Tag: Kitasan Black

Kitasan Black in Demand at Record JRHA Sale, 97% Clearance

HOKKAIDO, Japan–“Welcome from the USA, from Europe, from Down Under,” said Naohiro Goda at Sunday evening's party on the eve of the JRHA Select Sale. The welcome in Japan is always warm, but what is clear is that the extraordinary demand for racehorses in the country makes it difficult for those overseas visitors to make much of a mark in the ring where, once again, new record prices for turnover and average were set on Monday. 

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).

 

 

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.

 

 

 

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.

 

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‘The Luckiest Moment In My Life’: Yoshida on Sunday Silence

HOKKAIDO, Japan–In the bloodstock world, the battle for succession does not come down to unseemly squabbles in the boardroom. What matters first is what happens on the track, and even when all goes right there, success in the breeding shed is far from guaranteed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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Betting On ‘Black’ In The Tokyo Yushun

Equinox (Jpn) was fractionally unlucky to not reel in Do Deuce (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) in the 2022 G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), falling just a neck short after sustaining a long rally from near the end of the field. The flashy colt got the last laugh when named Japan's Horse of the Year, and his sire Kitasan Black (Jpn) has every chance to sire the quinella in this year's renewal at the Fuchu Racecourse Sunday afternoon.

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.”

 

 

 

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.

 

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Could Another Double Triple Crown Be On The Cards in Japan?

We are poised midway between Japan's Oaks (Yushun Himba), which took place last Sunday, and Derby (Tokyo Yushun) this coming Sunday. What is not in doubt in the country that has led the way at so many international meetings in recent years, is that those two races over 2,400m are still very much targeted and revered by owners and breeders. In Japan, there is no shortage of horses bred specifically for that distance, or further. 

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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