Heart's Cry, a global Group 1 winner and one of Japan's perennial top sires, has died at age 22, the Japan Racing Association announced Friday.
A homebred for the Shadai Farm operation, Heart's Cry was a son of Sunday Silence, the breed-shaping sire of Japan's modern Thoroughbred industry.
He won five of 19 starts during his on-track career, earning $8,054,175. In his home country, Heart's Cry earned champion older horse honors in 2005 with a victory in the Group 1 Arima Kinen Grand Prix, and a runner-up effort in the G1 Japan Cup.
A year later, Heart's Cry took his show on the road, highlighted by a victory in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic on the Dubai World Cup card, and a third-place effort in the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes on the Royal Ascot program.
“Very sad to hear the passing of my champ,” jockey Christophe Lemaire posted on his Instagram. “It all started with him for me in Japan. Big thoughts to Teruya Yoshida and Shadai Farm staff. Legends never die.”
Heart's Cry retired to Shadai Stallion Station for the 2008 breeding season, and he has sired 44 graded/group stakes winners to date, led by Lys Gracieux, who was named Japan's Horse of the Year and Australia's champion turf female and older mare in 2019 on the strength of a campaign that featured wins in the G1 Arima Kinen and G1 Takarazuken Kinen in Japan and the vaunted G1 Cox Plate in Australia.
Other runners of note by Heart's Cry include Japanese champions Just a Way and Do Deuce, G1 Japan Cup winners Cheval Grand and Suave Richard, and G1 Japanese Oaks winner Nuovo Record.
Top U.S. runners by Heart's Cry include multiple Grade 1 winner Yoshida, who currently stands at WinStar Farm, and Nuovo Record, who won the G3 Red Carpet Handicap in 2016.
Heart's Cry was pensioned from stud duty in 2021 at age 20.
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