Record-Priced Colt Tops Select Sale

HOKKAIDO, Japan–G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner Elusive Wave (Ire) (Elusive City) produced the sale-topping foal at the JRHA's Select Sale for the second-straight year when her colt by Deep Impact (Jpn) (lot 362) achieved a world-record price for a colt foal at public auction when bought by prominent Japanese owner Riichi Kondo for ¥580 million (US$5.087 million) on Tuesday. The price also flirted with the sale–and world–record of ¥600 million for a foal set in 2006 by a filly by King Kamehameha (Jpn) at this sale. Deep Impact was responsible for the top four lots on Tuesday, and seven of the top 10, which also included the ¥370 million ($3.245 million) full-sister to Gentildonna (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) that went through the ring about a half-hour earlier than the Elusive Wave. The other sires to feature among the top 10 on Tuesday were Deep Impact's full-brother Black Tide (Jpn), Heart's Cry (Jpn) and leading first-season sire Lord Kanaloa (Jpn).

The foal session's two breakout horses contributed handsomely to the increased aggregate (up 27.6% on last year to ¥8,692,500,000 {US$75,961,723/£59,147,206 /€66,576,658/A$99,827,480}) and average (up 16.1% to ¥45,750,000 {US$399,748/£311,283/€350,362/A$525,386}), but a clearance rate of 86.4% points to an overall healthy market. The aggregate and average are both records for the foal sale, which has now grown for the third straight year.

Cumulatively, the aggregate of ¥17,327,000,000 (US$151,397,725/£117,892,960/€132,693,504/A$198,980,393)was up 16% and grew for the seventh straight year, while the average of ¥42,680,000 (US$373,041/£290,492 /€326,877/A$490,130) was up 11.3% on last year and was also rising for the seventh straight year.

“This was a very, very strong market, and better than everyone expected,” said JRHA international representative Naohiro Goda who, two days before the sale, said he would be pleased to break even with last year. “After last year's sale everybody felt, this is too good. Everyone thought, 'it will be difficult to surpass this record.' So it was a pleasant surprise.”

Goda said he thought the unexpected increases could be contributed to the greater spread of top-end stallions and an increase in new buyers.

“There are two factors behind this strong market: one is the variation of the top stallions,” he said. “We have seen not only Deep Impact but also Heart's Cry, King Kamehameha, Lord Kanaloa; those stallions are selling million-dollar horses. In the past we didn't have such a depth of the top stallions; 10 years ago most of the million-dollar horses were by Deep Impact, but we have such a depth of stallions now.”

He added, “Another factor is that the new buyers are very active. We had a big number of new buyers register and I'm very impressed to see they were active at all price ranges. I've seen some new buyers competing with the old existing buyers at the top end of the market and defeating them, and I'm very impressed to see new players that are really strong and enjoying the market.”

Kondo's “Admired” Colt…

Elusive Wave was a Group 3 winner at two for trainer Jean-Claude Rouget and owner Martin Schwartz and went on to win the Pouliches in 2009. Offered at Tattersalls December in 2010, Elusive Wave was bought by MV Magnier for 800,000gns and later sold privately to Northern Farm. Her first foal is the French stakes-placed Brandybend (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), and her first foal produced in Japan is the now 3-year-old filly Elusive Happiness (Jpn) (Frankel {GB}), who is unplaced in two starts. In addition to last year's colt foal, the joint-highest priced foal at ¥280 million, Elusive Wave's yearling filly by Deep Impact was offered at last year's Select Sale, selling for ¥54 million to Carrot Club.

Kondo, best known as the owner of the “Admire” horses, has campaigned the likes of Horse of the Year Admire Moon (Jpn), G1 Caulfield Cup winner Admire Rakti (Jpn), champion mare Admire Groove (Jpn) and G1 Tenno Sho Spring S. winner Admire Jupiter (Jpn)–all graduates of this sale. Kondo, an Osaka resident with a stable of about 100 horses, said he was determined to keep the Deep Impact/Elusive Wave colt in Japan.

“I visited Northern Farm to inspect foals there four or five times,” Kondo said. “Myself and my trainer, Yasuo Tomomichi, were both convinced and determined that we had to buy this horse. The JRHA sale is now an international sale, and I understand many international buyers are trying to buy the Japanese-breds. We were convinced we must not let such a treasure leave Japan. He's well-balanced and has a good pedigree; the dam is a Classic winner in France, so he has everything.”

Tomomichi added, “I thought this was a very special horse. I think he has everything, but I like his way of walking very much. He is a mile and a half type, so I think we have to think about the major races at this distance.”

Northern Farm's Shunsuke Yoshida said the price was much higher than he expected.

“It was a big surprise,” he said. “We've consigned her Deep Impact filly and colts for three consecutive years and all were very good foals.”

Northern Farm has retained Elusive Wave's 3-year-old Frankel (GB) filly Elusive Happiness (Jpn), who is as-yet unplaced, and Yoshida said of her 2-year-old Deep Impact filly, “She is in training; she's a bit smaller than her brothers, but she should be a good racemare.”

Of the buoyant market at the Select Sale, Yoshida added, “It was very strong, much stronger than I expected. I knew many people were coming; there were more registered buyers than last year.”

Gentildonna Sister Stars At Select…

Even in a catalogue full of quality pages, Northern Farm's lot 333 was a standout. The full-sister to two-time Japanese Horse of the Year and six-time Group 1 winner Gentildonna (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) was always going to draw attention on pedigree alone, and that combined with a good physical saw a sustained bidding war that opened at ¥100 million end at ¥370 million ($3.6 million) in favour of a new racing club called DMM.com Racing.

The Yoshida brothers Katsumi and Teruya have done much publicized spending for blueblooded and well-performed mares from all parts of the globe, and Donna Blini (GB) (Bertolini) is one such mare. The winner of the G1 Cheveley Park S. and G2 Cherry Hinton S. at two in 2005 for trainer Brian Meehan, Donna Blini–originally a £20,000 yearling–was picked up by Katsumi Yoshida for 500,000gns at Tattersalls December in 2006. She promptly made that price look like a bargain when, as her first foal, she produced the dual Group 3 winning and Group 1-placed filly Donau Blue (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), and she outdid that accomplishment the following year when she foaled Gentildonna, whose nine wins, for earnings of nearly $14.5 million, included the Japanese Triple Tiara, two renewals of the Japan Cup and the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic. Donna Blini did not produce a foal in 2015 or 2016, and thus her first foal to come on the market since 2011–when her Neo Universe colt fetched ¥80 million–was understandably highly sought after.

Explaining the decision to offer a filly with such a valuable pedigree, Shunsuke Yoshida said, “All breeders would want to keep such a nice filly out of a very good family, but sometimes we need to make a decision and we need something special at the Select Sale. I knew many people liked her as an individual and her family, so I suspected she'd make a good price, but she made more than I expected.”

Northern Farm has retained other members of the family, including both Donau Blue and Gentildonna, and both are in-foal to first-season sire Maurice (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}). Gentildonna produced a King Kamehameha (Jpn) colt in May.

DMM.com Racing is set to launch in August 2017, and it will start off with a strong arsenal as it was also the buyer of the yearling full-sister to Real Steel (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) for ¥160 million on Monday.

Takumi Nomoto, racing manager to DMM.com Racing, said, “This is one of the most beautiful pedigrees. I understand Katsumi Yoshida of Northern Farm usually doesn't release this pedigree outside of Northern Farm and this is a filly, so I think this is a great opportunity to buy a filly of this pedigree. When I visited Northern Farm to inspect the horses this filly had some scratches on her body, so I thought, 'she's kind of a tomboy'–this is what I liked about her.”

Nomoto entered the bidding fray at ¥200 million.

“I thought before the sale she would cost at least ¥200 million,” he said. “I joined the bidding from that price and ¥370 million is very, very expensive, but I believe it was worth paying.”

DMM.com Racing later in the session signed for Yanagawa Farm's full-brother to 2016 Horse of the Year Kitasan Black (Jpn) (Black Tide {Jpn}) (lot 383) for ¥145 million.

Satomi's Spending Spree…

Gaming executive Hajime Satomi bought the ¥280 million co-topping foals at this sale last year, and the owner of Group 1 winners Satono Crown (Jpn) (Marju {Ire}), Satono Diamond (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Satono Aladdin (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) has been busy buying this week, his haul on Tuesday including a Deep Impact colt out of dual Grade I winner Contested (Ghostzapper) for ¥200 million. Contested was a $2.3 million purchase by Shadai Farm at Fasig November in 2012, and her only other progeny to go through the ring, a yearling colt by Deep Impact, was bought by Satomi for ¥110 million here two years ago.

A short time later Satomi signed for another colt out of a Group 1 winner, this time the Lord Kanaloa (Jpn) son of G1 Australian Derby and G1 Australian Guineas winner Shamrocker (NZ) (O'Reilly {NZ}) (lot 382) for ¥180 million. He also secured lot 394, a Deep Impact son of Argentinean champion Balada Sale (Arg) (Not For Sale {Arg}) for ¥165 million, and lot 445, a Deep Impact colt out of GI Frizette S. winner Sky Diva (Sky Mesa), for ¥195 million.

Tetsumi Kurokawa's KT Racing, a relatively new buyer on the sales scene over the last few years, embarked on an early spending spree on Tuesday, signing for a pair of ¥100 million-plus yearlings in the first hour of the sale. The dearest of those was the Deep Impact first foal of the GI Spinaway S. winner Condo Commando (Tiz Wonderful) (lot 319), a colt sold for ¥170 million. Condo Commando was a $1.5 million purchase by Katsumi Yoshida at Fasig November in 2015.

Commenting on the strength of the market, Kurokawa's agent Yoshihiro Kunimochi said, “during yesterday's [yearling] market we needed to pay ¥200 million, so ¥170 million is much better.”

Kurokawa had earlier splashed out ¥100 million on lot 307, a colt by leading first-season sire Lord Kanaloa (Jpn) from the family of two-time G1 Victoria Mile winner Verxina (Jpn) (Deep Impact) as well as sires Rahy and Singspiel.

First Foals Making Real Impact…

Australian-based agent Robert Roulston is buying at the JRHA Select Sale for the third straight year, and on Tuesday he spent ¥29 million on a filly by Real Impact (Jpn) (lot 303) for Rifa Mustang, and ¥38 million on a filly by Kizuna (Jpn) (lot 341) and ¥50 million on a Victoire Pisa (Jpn) colt (lot 496) for Gerry Ryan.

Shadai stallion Real Impact, winner of the G1 Yasuda Kinen and Australia's G1 George Ryder S., will shuttle to Australia's Arrowfield Stud for his second season later this year alongside Mikki Isle (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) and Maurice (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}), and was represented by his first-crop foals at the Select Sale this week. Roulston said, “I sent three mares to Real Impact in his first year, and when I saw his foals here I really loved them; they're nice types. Now I'm thinking I might have to support him again in Australia, because I've been very impressed with his foals. I've seen about four in this sale and two at another farm and I've liked every one of them. I'm quite bullish about Real Impact after seeing his foals.”

Discussing the strength of the market, Roulston added, “This is my third year buying here. The first year was strong, last year was ridiculously strong and this year is very ridiculously strong. The 240 foals they bring here are all beautiful animals, all correct–they're the pick of the crop. It's a strong market but it's a great sale and a lot of great horses come out of it, and you have to pay the price if you want a chance to race for the big prizemoney.”

Sheikh Fahad, the buyer of yearling fillies by Harbinger (GB) and Black Tide (Jpn) on Monday, added a pair of foals from the first crop of G1 Japan Cup and G1 Kikuka Sho winner Epiphaneia (Jpn) (Symboli Kris S) on Tuesday: lot 460, a colt for ¥18 million; and lot 475, a filly for ¥16 million. He also signed for lot 521, a filly by Kinshasa No Kiseki (Jpn) for ¥28 million. Sheikh Fahad's Golden Horn (GB) filly out of stakes winner Pearl Of Africa (Ire) (Jeremy) (lot 366) was a buyback.