The Land of the Setting Sun?

It felt like a literal solstice, a moment marking our transition to a different phase in the alignment of the Thoroughbred firmament. Because the meteoric performance of Equinox (Jpn) in Dubai on Saturday night, as highlight of another momentous evening for Japan, left rival breeders everywhere speechless. Perhaps, they wondered next morning, this was what was meant by a Sunday silence.

There are so many lessons in Japan's accession as a dominant influence on the 21st Century Thoroughbred, a trend that even the most obtuse and parochial of us cannot fail to observe, that it's difficult to know where to start.

When, for instance, will those industries clinging to a historic presumption of superiority–either side of the Atlantic–acknowledge what's happening sufficiently to reverse the traffic and start importing Japanese racehorses to stand on their own farms? Not for a while yet, you suspect, given that you would need to be confident of commercial demand to make the necessary investment viable. And for now it seems an adequate challenge to get traction even for those few representatives of Japanese bloodlines to have at least showcased their wares before a domestic audience.

But it's not as though this latest tour de force–featuring winners of the biggest prize on both surfaces at Meydan, as well as the first four in the G2 UAE Derby–was founded simply in stallion trade. The Japanese have certainly embraced many sires renounced as uncommercial by breeders in Kentucky and Europe. But that investment has been consistent with a holistic strategy, embracing the right mares, the right land, the right horsemanship.

Obviously the Japanese have enjoyed advantages, in terms of colossal gambling and government engagement. But all these unmissable moments of vindication, as in Riyadh last month or at the 2021 Breeders' Cup, have completed patient years of groundwork, during which Japan was sometimes viewed as a convenient, nearly gullible receptacle for the cashing out of unwanted genetic goods.

As commercial breeding elsewhere has become ever more focused on the sales ring, the Japanese meanwhile persevered with a longer game. Selection was predicated on the kind of assets, like stamina and durability, that are treated with something between dread and derision in other markets. But now we see the results.

Certainly nobody can remain deceived that this has all happened because of a single, game-changing roll of the dice on Sunday Silence. And if Japan did not get here overnight, nor can those industries now being challenged expect to retrieve the situation other than by patient increments.

Let's take G1 Dubai World Cup winner Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) as a snapshot. He is, admittedly, by a grandson of Sunday Silence. But the dam of Orfevre (Jpn) is by a sire, Mejiro McQueen (Jpn), who not only represents the fourth generation of a sire-line transplanted by the arrival from Europe of Partholon (Ire) in 1963, but also extends an indigenous maternal line through eight generations of Japanese mares to one foaled as long ago as 1909.

Partholon, by the way, ended up as Japan's champion sire on three occasions, having won the Ebor H. at York, over 14 furlongs as a 3-year-old. The die was cast. Because if we're going to give due credit to the bottom line, then here's a question that I should like to ask any American breeder mating a mare this spring.

Say the resulting foal becomes champion sophomore or maybe, instead, he could win the second richest race on the planet. Either would sound pretty good, right? Well, what do the last two horses to reach this pinnacle of dirt racing, Epicenter (Not This Time) and Ushba Tesoro, have in common?

The answer is that the third dam of both is a daughter of Ela-Mana-Mou (Ire), one of the most redoubtable stamina influences in the recent history of European grass racing. Ela-Mana-Mou's two best-known sons were Double Trigger (Ire), who swept the Cup races in Britain including the G1 Ascot Gold Cup at 20 furlongs, and Snurge (Ire), whose Classic success came over 14 in the G1 St Leger.

Now, I'm not suggesting for a moment that this single, attenuating strand specifically accounts for the excellence of Epicenter and Ushba Tesoro over two turns of dirt. But what I do believe is that this forgotten horse–virtually unknown in Kentucky, presumably, beyond its substantial community of emigre horsemen of a certain age–is typical of the overall “branding” today enabling Japanese runners to carry their speed so unanswerably.

Look at Panthalassa (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}), who switched from turf to win the world's richest prize in Riyadh last month. Hardly anything in his pedigree indicated a likely proficiency on dirt, but it is saturated (sprinting sire notwithstanding) with toughness and stamina. His first two dams are by Montjeu (Ire) and High Estate (Ire). One has had a record impact at Epsom, the other was by a Derby winner and sired one himself. The next dam was admittedly by a sprinter, but out of a mare by another undiluted source of staying power in dual Arc winner Alleged.

This kind of thing is not confined to the Japanese, of course. The World Cup runner-up Algiers (Ire) (Shamardal) admittedly represents a versatile sire-line, but there are deep wells of stamina in his pedigree. His dam is by Platini (Ger) (Sumuru {Ger}), a horse that once outstayed even Ela-Mana-Mou's son Snurge. (And Shamardal himself requires us to reflect how his dam's half-brother Street Cry {Ire} became a Classic influence on dirt, as they are out of an G1 Irish Oaks (12f) winner by the ardent stayer Troy {GB}).

Certainly Ushba Tesoro himself is laden with staying influences. His sire Orfevre is a Japanese St Leger winner (15f) by Stay Gold–another son of Sunday Silence who majored in soundness (still showing top-class form at seven) and stamina (stayed two miles). And his dam is by King Kamehameha (Jpn), whose fertility as a source of brilliance was hardly impaired by his Classic success over 12 furlongs. She was out of one of the more accomplished runners (couple of graded stakes wins on turf after export to Bobby Frankel) by Septieme Ciel, a generally disappointing stallion by Seattle Slew. Ela-Mana-Mou then enters the picture as a mate for a daughter of the imported Argentinian sire Pronto (Arg).

We should not be surprised, then, if the Ela-Mana-Mou mare who features as Epicenter's third dam should be out of a daughter of Busted (GB), whose two best sons Bustino (GB) and Mtoto (GB) both sired winners of the G1 Ascot Gold Cup over 2 1/2 miles. (Nor, if anyone is inclined to complacency in a commercial industry that can produce Flightline, should we neglect that the champion's second dam is by Roberto's son Dynaformer, while his sire's granddam is by Nijinsky).

More predictably, perhaps, similar motifs occur just as prominently behind Equinox, sensational winner of the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic. His sire Kitasan Black (Jpn), a grandson of Sunday Silence, twice won a Grade 1 over two miles; while his damsire King Halo (Jpn) (out of a mare by Sunday Silence's sire Halo) is by Dancing Brave, one of the all-time European greats yet soon written off to Japan as a stallion. Equinox's granddam is herself by a rejected Arc winner in Tony Bin (Ire), while the next dam is by a dual winner of the race in Alleged.

We just found Alleged, remember, lurking behind Panthalassa as well. And while his own background–by Hoist The Flag/inbred 3×4 to War Admiral–may take us into the mists of time, it also takes us right to the crux of the matter. Because dirt racing is about carrying speed, and that is itself a form of stamina.

Interestingly Tony Bin also provides the second dam of UAE Derby winner Derma Sotogake, who must be getting his stamina from the bottom side as a son of the imported American sprinter Mind Your Biscuits. Derma Sotogake's damsire is Sunday Silence's son Neo Universe, a Japanese Derby winner beaten a length in the 15-furlong St Leger. The way he destroyed his pursuers last Saturday permits no doubt that Derma Sotogake has the maternal wherewithal to carry his sire's speed and–setting aside last year's farcical tactics from the two UAE Derby graduates–nobody should be complacent that the GI Kentucky Derby itself can be secure from Japan's expanding hegemony.

Evidently there is no guarantee that Equinox will be given the chance to slake a rather longer thirst in the Arc, which is a pity given the Longchamp winners seeding his family, not to mention the fact that his own sire contributed two of Japan's serial near-misses in the race.

But just imagine what would happen if the Japanese suddenly felt sorry for the industries they compete with, and donated Equinox to Kentucky or Britain. Would the commercial breeders of the Bluegrass, anxious to catch the eye of an Ocala pinhooker, come flocking? With his background, I doubt it. What, equally, would Nathaniel (Ire) tell Equinox about the kind of harem a proven Classic influence can expect in Britain? (That's the same Nathaniel who added the latest Epsom Derby winner to a resume already including Enable (GB), yet is still only charging ÂŁ15,000 and increasingly relying on jumps mares).

And there's your answer, really. If we want to recover the ground lost to Japan, then we need to understand just what these rampant Japanese racehorses are digging into: seam after seam of soundness and stamina. Of course they need brilliance too. That's where the whole skill of breeding comes in, maintaining that cutting edge of speed. Yet one after another of these horses have been sired, not by recent imports, but by horses that have been developed in the Japanese program, many of them holding their form year after year, generally on turf and over what many would consider appalling distances.

Yes, we must reiterate the shrewd selection of mare imports over the years. The $750,000 paid for Ushba Tesoro's granddam, for instance, doubtless owed little to her sire Septieme Ciel and rather more to the fact that had managed to add more black-type to the famous Claiborne clan of her fourth dam Bourtai.

But what kind of reception, honestly, would Deep Impact (Jpn) himself have had in Lexington, as a winner over two miles? American breeders didn't want his sire, but did they ever learn that lesson?

At least commercial breeding in Kentucky still aspires to a second turn on the first Saturday in May. But while I'm always recommending dirt sires as a way–and a proven way–to transfer a speed-carrying capacity to European Classic racing, the Japanese are meanwhile reminding us that the reverse also applies: that there's nothing like grass stamina to help keep up the gallop on dirt.

As I acknowledged at the outset, it would be commercially difficult to export an elite runner from Japan to stand in Europe or America. But now that they are taking their excellence onto a global stage, perhaps that kind of gamble may gradually start to inch a little closer.

In the meantime, only a few horses have had the chance to introduce Japanese blood to domestic racing theaters elsewhere. Unsurprisingly, the most promising experiment to date is the work of John Magnier and his partners in Coolmore, who outcrossed one of their many top-class daughters of Galileo (Ire) to Deep Impact (Jpn) and produced Classic winner Saxon Warrior (Ire)–whose debut crop includes GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf scorer Victoria Road (Ire). Saxon Warrior's fee this spring is up to €35,000 from €20,000, and the same operation is now hoping to repeat the process with Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}). The strong favorite for the Epsom Derby is similarly out of a high-class Galileo (Ire) mare, and actually won the same juvenile Group 1 as Saxon Warrior last fall.

Not many people, however, have either the resources or the imagination to emulate this kind of thing. As things stand, a Japanese sire-line entered the North American general sires' list in 2022 only at No. 92 through Silent Name (Jpn), who offers Ontario a direct conduit to Sunday Silence. And we do also have Yoshida (Jpn), a grandson of Sunday Silence, about to launch his first juveniles. His Grade I wins on both turf and dirt were due reward for the rare enterprise shown by WinStar in importing a Japanese yearling to race in the U.S.

Sunday Silence's son Hat Trick (Jpn) was a noble earlier experiment, and Gainesway bought into the project after he pulled Group 1-winning juvenile Dabirsim (Fr) out of his hat as a freshman. (The same farm, to its credit, evidently also liked the fact that Karakontie (Jpn) is out of a Sunday Silence mare.)

Unfortunately Hat Trick dwindled to 19 mares at $5,000 in his final spring in Kentucky, before ending his days in Brazil. Dabirsim did meanwhile produce Royal Ascot winner Different League (Fr), an €8,000 weanling who advanced her value two years later to 1,500,000gns. That sum, incidentally, was ventured by another far-sighted Coolmore partnership, co-signed by M.V. Magnier and White Birch Farm.

Obviously it was always unlikely that such rare samples of Japanese blood should happen to prove as potent as the best of their gene pool. But who knows? Perhaps we will gradually learn a little humility. Perhaps we can admit to ourselves that, where Japan has strengthened over the past couple of generations, is precisely where we have allowed things to slide.

As always, there's an ultimate consolation to the way this business functions. But eventually the people with the daring and the imagination to take a harder path, and heeding Japan's example, will be waiting for your horse on the racetrack.

We're all being taught a pretty deafening lesson here. That doesn't mean many people are necessarily going to pay attention, even if the Japanese now plunder the Kentucky Derby itself. But it'll be pretty obvious, in a few years' time, just who was listening, and taking notes, before going away to complete their homework.

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Seven Days: A Feast Fit For a Queen

A World Cup meeting needs world-class runners plus a global spread of results. This much and more was delivered by the 27th Dubai World Cup and supporting races at Meydan on Saturday.

With 26 runners on the night, it was always a given that Japan would feature prominently and, in an exhibition of excellence that we are now becoming accustomed to, they led all comers, just as they had in Riyadh last month. The performance of Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) alone was pretty dramatic, coming from tailed off to a rallying victory in the big race itself, but all else pales when compared to the extraordinary Equinox (Jpn) (Kitasan Black {Jpn}).

There have been some classy winners of the Dubai Sheema Classic over the years but none has cruised over the line with such imperious ease as the 4-year-old, who was Japan's Horse of the Year in 2022. 

We may be only three months into 2023, but Equinox has quickly become almost everybody's horse of this year. His connections appear to have ruled out a bid for the Arc, with the Breeders' Cup Turf a more likely international option for later in the year. Those of us on this side of the pond can only hope they change their mind and consider Ascot in July for the King George and Queen Elizabeth S.

Once again it was a major meeting which showcased the rewards to be reaped when keeping horses in training beyond their 2- or 3-year-old seasons. Leaving aside the  UAE Derby, Equinox was the youngest winner of the night, with horses aged five, six and seven claiming two victories apiece. 

Lord North (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Broome (Ire) (Australia {GB}) were born a day apart in February 2016, and have mustered 52 runs and 19 wins between them. Both may be a little under-appreciated, though surely not by their connections, considering that the former has triumphed in exactly half of his 20 starts and accumulated almost £6.5 million in prize-money, largely through his historic hat-trick in the Dubai Turf. The well-named Broome (out of Sweepstake) has taken his connections on a merry dance from Ireland to England, France, America, Japan, Hong Kong, Qatar, and now Dubai. He has also overcome a fractured shin from  a kick by another horse after running in the Japan Cup of November 2021. Quick thinking and treatment by vet Kanichi Kusano, who is now the Japan Racing Association's representative in London, meant that Broome was able to resume racing the following May, winning the G2 Hardwicke S. on his second run back after the break, and now the G2 Dubai Gold Cup.

A chance outing on Sunday took this correspondent to the ancestral home of the original Lord North. Kirtling Tower, not far from Newmarket, is the remaining part of what was once Kirtling Hall and its vast estate across Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. A financial advisor and treasurer of sorts to Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell when it came to the dissolution of the monasteries, Lord North, who died in 1564, is entombed at Kirtling Church. Some 14 years later, his son Roger, the second Lord North, entertained Elizabeth I at Kirtling Hall.

Legend has it that the among the long list of food served to the Queen and fellow guests during their three-day stay were 2,316 pigeons, 446 quails, 221 cows' tongues, feet and udders, 110 bitterns, 99 dottrells, 96 rabbits, 67 sheep, 34 pigs, 32 swans, 28 plovers, four stags, and one crane. This was all washed down with 74 hogsheads of beer, six hogsheads of claret and six gallons of spiced wine known as hippocras. It makes the Federation of Bloodstock Agents' annual lunch seem positively abstemious. 

Saudi, Dubai, Next Stop Kentucky

It is hard to get away from Sunday Silence in the Japanese sire lists, and he featured as the paternal great grandsire of both Ushba Tesoro and Equinox. The 1989 Kentucky Derby winner also pops up on the dam's side in the third generation of the G2 UAE Derby winner Derma Sotogake (Jpn), who will now try to emulate his notable ancestor by heading to Churchill Downs on the first weekend of May.

The Shadai-bred Derma Sotogake, who was also third in the G2 Saudi Derby, is the first major international winner from the debut crop of Mind your Biscuits, who ended 2022 as the leading first-season sire in Japan. In his racing days, the 10-year-old son of Posse landed back-to-back runnings of the G1 Golden Shaheen as well as winning the GI Malibu S. at three, and he looks an inspired purchase for the Shadai Stallion Station. His pedigree appears to be a natural fit for mares from the Sunday Silence/Deep Impact line and, as a great grandson of Deputy Minister, his is a sire-line which has succeeded in Japan through French Deputy and his son Kurofune. The latter, himself a grey, features most notably as the sire of the pure white Sodashi (Jpn), winner of the 2021 G1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1,000 Guineas).

Amo Racing's Season Off to a Flyer

The 2023 Tattersalls Craven Breeze-up was represented by its first winner on Saturday before the sale had even taken place. Formerly known as Lot 153 but now racing as Bucanero Fuerte (GB) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), the full-brother to G1 Prix de l'Abbaye winner and Haras de Bouquetot sire Wooded (Ire) won Ireland's first juvenile contest of the year at the Curragh.

Bought as a yearling last August at Arqana for €165,000, he was signed for by breeze-up consignor Robson Aguiar, who presumably had plenty of involvement in the colt's preparation for his debut for owners Amo Racing and Giselle de Aguiar and trainer Adrian Murray. The same triumvirate is also involved in Lightening Army (GB), a juvenile from the first crop of Soldier's Call (GB) who has an entry at Dundalk on Friday.

By Saturday evening, Amo Racing had notched its first stakes winner in America when Crispy Cat (GB) (Ardad {Ire}), who had also been selected by Aguiar as a yearling, won the Texas Glitter S. at Gulfstream Park. A decent juvenile last term for Michael O'Callaghan, Crispy Cat won on debut and notched several black-type places, including an unlucky third in the G2 Norfolk S. He later filled the same position in the G2 Flying Childers, and he could well have a fruitful year ahead of him in the States, where is one of a team of around 30 horses for Amo Racing.

The Amo colours could also be seen in Classic action this year as among the entries for the Irish 2,000 Guineas is the G2 Beresford S. winner Crypto Force (GB) (Time Test {GB}), who has moved from O'Callaghan to the Gosdens.

Murphy Skilled in Both Spheres

Amy Murphy has made a habit of targeting French races in recent years and her approach paid dividends across the codes last week with two markedly different winners.

At Saint-Cloud on Thursday, the versatile trainer saddled the first winner for Coolmore's freshman sire Magna Grecia (Ire) when Myconian (Ire) won the Prix de Debut for Daniel Macauliffe and Anoj Don. Murphy's husband Lemos de Souza has been a key part of her training establishment from the outset and he had selected the colt for €27,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale.

For sheer emotion, however, nothing could top the trainer's second French victory of the week. Now 10, Kalashnikov (Ire) (Kalanisi {Ire}) had been an early star for Murphy and headed into the 2018 Cheltenham Festival with four wins to his credit. He was beaten just a neck when second in the G1 Supreme Novices' Hurdle and went on to become the trainer's first Grade 1 winner the following year in the Manifesto Novices' Chase at Aintree. 

Having had almost two years away from the track while recovering from a tendon injury, Kalashnikov, who races in the colours of Murphy's father Paul, returned to action on Boxing Day. On Sunday, he recorded his eighth victory in the Prix Hubert de Navailles at Auteuil, reducing his trainer, who also rides him every day, to tears.

Globetrotting Murzabayev Off the Mark for Fabre

We may struggle to spell his name correctly but be prepared to hear and see plenty more of Bauyrzhan Murzabayev, the Kazakhstan-born, four-time German champion jockey, who rode his first winner for his new boss Andre Fabre at Fontainebleau on Monday. 

Having race-ridden in both in his native country and the Czech Republic, Murzabayev was initially connected to Andreas Wohler following his move to Germany in 2017. He later joined Peter Schiergen, for whom he won last year's G1 Deutsches Derby on Sammarco (Ire) and G1 Grosser Preis von Bayern aboard Tunnes (Ger). A further breakthrough came during this winter's stint in Japan, where he partnered Dura Erede (Jpn) to land the G1 Hopeful S. among his 21 winners in the country.

Fabre initially called him up ride Mare Australis (Ire) in last year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, and the 30-year-old was announced as the French trainer's retained jockey earlier this month. On Monday, Palais Du Louvre (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) became the duo's first winner. He is unlikely to be the last.

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First-Crop Yearling Previews: Yoshida

The ever-growing depth and caliber of the Japanese breeding and racing industry was on full display at last year's Breeders' Cup World Championships when Japan captured its first two Breeders' Cup victories in a span of just a few hours.

One year before future champions Loves Only You (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Marche Lorraine (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) were both foaled, WinStar Farm's Elliott Walden and SF Bloodstock's Tom Ryan attended the 2015 Japan Racing Horse Association's yearling and weanling sale. They came home with a group that included Yoshida (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn} – Hilda's Passion, by Canadian Frontier)–a ÂĄ94 million (approximately $850,000) yearling purchase, eventual multiple Grade I-winning 'TDN Rising Star', and now, a WinStar Farm sire with his first crop of yearlings pointing for the sales ring.

Bred by Katsumi Yoshida's Northern Farm, the grandson of the Japanese breed-shaping sire Sunday Silence is the second foal out of Hilda's Passion, a multiple graded stakes winner who culminated her career with a victory in the 2011 GI Ballerina S. and then sold to Katsumi Yoshida for $1.225 million at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

“Yoshida is very prototypical of the Japanese breeding program,” said WinStar's Liam O'Rourke. “He's out of an elite American race mare and he is by a son of Sunday Silence. We've seen it come to fruition in recent times that in the Japanese program, they breed for class and versatility. Those are two of the big qualities that Yoshida represents.”

Campaigned by WinStar Farm, China Horse Club and Head of Plains Partners, Yoshida raced from age two through five under Bill Mott's tutelage, claiming four stakes wins headlined by the GI Old Forester Turf Classic S. on turf and the GI Woodward S. on dirt.

Debuting in his career at stud with a fee of $20,000 in 2020, the durable earner of $2.5 million bred 148 mares in his first year at WinStar. With a $15,000 stud fee, he saw another 84 mares last year.

“His first book was ranked third by CPI among [incoming] sires that year,” O'Rourke noted. “We're very proud of the types of mares that he has gotten. He's been supported by a variety of breeders, both commercial and racing types.”

As Yoshida's yearlings now work through their sales prep, O'Rourke said that he has heard optimistic reviews from breeders.

“They have a lot of his physical qualities,” he reported. “They have that class and strength. In watching them as foals early on out in the field, you could see that they were high energy. They were assertive types, kind of rambunctious, and were really aware of their surroundings. The one really common piece of feedback that I get as I've been visiting farms is that you can't give them enough work. That's a great quality when they have the desire to work and to be competitive.”

O'Rourke said that Yoshida's ability on multiple surfaces, along with Japan's growing success on a global scale, has retained breeders' interest throughout the stallion's first three years at stud.

“It's unique that he was so successful on dirt and turf,” he said. “I think he brings a different dimension to the stud barn that we're very proud to offer breeders. He was a very convincing winner of the Woodward, which is a great sire-producing race. In the Old Forester Turf Classic on Derby Day, [he beat] a great field. I think there was eight graded stakes winners in that field. He also beat Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar in the GIII Hill Prince S.”

Last year, Yoshida was represented by 36 weanlings and short yearlings at the fall and winter breeding stock sales. 23 youngsters sold to average $38,279. His colt out of GIIISW Catherinethegreat (Uncaptured) sold for $150,000 at the Keeneland November Sale while in Japan, a colt out of Curlins BFF (Curlin) brought $181,235.

Yoshida has seven yearlings cataloged for the upcoming Fasig-Tipton July Sale on July 12, including a colt out of Moon and Stars (Orb) that sells as Hip 19 with the Shawhan Place consignment.

“He's very strong with tons of bone, good hip and a strong shoulder,” said Shawhan Place's Director of Sales Courtney Schneider. “He's built like a bull; he's just so strong. He's very easy to work with and he's a little bit more forward than our others so that's why we wanted to showcase him a bit earlier in the July Sale.”

Shawhan Place has a special connection with Yoshida as the birthplace of his dam. Bred by Shawhan partner Ted Kuster, Hilda's Passion did not meet her reserve as a weanling, but was sold early in her racing career and went on to claim five graded stakes for Starlight Racing.

“Yoshida was a stallion we were really excited to support here on the farm,” Schneider said. “He was a dual-surface Grade I winner and has all the qualifications of bringing back the Sunday Silence line. We have several on the farm that we're really excited about.”

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Japan Success Generations In The Making

The main event on Saudi Cup Day two weeks ago was all about the host nation, with the locally owned and trained Emblem Road (Quality Road) posting a remarkable upset in the world's richest horse race. Saudi Arabia has announced its presence on the global horse racing scene loud and clear, and the country-with its ever-increasing investment in racehorses and breeding stock globally–will continue to be heard from for years to come.

When the layers are peeled back on the third running of the Saudi Cup card, however, it was another nation who made the biggest statement. Japan swept the first four international races on the card and finished second and third in the G3 Saudi Derby. In other words, the only race in which Japan did not hit the board was the Saudi Cup.

While Saudi Cup Day marked a breakout performance for Japan on the world stage, it was far from its first-the dust had still barely settled on Japan's two-win days at both the Breeders' Cup and Hong Kong International Meeting last year-and in fact, the crescendo has been rising for years. Japan's increasing frequency of success on racing's biggest days have gone hand-in-hand with the internationalization of its industry in recent decades, and indeed each of the nation's winners and placegetters on Saudi Cup Day boast pedigrees that have criss-crossed the continents for generations.

Undoubtedly the most major turning point in the history of Japanese breeding came when Zenya Yoshida–the father of current-day Japanese breeding doyens Teruya, Katsumi and Haruya Yoshida-purchased American Classic winner Sunday Silence to stand at stud at Shadai Stallion Station in Hokkaido, reportedly paying $7.5-million for 75% of the horse in 1991 (Yoshida had purchased 25% of Sunday Silence in training so was buying out his partners on the remainder). Sunday Silence, the 10-time champion sire in Japan, had his presence felt on Saudi Cup day not only through his best-known son Deep Impact (Jpn), whose son Kizuna (Jpn) sired the G3 1351 Turf Sprint winner Songline (Jpn), but also through another son, Stay Gold (Jpn), and his own son in turn Orfevre (Jpn).

Stay Gold (Jpn) was a member of Sunday Silence's third crop and was his sire's first major international winner, traveling to take the Dubai Sheema Classic and Hong Kong Vase. Stay Gold has sired 56 stakes winners and 10 Group 1 winners and Stay Foolish (Jpn), a member of Stay Gold's last full crop, joined his sire as an international winner with a victory in the 3000-metre G3 Red Sea Turf H., defeating the G1 Irish St Leger scorer Sonnyboyliston (Ire) (Power {GB}).

Another of Stay Gold's international winners-and, in fact, the second-richest racehorse in history-was Orfevre (Jpn), the Japanese Triple Crown and two-time G1 Arima Kinen scorer who is probably best known internationally for twice finishing second in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, including when he famously snatched defeat from the jaws of victory when hanging badly inside the final furlong while on the lead in 2012, once again dashing Japan's still unfulfilled Arc dreams.

Orfevre's Authority (Jpn) was already a triple group-race winner in Japan but he landed on the public radar in November when finishing second to Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the Japan Cup, and he kicked off Japan's four-timer on Saudi Cup Day when justifying favouritism in the 2100-metre G3 Neom Turf Cup. Orfevre is also the sire of last year's GI Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Marche Lorraine (Jpn), who was sixth in her final start in the Saudi Cup.

Authority and Stay Foolish's victories bookended the filly Songline in the 1351 Turf Sprint, and she became the first stakes winner over 1200 metres for her exciting young sire Kizuna, a Japanese Derby-winning son of Deep Impact. Kizuna is another to have represented Japan admirably on the world stage: racing for the Maeda family, which regularly supplements its stock with American bloodlines, Kizuna traveled to France to beat the Derby winner Ruler Of The World (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G2 Prix Niel and was fourth behind Treve (Fr) and Orfevre (Jpn) in the 2014 Arc.

Another sire story of the day belonged to Symboli Kris S, broodmare sire of both Authority and Songline. Symboli Kris S was bred in Kentucky by Takahiro Wada and like Sunday Silence descends from the Hail To Reason line, he through Roberto and Kris S. Symboli Kris S was exported to Japan for his racing career and was highly successful, winning two renewals each of the G1 Arima Kinen and G1 Tenno Sho Autumn before retiring to Shadai. The best of Symboli Kris S's five Group 1 winners thus far has been the G1 Japan Cup and Classic-winning Epiphaneia (Jpn) and he, incidentally, is a full-brother to Authority's dam Rosalind (Jpn). Epiphaneia and Rosalind are out of Cesario (Jpn) (Special Week {Jpn}) who, like Stay Gold, was a pioneering Japanese shipper, traveling to California to win the GI American Oaks by four lengths in 2005 after taking the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks). Cesario has become an excellent producer; in addition to Epiphaneia and Rosalind, she is the dam of the 2015 champion 2-year-old colt Leontes (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}); Saturnalia (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}), a Group 1 winner at two and a Classic winner, and two other Group 2-placed winners. Songline is a descendant of European champion filly Sonic Lady (Nureyev), and it is also the family of Deirdre (Jpn) (Harbinger {GB}), who scored a hugely popular victory when winning the G1 Nassau S. at Glorious Goodwood in 2019 before staying on to train in Newmarket and traveling the world to run in Group 1s.

Dancing Prince (Jpn) (Pas De Trois {Jpn}), Japan's fourth winner on Saudi Cup Day in the G3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint, brings together influences of Mr. Prospector, Halo and Northern Dancer through their Japanese imported sons End Sweep, Sunday Silence and Northern Taste, respectively. The 7-year-old Dancing Prince, who won the G3 Capella S. on Dec. 12, is the most successful horse sired by the multiple Group 3-winning turf sprinter Pas de Trois, whose sire Swept Overboard won the GI Ancient Title S. in 2001 and the GI Met Mile in 2002. Swept Overboard was sold to stand in Japan upon the conclusion of his racing career and his best runner is Omega Perfume (Jpn), who won four straight renewals of the Tokyo Daishoten, a local Group 1, including the most recent renewal in December. Swept Overboard's sire and grandsire, End Sweep and Forty Niner, were both champion first-season sires in America before being sold to stand in Japan.

Dancing Prince is out of a mare by Bubble Gum Fellow (Jpn), a champion 2-year-old from Sunday Silence's first crop. His second dam, Sawayaka Princess (Northern Taste), produced the G1 Mile Championship winner Durandal (Jpn) (Sunday Silence). Japan was also third and fourth in the Dirt Sprint with Chain Of Love (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) and defending winner Copano Kicking (Spring At Last).

When it comes to passion for horse racing, it would be tough to top the Japanese. There is an incredible betting culture and fandom surrounding the sport in Japan, and international success seems to directly fuel not only increased global participation, but also the spend on bloodstock: just days removed from the nation's Breeders' Cup double with Marche Lorraine and Loves Only You (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), Japanese breeders headed to the Kentucky breeding stock sales and purchased 13 seven-figure mares, including the Classic-winning filly Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) for $4.7-million and four additional mares that topped $3-million.

Now, Japan is poised to bring an unprecedented squad to Dubai World Cup night that currently numbers 24. Authority and Stay Foolish are on the lists, respectively, for the G1 Sheema Classic and G2 Gold Cup. Sekifu (Jpn) (Henny Hughes), who was runner-up in the G3 Saudi Derby, is pencilled in for the G2 UAE Derby. Among those set to join Authority in the Sheema Classic are Glory Vase (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), the back-to-back winner of the G1 Hong Kong Vase, and last year's G1 Tokyo Yushun and G1 Yushun Himba scorers Shahryar (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Uberleben (Jpn) (Gold Ship {Jpn}). Schnell Meister (Ger) (Kingman {GB}), who was bred in Germany but is campaigned in Japan by Sunday Racing and beat Songline in last year's G1 NHK Mile Cup, is among those earmarked for the G1 Dubai Turf, while Vin De Garde (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), who was runner-up in the 1800 metre event last year, is set to return. Copano Kicking and Chain Of Love lead the Japanese squad for the G1 Dubai Golden Shaheen. Japanese dirt star Chuwa Wizard (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) will line up for the $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup.

Those are just a handful of the runners that could give Japan another night to remember in Dubai later this month. And regardless of the outcomes at Meydan, it is an odds-on bet that the global racing community will continue to see the effects of Japan's incredible investment in and commitment to its racing and breeding programme.

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