Japan's Growing Confidence In International Market

CHITOSE, Japan—When it comes to breeding and racing Thoroughbreds, there's no doubt that Japan does it properly. When it comes to sales, however, the Japanese do things a little differently.

A yearling sale in July is nothing new but a full session of youngsters not yet weaned is a format unseen anywhere else in the bloodstock sales world, but it is one which appears to work very well in Hokkaido.

“In Japan, traditionally buyers always preferred to buy their racehorses as foals, though gradually they are coming round a bit more to the yearling market,” said the JRHA's international representative Naohiro Goda as we ventured out on Saturday morning to view foals at Japan's two biggest breeding operations. Our first port of call was to Teruya Yoshida's Shadai Farm, followed by a preview of an even bigger draft from his brother Katsumi's Northern Farm, situated right next door to the Shadai Stallion Station, which is owned by all three Yoshida brothers—Haruya included—under the Shadai Corporation banner.

The JRHA Select Sale gets underway on Monday, with a session of 246 yearlings followed on Tuesday by 225 foals. The yearlings, along with a number of prospective buyers, shipped in to the sales ground at Northern Horse Park on Saturday but the foals, who sell alongside their dams and then return to their breeders at least until they are weaned, only arrive on Tuesday morning. Potential purchasers therefore make tours of the farms around Hokkaido in the days leading up to the sale, and with the Shadai and Northern Farm three-figure drafts dominating the consignors' list numerically, naturally it is these two studs which have been the busiest this weekend.

Selling foals at this stage of the year in the Northern Hemisphere is not the only thing done differently in Japan. Using a system which could be quite usefully adopted elsewhere, the vendors make known their reserves ahead of the sale, while Northern Farm also provides a sheet detailing the weights and measurements (as of July 5) of its yearlings.

At Shadai, Teruya Yoshida is present to talk visitors through his band of foals along with his son and the farm's vice president, Tetsuya. Among those paraded is a filly by Kitasan Black (JPN), a son of Black Tide (JPN), the stallion who is likely always to be defined by his more famous brother Deep Impact (JPN). Among Kitasan Black's seven Group 1 victories are the Tenno Sho, Japan Cup and Arima Kinen, the latter achieved as his magnificent swansong in the dying days of his 5-year-old season, meaning that at the age of seven he only now his first foals on the ground. It is a situation in the Japanese stallion ranks which, refreshingly, is the norm rather than the exception. The Black Kitasan filly in question (lot 374) is a daughter of the G1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) winner Erin Court (JPN) (Durandal {JPN}), and to emphasise further the level of support thrown at the elegant Kitasan Black by the Yoshida brothers, later at Northern Farm we see a half-brother to Japanese hall-of-famer Gentildonna (JPN) (Deep Impact {JPN}) alongside his mother, the G1 Cheveley Park S. winner Donna Blini (GB) (Bertolini) (lot 338). Donna Blini's own achievements, and those of her daughters Gentildonna and Donau Blue (JPN) are such that this year's Japanese Derby winner Roger Barows (JPN) (Deep Impact {JPN}), a son of Donna Blini's half-sister Little Book (GB) (Librettist) and a graduate of the 2016 foal sale at ¥78 million ($719,000), is mentioned almost in passing, right at the bottom of the colt's page.

His reserve price of ¥50 million (almost $500,000) means that only serious buyers need apply, but the figure is only half that which has been put on the heads of a couple of colt foals by Deep Impact, lots 358 and 400 each being siblings to Grade 2 winners, respectively Renee's Titan (Bernstein) and Denim And Ruby (JPN) (Deep Impact {JPN}). The sum of at least ¥100 million will also have to be given for three yearling colts by Deep Impact: half-brothers to Satono Crown (JPN) (Marju {Ire}) and Lightening Pearl (Ire) (Marju {Ire}) (lot 21), and to Best Warrior (JPN) (Majestic Warrior) (lot 123), and a full-brother to champion 3-year-old filly Mikki Queen (JPN) (lot 51).

The 17-year-old king of Shadai is currently recuperating after a neck injury cut short his covering season and, available for viewing on Saturday, Deep Impact has no fewer than six of his sons for company in the same complex, including the G1 Dubai Turf winner Real Steel (JPN), a brother to this season's G1 Yushun Himba winner Loves Only You (JPN), who was herself a ¥160 million ($1.47 million) JRHA Select Yearling Sale graduate in 2017.

While Deep Impact, with 29 youngsters in the sale, is in his twilight years, one stallion whose name will not be seen again in the first generation of Select Sale horses after this week is the redoubtable King Kamehameha (JPN). Now 18, the son of Kingmambo was munching quietly in the shade of his paddock on Saturday having been pensioned in 2018, meaning that his six foals to sell on Tuesday are among the last to be offered. They include a colt out of the GI Spinaway S. winner So Many Ways (Sightseeing) (lot 411). King Kamehameha's son and stud-mate Lord Kanaloa (JPN)—sire of the record-breaking Japan Cup winner Almond Eye (JPN)—has been extra busy in his father's absence this season and among his foals already on the ground and included in the sale is a filly out of another American Grade 1 winner, Ticker Tape (GB) (Royal Applause {GB}) (lot 409). Meanwhile, another son, the dual Classic winner Duramente (JPN), is represented by his first yearlings in the catalogue, including a colt out of the European champion sprinter Fleeting Spirit (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), who sells as lot 364.

In its 21-year history the Select Sale has grown from a debut catalogue of 230, which sold for almost ¥5 billion, to last year's high of 415 sold for just shy of ¥18 billion, at a record clearance rate of 89.4%. Demand has, to an extent, been driven by a healthy international buying bench, but the domestic owners more than hold their own when it comes to having a chance to ensnare one of the best of those to be offered for sale.

“We have many foreign buyers coming back for the sale but every year we feel after the sale that the Japanese buyers were stronger most of the time, so I'm not sure how happy the foreign buyers are to go home without a souvenir. The Japanese buyers are stronger than we had expected,” said Teruya Yoshida, who is not just a major breeder and consignor but is also vice chairman of the JRHA.

He concurs with Goda's assertion that buyers' tastes are evolving. “From last year things started to change,” he continued. “Traditionally, we have always sold our products as babies but people are getting used to buying as yearlings, and now we even have 2-year-old sales, so people are much more free in the way they buy the horses.”

As for Japan's reputation as a cradle for the staying horse, he added, “The most important races are all at a mile and a quarter to two miles, so we prefer staying horses. But we produce many horses every year, so there is always a selection of sprinters and stayers. The Japanese programme is very varied and we have the advantage of experiencing every kind of race here—we have five-furlong races on dirt as well as middle-distance races on turf. Japanese horses are becoming stronger in every category. There has even been one [Master Fencer (JPN)] challenging in the American Classics. Before, we never thought we could compete with American-bred horses on a dirt track but now we have more confidence to compete. Our path is good for older horses so people don't need to worry about retiring horses too early as long as the horse is sound enough.”

Of those coming from overseas to find a young horse from Japan's enviable collection of internationally purchased bloodlines, Sydney's top trainers Chris Waller and Gai Waterhouse are both making repeat visits along with Coolmore's MV Magnier, while Price Bell of Kentucky's Mill Ridge Farm is on a reconnaissance mission.

“We don't mind where a horse comes from as long as the horse is good,” said Yoshida of his famed and costly global recruiting of some of the best mares off the track. In these days of an increasingly international marketplace, they are words we should all live by.