Action Lively Ahead of JRHA Sale

ACTION LIVELY AHEAD OF JRHA SALE 
Story and photos by Michele MacDonald 
Optimism bubbled as freely as the champagne during the Japan Racing Horse Association’s lively presale party yesterday, with consignors and buyers alike boldly predicting that the two-day auction could produce stronger trade than last year’s record-obliterating sale. 
The effervescent atmosphere reached a crescendo when Qatar’s Sheikh Fahad Al Thani strode into the soiree with a broad smile after landing in Hokkaido on a flight from Hong Kong, quickly engaging with a number of Japan’s leading breeders. 
Rumors abounded over sumptuous servings of sushi and sashimi that Sheikh Mohammed would be more high-profile than at recent editions of the sale, and top Japanese buyers such as Makoto Kaneko and Mizuki Noda saw what many observed to be more foreign faces than ever before. 
“Japan is one of the big sources of the best Thoroughbreds in the world,” Teruya Yoshida, master of Shadai Farm and JRHA vice chairman, said in a rousing address to the party crowd. “I hope you find a good horse and enjoy.” 
“The Japanese economy is back,” declared Taro Kono, JRHA chairman and a longtime member of Japan’s House of Representatives, while offering a toast. “I hope you will spread the word about the select sale to the rest of the world.” 
Earlier in the day, Shunsuke Yoshida of Northern Farm, the sale’s largest and perennial leading consignor, stood amid a thick stream of dozens of potential buyers inspecting Northern’s 80 catalogued yearlings and expressed words as strong as any consignor is likely to utter. 
“I am quite confident at this moment,” Yoshida said. “For Northern Farm, I believe this is our best group of yearlings ever,” he explained, pointing in particular to Hip 53, the colt by Japan’s leading sire, Deep Impact out of Listed (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells), that many think will top the yearling session and possibly the overall sale that concludes with a foal session tomorrow. “We have never had a mare like the dam of this colt before–one with such a good pedigree. This colt is on everybody’s list–everyone wants to see him. And our other Deep Impact colts are good too.” 
Northern Farm has set a reserve price on the colt of ¥100 million (about $986,972). The farm also will offer two other highly attractive yearling sons of Deep Impact–Hips 19 and 110–both of which are out of Storm Cat mares, like Deep Impact’s G1 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby)-winning son Kizuna (Jpn). Those colts will each enter the ring with reserve prices of ¥80 million (about $789,578). 
Teruya Yoshida pointed out that there are many other positive signs prior to this year’s sale. More potential buyers have registered for the sale than last year when records were set for gross–¥11,764,700,000 (about $115,340,196)–number of horses sold at 392 and clearance rate, which was a robust 82.2%. In addition, Japan’s 2-year-old in training sales this spring all recorded increases. 
The Japanese have spent several years and untold millions collecting some of the best racing fillies and broodmares the world has to offer, and they are now producing horses that can lure global buyers. 
With so many upbeat angles leading into the sale, the primary task for the JRHA will be to count the yen sure to flow through the ring after the horses, said one exuberant partygoer as the evening drew to a close.