'The standard was very high' - £1.9 million half-brother to champion Liberty Island leads the way in Japan

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A Kitasan Black half-brother to the ill-fated Triple Tiara winner Liberty Island topped the second and final day of the JRHA Select Sale in Japan on Tuesday, selling to M's Racing for Y410 million (£1.9m/€2.21m) during the concluding foal session.

Offered by Northern Farm, the colt (lot 401) was continuing a sensational sale for the Shadai Stallion Station stallion, himself the sire of world champion and red-hot first-crop yearling sire Equinox. That six-time top-level winner supplied Monday's yearling session top lot, a Y420 million (£1.94m/€2.26m) colt out of Australian Group 1 winner Youngstar.

Tuesday's top lot is also out of an Australian elite-level winner in Yankee Rose, an All American mare who landed the Sires Produce Stakes as a two-year-old in April 2016, before following up that victory with a win in the Spring Champion Stakes. 

Yankee Rose has gone on to be equally successful at stud, producing the brilliant but sadly short-lived Liberty Island among four winners. The daughter of Duramente won the Grade 1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies at two and followed up with Triple Tiara glory the following year with wins in the Oka Sho (Japanese 1,000 Guineas), Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) and Shuka Sho (Grade 1).

Liberty Island, who was also second to Equinox in the Japan Cup, third to Rebel's Romance in the Dubai Sheema Classic and second to Romantic Warrior in the Hong Kong Cup, sustained a fatal injury in the QEII Cup in Hong Kong last year.

Northern Farm also consigned a Kitasan Black half-brother to Grade 1 winner and young sire Grenadier Guards (342), who went the way of Forever Young's owner Susumu Fujita for Y300m (£1.38m/€1.62m). Out of 2015 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint winner Wavell Avenue, the youngster is also a half-brother to Queen's Walk, a Kizuna mare who has claimed three Graded wins as well as Grade 1 placings in the last two runnings of the Victoria Mile.

Fujita was the leading buyer of the foal session, purchasing six lots for Y1.205 billion (£5.54m/€6.53m).

Grenadier Guards, a son of Frankel who landed the Grade 1 Asahi Hai Futurity as a juvenile, had his first yearlings sell on Monday, making prices of up to Y72m (£332,000/€389,000). One of his two foals, Oiwake Farm's colt by Listed winner Dear My Darling (361), made Y80m (£369,000/€433,000) to Yosuke Imafuku on Tuesday.

The Equinox colt out of Daring Tact sells to Anima Racing for Y330,000,000Credit: JRHA

Equinox was responsible for another of the session's highlights when his son out of another Triple Tiara winner, Daring Tact (372), realised Y330m (£1.53m/€1.78m) to Anima Racing. 

The Okada Stud-consigned colt is the second foal out of the daughter of Epiphaneia, whose Grade 1 victories came in the 2020 Oka Sho, Yushun Himba and Shuka Sho. She was also third to another superstar mare in Almond Eye in the Japan Cup that year and filled the same spot in the following year's QEII Cup and 2022 Takarazuka Kinen. 

Makio Okada of Okada Stud said: “My farm has never sold a horse we bred for more than Y100m, so I'm excited about the price. He's a very nice horse and moves like a tiger in the paddock, I'm sure he's a talented horse. He'll be kept at my farm even after weaning and I will break him in.”

Another by Equinox, Northern Farm's colt out of Youngstar's Group 1-winning half-sister Funstar (329), was knocked down to Danox Co Ltd for Y310 million (£1.43m/€1.68m). 

Like her half-sibling, Funstar had sold to Katsumi Yoshida for A$2.7 million (£1.5m/€1.7m) at an Inglis Digital sale in 2021. The 2019 Darley Flight Stakes winner has produced the winning Danon Funstar, a son of Kizuna who sold at the sale as a foal in 2023 for Y176m. 

Having been crowned leading consignors during the yearling session, Northern Farm topped the table again on Tuesday, selling 79 foals for Y6.864bn (€37.20m / £31.57m). 

As with Monday's session, there was plenty to interest European bloodstock enthusiasts. The first foals by Coolmore's dual Derby hero and Breeders' Cup victor Auguste Rodin went through the ring, with Okada Stud's colt out of Australia mare Lake Illawarra (344) making Y88m (£406,000/€476,000) to Kaneko Makoto Holdings Co.

Lake Illawarra, a winner of a Dundalk handicap for Johnny Murtagh, Westerberg and the Coolmore partners sold to Okada through John McCormack for 110,000gns at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale in 2023. The three-parts sister to Listed winner and Racing Post Trophy runner-up Aloft has an unraced two-year-old filly by Starspangledbanner, which she was carrying in utero when she was purchased at the Newmarket sale. 

Funstar: the Group 1 winner's Equinox colt was one highlight of the foal sectionCredit: Sportpix

Teruya Yoshida, chairman of the JRHA and owner of Shadai Farm, said at the end of trade: "I'm very impressed that the median price has improved significantly. It means the standard of horses offered this year was very high and I think it was a very healthy market.

"I have an impression that the quality of yearlings offered at yesterday’s session was the very best. As a result, the market was very strong. I'm glad to see many new players were active at the market, the ownership of racehorses has become an attractive hobby for young successful businessmen in Japan, and it looks like those new players are not hesitating to spend more than Y100m to obtain a horse.”

He added: "I'm very happy to see that 11 horses were bought by international buyers over the two days. The JRHA Select Sale is now a very attractive market for all involved in horse racing and breeding in the world.”

From 247 lots offered on Tuesday, 228 sold for a clearance rate of 92.3 per cent (down from 95 per cent in 2025) and turnover of Y15.824bn, a 7.6 per cent decrease year-on-year. The average closed at Y69.4m (£320,000/€375,000), a 7.7 per cent decrease on last year, while the median was unchanged at Y50m (£230,000/€271,000). 

Throughout the two days, 509 lots were offered and 478 were bought for Y33.484bn (£154.0m/€181.5m), a 2.4 per cent increase year-on-year and a new record at the sale. The average price across the two days of trade was Y70.05m (£322,000/€380,000), a three per cent drop, while the median rose 8.5 per cent to Y51m (£235,000/€276,000). The clearance rate was 94 per cent, down from 97 per cent last year.  

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