A Deep Impact Indeed

There is no clearer demonstration of the impact being delivered by Japan's world-class leading sire Deep Impact (Jpn) (Sunday Silence). Our leader board arranged by the percentage of horses to starters rated 100 or higher on the World Thoroughbred Rankings leaves us under no illusions as his dominance. The son of the equally dominant Sunday Silence is way out in front of all his rivals. His score of 18.4% is more than double that of all other sires with 150 or more starters that retired after 1998 with the exception of Kingmambo's outstanding sire son King Kamehameha.

Whilst it's true that Deep Impact would have access to the very best mares in Japan, his output is still remarkable, but not only for his ratio of 100-plus rated runners. He's also on track to produce the best group of elite runners whose average rating is currently 121, level with his great rival King Kamehameha, who has the benefit of more crops. And with the exciting prospect of the undefeated G1 Racing Post Trophy hero Saxon Warrior (Jpn) to look forward to this year in Europe, we can expect to see more non-Japan foaled runners on our racecourses in the years to come. Then there's the prospect of seeing another unbeaten colt, Danon Premium (Jpn), embark on his Classic campaign at home in Japan. What are the chances of an Epsom Derby/Tokyo Yushun double this summer? The feat was last achieved by another Kingmambo stallion–King's Best–in 2010, with Workforce and Eishin Flash.