JRHA Select Sale

With a victory in Saturday's $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup--a fait accompli in the eyes of many--reigning Japanese Horse of the Year and GI Breeders' Cup Classic hero Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) would leap-frog Hong Kong superstar Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) as the world's richest racehorse with over $36 million in career earnings, accomplished in the space of just 15 races. Heady stuff. Unfathomable stuff, really. And to think that the 5-year-old is out of a mare that fetched just $8,000 as a yearling, well, you just...

In this continuing series, Alan Carasso takes a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this coming Monday running at Kyoto Racecourse: Monday, January 12, 2026 4th-KYO, ¥12,330,000 ($78k), Newcomers, 3yo, 1800m CHURCHILL DEUCE (JPN) (c, 3, Into Mischief--Beautiful Gift, by Medaglia d'Oro) carries the Kieffers Co. Ltd (Do Deuce) silks and is out of the 2021 GIII...

In this continuing series, Alan Carasso takes a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Nakayama Racecourse: Saturday, December 13, 2025 6th-NKY, ¥14,250,000 ($92k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1800m HO O PHAROAH (JPN) (c, 2, American Pharoah--Marlborough Road {Ire}, by The Gurkha {Ire}) is the first foal from his dam, a half-sister to 2006 GI Garden...

8th-KD, $250K, Alw, (R), 2yo, f, 6fT, 5:23 p.m. ET. Patricias Hope and Carolyn Wilson's Sassy C W (Yaupon) looks for her fourth consecutive victory while trying the grass for the first time. Earning the TDN Rising Star tag when galloping off to an impressive 5 1/4-length victory at Churchill Apr. 30, the $350,000 OBS March grad made it two straight with a three-length score in Saratoga's Astoria Stakes in June. Favored when holding on to win by a neck in the 5 1/2-furlong Prairie Gold Lassie Stakes July 4,...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Sapporo and Niigata Racecourses: Saturday, August 23, 2025 5th-SAP, ¥14,250,000 ($97k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1500mT MISS JADE (JPN) (f, 2, Blame--Asscher, by Harlan's Holiday) is set to become the second foal to the races for her dam, a half-sister to the...

Kana Tape (Jpn), a 6-year-old mare by perennial leading sire Lord Kanaloa (Jpn), gave North American owner/breeder Charles Fipke--one of just a handful of foreign owners to be granted a full-time license in Japan--his first feature-race winner in the country when coming from far back in the final quarter mile to take out the 1600-meter G3 Sekiya Kinen at Niigata Racecourse on Sunday, July 27. Ridden by the visiting Rachel King to a Tokyo allowance success Feb. 9, the mare--trained by Noriyuki Hori--returned from a 133-day absence to finish runner-up...

HOKKAIDO, Japan -- Via a select bunch of his first foals, Equinox made a JRHA Select Sale debut every bit as explosive as his killer turn of foot on the track, with 23 of his youngsters sold for an average of ¥155m ($1.04m/€897,450). As widely tipped, the group was led by the colt out of Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute), a champion herself on the dirt of America, and the first winner of the world's most valuable race, the Saudi Cup. She had herself topped the Keeneland November Sale of 2022...

Midnight Bisou, who topped the Keeneland November Sale of 2022 when sold for $5.5 million to Katsumi Yoshida, is likely now to have a sale-topper of her own following the appearance of her foal from the first crop of Equinox in the ring at the JRHA Select Sale. Offered as lot 344 from Northern Farm, the colt equalled the second-highest price ever paid for a foal at JRHA when fetching ¥580m ($3.91m/€ 3.36m) just two hours into the sale. He was bought by Nebraska Racing, who also bought Monday's sale-topping...

HOKKAIDO, Japan -- "I expected it would be lively," said Katsumi Yoshida, in what may have been the understatement of the day at the conclusion of the yearling section of the JRHA Select Sale. Even by its own lofty standards, Japan's premier sale of bloodstock managed to raise the bar higher still, with only two of the 227 yearlings to pass through the ring on Monday failing to find a buyer. A 99 per cent clearance rate would be the envy of any sales house, and with the turnover of...

HOKKAIDO, Japan -- At the Shadai Stallion Station, it's not so much a changing of the guard, more a succession plan. In 2023, the late Duramente caused a temporary break in the passing of the baton from Sunday Silence to Deep Impact to Kizuna. But that was rectified last year, and Kizuna is now the reigning champion sire of Japan. He only has to achieve that 10 more times to match the reign of his father, or 12 to equal Sunday Silence's long run of championships. Signs were promising from...

HOKKAIDO, Japan -- At Northern Horse Park, one of the great tourist attractions of Hokkaido, the next few days will be all business.  Japan's most prestigious bloodstock auction, the JRHA Select Sale, springs back to action with a session of yearlings on Monday, but what many observers will be waiting to see is the reception given to the first foals of world champion Equinox.  Twenty-five of his debut crop are set to sell on Tuesday, including a colt from American champion dirt mare Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute). His reserve, which...

For decades now, Japanese buyers have frequented American bloodstock sales, eagerly snapping up racing and breeding stock of the highest quality to help grow the domestic Thoroughbred industry. By any metric, the undertaking has been a smashing success, given not only the performance of Japanese-based runners on foreign soil, particularly over the last six to eight years, but also the strength of the Japanese bloodstock markets. The Japanese Racing Horse Association (JRHA)'s annual Select Sale is a mostly insular affair, but American owner Mike Repole is always ready to think...