A yearling full-brother to the globetrotting Deirdre (Jpn) and first-crop foals by Flightline and Baaeed (GB) are among the entries for the JRHA Select Sale, which is set to take place at the Northern Horse Park in Hokkaido on July 8 and 9.
Deirdre, a daughter of Harbinger (GB), was a Grade 1 winner in her native country before setting out on her worldwide travels which saw her win the G1 Nassau S. at Goodwood and finish runner-up in both Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia. Her younger brother (lot 74) is one of 243 yearlings catalogued for the first day of the sale along with a host of well-bred individuals featuring some international pedigrees.
A colt from the first crop of Palace Pier (GB) out of the G1 Prix Saint-Alary winner Incarville (Fr) (Le Havre {Ire}) is catalogued as lot 11, while lot 24 is a son of Epipheneia (Jpn) and the G1 Irish Oaks winner Even So (Ire) (Camelot {GB}).
Another European Classic winner featuring as the dam of an Epipheneia colt is Homecoming Queen (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), whose yearling is lot 104.
The foals from the first crop of Japanese Triple Crown winner Contrail (Jpn) were the talk of last year's Select Sale, and his first yearlings will doubtless provide another focal point this time around. There are eight catalogued, including lot 133, a yearling half-brother to the G1 Prix Rothschild winner Qemah (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) and to G1 Japanese St Leger winner Ask Victor More (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}). The foal section features 25 Contrail youngsters, among them lot 308, a son of the former Chad Brown-trained dual Grade I winner A Raving Beauty (Ger) (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) who was sold to Haruya Yoshida for $2 million at Fasig-Tipton in November 2018.
Dream And Do (Ire) (Siyouni {FR}), winner of the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches in 2020, has both a yearling and a foal in the catalogue: the former will be the first yearling into the ring on Monday morning and is a colt by Lord Kanaloa (Jpn), while her foal this year is a filly by Kitasan Black (Jpn) and is in as lot 401.
The 244 foals set to be sold will appear alongside their dams for the Tuesday session and they include lot 433, a colt by Kizuna (Jpn) out of the Australian champion two-year-old filly She Will Reign (Aus) (Manhattan Rain {Aus}) and lot 364, a Kitasan Black half-brother to the G1 NHK Mile winner Schnell Meister (Ger) (Kingman {GB}), whose dam Serienholde (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}) won the G1 Preis der Diana.
Kitasan Black is also the sire of the colt foal out of the G1 Alcibiades S. winner Simply Ravishing (Laoban) (lot 301), while American Horse of the Year Flightline features as the sire of three foals in the catalogue including lot 347. The colt is a son of the Argentinean champion racemare Blue Stripe (Arg) (Equal Stripes {Arg}), who also won the G1 Clement L Hirsch S. at Del Mar.
The first chance for anyone to buy a foal by Shadwell's champion miler Baaeed at public auction will be when Paca Paca Farm sends through the colt out of the Grade III winner Fahan Mura (English Channel) as lot 400.
Announcing the catalogue for Japan's biggest bloodstock sale of the year, a statement from the JRHA read, “It is great to witness Japanese-bred runners performing so well at international competition. First of all, it is still fresh in the memory that Equinox (Jpn) was unbeaten through four starts in 2023, including the GI Japan Cup in November, which he won by four lengths, and was recognised as the world's highest-rated horse with an official rating of 135.
“And JRHA is proud of the bravest performance of Forever Young (Jpn) at Churchill Downs on May 4, when the Japanese-bred colt was a narrowly-beaten third in the GI Kentucky Derby. The winner of the G3 Saudi Derby and G2 UAE Derby was bought at the yearling session of the JRHA Select Sale in 2022 for 98 million yen ($725,926).”
The JRHA Select Sale catalogue features seven yearlings and five foals by Forever Young's sire Real Steel (Jpn), including a half-brother to Japanese Horse of the Year Lys Gracieux (Jpn), as well as 13 yearlings and 19 foals by Kitasan Black, the sire of Equinox.
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