Epiphaneia

Kitasan Black (Jpn), Japan's busiest stallion in 2023 and the sire of the world's top-rated racehorse Equinox (Jpn), has had his covering fee doubled for next season to ¥20 million (approximately £108,000/€124,000). Kitasan Black is a son of Black Tide (Jpn), a full-brother to the late Deep Impact (Jpn), and he was kept busy at the Shadai Stallion Station last spring when covering 242 mares. It remains to be seen whether his most famous son, who is favourite to extend his Group 1 winning streak to six in Sunday's Japan...

HOKKAIDO, Japan--Don't say we didn't warn you. Contrail (Jpn) has been the name on most people's lips around the sales ground at the JRHA Select Sale and when the first foals by the Triple Crown-winning son of Deep Impact (Jpn) took to the ring on Tuesday it wasn't long before the hype became reality. What's really important, of course, is what happens in two or three years' time when these youngsters make it to the track, but the first test, on the commercial market, has been passed with flying colours....

Clearance rates narrowly in excess of 95% for both days of the Japan Racing Horse Association (JRHA) Select Sale speak to the consistent demand for fledgling racehorses in the country where the leading bloodstock auction has once again set new high markers in all sectors of the market. At the final count, 447 foals and yearlings (from 469 offered) changed hands for a new record aggregate of ¥25,762,500,000 (£159m/€187m), up 14% on last year's previous high. The average also increased significantly, by 12%, to ¥57,634,228 (£355,000/€419,000) for the sale as...

There are bloodstock sales and then there's the JRHA Select Sale. The premier sale for Thoroughbreds in Japan, held at Hokkaido's Northern Horse Park, is truly out of the ordinary as far as these events go. The yearling section of the sale, which this year features 234 entries taking into account withdrawals at the time of writing, follows a fairly traditional format (though the sale's website does include a document noting the yearlings' heights, girth and cannon bone measurements, vices, and any surgical intervention), but it is the following day's...

The death of Deep Impact (Jpn) in July 2019 may have robbed Japan, and the wider breeding industry, of a phenomenally successful stallion but his dominance persists for now, with a tenth Japanese sires' championship going his way in 2021.  The most prolific son of Sunday Silence, who was just 17 when he died a few months after covering a final book of 24 mares, has held the title consecutively since 2012, the year in which his eldest runners were 4-year-olds. He had hit the ground running as the champion...

The foal session of the JRHA Select Sale is normally the headline-grabber, but the presence of four yearlings from the final crop of the late, great Deep Impact (Jpn) during Monday's opening session could just steal the show during the two-day sale in Hokkaido. Deep Impact, the Triple Crown winner and breed-shaping sire, died on July 29, 2019, having missed much of the preceding covering season with the spinal issues that ultimately took his life. His small final crop was expected to contain around 20 foals, four of which will...

Sunday's G1 Shuka Sho will mark the first time since February that limited fans will be permitted to attend a Group 1 race in Japan, and it is fitting that it coincides with a fillies' Triple Crown bid by Daring Tact (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}). Daring Tact is unbeaten in four runs including the G1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) over a mile and the G1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) at 2400 metres. There is little that appears to be causing fear for connections-she recorded the fastest-ever final three furlongs in...

Des Ailes (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), the first foal out of 2014 G1 Prix de Diane and G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches victress Avenir Certain (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}), puts her unbeaten record on the line and jumps up into group-race company for the first time in Sunday's G1 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks). A debut winner at Hanshin on Mar. 15, she added the Listed Sweetpea S. at Tokyo on May 3 to her resume. Both those starts were over 1800 metres, and she adds another three furlongs on Sunday...

Daring Tact (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) had shown potential for brilliance prior to Sunday's G1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas), breaking her maiden in her lone start at two and winning the Listed Elfin S. in February by four lengths, and the first-crop daughter of G1 Japan Cup and G1 Kikuka Sho winner Epiphaneia followed through on that promise on Sunday with a win in the nation's first Classic of the season. Daring Tact is the first filly in 40 years to win the Oka Sho in just her third start,...

While the European Classics look likely to suffer some reshuffling, Japanese racing is continuing behind closed doors and the country is set to stage its first Classic on Sunday, the G1 Oka Sho (1000 Guineas). Final declarations for the Hanshin contest will be made on Thursday, but the 18 likely runners at this stage include no fewer than six daughters of Deep Impact (Jpn), who died last August. At this early stage of the year, it is no surprise to see the late Shadai resident out in front on the...

Five months after his death at the age of 17, Deep Impact (Jpn) lodged his ninth consecutive sires' championship in Japan in 2019, with his 244 winners contributing to progeny earnings of ¥7,773,484,000 (£54.5m/€64.3m). It will be no surprise to see his name in the top spot for a number of years to come, closing in on the record of his sire Sunday Silence, who was champion sire in Japan 14 times, from 1995 to 2008. Deep Impact's similar dominance is all the more profound considering that his position in...