JRHA Select Sale Ends On Record High

HOKKAIDO, Japan—Though Monday's yearling session of the JRHA Select Sale broke records in most sectors it proved to be a mere warm-up act for the foal session, which followed suit in even more ebullient fashion with record turnover of ¥9.78 billion (£72m/€80.2m/$89.8m) and average of ¥50.4 million (£371,286/€413,262/$462,765). Clearance rate had reached an all-time high last year and climbed further still to 89.8%, with 194 foals sold from the 216 put through the ring alongside a set of A-list broodmares.

The JRHA vice-chairman and Shadai Farm principal Teruya Yoshida took over the end-of-sale statement duties from his brother on Tuesday and paid tribute to Katsumi Yoshida's Northern Farm, which dominated both the catalogue and the trade on both days. On Tuesday, it was responsible for the eight top lots.

Yoshida added, “A number of foreign buyers have told me that this is the best sale in the world. Our graduates have won many Group 1 races and really shown their quality around the world.”

He continued, “Turnover was higher than last year even through the number offered for the foal session was lower than the previous year, but I think that the quality of foals offered today was really high. There are many owners dreaming of owning good horses and wanting to enjoy racing, which makes the sport even more attractive.”

For the sale as a whole, a new benchmark was posted with an aggregate of ¥20.5 billion (£151m/€168m/$188.2m), up from ¥17.9 billion in 2018. The 416 horses sold was just one more than last year and posted an average of ¥49.3 million (£363,182/€404,242/$452,665) representing an incredibly strong clearance rate of 91.4%.

At the eve-of-sale party on Sunday, Yoshida had exhorted his guests to empty their wallets at the sale and, seemingly, many yielded to his request.

Northern Exposure
The foal session at Northern Horse Park genuinely is a sale like no other. As day breaks, the mares and foals arrive from their home farms and from 8am a two-hour inspection session is held—generally a last-minute confirmation stage for those who has already seen the sale entrants a number of times at home.

Confidence had been high at Northern Farm on Saturday that their colt by champion sire Deep Impact (JPN) out of Titan Queen (Tiznow) (lot 358) would be the foal to beat all-comers and that assessment was not misplaced as the half-brother to three graded stakes winners, including GII Santa Ynez S. victrix Renee's Titan, brought the hammer down at ¥470 million (£3.45m/€3.85m/$4.27m).

After buying the ¥360 million Deep Impact yearling which topped the previous day's trade, owner Riichi Kondo, who has been undergoing treatment for cancer, had warned that he was planning to strike again on Tuesday and it proved no idle boast as his name also appeared next to the most expensive foal of the session.

Kondo prefers to give his verdict at the end of the day's session and in company with his persuasive trainer Yasuo Tomomichi, he told the assembled media, “This colt was Mr Tomomichi's best pick. He has been inspecting the horse for two weeks and he was very eager for us to buy him. The price fell within my expectations.”

The businessman added, “I had cancer therapy two weeks ago so I am very glad to be back at this sale because I didn't think I could be here a few weeks ago. This market represents the quality of the Japanese-bred horse. It looks expensive but I think it's a fair price.”

Across the two days of the sale Kondo signed for five yearlings and four foals for a total of ¥1.13 billion (£8.33m/€9.27m/$10.38m).

From start to finish the foal session kept a frenetic pace. Another tradition peculiar to the JRHA Select Sale is that the first and last lots into the ring are sold without reserve. In this case, both hailed from Northern Farm and no reserve was required for either. Leading the way was lot 301, a Heart's Cry son of Argentinean Grade I winner Malacostumbrada (Arg) (Lizard Island) which set the tone for the day by selling at ¥160 million (£1.2m/€1.3m/$1.45m) to Hirotsugu Inokuma.

Whipping them in was a smart Harbinger (GB) half-brother to champion 2-year-old filly Danon Fantasy (JPN) (Deep Impact {JPN}). He too was foaled by a smart mare from Argentina, the dual Grade 1 heroine Life For Sale (Arg) (Not For Sale {Arg}). The hammer fell for the final time in the Northern Horse Park as lot 526 exited with a ¥220 million (£1.6m/€1.8m/$2m) price tag on his head.

Danox In Deep
Through his Danox Co. Ltd., Masahiro Noda, whose many successful horses in training carry the Danon prefix, had signed for four yearlings during the first day of the sale and he made an even bigger splash in the foal pool when buying the second-top lot of the day (400), another Deep Impact colt from Northern Farm, this one a brother to the dual Grade II winner and Japan Cup runner-up Denim And Ruby (JPN). His unraced dam Venenciador (JPN) (King Kamehameha {JPN}) is a half-sister to the champion racemare To The Victory (JPN) (Sunday Silence), whose exploits as stud have been almost as impressive, with three stakes winners to her credit. With a strong page behind him, the colt sold at ¥290 million (£2.13m/€2.38m/$2.66m) to lead the Danox list of purchases of six foals which featured yet another Deep Impact colt (lot 423) out of GIII Suwannee River S. winner Tammy The Torpedo (More Than Ready), who immediately followed another signing lot 422, the lone Frankel (GB) representative.

The Frankel colt is the first foal of American champion female sprinter Finest City (City Zip) and sold from Northern Farm for ¥100 million (£736,201/€820,040/$919,256), while the Deep Impact colt (423) who followed him into the ring brought a decent return of ¥180 million (£1.32m/€1.47m/$1.65m) for Dr Masatake Iida's Chiyoda Farm, one of the few to disrupt the stream of Northern Farm consignees near the top of the list.

Good Lord
Lord Kanaloa (JPN), whose daughter Almond Eye (JPN) set a new record time in the G1 Japan Cup before following up with overseas victory in the G1 Dubai Turf, is certainly the sire in favour for Yoshihisa Ozasa, who as an investment fund manager should know a thing or two about making sound financial decisions. The owner spent a total of ¥480 million (£3.5m/€3.9m/$4.4m) on a pair of colts by the Shadai stallion, the more expensive of the two being lot 382, the son of four-time winner Admire Temba (JPN), a Kurofune half-sister to young sire Duramente (JPN).

Ozasa repeated a refrain heard on a number of occasions at this sale when saying, “This was my trainer's recommendation. He was very keen for me to buy him so I thought it was my duty to do so. Last year I bought many by King Kamehameha but this year I was keen to have more progeny by his son Lord Kanaloa because he was a very fast horse and he works well with Sunday Silence line mares. It was more than I expected to pay for him.”

That sum was ¥270 million (£2m/€2.2m/$2.5m) and only time will tell whether or not it turns out to have been money well spent but if early judgements are anything to go by the dark grey colt looks to have a rock-solid temperament to back up his strong pedigree.

In a custom unique to this sale—as far as this correspondent is aware—the buyers of the foals and yearlings are offered the chance to be photographed with their new purchases as soon as the horses leave the ring. A bank of photographers and film crew are lined up at the ready and a team of helpers are employed by the sales company to arrange legs for conformation photos and wave toy hobby horses to ensure the horses' ears are pricked. This particular foal struck the perfect pose for at least ten minutes, first on his own, then with an entire family, including four small children, who then broke away to crowd around the foal and pat him. If his demeanour at the racecourse is as unflinching as it was on the sales ground then he looks a surefire champion.

This colt was the third purchase of the day for Ozasa, who had earlier gone to ¥210 million (£1.5m/€1.7m/$1.9m) for lot 320, the Lord Kanaloa grandson of Japanese champion To The Victory (JPN) (Sunday Silence), as well as signing for the following lot (321) by Lord Kanaloa's recently pensioned sire King Kamehameha. The Okada Stud-consigned colt is a son of the listed-winning Hector Protector mare Two Days Notice (JPN) and was bought for ¥90 million (£663,892/€738,275/$826,986).

Not naming either trainer in question, Ozasa said of his other Lord Kanaloa colt, “Another trainer picked this one. He is out of Agehibari and I really like the bottom line of his pedigree. I am really looking forward to seeing how he improves in the future. I have spent all my money but hopefully I will buy one more!”

The budget indeed took a bit of a battering as the owner ended the day as the leading foal buyer with seven individuals to his name for a total of ¥922 million (£6.8m/€7.6m/$8.5m).

Drefong's Impressive Debut
The Grade I-winning sprinter Drefong (Gio Ponti) was brought from America to stand at the Shadai Stallion Station and he made his mark near the top of the leaderboard with a member of his first crop (lot 344), a son of the five-time winner and stakes-placed Admire Sceptre (JPN), a sister of the sire's barn mate Duramente (JPN).

Sold from Northern Farm to Toyomokuzai for ¥250 million (£1.8m/€2m/$2.3m), the colt was one of 13 foals in the sale by his sire. Twelve of those sold for an average of ¥57 million (£419,907/€467,380/$523,365) from Drefong's stud fee of ¥3 million.

Leading Ladies
Makoto Kaneko was in pursuit of a number of yearlings by his former star performer Deep Impact on Monday and he acquired the first foal (lot 373) of the rags-to-riches Australian mare Yankee Rose (Aus) (All American {Aus}) for ¥210 million (£1.5m/€1.7m/$1.9m).

A dual Group 1 winner in Australia, where she was also runner-up to Capitalist (Aus) in the Golden Slipper, Yankee Rose was initially purchased as a yearling for A$10,000 by the Darby Racing syndicate and later sold privately to Katsumi Yoshida, who consigned her filly foal through his Northern Farm.

One of the foals to have attracted the most media attention during the morning's inspection session was the half-brother to Japan's former Horse of the Year Gentildonna (JPN) (Deep Impact {JPN}). Consigned by his breeder Northern Farm as lot 338, the colt from the first crop of Shadai's Kitasan Black (JPN) stood calmly alongside his Group 1-winning dam Donna Blini (GB) (Bertolini) and was later sold for ¥160 million (£1.2m/€1.3m/$1.45m) to Hiroki Company, which has recently received its JRA owner's licence.

International Involvement
Gai Waterhouse is a regular visitor to the JRHA Select Sale with her husband Rob and the trainer returned to familiar ground with her purchase of lot 337, a son of Rulership (JPN), for ¥25 million (£184,420/€205,076/$229,714). The colt was not only by the same stallion but also from the same consignor, Chiyoda Farm, as her 2015 signing Hush Writer (JPN), one of five foals she bought through Satomi Oka Bloodstock in Hokkaido that year. He went on to become his sire's first runner and first winner in France when trained by Francis Graffard before changing country again to join Waterhouse in Australia. Along with being placed in the G2 Prix Hocquart, Hush Writer recently won the listed McKell Cup at Rosehill and is on target for Flemington in the Australian spring.

“We liked very much what we saw and we were able to buy him at the right price, so we thought he was good value,” said Waterhouse of her latest acquisition. “Hopefully he might be able to be even more successful than Hush Writer, who is heading back to Melbourne in the hope that he will be able to qualify for with the Caulfield or Melbourne Cups.”

She added, “This colt will be trained here in Japan first but with anything we buy here the aim is for them to come to Australia eventually. The Japanese breeders have been able to secure the best racemares in the world over a number of decades. I know from my own stable that they only buy Group 1 winners and they have a very good product that they do incredibly well with.”

New York-based Irishman John McCormack is another JRHA regular and he stepped in to buy lot 389, a Heart's Cry (JPN) filly out of Princessofthestars (Ire), a winning daughter of Sea The Stars (Ire) from the Kilfrush Stud family of Mill Princess (GB). Bred in Ireland by Yasushi Rokuroda's Taihei Stud Farm, the mare was trained for her breeder by John Gosden and later exported to Japan. Her daughter, offered through Taihei, was bought for ¥19 million (£140,153/€155,855/$174,589) on behalf of Gary Barber.

“You only need to see the quality and that's from the high level of prize-money,” said McCormack. “Everything is reflected down from the prize-money on offer and this sale is all relative to what the horses can make on the track. You don't have to be a really good horse to win $2 million here in Japan. The Japanese don't miss in terms of the mares that they buy—they source good racemares from around the world and they find out very quickly what works here and then they fine-tune everything.”

MV Magnier agreed with the agent's view and added, “It's incredible the amount of Japanese owners here to buy and the clearance rate has reflected that. But it all comes down to prize-money. Everywhere that prize-money is good they have a very good market.”

He continued, “The horses look fantastic and the hospitality here at this sale is second to none.”

While Magnier did not make any purchases, the list of overseas buyers during the foal session included Thomas Li of Macau, Glanlough Investments, Rifa Mustang and Zhang Yuesheng of Chinese-owned Yulong Investments.

Canadian owner-breeder Charles E. Fipke picked up lot 409, the Lord Kanaloa daughter of American Oaks winner Ticker Tape (GB) (Royal Applause {GB}) for ¥84 million (£619,627/€689,047/$771,881) from Northern Farm.