Sunday Silence at Longchamp as Double Major wins Prix Royal-Oak

Japan's influence on European racing this season has been pronounced with the Derby, Irish Champion Stakes, St Leger and Irish Derby all won by Japanese-sired horses and to that list the Group 1 Prix Royal was added on Sunday afternoon with the easy success of Double Major.

The Wertheimers' homebred gelding is a son of Daiwa Major, and it was fitting that on the day Equinox showed himself the best in the world with a breathtakingly fast success in the Tenno Sho (Autumn), that a previous winner of that race came to the fore in Europe.

Daiwa Major, like Deep Impact and Heart's Cry who sired Auguste Rodin and Continuous respectively, is a son of the breed-shaping sire Sunday Silence. The now 22-year-old was bred by Shadai Farm out of the multiple Group 3 winner Scarlet Bouquet, a daughter of Northern Taste. 

The Prix de la Foret winner by Northern Dancer was bought as a yearling by the Yoshida family from his breeder E P Taylor, and they raced Daiwa Major in France before retiring him to stand in Japan. His success as a stallion there was later eclipsed by another Yoshida import; Sunday Silence.

At three Daiwa Major won the Satsuki Sho (2,000 Guineas) and was sixth to King Kamehameha in the Yushun (Derby). His four-year-old career included victory in the Listed Lord Derby Trophy and he was second in the Group 1 Mile Championship at Kyoto.

It was as a five-year-old that Daiwa Major won the Tenno Sho (Autumn) as well as the Group 1 Mile Championship, earning him the first of two titles as JRA Best Sprinter or Miler.

At six he won the Group 1 Yasuda Kinen and repeated his Mile Championship success. That year, Daiwa Major was also third in the Group 1 Arima Kinen and in the Dubai Duty Free, behind Admire Moon and Lingari. He retained the title of Best Sprinter or Miler.

Daiwa Scarlet, his younger three-parts sister by Agnes Tachyon, is a multiple Group 1 winner.

Christophe Ferland (right of picture) and Maxime Guyon with Double Major after victory in the G1 Prix du Royal-Oak

Retired to the Shadai Stallion Station in 2008, Daiwa Major was crowned Japan's champion two-year-old sire in 2015 which was the year Major Emblem won the Group 1 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies and was champion two-year-old filly in Japan. 

His best progeny include the triple Group 1 winner Admire Mars, who was champion two-year-old colt in 2018 as well as Serifos, who emulated his sire by winning the Group 1 Mile Championship earning the title of JRA Best Sprinter or Miler last year and Daiwa Major is now the sire of eight individual top-level winners.

Double Major is his first Group 1 winner in Europe and the gelding brings a powerful Wertheimer pedigree to the table. He is a half-brother to the Group 3 Prix de Guiche winner Flop Shot by New Approach and to Veritas, a Listed-placed son of Camelot.

They are out of Dancequest who was third in the Listed Prix de Liancourt and is a Dansili half-sister to the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud winner Plumania by Anabaa. She is the dam of Group 2 winner Plumatic and the Listed winner Maniaco. Another half-sister, the Group 2 Prix Royallieu winner Balladeuse, is the dam of Prix Vermeille winner Left Hand.

Dancequest is out of the Rainbow Quest mare Featherquest who is a winning close relation to the Prix Lupin winner and sire Groom Dancer.

She has a two-year-old Lope De Vega filly named Tyra who is in training with Andre Fabre, a Dubawi yearling daughter named Rooba and foaled a full-brother to Tyra this year.

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