Yoshida Brother Takes Honors at JRHA Foal Session

A full brother to Yoshida  played the starring role at the July 14 concluding foal session of the Japan Racing Horse Association Select Sale after being knocked down for ¥380,000,000 (US$3,548,090).

The son of Heart's Cry had been attracting admiring glances particularly as his sibling, the Old Forester Turf Classic (G1T) and Woodward Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) winner, had been bought by a consortium including WinStar Farm at the 2015 renewal of this event.

Yoshida, who also finished fifth in the 2018 Queen Anne (G1) at Royal Ascot for Bill Mott, is now standing at WinStar. His younger brother was was purchased by businessman Yoshihisa Ozasa.

While Ozawa did not attend the sale, he gave a statement through his racing manager, Morito Kajihara.

"I think this is (the) outstanding individual in today's catalog," he said. "I was bidding in earnest and I'm very happy to buy such a fantastic young horse. I hope he grows up well and will be in the field of major races in future."

That price was actually higher than the previous record at the sale for a yearling, which had been broken emphatically when a Deep Impact colt out of Sheave was purchased for ¥510,000,000 ($4,769,230) July 13.

Sheave had been sent to Heart's Cry for her subsequent cover and her foal, another sibling of Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) heroine Cathryn Sophia, reached the third-highest price of the session at ¥210,000,000 ($1,960,790) when bought by Miwa Holding.

With no foals on offer by the late Deep Impact, fellow son of Sunday Silence Heart's Cry had stepped in to fill his boots and had the top three sales in the rankings.

Masahiro Noda of Danox Co. Ltd., responsible for picking up the second highest-priced Deep Impact yearling on Monday, also bought the second highest-priced Heart's Cry in Lot 407, a colt out of the champion American juvenile filly She's a Tiger, for ¥270,000,000 ($2,521,010).

"As there is no Deep Impact in the market any more, we would like to buy a very nice foal by Heart's Cry today," said Noda's racing manager Yoshiki Okada.

"Our team inspected all consignments from Northern Farm and made a short list of foals by Heart's Cry. He was on the shortlist and Mr. Noda selected this one from the list.

"The mare, She's a Tiger, who is a U.S. champion juvenile filly, is a very good looking horse and the foal is also good looking. The price is more than expected, but Mr. Noda did not want to stop bidding, as he really wanted to buy him."

The first firework of the day was seen when Lot 316, a colt by Lord Kanaloa out of Premio Longines Lydia Tesio (G1) winner Final Score went through the ring and the consignment from Northern Farm was bought by Ryoichi Otsuka for ¥200,000,000 ($1,867,420).

"This is the pick of day for me," Otsuka said. "He is from a very successful female line, which is full of black type, and it caught my fancy that he is Sunday Silence free, which would be a big advantage when he becomes a stallion.

"While the price is more than I thought, I did not want to miss him."

Otsuka won his first classic last autumn, when his World Premiere, who he bought at the 2016 JRHA Sale, took the Kikuka Sho (Japanse St. Leger, G1).

Some 203 foals were sold for an aggregate of ¥8,334,000,000 ($77,815,300), which was a 15% decline on 2019. The average of ¥41,054,187 ($383,327) was also down almost 19% from 12 months ago, while the clearance rate of 90% was unchanged.

Over the two days, 432 lots were sold for ¥18,762,000,000 ($175,182,000) in total, which was 9% down from 2019. The average of ¥43,430,555 ($405,515) was 12% lower while the clearance rate of 91% was only slightly under the previous figure.

"I would like to express my sincere thanks to the owners and trainers for attending the sale under such a challenging period and for supporting the market," Teruya Yoshida, owner of Shadai Farm and chairman of the JRHA, said at the conclusion of the sale.

"The market is slightly slowing down today and I think the key factor is the absence of Deep Impact. For example, when Northern Dancer died, the top end of bloodstock market in America declined, and the same thing happened here today.

"On the other hand, I believe the quality of mares we have in Japan is world-class and the quality of horses bred in Japan is world-class as well.

"I think the buyers are confident enough to make a big investment in the horses we offer. We try to keep breeding quality horses and I hope it will keep the horse market in Japan active."