WHAT a weekend it was for Japanese racing and breeding on an international stage. The world focus was on events in Hong Kong, when global challengers gathered for the annual meeting which features four Group 1 races as the centrepiece. Horses trained and bred in Japan claimed the honours on three occasions.

The Epsom Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck and globe-trotting mare Deirdre were among the stars lining up for the mile and half Hong Kong Vase, but only the local runner and Irish-bred Exultant (son of Teofilo bred at Ballygallon Stud) posed a threat to the Japanese domination, with victory going to Glory Vase from Orfevre’s daughter Lucky Lilac.

A four-year-old son of Deep Impact (Sunday Silence), Glory Vase was bred at Lake Villa Farm, a leading purchaser the previous day at Arqana.

Sold at the JRHA Yearling Sale for 52 million yen (about $520,000) and racing for Silk Racing Co Ltd, this win, the fourth in his career, boosted Glory Vase’s earnings to more than £2.4 million.

Winner in January of the Group 2 Nikkei Shinshun Hai, Glory Vase ran close to a top-level victory when runner-up in the Tenno Sho (Spring Emperor’s Cup). His success in Hong Kong brought to 44 the number of Group 1 winners Deep Impact has sired. His son Saxon Warrior at Coolmore will be joined among the European stallion ranks by Study Of Man at Lanwades Stud.

This win for Glory Vase means that he is the best colt to appear in his family for four generations. One of two winners from the first three offspring of his four-time winning dam Mejiro Tsubone (Swept Overboard), Glory Vase’s third dam was Mejiro Ramonu (Mogami), the champion filly at two and three in her native country and winner of the Filly Triple Crown, comprising the 1000 Guineas, Oaks and Queen Elizabeth II Cup.

While this is a relatively unexceptional female line, the mating with Deep Impact has elevated it to a new level and Glory Vase’s future career will be watched with interest.

Admire Mars

The Hong Kong Sprint saw a single Japanese challenger, but even the magic of Frankie Dettori in the saddle could not get a realistic challenge from Danon Smash. However the victory roll was regained in the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile when Admire Mars took command inside the final half a furlong and swept to record his third win in a Group 1.

Bred by Northern Farm, Admire Mars was also sold as a yearling at the JRHA Select sale for 52 million yen (then $460,000) to owner Riichi Kondo. Rated the champion juvenile colt in Japan last year, Admire Mars was winning for the sixth time when successful in Hong Kong, and he has won some £3.3 million. He crowned his juvenile career with a win in the Group 1 Asahi Hai Futurity, before adding the Group 1 NHK Mile Cup.

Admire Mars is the best of four winners from the Group 3 French winner Via Medici, a daughter of Medicean (Machiavellian). Sold for €480,000 as a mare in foal to Dansili (Danehill) at Arqana in 2014, Via Medici paid back the investment made when the resulting colt sold as a yearling for the equivalent of $620,000.

In addition to Admire Mars, Via Medici is also dam of the listed winner and Group 2 runner-up Via Firenze (Dansili) and the listed winner and Group 1-placed Via Pisa (Pivotal). This is a family on the up and up, Via Medici being one of eight winners from the Group 3 two-year-old winner Via Milano (Singspiel). Another of her winners is the five-year-old Via Ravenna (Raven’s Pass), a group winner in France two years ago and runner-up in the Group 1 Prix Rothschild.

Last weekend was noteworthy for Admire Mars’s sire Daiwa Major. The son of Sunday Silence (Halo) was champion sprinter and miler as a five-year-old in Japan, two years after he won the 2000 Guineas in his native land.

Twice a winner of the Group 1 Mile Championship, he is the sire of six Group 1 winners and Admire Mars is his outstanding runner. The sixth Group 1 winner also emerged on Sunday when his two-year-old daughter Resistencia ran out a five-length winner of the mile Hanshin Juvenile Fillies. She was extending her unbeaten run to three.

Win Bright

Magic Wand came up a short-head second to Win Bright in the highlight of Hong Kong’s weekend of racing, the Group 1 Cup over 10 furlongs. The five-year-old entire Win Bright was bred by Cosmo View Farm and this was his second win at Group 1 level, both recorded in Hong Kong.

He recently broke through at the top level with victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup, while in Japan he has won three times at Group 2 level. He is the 10th Group 1 winner for his Sunday Silence (Halo) sire Stay Gold who gained his biggest success also in Hong Kong when he won the 2001 Vase. He also travelled abroad to land the Group 2 Sheema Classic at Nad Al Sheba.

A number of Stay Gold’s Group 1 winning sons have become sires, and among that group are Gold Ship, Fenomeno, Horse of the Year Orfevre and Dream Journey.

Win Bright may yet have a future as a sire, though his female family is far from being elite. His dam Summer Eternity (Admire Cozzene) won three times and her best pair of winners are both by Stay Gold.

Win Bright’s own-sister was runner-up in the Group 1 Hanshin Stakes at two, but she failed to build on that performance and only won for a second time as a five-year-old.

To find a runner of comparable quality to Win Bright in the family, you need to go back to his third dam Miss Guelain (Maruzensky) who is an unraced half-sister to Silsky (Minsky) who was the champion juvenile filly in Japan in 1978.