THE Japanese bloodstock and racing scenes appeared as healthy and aspirational as ever this week, as the JRHA Select Sale achieved record turnover of 33,484,000,000yen (€180,545,728).

The average price of 70,050,209yen (€377,710) and clearance rate of 94% represented minor dips from last year, but the median price increased by 8.5% to 51,000,000yen (€274,992).

“It was [a] very strong and healthy market,” Teruya Yoshida, Active Chairman of JRHA and owner of Shadai Farm, commented following the conclusion of the two-day sale.

“I am very impressed with the median price has improved significantly. I understand it means [the] standard of horses offered this year was very high and I think it was [a] very healthy market.

“I am glad to see many new players were active at the market. The ownership of racehorses has become an attractive hobby for young successful businessmen in Japan, and it looks like those new players are not hesitant to spend more than 100 million yen to obtain a horse.

“I am very happy to see 11 horses were bought by international buyers over the two days. JRHA Select Sale is now very attractive market for all involved in horse racing and horse breeding in the world.”

Sheikh Khalifa Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, a prominent member of the ruling family in Abu Dhabi and owner of Arab horses, purchased his first thoroughbred through Hanako Varian for 80,000,000yen.

Ali Abudulla Saeed, who raced Queen Elizabeth II Stakes victor King Of Change, was the busiest of the international buyers, purchasing five yearlings for a total of 600,000,000yen (€3,232,800).

Danox dominates

However, his spend paled in comparison to that of Masahiro Noda’s Danox Co Ltd, who came away with eight lots totalling 2,160,000,000yen (€11,638,080), including the prized top lot, a yearling colt from the first crop of the brilliant Equinox, costing 420,000,000yen (€2,262,960).

Consigned by Northern Farm, the February-born colt is a half-brother to a dual graded winner Eri King, who finished second in the Japanese St Leger.

The pair have an international pedigree, being out of High Chaparral’s Queensland Oaks heroine Youngstar, herself out of the Danehill mare Starspangled, whose sole win came at Cork for David Wachman and Mrs John Magnier.

The top lot had a very similar profile to Danox’s 310,000,000yen purchase the following day, as this Equinox colt foal is out of Youngstar’s Grade 1-winning sister Funstar.

Names familiar to Irish readers also featured on the page of Danox’s next most expensive purchase, a yearling colt from the second crop of triple Grade 1 scorer Efforia. The 330,000,000yen purchase from Northern Farm is a half-brother to a Grade 2 performer, out of an Australia half-sister to Persian King.

Efforia, who remains at a fee of 4,000,000yen (€21,552) at Shadai Stallion Station, was also responsible for the second highest-priced yearling of the sale at 390,000,000yen. Kaneko Makoto Holdings Co Ltd signed for the colt from Shadai Farm, who purchased his Grade 2-winning dam Lady Fog Horn for $300,000 in 2018.

Though her first two runners are both winners, Lady Fog Horn has a relatively low-key pedigree for a mare whose yearling fetched the equivalent of €2,101,320, with no Grade/Group 1 winners or performers appearing on the page.

Perfect pedigree

The same could not be said for the highest-priced foal of the sale, a Kitasan Black colt knocked down to M’s Racing for 410,000,000yen (€2,209,080). He is out Australian champion two-year-old filly and three-year-old filly Yankee Rose, whose daughter Liberty Island claimed the equivalent titles in Japan for her four Grade 1 victories.

M’s Racing’s three purchases this week also included the third highest-priced yearling, a son of Epiphaneia offered by Northern Farm. His sale of 350,000,000yen goes some way to paying off the $3,600,000 Katsumi Yoshida paid for his dam Search Results at Fasig-Tipton.

Top-flight success skipped a few generations in the Grade 1 winner’s pedigree, as you have to go back to her third dam to find two-time Golden Shaheen winner Mind Your Biscuits, who died suddenly at Shadai Stallion Station last month.

Shadai Farm and Northern Farm consigned the majority of the top lots, so it was a major coup for Okada Stud to sell the second highest-priced foal, a son of Equinox, for 330,000,000yen (€1,775,528).

“My farm has never sold a horse we bred for more than 100,000,000yen, and I am excited about this price,” Makio Okada of Okada Stud said after the colt had been knocked down to Anime Racing.

“He is a very nice horse and running like feline animals in the paddock. I am sure he is a talented horse. The colt will be kept at my farm even after weaning and I will train him up.”

The Equinox colt is the second foal out of Daring Tact, who the Okada family raced under their Normandy Thoroughbred Racing banner to win three Grade 1s, including the Japanese 1000 Guineas and Japanese Oaks.