Noble Mission, a full-brother to the great Frankel and sire of Grade 1 winner Code of Honor, has been sold to stand in Japan, per a statement from the Japan Bloodhorse Breeders' Association.
The release states that the 11-year-old son of Galileo will ship to Japan in late November, and he will take up residence at Shizunai Stallion Station in December, following import quarantine.
Noble Mission stood his first six seasons at Lane's End in Versailles, Ky., where he was advertised in 2020 for a fee of $20,000. He is best known as the sire of Code of Honor, the winner of the Grade 1 Travers Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup, and runner-up in the 2019 Kentucky Derby hailing from his sire's first crop.
Other notable runners among Noble Mission's 73 winners include Spanish Mission, a Group 2 winner in England, and stakes winners Life Mission and Laafy.
A British homebred for the Juddmonte Farms operation, Noble Mission is out of the Group 3-placed stakes-winning Danehill mare Kind, making him a full-brother to the undefeated European champion Frankel, and a half to Group 3 winner Bullet Train and stakes winner Joyeuse.
Noble Mission won nine of 21 starts for earnings of $2,202,887, including the Group 3 Gordon Stakes as a 3-year-old, and the Tapster Stakes at four. He took his game to another level at five, earning Europe's Cartier champion older horse honors in 2014 on a campaign that included victories in the G1 Champion Stakes in England, the G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in France, and the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup in Ireland. He also finished second in the German G1 Grosser Dallmayr-Preis – Bayerisches Zuchtrennen to add even more international flavor.
The Japan Bloodhorse Breeders' Association is a regular buyer of U.S. stallions and stallion prospects, with a roster of expats that currently includes Animal Kingdom, Declaration of War, Creator, Eskendereya, Cape Blanco, Aldebaran, David Junior, Came Home, and Squirtle Squirt.
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