Japan

The 2022 Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby kicks off Saturday with the running of the Cattleya S. (allowance) at Tokyo Racecourse. Thirteen colts and two fillies line up for the 1600-meter test which begins with a run-up on the grass before linking up with the dirt track. World Connector (Connect) has made both of his career starts to date at Tokyo, settling for a debut second as the 8-5 favorite going this course and trip Oct. 9 before dead-heating for the maiden win in a one-mile event on the...

Shinji Maeda's Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn} matched the feat of his late and much-missed sire by sweeping the three legs of the Japanese Triple Crown last season. Sunday afternoon at Toyko Racecourse, the homebred colt will look to add the G1 Longines Japan Cup to his resume in his final career trip to the races, an event won by Deep Impact in his penultimate start in 2006. The two-time Horse of the Year would go on to avenge his only defeat on Japanese soil in that year's G1 Arima...

Following more Classic success, this time with his son Efforia (Jpn) in 2021, Epiphaneia (Jpn) (Symboli Kris S)'s fee has increased to ¥18,000,000 (£117,174/€139,172/$156,021), tops of the Shadai Stallion Station 2022 roster. The 11-year-old also celebrated group winners Aristoteles (Jpn) and Circle of Life (Jpn). Lord Kanaloa (Jpn) (King Kamehameha {Jpn}), the sire of Japanese Horse of the Year Almond Eye (Jpn), remains at ¥15,000,000. Kizuna (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn})'s fee has been raised to ¥12,000,000 on the back of 11 2021 black-type winners including G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup...

A carefully managed career comes to a close Sunday afternoon for three-times champion Gran Alegria (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), who faces a crack group of Japanese milers in defence of her title in the G1 Mile Championship S. at Hanshin Racecourse. The daughter of the late multiple Grade I and Breeders' Cup winner Tapitsfly (Tapit) has finished outside the top three just twice in her 14 starts to date, including a fourth in the G1 Osaka Hai in April, contested in unsuitably wet ground and over a 2000-metre trip that...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Tokyo and Hanshin Racecourses. The latter venue hosts a white-hot renewal of the G1 Mile Championship S. Sunday afternoon, where Gran Alegria (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn} x Tapitsfly) looks to defend her title in her final career start. Among the...

Carrot Farm's Lei Papale (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), winner of her first six career trips to the post, has stubbed her toe at short odds in her two most recent appearances and looks to get back on track as the likely favourite in Sunday's G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2200mT) going three turns around Hanshin Racecourse. The bay filly got a relatively late start to her career, only debuting in January of 2020, and missed the 3-year-old filly classics, but quietly made her way through the grades and capped a...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Tokyo and Hanshin Racecourses. There is one Group 1 on each of the remaining seven weekends in 2021, kicking off with Japan's version of the Queen Elizabeth II Cup for fillies and mares, a race that would have attracted Loves...

Peter Callahan's Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil--Expo Gold, by Johannesburg) didn't turn a single hair for the entirety of the five minutes and change that she stood in the ring at Fasig-Tipton November Tuesday evening, and when the dust had settled, the chestnut filly had sold for $4.7 million to the bid of Northern Farm's Shingo Hashimoto. It took just a bit more than the 1:53 required for Swiss Skydiver to win last year's COVID-delayed GI Preakness S. for the bidding to wander into the $3-million territory, with interested parties both inside...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this Sunday running at Hanshin and Tokyo Racecourses, featuring the much-anticipated debut of one of this year's breeze-up sales toppers: Sunday, November 7, 2021 2nd-TOK, ¥9,680,000 ($85k), Maiden, 2yo, 1400mT WALKER TESORO (f, 2, Speightstown--January Jones {Brz}, by Shirocco {Ger}) is the second foal...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. As promised, a second installment this weekend featuring the horses of interest for this weekend running at Niigata and Tokyo Racecourses. Click for a preview of Sunday's G1 Tenno Sho, featuring the produce of American-sourced mares Rhodochrosite (Unbridled's Song), Tapitsfly (Tapit) and Ginger Punch (Awesome Again), among others: Sunday, October 31,...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. With plenty activity this weekend, we will serve up two helpings of American-bred and -sired runners, beginning with Saturday's runners at Hanshin and Tokyo. Sunday's featured event is the G1 Tenno Sho (Autumn), which will feature 2020 Triple Crown winner Contrail (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), this year's G1 Japanese 2000 Guineas...

Firenze Fire (Poseidon's Warrior--My Every Wish, by Langfuhr), whose many accomplishments include a win in the GI Champagne S., will be retired after his upcoming start in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint and head to Japan, where he will stand stud at Arrow Stud. Owner Ron Lombardi said the offer from Arrow Stud was just one of many he fielded. "I had offers from California, Kentucky, New York, Maryland, Florida and Japan," he said . "I would have liked to have kept him in the U.S., but the Japanese made...