Even a cursory glance through the pages of the catalogue for the JRHA Select Sale in Japan each year would give an instant impression that there is almost no corner of the globe which is unexplored by Katsumi Yoshida in recruiting mares for his Northern Farm.
Mind you, it's not simply readymade breeding prospects with top-class form on the shopping list. Over the last few years, Yoshida's name has appeared on the buyers' list at foals sales in Europe, and Northern Farm's representative Shingo Hashimoto was in action again at Tattersalls on Friday when signing for a colt from the first crop of Baaeed (GB) at 280,000gns.
Yoshida was also the leading buyer at last year's December Mares Sale, with Hashimoto in the chair for the purchases of Group 1 winners Prosperous Voyage (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) and Cachet (Ire) (Aclaim {Ire}) for 2,400,000gns and 2,200,000gns respectively. Plainly, it's not just European bloodlines on the Northern Farm team's radar, however, so just what is on their wish list when it comes to recruiting stock?
Hashimoto says simply, “We try to diversify what we have in our portfolio.”
He continues, “Where the mares are from, or what bloodline they are from, it's not our first priority, but we do prioritise the balance within our operations. One of the main reasons we try to buy a mare from overseas is to try to make sure our bloodlines are not too limited.
“The key is that we don't try to focus too much on one bloodline or one stallion. Of course, Frankel is very attractive for us, Kingman is also very attractive to us, but we don't try to focus too much on them. It's never a black and white situation, but I think that the key part is the diversification, and the match for those mares with the stallions within Japan.”
He adds, “But of course, if the pedigree is good, that's also a very good point that we take into account. We also look into the conformation of the mare, how athletic she is, but when it comes to the broodmare sales, we try to focus more on the horse's race results and also the pedigree, and the conformation comes next.”
Hashimoto says that when recruiting young stock they try not to get caught up in the narrow focus on certain sires.
“We just try to look through every horse in the catalogue, and try not to have a preconceived image of how their pedigree is,” he notes.
Yoshida is the largest breeder in Japan – closely followed by his brother Teruya of Shadai Farm – with a broodmare band larger than that of the whole of the German breeding industry, meaning that Northern Farm is also one of the major vendors in the country. Its draft dominates the Select Sale of yearlings and foals each July at the Northern Horse Park.
Katsumi Yoshida at the JRHA Select Sale | Emma Berry
“Within the sales portfolio, we like to have some of the European stallions or the US-based stallions represented,” says Hashimoto. “Let's say, if we cannot buy a mare in foal to any of the stallions, maybe we might keep some of the mares here [in Europe] and then cover them, and then bring them back to Japan. That depends on the result of the sale. There's not a specific strategy.”
While some yearlings are bought by Yoshida at the Keeneland Sale in September, Hashimoto says that buying foals in Newmarket is a better fit for their racing programme.
“We get to learn a lot from what we see in the yearling sales or foal sales, and the trends for certain stallions,” he says. “Obviously, horses like Too Darn Hot or Mehmas, they are becoming the rising stallions here in Europe, and we get to know why they're so popular, which I think is an important thing for us to take into account.”
Hashimoto continues, “The foals we buy are to race in Japan. We've done this for five, six years now. One of the main reasons is that if we buy at the yearling sales in Europe in October, then we import them into Japan, it means they arrive in mid-December or so. In that case, if we start breaking from then, it's a little bit late for us. Instead, we try to buy the foals so that we can bring them back to Japan at an earlier stage.
“We do go to Keeneland in September, and they come in to Japan in November. In general, horses from America are pretty mature at that stage compared to the horses in Europe.”
It's not just a one-way street, of course, and the bilingual Hashimoto, who was born in America where he spent some of his formative years, is keen to welcome buyers from overseas to the sales in Japan, including to the Northern Farm Mixed Sale of broodmares and foals which is held in late October.
“This year, we found more buyers coming in from overseas compared to other years, which I think is a good thing for the industry itself,” he says. “I think one of the reasons why more people have become interested in the Japanese market is because of the good results that we have had in overseas racing in the past five years or so, which is a very good thing for the Japanese industry.
“But at the same time, the sales in Japan are also quite competitive. Sometimes it's very expensive to buy, which I think comes from the very good prize-money in Japan. For foreign buyers to compete against the Japanese buyers might be a little bit tough, but still it's a sale, so we can always find a way to buy a horse. For example, Yoshida was traded in the July sale as a foal.”
Yoshida (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}), named with a courteous nod to his breeder at Northern Farm, won both the GI Woodward Stakes and GI Old Forester Turf Classic Stakes for the partnership of China Horse Club, WinStar Farm and Head of Plains Partners before retiring to stand initially at WinStar in Kentucky. After four seasons there he moved to stand at Darley Japan earlier this year.
Fumihiko Nakajima and Shingo Hashimoto at Tattersalls | Laura Green
Hashimoto says, “It would be interesting to see how the Japanese horses would fit in different countries.
“We do have that set-up for people to bid online, so that is possible, of course. But they can also come to Japan and enjoy seeing the horses. We'll always be happy to host them.”
For some years, a number of top-end European breeders, notably Coolmore, the Niarchos family and previously the Wildenstein operation, have sent mares to visit some of Japan's leading stallions, with the European Classic winners Beauty Parlour (GB), Snowfall (Jpn), Fancy Blue (Ire) and Auguste Rodin (Ire) all emanating from their patronage of the late Deep Impact (Jpn), who is also the sire of the Prix du Jockey Club winner and one of the buzz stallions of the moment in Europe, Study Of Man (Ire).
With Deep Impact having died in 2019, and Heart's Cry, the sire of last year's St Leger winner Continuous (Jpn), also no longer around, breeders with an international outlook will be keeping an eye on the next big name to emerge from the Japanese stallion ranks. Deep Impact's son Kizuna (Jpn) is at the head of this year's general sires' table in Japan, ahead of the reliable Lord Kanaloa (Jpn), sire of the great Almond Eye (Jpn) among others.
“We had some international breeders send mares to be covered by Equinox this year,” says Hashimoto of the top-rated horse in the world in 2023. Equinox's sire Kitasan Black (Jpn) is also rightly on the radar of those outside Japan, and father and son are currently the two most expensive stallions in the country. Meanwhile, next season will bring the first two-year-old runners for Deep Impact's Triple Crown-winning son Contrail (Jpn).
“I think the interest from the international market has been rising, especially with the good results by Auguste Rodin, which is a good thing for the Japanese industry as well,” Hashimoto says. “In general, I think the racing industry has become more global, year by year.”
Hashimoto himself, with a background in both America and Japan, inside and outside the racing industry, is well placed to take such an overview. He studied veterinary medicine before focusing more on a business career, working in Houston for five years as a petrochemical trader. Ultimately though, he says, “I couldn't forget my passion for the horseracing industry.”
Hashimoto has now been back in Japan and working for Northern Farm for six years.
He adds, “It's really a good environment for me to study. I mean, I can learn a lot there. Our operation is very big. We have about 1,000 broodmares, 700-plus foals every year.
“I've been having the opportunity to come overseas and look at the sales and, like I mentioned, getting to know the trends of the stallions. It's a very good thing to be able to understand the difference between Japan and other countries, or to think about what the Japanese racing industry should try to do better, or goals for our farm.”
Close observers of this business may well feel that it is Japan that could teach other nations a lesson or two, and it is clearly through that constant thirst for knowledge that the Japanese breeding industry has manoeuvred itself into such a dominant position in the global rankings.
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