£1.93 million colt by Duramente tops record JRHA Select Sale foal section

A colt by Shadai Stallion Station's late Duramente topped the foal section of the Japan Racing Horse Association (JRHA) Select Sale on Tuesday when selling to Red Horse for ¥320,000,000 (approx £1.93m/€2.33m).

One time regarded as the prime candidate for the next leading sire in Japan after the loss of Deep Impact, the 2015 Japanese Derby winner sadly succumbed to acute colitis last August and his current batch of foals are his final crop.

His session-topping son (lot 393) is out of the 2019 Gulfstream Park Oaks winner Champagne Anyone, a daughter of Street Sense from the family of Grade 1 Santa Maria Handicap winner Miss Loren.

With the untimely losses of Deep Impact and King Kamehameha, the search for the next leading sire in Japan continues.

Bricks And Mortar has so fair made a good impression in his second career, and this was enhanced when his colt foal (325) out of a half-sister to Japanese champion juvenile Goshawk Ken sold to Tetsuhide Kunimoto for ¥310,000,000.

The 2019 American Horse of the Year, who has stood at Shadai since his retirement from racing in 2020, has his first yearlings this term and is clearly held in high regard by Kunimoto.

He said: "I visited Northern Farm several times in the last few months and I found this colt just kept on improving. That is what I liked about him.

"I don't know who the next leading sire is, although I think Bricks And Mortar is a suitable stallion for racing in Japan, as he is a turf champion himself and most of his yearlings look like sharp and speedy turf horses. This colt lets me have a dream."

Another Shadai resident in Epiphaneia, the sire of Grade 1 winners Efforia, Daring Tact and Circle Of Life, had 16 yearlings on Tuesday sell, for turnover of ¥1,666,500,000, including a filly out of American champion two-year-old filly She's A Tiger. Consigned as lot 353, she sold to Nicks Co. Ltd for ¥280,000,000.

Hiroyasu Takeuchi, racing manager to Nicks Co. Ltd, said: "I studied her pedigree and was convinced she should have inherited a lot of speed.

"She is very valuable as a future broodmare as well and I believed she was worth paying this amount. I thought we might have to pay 300 million yen to buy her so I am happy with the price."

A total of 236 foals were offered at the session, with 225 selling for turnover of ¥12,892,500,000, an 18 per cent increase on last year's sale.

The average price was ¥57,300,000, which was an increase of 11.7 per cent, while the clearance rate increased from 92.6 per cent in 2021 to 95.3 per cent this year. The turnover, average price and clearance rate are new records at this foal session.

Teruya Yoshida, JRHA chairman, said: “It was a record-breaking market here last year and I did not expect to beat it this year. The market was very strong from top to bottom, and I was very impressed with the depth of buyers.

"The high demand for young horses was kept though two days and the clearance rate, 95.3 per cent, is unbelievable.”

He continued: “I'm very happy to see so many people are interested in enjoying ownership of racehorses and very glad to witness they are very keen to make a big investment on the bloodstock market.

“The quality of mares we have in Japan is very high and the quality of young horses offered here yesterday and today was very high as well. Japanese-bred horses are running very well in international races in the USA and Middle East, and that can only help boost this market.

“I believe Japanese runners will keep running well on the international stage and hope the market next year is as strong as this year.”

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