JRHA Select Sale

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...

Progeny of the 1,000 Guineas winner Homecoming Queen (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), Irish 1,000 Guineas scorer Jet Setting (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}) and American Oaks heroine Spanish Queen (Tribal Rule) feature among the high-class offerings at the two-day Japan Racing Horse Association Select Sale on July 11 and 12.  Japanese-breds have starred on the international stage in recent times, highlighted by the success of Marche Lorraine (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) and Loves Only You (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), both trained by Yoshito Yahagi, who made history by becoming the first...

Prominent North American owner/breeder Charles Fipke was represented by his first winner in Japan when the newly turned 3-year-old filly Kana Tape (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) ran out an impressive three-length winner of a newcomers' event going 1800 meters on turf at Tokyo Racecourse Sunday afternoon. Sent off the narrow second favorite at odds of 3-2, the bay filly jumped well from gate two for top rider Takeshi Yokoyama and tracked pacesetting Mozu Cleopatra (Jpn) (American Pharoah) from close up in second. Felt for as the field entered the final...

Frankel (GB) is having a stellar season and currently holds a narrow lead over his sire Galileo (Ire) on the European sires' table, and his proficiency has extended to Japan; in fact, it was there that he posted his first Group 1 win as a sire with the subsequent Classic winner Soul Stirring (Jpn) in the 2016 G1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, and he now has three Group 1 winners in Japan with Mozu Ascot (Jpn) and Grenadier Guards (Jpn) also making the grade. It should have come as no surprise,...

Though he is gone, Deep Impact (Jpn) is far from forgotten, Shadai's breed-shaping sire having this year provided Classic winners in both his native country and in Britain in the form of the 16-length G1 Cazoo Oaks winner Snowfall (Jpn). He retains his position atop the Japanese sire standings, where he has sat uninterrupted since 2012, and the presence of four of his last-crop yearlings in Monday's opening session of the JRHA Select Sale were unsurprisingly among the very highest draws for buyers at Hokkaido's Northern Horse Park. His colt...

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...

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 Sunday running at Kokura Racecourse: Sunday, July 4, 2021 5th-KOK, ¥13,400,000 ($121k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1800mT DANON PEEKABOO (JPN) (c, 2, Kitten's Joy--Joyful Victory, by Tapit) is the first Japanese-foaled produce for the 2013 GI Santa Margarita S. heroine (see below), who carried and red-and-white...

His passing in the summer of 2019 leaves an immense void in the worldwide breeding industry, but even posthumously, the legendary Deep Impact (Jpn) just keeps churning out the results. On May 21, his 2-year-old son out of American listed winner and European multiple group-placed Premier Stars (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {GB}) fetched an astonishing ¥517 million (£3.33 million) at a breeze-up sale and just nine days later, Shahryar (Jpn) provided the stallion with a seventh winner of the G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) and fourth in succession. At Epsom Friday, Snowfall...

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. Just two tracks on the menu for the weekend, but American-bred and -sired juveniles are set to make their presence felt at Niigata and Sapporo Racecourses: Saturday, July 25, 2020 5th-NII, ¥13,400,000 ($125k), Newcomers, 2yo, 1600mT REFRAME (f, 2, American Pharoah--Careless Jewel, by Tapit) is the latest to the races from...

Almost a year after his death, Deep Impact (Jpn) still casts a long shadow over Japanese racing and breeding and the legendary stallion was responsible for two new records and the six most expensive yearlings at the JHRA Select Sale, at which turnover was down only fractionally from a record-breaking session in 2019. The first record was set just 56 lots into the yearling session when his son out of the GII Santa Ynez S. winner Forever Darling (Congrats) sold for ¥400 million (£2.95m/€3.28m/$3.73m) to Masahiro Noda of Danox Co...

It's not as if the bloodstock world needed a reminder of the global efficacy of Japan's late breed-shaping sire Deep Impact (Jpn), but nonetheless last weekend Fancy Blue (Ire) served up just that when handing her sire a third European Classic winner in the space of three seasons after Saxon Warrior (Jpn) and Study Of Man (Ire) took the G1 2000 Guineas and G1 Prix du Jockey Club, respectively, in 2018. Few sires ever can lay claim to the kind of global influence that Deep Impact has had; his 47...

The 2020 Japan Racing Horse Association (JRHA) Select Sale catalogue, featuring 13 yearlings from the penultimate crop of the late Deep Impact (Jpn), was released on Monday. Despite the ongoing challenges presented by the coronavirus, the live-format sale at the Northern Horse Park offers 257 yearlings on July 13th, with 239 weanlings catalogued for the day after. The JRHA is also preparing to take bids over the phone, as well. Print catalogues will be available the first week of June. Deep Impact's thirteen yearlings-divided between 10 colts and three fillies-include...