Global Crowd Gathers For JRHA Sale

Champagne glasses were lifted in exuberant toasts as buyers and consignors gathered at the Northern Horse Park on the evening of July 12 to share good luck wishes for the Japan Racing Horse Association’s two-day select sale of yearlings and foals set to begin the following morning.

“Thank you for coming from all over the world to Japan. We hope you spend big money and go home with no money left in your pockets,” JRHA Vice Chairman Teruya Yoshida told the crowd of about 100, laughing heartily as many joined in his merriment.

JRHA officials opened the evening with a reminder that the highest-rated horse in the world for 2014, Just a Way (Jpn) (Heart’s Cry {Jpn}), emerged from this sale in 2010 when he was sold as a yearling for the relative bargain price of ¥12 million ($133,333).

“Now the Japan sale is the place to find the fastest horse in the world,” said JRHA international consultant Naohiro Goda in opening remarks.

“It can be said the JRHA sale has become one of the world’s best sales,” added JRHA Chairman Taro Kono, a longtime member of Japan’s House of Representatives. “Japan’s economy has been improving, so hopefully the sale results tomorrow and the next day will be strong.”

Several leading Japanese owners and staunch JRHA buyers in the past attended the party, including Makoto Kaneko, who raced Triple Crown winner and now leading sire Deep Impact (Jpn) (Sunday Silence); Masahiro and Mizuki Noda; and Hajime Satomi. They were joined by a contingent of foreign-based agents, owners and trainers in what has been described as likely the largest number of non-Japanese professionals to ever visit the JRHA sale. Some plan just to observe and learn about the Japanese market and bloodstock, but others said they will attempt to make purchases.

Australian trainer Gai Waterhouse, who is among those on their first JRHA sale foray, chatted and mingled with other partygoers while looking ahead to bidding.

“I’m just so happy to be here,” Waterhouse said. “I hope to buy as long as we can make the numbers work.”

Prices at the JRHA sale are boosted by the high purses Japanese horses compete for on the Japan Racing Association circuit. The JRHA sale is coming off two consecutive record years for gross, and last year’s average price for 404 horses sold was ¥31,126,361 (about $305,160 based on the exchange rate at the time).

European-based bloodstock agent Mick Flanagan, who worked in Japan while participating in the Darley Flying Start program, said he had found several horses during his inspections of JRHA sale entries that would suit some of his American and European clients.

“It just depends on how much they bring,” Flanagan said. “I hope to get to buy something, but if I don’t, I’ll definitely be back next year.”

 

On the other side of the sale ring, Runnymede Farm of Paris, Kentucky, will offer a yearling in the opening session. There are not many foreign-based entities that have sold horses at the JRHA sale, but Runnymede has participated for years.

Runnymede General Manager Romain Malhouitre said he felt hopeful about the sale, primarily because the farm’s colt, hip 20, is “a nice horse” with a strong pedigree. The big bay son of Dubai World Cup winner Victoire Pisa (Jpn) (Neo Universe {Jpn}) is out of a half- sister to prominent Japanese sire King Kamehameha (Jpn) (Kingmambo) and to American Grade I winner The Deputy (Ire) (Petardia {GB}), and is being offered through the Shadai Farm consignment.

Among sale visitors who have traveled to Japan primarily to observe and learn is Airdrie Stud’s Bret Jones, who said he was encouraged to make the journey by bloodstock agent John McCormack. Jones spent much of July 12 visiting the Yoshida family’s Shadai and Northern Farms and inspecting a number of foals that will be offered during the second day of the JRHA sale.

“I wanted to learn about the Japanese marketplace,” Jones said. “So far, it has exceeded my expectations. Everybody’s been very kind and I couldn’t be more impressed. We’ve sold horses to some buyers here in the past. So I wanted to come over and put a face to those names, and I want to offer them the same kind of hospitality they have given me when they come to Kentucky.”

“And now I can’t wait for my second trip to Japan,” he added.

I’ll Have Another Producing ‘Strong’ Stock…

One of the many intriguing sidelights of this year’s Japan Racing Horse Association select sale will be the offering of two members of the first yearling crop by GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. winner I’ll Have Another (Flower Alley), who stands at Big Red Farm in the Shizunai area of Hokkaido.

If the looks of the first yearling set to enter the ring are any indication of how I’ll Have Another is stamping his offspring, then the forecast will be good for the now 6-year-old stallion.

Hip 42 is a chestnut colt out of multiple Japanese stakes winner Maltese Heat (Old Trieste), who is from the family of American champion sprinter Eillo (Mr. Prospector). The colt was bred by Nagako Fujita and is consigned by Amaba Reiji Farm.

“He is a special type,” said Hirokazu Okada of Big Red Farm of the yearling. “But generally, I’ll Have Another’s offspring are strong physically.”

I’ll Have Another has been well supported in Japan. This year, in his third season at stud, he covered 128 mares, following books of 126 and 152 in 2014 and 2013, respectively.

“I’m very happy with his offspring,” Okada said. “It seems they will be well suited to dirt racing, but he also is a good match for mares with Sunday Silence blood, so hopefully they can run on both turf and dirt.”

I’ll Have Another’s other yearling in the JRHA sale is hip 173, a dark bay or brown colt out of Special Woman (Jpn) (Special Week {Jpn}), a half-sister to Group 3 winner Tokai Mystery (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}) and two other stakes performers.

In addition to the two yearlings, I’ll Have Another is represented by a pair of foals in the JRHA sale: hip 410, a filly out of Hishi Alcor (Jpn} (Daiwa Major {Jpn} who is from the prolific family of Japanese champions Hishi Amazon (Theatrical {Ire}) and Admire Moon (Jpn) (End Sweep); and hip 523, a colt out of Hiraboku Girl (Jpn) (Tanino Gimlet {Jpn}), a half-sister to the dam of Group 1 winner Whale Capture (Jpn) (Kurofune).

Okada noted that buyers interested in the offspring of I’ll Have Another will have more chances to acquire one at the Hokkaido Selection Sale on July 21, as 11 yearlings by the stallion have been catalogued for that auction. The offerings include a filly who is out of American Grade 3 winner Bully Bones (Hesabull) and another filly out of a daughter of multiple Argentine Group 1 winner Guernika (Arg) (Luhuk).