'It's amazing to see his yearlings prove so popular' - £1.94 million Equinox colt headlines strong demand at JRHA Select Sale

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Equinox fever hit the sales ring at Northern Horse Park in Hokkaido, Japan, for the second year running when a colt by the world champion sold to Danox Co Ltd for Y420 million (£1,940,000/€2,265,000) at the JRHA Select Sale on Monday. 

The first foals by Shadai Stallion Station's superstar had lit up the Select Sale this time last year when making up to Y580m. The top lot was a colt out of brilliant racemare Midnight Bisou who became the second most expensive foal ever sold at a JRHA sale.

With Equinox's first yearlings now selling, the spotlight fell on Northern Farm's bay (lot 110), a son of Group 1 Queensland Oaks winner Youngstar. The High Chaparral mare sold to Northern Farm’s Katsumi Yoshida for A$1.4m at the 2020 Inglis Chairman's Sale and she has since produced high-class Kizuna colt Eri King, a winner of last year's Grade 2 Kobe Shimbun Hai, who was also second in the Grade 1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St Leger). The mare has a two-year-old Contrail filly in training named Starry Flight. 

Danox, whose horses carry the Danon moniker, have been represented by the likes of last year's Sheema Classic winner Danon Decile. The operation finished the day as the leading buyers, purchasing five lots for a total spend of Y1.490bn (£6.85m/€8.08m).

Eight of Equinox's 13 first-crop yearlings sold for more than Y100m (£462,000/€540,000), among them a half-brother to James Fanshawe's Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner Audarya (21). The colt sold to Yujiro Inutsuka for Y210m (£967,000/€1.130m). 

Inutsuka already has high aspirations for the colt, revealing he hoped he would win the Japanese Derby, a race that eluded Equinox himself. 

He said: "I'm a great supporter of Equinox and was looking for a yearling by him with the highest quality. As I inspected yearlings by Equinox, I judged this one to be the best Equinox yearling consigned by Shadai Farm. Coincidentally, this colt shares the same birthday as Equinox. I hope he can win the Japanese Derby, which Equinox could not."

From 14 lots offered by Equinox, 13 sold for a total of Y1.984bn (£9.13m/€10.75m) and at an average of Y152.6m (£702,000/€827,200).

Yearlings by Efforia proved popular with the buying bench, with ten of his youngsters selling for Y1.505bn (£6.92m/€8.15m) at an average of Y150.4m (£691,800/€815,200). 

Results for the Shadai Stallion Station's Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2,000 Guineas) winner were headed by a colt (190) who sold to leading owner Kaneko Makoto Holdings Co for Y390m (£1.795m/€2.1m). Consigned by Shadai Farm, the yearling is out of the high-class American mare Lady Fog Horn, a winner of the Grade 2 Falls City Handicap at Churchill Downs during her racing career and the dam of two winners to date. 

The Efforia colt out of Lady Fog Horn is knocked down to Kaneko Makoto for Y390,000,000Credit: JRHA

Makoto owned the racehorse and breed-shaping stallion Deep Impact, as well as his brother Black Tide, the sire of Kitasan Black, and champion three-year-old colt King Kamehameha, himself the sire of luminaries such as Lord Kanaloa, Rulership and Duramente.

Efforia, who defeated Contrail when landing the second of three Grade 1 triumphs in the Tenno Sho (Autumn) in 2021, has already been represented by a number of winners from his first crop of two-year-olds.

Another son of Efforia, Northern Farm's colt out of Petite Folie (51), sold to Danox Co Ltd for Y330m (£1.5m/€1.78m). His Australia dam was unplaced in one start for Andre Fabre, but is a half-sister to Poule d'Essai des Poulains victor and Haras d'Etreham's promising young sire Persian King. She is already the dam of two winners, including Grade 2 performer Taisei Princesse, a daughter of Real Steel, while her two-year-old Kitasan Black colt named Log Pose is in training. 

The further family includes the late Prix Ganay winner and Group 1 sire Planteur, as well as multiple Group 2 scorer and Group 1-placed Policy Maker, the sire of top-class chaser Chacun Pour Soi.

M's Racing went to Y350m (£1.63m/€1.89m) for Northern Farm's Epiphaneia colt (35), the first foal out of US Grade 1 winner Search Results. The Flatter mare sported the silks of Klaravich Stables to a number of Graded wins in the US, most notably in the 2021 Grade 1 Acorn Stakes at Belmont, while she was also a neck second to Shadwell's champion Malathaat in the Kentucky Oaks that year.

From the family of dual Group 1 Dubai Golden Shaheen winner and Shadai Stallion Station sire Mind Your Biscuits, Search Results was bought by Yoshida for $3.6m at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

Shadai Farm's well-related Kitasan Black colt (86) was another highlight, also making Y330m to Group TM. The bay is out of the Group-winning Motivator mare Skia, making him a brother to Satsuki Sho victor and Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) runner-up Sol Oriens, as well as a half-brother to Grade 2 Fuji Stakes winner and Group 1 Dubai Turf runner-up Vin De Garde.

Kitasan Black: leading sire on the opening day of the saleCredit: Shadai Stallion Station/J Fukuda

Kitasan Black, the sire of Equinox and fellow multiple top-flight hero Croix Du Nord, finished the day as the session's leading sire. He had 14 lots sell for Y2.248bn (£10.34m/€12.18m) and an average of Y160.57m (£738,600/€870,300). Nine of those made Y100m or more. 

From 262 lots offered on the opening day, 250 sold for a clearance rate of 95 per cent, which was a 3.7 per cent drop on last year's edition. The turnover weighed in at Y17.66bn (£81.3m/€95.7m), a 14 per cent increase year-on-year, while the average closed at Y70.6m (£329,000/€383,000), a 2.2 per cent increase on last year. The median was up 18 per cent at Y52m (£243,000/€282,000). 

Katsumi Yoshida, director of the JRHA and owner of Northern Farm, the biggest consignor at the sale, who sold 93 lots for an eye-watering Y8.062bn (£37.09m/€43.70m), said the results exceeded his expectations. 

“The market was stronger than I expected," he said. "As so many buyers visited Northern Farm to inspect yearlings in the last few weeks, I expected a strong market, but this result is better than expected.

“The market was supported by several stallions, such as Kitasan Black, Efforia, and Equinox. Kitasan Black is a proven stallion and Efforia's first two-year-olds have made a rocket start, therefore I expected those stallions to be popular. Equinox is an unproven stallion and it's amazing to see his yearlings prove so popular.

“I'm very glad to see that eight yearlings were bought by international buyers today. Japanese-trained horses have been running well on the international stage in recent years and I understand those successes by Japanese-trained horses attracted international buyers.”

The second and final session of the sale is dedicated to foals and takes place on Tuesday.

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