CROIX Du Nord is now the undisputed best three-year-old colt in Japan following his comfortable victory in the Group 1 Tokyo Yushun-Japanese Derby, and he thoroughly avenged his only defeat in his previous start, when he was second in the Group 1 Satsuki Sho-Japanese 2000 Guineas. He has earned more than €3.25 million in his five starts, and is closing in on being the second-best money winner for Kitasan Black (Black Tide) after the great Equinox.

Winning jockey Yuichi Kitamura always had Croix Du Nord in a good position, breaking well from the gate. The pair took control a furlong and a half from home, and won by three-parts of a length. The Japanese 2000 Guineas winner Museum Mile was a disappointing sixth. Kitamura said: “[Croix Du Nord] felt great today and I was able to come into the race with every confidence, so victory came as no surprise to me.”

Croix Du Nord was bred by Northern Farm and races for Sunday Racing, who can now lay claim to five Japanese Derby winners, a record. Takashi Saito trains Croix du Nord who won his first two starts in 2024, including the Group 2 Hai Nisai Stakes, and then he stepped up in class to win the Group 1 Hopeful Stakes just after Christmas. His unbeaten juvenile season saw him rated the top two-year-old in Japan.

The third leg of the Japanese Triple Crown, the Group 1 Kikuka Sho-Japanese St Leger, is run over 15 furlongs and is rarely won. The most recent colt to claim it was Contrail in 2020. Hopefully Croix Du Nord will contest it “I felt it was my responsibility to make Croix du Nord a Derby winner ever since the colt won the Hopeful Stakes,” the winning jockey said. The successful trainer Saito added: “He was definitely ready and looking better and more filled out than he did for the Satsuki Sho. This has been our goal from his debut.”

Irish connection

Croix Du Nord has a connection with Ireland, though only a short one. The three-year-old colt is the seventh winner out of Rising Cross (Cape Cross), and that mare was sold by her breeder John Wills, through The Elms Stud, as a foal to Peter Molony of Rathmore Stud for 10,500gns. There was no profit for Wills as the covering fee for Cape Cross (Green Desert) in 2002 was €10,000. The sire of Sea The Stars and Golden Horn, Cape Cross would later stand for up to €50,000.

Molony reoffered the filly as a yearling at the Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale, where she sold to Highflyer Bloodstock for a small profit, realising €20,000. She was trained for almost all of her career by John Best, and he saddled her for all but two of her 32 starts. She won five times, most notably when carrying the colours of Gary Tanaka in the Group 2 Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Park Hill Stakes at York. This was after she chased home Alexandrova in the Group 1 Oaks at Epsom, and ran third to her in the Group 1 Irish Oaks.

Seven winners

All but one of Rising Cross’s 11 foals in Japan have raced, and seven have won. She had a second blacktype runner in Earthrise (Manhattan Café), and that three-time winner was placed in a number of group races, and is now a successful winner-producer. Rising Cross’s last foal is a two-year-old full-brother to Croix Du Nord.

This is a family that has been more adept at producing quantity rather than quality in recent generations. Rising Cross was easily the best of six winners out of Woodrising (Nomination), one of which was her full-sister Cape Rising (Cape Cross). Sold as a foal for 120,000gns, Cape Rising won a couple of times and is the dam of two winners. Woodrising won three times as a three-year-old and then won the same number of times over hurdles.

Just one of Woodrising’s eight winning siblings earned any blacktype. He was the gelded Arabian Bold (Persian Bold). Successful twice at three, he won eight times over hurdles and was second in a listed handicap hurdle race at Nottingham.

There is a distant Derby connection at Epsom to Croix Du Nord. His fourth dam Cley (Exbury) was a half-sister to Morston (Ragusa) and Blakeney (Hethersett), winners of the Derby in 1973 and 1969 respectively. Blakeney went on to become a champion sire, while Morston only raced twice.

Champion twice

Kitasan Black raced 20 times from three to five, was twice Horse of the Year and champion older horse in Japan, and was successful over distances ranging from nine furlongs to two miles. He won the Group 1 Japanese St Leger at three, the Group 1 Japan Cup at four, and brought his Group 1 tally of victories to seven at five. He stands at the Shadai Stallion Station and his fee this year was the equivalent of €120,000.

The brilliant Equinox is from his first crop, and he commands the same fee as his sire. He is completing his second season at stud, and is also at Shadai Stallion Station. Kitasan Black’s second crop was headed by the 2023 Group 1 Japanese 2000 Guineas winner Sol Oriens, and now he has a winner of the Japanese Derby in Croix Du Nord. His two-year-olds are his fifth crop, and with two champions among his 13 stakes winners, Kitasan Black still has a fine career ahead as a stallion.