By Katie Petrunyak
Their first real introduction was at the 1997 Keeneland September Sale.
Naoya was working with Dr. Dave Fishback at Hagyard and Marie was scouting yearlings for her fledgling Hong Kong-based bloodstock agency. Things got off to a rather awkward start when Marie approached the Hagyard team to hand off her vet's list and Naoya asked to take a look at the hip numbers. Not knowing Naoya worked for the veterinary practice, Marie guessed he was a rival buyer fishing for intel.
“I was not very nice to him,” Marie admitted with a laugh.
Marie later learned that she and Naoya had actually crossed paths years earlier at the 1994 International Thoroughbred Breeders' Federation meeting in Ireland. Marie was part of the French delegation and Naoya was there with his father, who was head of the Japanese delegation. Naoya had introduced himself, but noticing Marie's ring on her right hand, he mistakenly assumed it was the French custom for married women to wear their wedding rings there.
Once those early misunderstandings and mishaps were behind them, Marie and Naoya quickly hit it off. They crossed paths at industry events around the world. When a rain shower popped up at a Tattersalls sale, Naoya ran into an empty stall only to find Marie already waiting out the weather in the very same box. The pair went to a café and chatted for hours, discovering their shared vision of a 'borderless' Thoroughbred industry.
Nearly three decades later, Marie Yoshida-Debeusscher and Dr. Naoya Yoshida are partners in life and in business. As the owners of Winchester Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, they bring a distinctly global perspective to every aspect of their business. Their vision, shaped by international roots and decades of experience across continents, is paying off on the racetrack with horses like Grade I winners Locked (Gun Runner) and Scottish Lassie (McKinzie), plus recent GIII Pimlico Special Stakes victor Awesome Aaron (Practical Joke).
The 1994 ITBF meeting. Marie is in center of second row. Naoya is directly behind her. Other attendees include King Ranch Farm's Helen Alexander, Hill 'n' Dale Canada's Glenn Sikura, Lanwades Stud's Kirsten Rausing and Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges | photo courtesy Naoya Yoshida
Naoya is a fourth-generation horseman. His family's involvement dates back to 1898, when his great-grandfather worked to improve the quality of military horses in Japan. Later they moved to Sapporo, now the capital of Hokkaido, and focused on breeding Thoroughbreds at the family's Yoshida Stud Farm.
After earning his veterinary degree, Naoya sought experience outside Japan. At first opportunities were limited, but then he met Dr. Michael Osborne at Godolphin's Kildangan Stud.
“At the time, not many farms in the world had an interest in accepting trainees from Japan,” Naoya explained. “I applied to the Irish National Stud program but I was rejected. Dr. Osborne kindly offered me a training position at Kildangan. I didn't know anything about breeding in Ireland, but I really wanted to get out of Japan and learn more. We were so far behind from Western countries with everything about breeding horses.”
After working under Dr. Osborne for three years, Naoya set his sights on the United States. His father had once spent some time in California at Rex Ellsworth's farm when Swaps was in training there. Encouraged by those stories and upon the advice of Osborne, Naoya decided that working with Dr. Fishback would allow him to meet a wide range of people and get a better sense of the American industry.
While abroad, Naoya was still active with his family's breeding operation in Japan. In 1995, his father sent homebred Fujiyama Kenzan (Jpn) (Lucky Cast {Jpn} to the G2 Hong Kong International Cup. The colt made history as the first Japanese runner to win an international graded race.
At that time, Japan was not considered a Part 1 racing jurisdiction and most stakes races there did not count toward international blacktype status. Fujiyama Kenzan's breakthrough in Honk Kong inspired Naoya to explore how their breeding program could benefit from international racing. A few months after meeting Marie, he traveled to Hong Kong to share the idea and, as he says, to “steal her heart.”
Born and raised in France, Marie came from a Thoroughbred family herself. She began her career working for the French Thoroughbred Breeders' Association and then became the General Secretary of the European Federation of Thoroughbred Breeders' Associations. In 1996, she moved to Hong Kong to launch her own bloodstock agency.
Awesome Aaron at two months old | courtesy Winchester Farm
The couple married in 1999 and, fittingly, spent their honeymoon at the Keeneland July Sale shopping for their clients based around the globe. After Naoya's father passed away in 2001, Naoya and Marie considered establishing a farm of their own somewhere.
“I was in favor of Australia, because I could see the shift of the shuttle stallions there,” recalled Marie. “You could see the potential, especially being so close to Asia. My husband of course loved Ireland. But we decided on Kentucky, with it having the best foundation and the best bloodlines for the speed that you need for Japanese racing or for anywhere really. It was the right place to be.”
In 2002, the Yoshidas purchased a 150-acre farm on Winchester Road in Paris, Kentucky. Although Winchester Farm has grown and evolved over the years since, they have stuck to their original plan of maintaining a hands-on, boutique operation.
Today, the Yoshidas maintain a broodmare band of about 10 of their own mares while also offering a wide array of services to their clients including breeding and boarding management, sales representation and mating consultations.
The Yoshidas place a particular emphasis on physical when buying mares.
“You can study the catalog as much as you like, but nothing will change the way you inspect the horse physically,” said Marie.
They also believe that success does not necessarily come at a premium. Naoya calls it “finding gemstones.”
In 2012, the Yoshidas bought the granddam of Awesome Aaron at the Keeneland November Sale for $70,000. Loure (A.P. Indy) was a winning Darley homebred out of a Group 3 winner in France.
“Who wouldn't buy a mare by A.P. Indy in 2012?” said Marie. “I mean, come on! But she was in foal to Discreet Cat, so maybe there was less commercial appeal. We were very lucky to buy her.”
Loure's leading earner Randonnee (Blame) was a multiple stakes winner in Japan and that first foal by Discreet Cat, Do the Dance, became the dam of Awesome Aaron. The Yoshidas sold Do the Dance as a yearling, but they were able to buy her back privately after her stakes-winning career.
Awesome Aaron sold for $130,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September Sale. Now in his fourth year of racing, the son of Practical Joke has earned 15 placings from 34 starts. A winner at 3, he dropped to the claiming ranks for a time before rising to his best form under the tutelage of Norm Casse.
“Awesome Aaron is six years old and we are very proud of that,” said Marie. “We want to breed strong, sound horses. We are not in this for the short term. We always want to breed for long term. Horses should be able to race until they are six or seven. In Hong Kong they race until they are eight or nine years old. That's why Awesome Aaron does not surprise us.”
The Yoshidas may have always known the toughness was there, but they certainly had to have been impressed when Awesome Aaron scored his first graded stakes victory in the Pimlico Special.
“Breeders are like parents,” said Marie. “We do our best for them as babies and yearlings. It's very personal. It's a 365-days-a-year job. When we sell them, it's sometimes hard. We have to let them grow, but we keep an eye on all our babies.”
The Yoshidas had a close eye on another Winchester Farm-bred star this weekend when they traveled to Saratoga to watch Scottish Lassie, the winner of last year's GI Frizette Stakes, run a game third in the GI Acorn Stakes. The filly's dam Bodebabe (Bodemeister) was another gemstone that they uncovered from the claiming ranks of Gulfstream.
The Yoshidas place just as much emphasis on selecting the right stallions as they do on choosing their mares. They were high on Scottish Lassie's sire McKinzie from the start.
“McKinzie was one of those rare horses who was amazing not only at two, but at three, four and five,” Marie explained. “Soundness is very important to us. You need to put chance to your side when you breed. Reduce the unknown as much as possible even if it means not always following the latest fashion.”
Naoya recalled another instance where their willingness to look past trends paid off.
“When Into Mischief first joined Spendthrift, Mr. B. Wayne Hughes came to our farm to give us a presentation and introduce us to Into Mischief,” he recounted. “He asked us to send our best mare to him. We basically never send our best mares to new stallions, but Mr. Hughes really explained to us how much of a chance Into Mischief had.”
After visiting Into Mischief at Spendthrift themselves, the Yoshidas were believers too. They bred five mares to him in his first year. Later, when the supersire's son Practical Joke retired to stud, they supported him in his early years as well. Awesome Aaron was bred on a $30,000 cover in Practical Joke's first year at stud. This year, the Ashford sire stands for $100,000.
The Yoshidas' eye for spotting emerging talent has also served them in advising clients. They helped guide Italy-based breeder Rosa Colasanti in the mating that produced not only dual Grade I winner Locked (Gun Runner), but also his dam Luna Rosa (Malibu Moon). Both were foaled and raised at Winchester Farm.
At this year's Keeneland September Sale, the farm will be offering Locked's three-quarters brother by Early Voting, along with a homebred half-brother to Scottish Lassie by Corniche.
Naoya with 1996 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Storm Song | Sarah Andrew
They will also be represented by a unique offering in a Medaglia d'Oro colt out of Golden Sister (Aus) (Capitalist {Aus}), a half-sister to three-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year Golden Sixty (Medaglia d'Oro).
Back in 2021, Marie had inspected Golden Sister as a yearling at the Magic Millions Sale in Australia. Though she didn't secure the filly at the time, her admiration left an impression. When Golden Sister's connections decided to send the mare to the U.S. to visit Medaglia d'Oro, they reached out to Winchester Farm to handle the mating and foaling.
The list of Keeneland-bound yearlings foaled and raised at Winchester Farm is a testament to how the Yoshidas' global outlook– and their belief in the power of shared vision–continue to open doors.
“It's important for us to smooth the relationship and the culture between people and be the middle person between different countries or different ways of breeding or racing,” said Naoya. “Then you can build bridges and it benefits everybody.”
This past weekend in Japan, the Yoshidas celebrated another important win when Jantar Mantar (Jpn) (Palace Malice) captured the Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' G1 Yasuda Kinen. When Jantar Mantar's dam Indian Mantuana (Wilburn) sold to Shadai Farm in 2020, Teruya Yoshida asked the Winchester team to handle her mating plans and Naoya chose Palace Malice. After the mare returned to Japan, the resulting foal was Jantar Mantar.
“There are so many people in the Thoroughbred industry,” said Naoya.”It's nice to share the excitement with them. We've had tragedy before, sickness and losing foals, but we always say good weather comes after bad weather. I'm quite lucky to be here in Kentucky. It has given us so many opportunities to work with people in the United States, Europe and Japan.”
“Our reputation is everything,” Marie added. “Our reputation, sense of duty and just doing the right thing as breeders. To future breeders: you always have the chance to find a gem. You don't need to spend $2 or $3 million. You just need to keep working hard.”
In an increasingly global industry, the Yoshidas have carved out a space where cross-continental connections and quiet consistency pays off. At Winchester Farm, the next gem could come from any corner of the world.
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