GROWING JAPAN But the Japanese breeding program has come close in the Arc. Agonizingly close. Sunday Racing Co.’s quirky Triple Crown winner Orfevre looked home free in 2012 before Solemia pipped him by a neck at the wire. Nakayama Festa was a head behind Workforce in second place, four years after Deep Impact was disqualified from a thirdplace effort. Perhaps Japan will get a coveted Arc this year. As of July, plans call for 2011 Prix FoyG2 winner Orfevre to ship to France in August for another tilt at the Arc in October. He is expected to be joined in the Arc by the threeyear-old Deep Impact colt Kizuna, who has the Tokyo Yushun-Japanese Derby-G1 on his CV. One celebrated local horse, Symboli Farms’ 1984 Japanese Triple Crown winner Symboli Rudolf, nicknamed “The Emperor,” was sent to trainer Ron McAnally in California in early 1986. Making one start, he was injured and retired to stud in Japan after running sixth in the San Luis Rey Stakes-G1. Japan’s later efforts to succeed in Graded/Group stakes races have proven more successful. From few attempts, Japanese-bred horses have won important races in the UAE, Australia, the US, France, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Shadai Stallion Station residents Heart’s Cry earned trips to the winner’s circle in the 2006 Dubai Sheema Classic; Admire Moon in the 2007 Dubai Duty Free-G1; and Victoire Pisa in the 2011 Dubai World CupG1, ten years after the Japanese mare To the Victory was second in that race. A nose separated Northern Farm-breds Delta Blues and Pop Rock in the 2006 running of Australia’s most famous race, the Melbourne Cup-G1, while the 2005 American Oaks-G1 fell to Cesario, a year after Dance in the Mood was runner-up to Ticker Tape (now a broodmare at Northern Farm, as is Cesario) in that event. Dance in the Mood returned to Hollywood Park in 2006 to win the Grade 3 CashCall Invitational. In Hong Kong, Stay Gold, a Grade 2 winner in Dubai, won the 2001 Hong Kong Vase-G1; Hat Trick the 2005 Hong Kong Mile-G1; Lord Kanaloa the Hong Kong Sprint-G1; Rulership the 2012 Queen Elizabeth II Cup-G1. The Singapore Airlines International Cup-G1 fell to Cosmo Bulk in 2006 and Shadow Gate in 2007. It bears noting that Sunday Silence was the sire or grandsire of nearly all of the Japanesebred horses – bar Symboli Rudolf, Lord Kanaloa, Rulership, and Cosmo Bulk – named directly above. That illustrious sire has only a handful of Northern Hemisphere-season based sons at stud outside of Japan, but two of them – Divine Light, who was initially in France before moving to Turkey, and Hat Trick, now at Gainesway Farm in Kentucky – sired European juvenile champions. Divine Light’s Natagora’s Group 1 wins came in the Cheveley Park Stud Stakes at two and the 1,000 Guineas at three. Dabirsim, by Hat Trick, was undefeated at two, led by victories in the Prix
22-year-old retired broodmare Wind in Her Hair, the Group 1-winning dam of Triple Crown winner Deep Impact, now acts as a nanny to weanling and yearling fillies
Morny and the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere-Grand Criterium. Although foaled in the United Kingdom, Wildenstein Stables’ 2012 Poule d’Essai des Pouliches-French 1,000 Guineas-G1 winner Beauty Parlour, by Deep Impact, was another triumph for Japan.
Making an Impact For the immediate future, Deep Impact, Sunday Silence’s equivalent of Galileo to
Sadler’s Wells, promises to be the biggest progenitor of Japanese-bred suffixes across the world. Foaled at Katsumi Yoshida’s Northern Farm on March 25, 2002 – five months before Sunday Silence died from laminitis – Deep Impact was a member of his sire’s penultimate crop. His dam, Irish-bred Wind in Her Hair (by Alzao), placed second in the Epsom OaksG1 and Yorkshire Oaks-G1, then was highweighted from 11-14 furlongs at four in Germany having won the Group 1 Aral-Pokal. Wind in Her Hair had produced US Grade 3 stakes winner Veil of Avalon prior to Deep Impact selling for ¥70 million (£383,000 / €598,000), just out of the top ten, as a foal in the Japan Racing Horse Association (JRHA) Select Sale. Racing for Kaneko Makoto Holdings Co. and trained by Yasuo Ikee, Deep Impact debuted in December at two and won his first seven starts, including the Japanese Triple Crown: Satsuki Sho-Japanese 2,000 Guineas, Tokyo Yushun, and Kikuka Sho-Japanese St. Leger, over 2000 metres, 2400 metres, and 3000 metres, respectively. He met his first defeat, a second in the Arima Kinen in December, in his eighth start but had done enough to be named Horse of the Year and champion three-year-old colt. Deep Impact resumed his winning ways at
Deep Impact, twice Japanese Horse of the Year, is also the country’s leading stallion
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