COLD WARS, HOT WARS AND THE JAPANESE BREEDERS CHAMPIONSHIP

“All’s fair in love and war”

So they say, provided the game is played according to the Queensberry Rules. We’ve always said that the South African Breeders’ Championship is one of the tightest competitions in the thoroughbred world, and that’s because only six farms have aspired to the title in all of recorded history. 

But the closest contest in the world right now, rests with the Japanese, and the intriguing thing is the three principal protagonists. The 31st December will hail the champion, and there is very little separating the top two, Shadai Farm of Teruya Yoshida, and his brother Katsumi’s Northern Farm. Yes, there is a difference R34 million keeping them apart, but this is a bagatelle in the context of totals of the order of half a billion in each of their respective earnings. Earlier in the season, they were separated by several hundred million, but a late charge by Northern Farm sees the battle going right to the line, and amazingly, the third in the contest also happens to be a Yoshida family entity.

We’ve said this before, but it’s worth another look. The stallion lists (reproduced here) are the starkest reminder of the extent of the Yoshida dominance of the Japanese domestic breeding scene, with all ten on the General Sires log and the first ten on the Two Year Old Sires; log, being residents of the family’s Shadai Stallion Station.

From a dim and distant past, Japanese breeding has almost singlehandedley been catapulted into the world of breeding superpowers by the Yoshidas and its anyone’s guess as to how long their monopoly on the country’s racing affairs can be maintained. The manifestation of a Darley stallion station in the Land of the Rising Sun by Sheikh Mohammed one poser for the future, but it’s our bet that the name Yoshida will stick like a barnacle to their leader boards for decades to come.

2010 JRA Purse Rating / Breeder

Breeder	# of start (head)	# of start (race)	win (head)	win (race)	total purse /ZAR	recent winner
SHADAI FARM	681	2945	250	345	532,778,861	Eishin Flash
NORTHERN FARM	662	2768	229	303	498,693,028	Buena Vista
SHIRAOI FARM	217	1017	64	89	133,744,003	Aliseo
SHIMOKOBE FARM	145	621	39	47	81,903,973	Dasher Go Go
CHIYODA FARM	160	645	30	41	73,961,994	Daiwa Barbarian
NORTH HILL MANAGEMENT	99	445	29	38	72,274,963	Ernestly
MBIG RED FARM	140	584	37	41	58,384,933	Meiner Kitz
YANGAWA FARM	61	335	23	31	40,856,072	Kopano Gingu
OIWAKE FARM	86	356	21	26	40,158,171	Oro Meister
MISHIMA FARM	64	329	18	22	39,800,825	Meisho Beluga

 2010 JRA Leading Sire

Breeder	# of start (head)	# of start (race)	win (head)	win (race)	total purse /ZAR	recent winner
KING KAMEHAMEHA (N)	296	1354	116	155	223,768,741	Apapane
SYMBOLI KRIS S	279	1225	85	111	163,660,420	Aliseo
FUJI KISEKI (S*)	271	1130	80	100	156,093,403	Kinshasa no kiseki
KUROFUNE	285	1320	102	136	152,742,354	Bateau d’Or
MANHATTAN CAFE (S)	251	991	71	97	147,846,477	Getstalt
AGNES TACHYON (S)	231	910	69	89	143,038,906	Kopano Gingu
SPECIAL WEEK	226	990	60	74	133,322,114	Buena Vista
SAKURA BAKUSHIN O (S*)	232	1012	77	89	126,391,079	Dasher Go Go
JUNGLE POCKET (N)	194	815	48	64	112,776,612	Jaguar Mail
NEO UNIVERSE (S)	217	941	58	84	105,471,214	Victoire Pisa

 2010 JRA Leading Sire of 2yo

Breeder	# of start (head)	# of start (race)	win (head)	win (race)	total purse /ZAR	recent winner
DEEP IMPACT (N)	51	100	24	25	20,857,121	Real Impact
SAKURA BAKUSHIN O (S*)	40	105	13	14	15,395,652	Grand Prix Boss
KING KAMEHAMEHA (N)	65	141	18	19	13,900,225	Tsurumaru One Piece
HEART’S CRY (S)	32	67	12	14	12,813,043	Meisho Naruto
FUJI KISEKI (S*)	43	91	14	14	12,753,598	Admire Sagas
AGNES TACHYON (S)	39	78	10	11	12,095,502	Reve d’Essor
JUNGLE POCKET (N)	49	115	6	7	10,811,844	Magical Pocket
MANHATTAN CAFE (S)	34	69	12	14	9,956,447	Shonan Mighty
KUROFUNE	38	94	6	8	9,848,351	Marumo Seila
NEO UNIVERSE (S)	52	116	8	9	9,523,763	All As One