colt (lot 102) was bought by Makoto Kaneko, former owner of Deep Impact (Jpn), for ¥270 million ($1.9m).
• There was similar success for Shunsuke Yoshida's colt by Kingman (GB) out of the Littleton Stud-bred Cosmopolitan Queen (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), a full-sister to G1 Juddmonte International winner Arabian Queen (GB). The mare had been bought carrying this colt (lot 16) at Tattersalls for 320,0000gns. She is already the dam of a dual winner by Frankel (GB) and this grandson of the G2 Lancashire Oaks winner Barshiba (GB) (Barathea {Ire}), from a family synonymous with Jeff Smith and the stable of David Elsworth, duly fetched ¥300 million ($2.1m) to a bid from TN Racing.
• The businessman behind the relatively new outfit TN Racing prefers not to be named but he nevertheless made a significant impact at the sale on Monday. His eight purchases totalled ¥1.2 billion ($8.5m) and included one of the day's co-top lots (20), a Silver State (Jpn) half-brother to the G1 Belmont S. winner Palace Malice (Curlin) and three-parts-brother to GI Tenno Sho (Spring) winner Justin Palace (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}). TN Racing currently campaigns the 3-year-old colt Photon Blue (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}), a ¥135 million Select Yearling purchase in 2021 and third in the Listed Principal S. at Toyko this past May.
• Monday marked the last time the late Duramente (Jpn) would feature among the Select Sale yearlings. The sire of this season's dual Classic-winning filly Liberty Island (Jpn) sits in second place in the sires' list and his 14 yearlings to pass through the ring returned an average price of ¥105 million ($737,000). These included the half-sister to dual Horse of the Year Gentildonna (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), who sold as lot 94 from Northern Farm and was among the TN Racing purchases at ¥210 million ($1.5m).
• Bricks and Mortar, a son of Giant's Causeway and a champion on the turf in America, has his first runners this season and has been represented by two winners to date. He was well represented by members of his second crop during the yearling session, with 13 sold for an average ¥63 million ($442,000). Two of those made in excess of a million dollars, including lot 75, a colt out of the Group 2-winning sprinter Solveig (Jpn) (Daiwa Major {Jpn}) who was bought from Shadai Farm for ¥220 million ($1.5m) by Susumu Fujita.
• Unusually for bloodstock sales, the reserve prices for the yearlings in Japan are published ahead of the sale, though it is traditional for the first and last lot though the ring to be offered without reserve. There was little danger that the sale would start with a whimper rather than a bang, however, as first up was a colt by the popular Kizuna (Jpn) out of the G1 Queensland Oaks victrix Youngstar (Aus) (High Chaparral {Aus}). He got the day off to a successful start when selling for ¥210 million ($1.5m) and was another on the list of Susumu Fujita.
• Suave Richard (Jpn) has made a positive start with his first juvenile runners this year and already has four winners on the board, to put him in second place behind the dirt miler Moanin. David Redvers, who has been at the sale with the Qatar Racing team of Sheikh Fahad, Hannah Wall and Peter Molony, was the sole overseas purchaser listed on Monday when signing at ¥50 million ($350k) for a yearling by Suave Richard, who was ridden to glory in the Japan Cup by Qatar Racing's jockey Oisin Murphy. The filly (lot 202), a half-sister to the shuttle sire Tosen Stardom (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), will be trained by Mitsumasa Nakauchida.

[JRHA Select Sale 2023] Hip No.16 Kingman – Cosmopolitan Queen c. was purchased for 300 million yen. https://t.co/PJV5dfgCJt #SelectSale pic.twitter.com/AqFualFCr4

— JRHA-SELECT SALE (@SELECTSALE_eng) July 10, 2023

View From Yoshida

Katsumi Yoshida, director of the JRHA and the sale's leading consignor through his Northern Farm, addressed the large press pack in attendance at Northern Horse Park at the close of the day's trade.

He said, “It was a very strong market this year again. I think every year this is the strongest market in the world. The horses sold well within every price range and there were some new buyers who were very active and bought some of the expensive horses.”

Yoshida continued, “I am especially pleased with the results because there are none of the 'big three' stallions now–Deep Impact, King Kamehameha and Heart's Cry–but all the stallions were well received across the range of stud fees. 

“We had seven yearlings by Duramente that were sold for over ¥100 million today. This is his last crop, so they had a premium on them, but they had good pedigrees top and bottom. 

“We are looking forward to tomorrow. The foals are very good and the market should be strong again.”

The foal session gets underway at 9.30am local time after a 90-minute viewing session of the youngsters and their dams within the park.

The post Kitasan Black in Demand at Record JRHA Sale, 97% Clearance appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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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.”

The post ‘The Luckiest Moment In My Life’: Yoshida on Sunday Silence appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The two runners may be more closely matched than it appears on paper. Sol Oriens (Jpn) will start a warm favourite in the world's richest Derby, and deservedly so, having come from a near-impossible position and having overcome his own greenness to decision Tastiera (Jpn) (Satono Crown {Jpn}) the G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) in very testing ground at Nakayama a month and a half ago. Scary as it could be, that was just the third start of his career and there is likely improvement to come, though the Derby and its full field dictate that there is little to no margin for error. To that end, his conditioner believes he is ready for Sunday's task.

“I think his performance in the Satsuki Sho was good,” said Takahisa Tezuka. “I had had my doubts about whether he could do well over the heavy ground and how he would do with the inside gate and the big field. But he came though well on all points. In his trackwork, he has been taking the bit better with each race and is much more forward than before.

“I think 2400 metres is well within reach. I think the ground and the times will be fast and I think those conditions suit him. I'm not worried. On the contrary, I'm happy to see him race on fast ground.”

Derby Fav 3c SOL ORIENS (Kitasan Black x Skia (Motivator)) still humming (inside)

Takeshi Yokoyama gave him and easy time on the Miho chip yet he rattled off an 11.3 close

Unbeaten in 3, Satsuki Sho winner LS

Good luck beating him! #KitasanBlack pic.twitter.com/NtdK2THglX

— Graham Pavey (@LongBallToNoOne) May 24, 2023

In the opposite corner is chief market rival Skilfing (Jpn), who overcame a difficult wide trip beneath Christophe Lemaire to defeat the re-opposing Heart's Concerto (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) by a half-length in the G2 Aoba Sho over this course and distance Apr. 29. While the duo drew gates 11 and four last time, respectively, Skilfing leaves from barrier two and Heart's Concerto from 11 this time around.

“After the Aoba Sho, I was glad to see that he came out of the race well, and I consider him to be a very reliable horse,” his trainer Tetsuya Kimura said. “He works well with the rider, listens well and responds well to what the jockey asks of him. I think all his experience at Tokyo should stand him well.”

Satono Glanz (Jpn) (Satono Diamond {Jpn}) has also already scored over the Derby trip, having improved from his maiden to win a 1-win class conditions at Hanshin in March, and he made it three on the trot with a narrow victory in the G2 Kyoto Shimbun Hai over a mile and three furlongs May 6. He will have to overcome post 18, as Equinox did last year, but has a capable reinsman in the form of Yuga Kawada.

Phantom Thief (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}) may not have preferred the soft underfoot conditions in the Satsuki Sho, but managed third all the same, and can improve on a sounder surface Sunday. Farther under the radar is Hrimfaxi (Jpn) (Rulership {Jpn}), the half-brother to the classy Deirdre (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}), who was a well-backed ninth in the Guineas, but was buried down on the worst part of the track for most of the opening mile and seems better than what he showed at Nakayama.

Dura Erede (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}), who upset last year's G1 Hopeful S. at 89-1, returns to the turf after finishing runner-up to Derma Sotogake (Jpn) (Mind Your Biscuits) in the G2 UAE Derby on the dirt at Meydan Mar. 25.

The post Betting On ‘Black’ In The Tokyo Yushun appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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In any country, it takes a special horse to win the Triple Crown. For the first time ever in Japan, there was a colts' and a fillies' Triple Crown winner in 2020, courtesy of Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Daring Tact (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}). For the fillies, that special quest does not end in the Japanese St Leger in late October, but a week earlier in the Shuka Sho, in which they return to 2,000m.

This year, the Triple Crown is already on the cards again for one filly, with the vaunted Liberty Island (Jpn) having blasted past her rivals to a six-length victory in Tokyo on Sunday after taking the Oka Sho (1,000 Guineas) at Hanshin in April. 

The unbeaten Sol Oriens (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}), winner of the Satsuki Sho (2,000 Guineas), is almost certain to start favourite for the Derby on Sunday for what will be just the fourth run of his life. His name, incidentally, translates from Latin to 'Rising Sun', an apposite moniker for a top-class Japanese galloper if ever there was one.

Both Liberty Island and Sol Oriens exemplify what has become a common theme in Japanese breeding in that they are by domestic stallions who are proven at the top level over a number of seasons, and often with form up to two miles, and out of classy international race mares. It is no accident that Japan has become a dominant force in world racing: they set out to breed horses with that all-important blend of class and stamina, prizing form highly for both stallions and broodmares.

Yankee Rose (Aus), by Red Ransom's son All American (Aus), may have had humble origins, and was famously bought for just  A$10,000 at the Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, but she earned her way to the top. Following her Group 1 victories at two and three, not to mention her runner-up finish in the prized Golden Slipper, she was duly bought privately by Katsumi Yoshida. Mated initially to two Derby winners in her first two seasons in Deep Impact (Jpn) and Duramente, she has struck gold with her second foal, Liberty Island. 

In the case of Skia (Fr) (Motivator {GB}), the dam of Sol Oriens and his Grade 2-winning half-brother Vin De Garde (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), her final start brought victory in the G3 Prix Fille de l'Air for Leonidas Marinopoulos. She was later bought by French bloodstock agent Patrick Barbe, who has done plenty of business in Japan over the years, for €320,000 at Arqana's December Breeding Stock Sale.

Sol Oriens's sire Kitasan Black, a son of Deep Impact's full-brother Black Tide (Jpn), is also responsible for the exciting Equinox (Jpn) and was himself an accomplished galloper who didn't race until he was three. He made up for that with 20 starts over three seasons, his final appearance coming when he won the G1 Arima Kinen as a five-year-old, to seal a quintet of Grade 1 victories which included the Japan Cup and the Tenno Sho (Spring) over two miles. Kitasan Black was also third in the Satsuki Sho behind the Liberty Island's sire Duramente, with the latter, by King Kamehameha (Jpn), then going on to win the Derby. He had sired just five crops of foals when he died in 2021 at the age of nine. With five Grade 1 winners to his name already, Duramente looks a considerable loss.

Deep Impact, the most celebrated Japanese horse in recent history, and a Triple Crown winner himself who also landed the two-mile Tenno Sho, was another to have been the offspring of an imported mare, and of course he was by Japan's most famous equine import, Sunday Silence. Deep Impact's dam Wind In Her Hair (Ire) (Alzao), who, remarkably, is still alive at the age of 32 in retirement at Northern Horse Park, is a grand-daughter of the late Queen's dual Classic winner Highclere (GB) (Queen's Hussar {GB}). Second to Balanchine in the Oaks and a Group 1 winner in Germany the following year, Wind In Her Hair was another private purchase by Katsumi Yoshida. Her legacy in his country is now immense.  

Deep Impact's Triple Crown-winning daughter Gentildonna (Jpn), who was twice voted Horse of the Year in Japan, follows a similar pattern, being out of the G1 Cheveley Park S. winner Donna Blini (GB) (Bertolini), who was bought by Northern Farm for 500,000gns at the Tattersalls December Sale of 2006.

Little wonder, then, that such time and money is spent by Japanese breeders and their operatives in plucking some of the best race mares in Europe, America, Australia and beyond to bolster the home broodmare bands, whether through private purchases or at auction.

The extent of the former we can only guess at, but in the last four years at Keeneland's November Sale, for example, Japanese buyers have spent $59.3 million on 152 horses, and that was through a pandemic, don't forget. During that timeframe, €8.5 million has been spent at Arqana on 19 broodmare prospects, while at Goffs there's been an outlay of €2.1 million, and at Tattersalls another £14.2 million on 53 fillies and mares during the last four December Sales. And those figures are just from the breeding stock sales. Many millions more have been spent on foals and yearlings. 

In the last four years at Keeneland's November Sale, for example, Japanese buyers have spent $59.3 million on 152 horses

It is an eye-watering level of investment, primarily but not solely from the brothers Teruya, Katsumi and Haruya Yoshida. They respectively own Shadai, Northern and Oiwake Farms, and are collectively responsible for a power-packed roster at Shadai Stallion Station, which is currently home to 32 stallions. Of these, seven were bred in the USA, including last year's leading freshman, Mind Your Biscuits (Posse), and the Arkansas Derby winner Nadal (Blame).

The latter brings yet another branch of the Hail To Reason sireline into the country, which was enjoying great success there even before the Halo stallion Sunday Silence arrived. Nadal descends via Hail To Reason's Derby-winning son Roberto, whose son Real Shadai was champion sire in Japan in 1993, two years before Sunday Silence won the first of his 13 championships. More recently, Roberto's line has been well represented by Symboli Kris S and his son Epiphaneia. Jim Bolger's brilliant Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) was another recent overseas recruit to a line-up which boasts 26 homegrown sires. 

On Monday, the Japan Racing Horse Association (JRHA) released the catalogue for its Select Sale in July, which sells yearlings on one day followed by the rather charming session of foals offered alongside their dams. Once sold, the foals return to farms where they were born to be weaned, and only later join their new owners. 

It offers an extraordinary opportunity for sale attendees to see some of these grand old girls in the flesh, and what a line-up it will be again this year, in the shade of the trees of the Northern Horse Park, as the morning inspection session takes place prior to the start of the sale. 

In a veritable international who's who of broodmares, those present alongside their foals will include former champion race fillies from America, Australia, Argentina, and Canada, including She Will Reign (Aus) and Caledonia Road, along with Classic winners from France, Germany and Italy in Dream And Do (Fr), Feodora (Ger) and Dionisia. Then there's dear old Donna Blini, who is represented by both yearling and foal half-sisters to her greatest creation, Gentildonna. 

It is a catalogue that is almost impossible to preview in short form, containing as it does a deep, global representation of top-class form on both sides of each youngster's pedigree. But in short, it can be viewed as a set text for a lesson from a country which continues to prioritise form and longevity, with a long-term eye on the middle-distance horse. A land where, whatever the outcome for Sol Oriens, the sun continues to shine brightly on the breeding industry. 

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The slight second choice in the wagering behind Seven Magician (Jpn) (Just a Way {Jpn}), the Shadai homebred was void of early speed and raced with about three rivals behind into the backstretch behind a modest tempo. Held together into the final half-mile by Takehsi Yokoyama, Sol Oriens was asked for an effort approaching the exit to the second turn, but drifted out several paths off the home corner. Rebalanced in upper stretch, he focused on the task at hand and ran out an easy winner while racing greenly and on his incorrect lead through the final furlong. Omega Rich Man (Jpn) (Isla Bonita {Jpn}), easily the roughest chance in the field of nine, ran home for second ahead of Seven Magician in third.

Pedigree Notes:

A bit of a later-bloomer in his own right, Kitasan Black won the G1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St Leger) at three, but is throwing runners more precocious than he. Sol Oriens is the fourth black-type winner–each at group level–for Kitasan Black, two each from his first two crops.

Patrick Barbe acquired the French stakes-winning Skia for €320,000 in foal to Leroidesanimaux (Brz) at the 2014 Arqana December Sale and her second Japanese-bred foal is the gifted Vin de Garde, a Group 2 winner at home and placed in the last two renewals of the G1 Dubai Turf.  A half-sister to Tropaios (GB) (Excellent Art {GB}), also a stakes winner in France before becoming a star in Singapore for the China Horse Club, is also the dam of a 2-year–old colt by Kizuna (Jpn) and is due to Epiphaneia (Jpn) this season. Dam-sire Motivator is now responsible for 14 black-type winners (six group winners), a number that also includes treble Japanese Group 1 scorer Titleholder (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}).

Sunday, Nakayama, Japan
KEISEI HAI-G3, ¥76,450,000, Nakayama, 1-15, 3yo, 2000mT, 2:02.20, fm.
1–SOL ORIENS (JPN), 123, c, 3, by Kitasan Black (Jpn)
1st Dam: Skia (Fr) (GSW-Fr, $163,904), by Motivator (GB)
2nd Dam: Light Quest, by Quest For Fame (GB)
3rd Dam: Gleam of Light (Ire), by Danehill
1ST GROUP WIN. 1ST STAKES WIN. O-Shadai Race Horse; B-Shadai Farm; T-Takahisa Tezuka; J-Takeshi Yokoyama; ¥40,315,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, ¥47,315,000. *1/2 to Vin de Garde (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), GSW-Jpn, MG1SP-UAE, $2,792,422. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the  eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Omega Rich Man (Jpn), 123, c, 3, Isla Bonita (Jpn)–El Calafate (Jpn), by Deep Impact (Jpn). (¥16,000,000 Wlg '20 JRHAJUL). O-Reiko Hara; B-Shadai Farm; ¥16,090,000.
3–Seven Magician (Jpn), 123, c, 3, Just a Way (Jpn)–Happiness Dancer (Jpn), by Meisho Samson (Jpn). O-Yoshiyuki Maesako; B-Northern Farm; ¥ 10,045,000.
Margins: 2HF, 1 1/4, HF. Odds: 1.70, 117.00, 1.70. Click for the JRA Chart.

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The recognizable chestnut, whose sire took this race back in 2016, made meteoric progress early on this season, winning in listed company over course and distance in January before besting the classy Lei Papale (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in all-the-way fashion in the G2 Kinko Sho and running the 2000 metres in a record time of 1:57.2. Only fifth to Potager (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) after setting the majority of the pace in the G1 Osaka Hai in April, Jack d'Oro was asked to settle off the speed of G1 Dubai Turf dead-heater Panthalassa (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) and ran that one down in the shadow of the post to take the G2 Sapporo Kinen Aug. 21 (video, SC 4).

“The races take a lot out of him and the rotation going in to the Osaka Hai was tight,” trainer Kenichi Fujioka opined. “The ground was worse than I thought it'd be, and the early lap times were faster than I expected. Last start, he was a bit heavy, but this time his weight should be down. Physically, he's always been good, and I don't think he's changed much. Though he's become calmer, he switches on well. He has had good results at Tokyo 2000 meters and lots of experience to the left. I would say it's his best trip.”

JACK D'OR https://t.co/olmwsKQp2n

— Graham Pavey (@LongBallToNoOne) October 28, 2022

Leading the 3-year-old challenge is Equinox (Jpn), a son of 2017 Tenno Sho hero Kitasan Black (Jpn). A veteran of just four career starts, the Silk Racing colourbearer was a Group 2 winner at headquarters as a juvenile and contested the first two legs of this year's Classics, missing narrowly to Geoglyph (Jpn) (Drefong) in the G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) in April and by even a slimmer margin to Do Deuce (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) in the G1 Toyko Yushun (Japanese Derby) last time, with Geoglyph not running out the 2400 metres in seventh.

“This Wednesday, he breezed with two others on the woodchip flat course, and again, all looked good,” said trainer Tetsuya Kimura. “His footwork was excellent. The distance shouldn't be a problem. We will keep preparing him to bring out his best on raceday.”

Exciting 3c EQUINOX (Kitasan Black x Chateau Blanche (King Halo)) fast work 11 days out from mayhem in G1 2000m Tenno Sho

2nd in Derby at 4th race start

Lemaire “Beautiful light footwork, breathing nicely, maybe more powerful than the spring?” #JRA pic.twitter.com/pPVoA0BRcQ

— Graham Pavey (@LongBallToNoOne) October 20, 2022

The lightly raced Danon Beluga (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) sports a profile similar to Equinox, with a pair of wins from his four outings, including a defeat of Geoglyph in a Group 3 at this venue ahead of the Classics, but he was somewhat disappointing when fourth in both the Guineas and–as the 5-2 favourite–in the Derby.

Last year's Japanese Derby hero Shahryar (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) makes his first start at home this season, having contributed to a massive Dubai World Cup program for Japan with a victory over GI Breeders' Cup Turf hero Yibir (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) in the G1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic in March ahead of a forgettable effort when fifth to State of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) in the G1 Prince of Wales's S. at Royal Ascot in June. The Sunday Racing runner clearly deserves his place in this field, but it can be argued that he'll be using this as a prep for next month's G1 Longines Japan Cup, in which he was third last season.

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