THE 21st annual JRHA Select Sale was held over two days at the Yoshida’s picturesque Northern Horse Park on Hokkaido. Following three consecutive record breaking years, an air of cautious optimism was present as to whether the sale could continue its upward trajectory. Nonetheless, for the fourth consecutive year the sale produced significant year on year increases across the board.

The opening session of the 2018 edition of the Select Sale saw 233 yearlings go under the hammer with 211 successfully changing hands. This marked an impressive 90.6% clearance rate, a 1.3% increase to that of the 2017 yearling session.

The sale got off to a lively start when lot 13 was knocked down for 240 million Yen (€1,820,000) to owner Yoshihisa Ozasa. A colt by leading Japanese sire King Kamehameha, he is the second produce out of the Argentine-bred, American Grade 1 winning mare Miss Serendipity.

TOP LOT

Top spot went to lot 21, a 250 million Yen (€1,900,000) colt by perennial champion sire and leading sale-sire Deep Impact and full-brother to recent Group 3 scorer Satono Arthur.

The February-born yearling is the third produce out of New Zealand’s 2011 champion three-year-old filly, King’s Rose and was bought by long-time supporter of the Select Sale Masahiro Noda, of Danox Co. Ltd.

Unsurprisingly the sires’ table was once again dominated by Deep Impact, with 22 of his 25 lots being sold (88%) for an average of €840,000. This equates to 25.13% gross market share for the yearling session. Gross sale aggregate saw an increase of 12% compared to 2017, to over €74,000,000.

Unlike foal sales around the world, the second session at Japan’s Select sale offer foals standing beside their dams under the rostrum. Once a foal has been sold, as per the conditions of sale, the mare and foal return to their respective studs for the rearing process to be completed. Upon weaning, the new owner can then move their new acquisition to their preferred farm.

Another differing aspect of the foal market in Japan is that payment for each lot is split into two transactions. One on purchase and the remaining balance being paid once the rearing process is complete.

In total, 231 foals went under the hammer in the Select Sale’s second session, a slight increase in lots to that of 2017. As on the previous day, Deep Impact once again dominated proceedings and, for the seventh consecutive year, he topped the foal session.

Lot 400, a February-born colt out of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Ria Antonia, entered the ring with a lofty reserve of 100 million Yen (€760,000), which was achieved on the opening bid. After a heated bidding war, he was eventually sold for 290 million Yen (€2,200,000) to leading owner Hajime Satomi, who races his horses with the prefix Satono. He is the third produce of Ria Antonia, who was bought by Katsumi Yoshida of Northern Farm for $1,800,000 at Fasig-Tipton in 2014.

While unable to match a record-setting market for foals in 2017, this year’s renewal posted a healthy 88% clearance and an average price of €307,000.

Final figures do not represent those outside of the Shadai Corporation. The Yoshida brothers’ corporation is undoubtedly the biggest brand in Japan’s racing and breeding sector, and arguably the most successful in the world, and the JRHA Select Sale is completely dominated by those operating under this umbrella.

In addition to the provision of the sales venue and sales day staff, the Yoshidas’ three main farms – namely Northern Farm, Shadai Farm and Oiwake Farm (including consignments) – were responsible for 64.87% of the total lots offered this year. This is a 2.32% increase year on year.

Shadai Stallion Station-based sires were responsible for 80.39% of lots offered.

Considering these three farms as one entity, there was a 97.7% clearance rate of the 301 lots offered with an average price of 50,472,789 Yen (€385,000) and gross turnover of 14,839,000,000 Yen, which equates to 82.75% market share of the total sale turnover.

Northern Farm and Northern Racing achieved a 100% clearance rate across the two days with all of their 167 offered lots being sold.

However, for those who operate outside the Shadai Corporation, results invariably pale in comparison. They were responsible for 35.13% of the lots offered with a clearance rate of 74.8% and an average price of 25,352,459 Yen (€193,000) for a 17.25% market share of total sale turnover.