DEEP IMPACT YEARLING DOMINATES JRHA SALE OPENER

JRHA Select Sale Yearling Session Lot 50 Deep Impact x Isle de France
(Photo : Michele MacDonald) 

JAPAN RACING HORSE ASSOCIATION
SELECT SALE 2010

Buyers new to racing swarmed the opening session of the Japan Racing Horse Association Select Sale on Monday at the Northern Horse Park on the island of Hokkaido, delighting consignors with a flurry of bidding, but keeping a fairly tight grip on their wallets.

By the time the last yearling had trotted out of the sale ring, results were mixed and there had been no fireworks, particularly when compared to the sale’s halcyon days when $1-million horses were sprinkled throughout the catalog.

Yet the consensus reaction was that the sale held up as well as could be hoped in the prevailing economic conditions. Of 214 yearlings offered, 173 were sold for a total of ¥3.157-billion ($35,078,889) and an average of ¥18.250-million ($202,768).

A robust bay colt by two-time Japanese Horse of the Year Deep Impact (Jpn) out of French and American Group/Grade 3 winner Isle de France (Nureyev), topped the yearling session at ¥66-million ($733,333). In contrast, last year’s top yearling, a colt by Rock of Gibraltar (Ire), sold for ¥145-million ($1,526,315).

Makoto Kaneko, who raced Deep Impact, purchased the Isle de France colt from the Northern Farm consignment of Katsumi Yoshida. The top five yearlings sold on Monday all came from Northern Farm. Kaneko typically shies away from talking to the media at sales and declined to comment on the colt.

Yutaka Uda, a savvy Tokyo-based investment manager who obtained an owner’s license last year, bought the co-second highest-priced yearling, a Deep Impact colt out of group stakes-placed Kiss Pasion (Jpn) (Jade Robbery), for ¥60-million ($666,666). The colt is a three-quarter brother to multiple group winner Admire Kiss (Jpn) (Sunday Silence), runner-up in the 2006 Oka Sho.

The colt marks the first time that Uda has invested in a major racing prospect. “I liked this one,” he said simply when asked about his purchase.

Among other relatively new buyers was Masami Aramaki, who operates the Papas clothing manufacturing and retail business and who bought two yearlings by Deep Impact for a total of ¥77-million ($855,554).

With more horses offered and sold than in the same session in 2009, when 122 of 156 sent through the ring changed hands, overall gross increased by 14.5 percent as the clearance rate reached 80.8 percent.

Yet the average price represented a decline of 17.5 percent and the median fell by 6.3 percent to -15 million ($166,667), a sign that many breeders are pinched between the need for revenue and market dynamics.

“It’s largely like treading water,” said Irish native Harry Sweeney, who operates Paca Paca Farm near Shizunai on Hokkaido, one of the top consignors outside of the Yoshida family’s Shadai Group. “But in this environment, treading water is not too bad because the alternative is drowning.”

Teruya Yoshida, owner of Shadai Farm and vice chairman of the JRHA, was upbeat following the session as he laughed and chatted with Japanese media covering the sale.

“There were not many high-priced horses, but the medium-priced horses sold very well,” Yoshida said. “I’m very satisfied with these results and I’m very happy with the number of buyers coming here.”

“The quality of the catalog is not quite as strong as in previous years, but the range of buyers has grown and that is good considering this economic situation,” he added.

JRHA SELECT YEARLINGS 
TOP 12 LOTS 

Hip	Sex	Sire	Dam	Price ($)
50	C	Deep Impact	Isle de France	733,333
41	C	Kuofune	Be Positive	666,666
78	C	Deep Impact	Kiss Pasion	666,666
87	C	A.P. Indy	Ermine	622,222
33	C	Deep Impact	Tropical Blossom	577,777
104	C	Deep Impact	Agnes Minerva	522,222
105	C	King Kamehameha	J’s Miracle	477,777
118	C	Agnes Tachyon	Mary Cassatt	477,777
164	C	King Kamehameha	Cascade Bouquet	455,555
15	C	Medaglia d’Oro	Preeminence	444,444
97	C	Jungle Pocket	Maruka Aichan	444,444
110	C	Deep Impact	Discovering Beauty	444,444

Extract from Thoroughbred Daily News