YOSHIDA FAMILY : THE WORD IS DOMINANCE, WITH A CAPITAL "D"

“JAPAN HORSERACING”

Seasoned international racegoers all know Sunday Silence. His exploits as a stallion are legendary, and while his dominance of the Japanese racing scene was total, his progeny have raced and bred with distinction in almost every jurisdiction our sport is played. A glance at the bookings for his son Admire Main, is an indicator of the admiration international horsemen have for Sunday Silence; most of the outside mares booked to this accomplished racehorse, belong to breeders whom you’d expect to be subscribers to the Thoroughbred Daily News.

Most people know that Admire Main is at Summerhill because of our relationship with the Yoshida family in Japan, a dynasty of breeders who have so completely dominated Japanese racing in the past three or four decades, that they are the one name that automatically springs to mind when you think of racing in that part of the world. For that matter, they are one of the few families anywhere, whose name crop up in any legitimate conversation about history’s great breeders.

A glance at the stats for the current Japanese season completes the story. The first three on the Japanese log right now, Shadai Farm, Northern Farm and Shiraoi Farms are all Yoshida entities. For what it’s worth, their earnings are converted to South African Rands, and you will notice that between the three of them, they’ve amassed in excess of R1 billion this season. On the leading sire’s log, all ten of the top ten are based at Shadai Stallion Station and the same applies to the top ten juvenile sires.

It’s a remarkable story about the remarkable enterprise of a remarkable family.

2010 JAPAN RACING ASSOCIATION
PURSE RATING / BREEDER

#	Breeder	# of start (head)	# of start (race)	win (head)	win (race)	Total Purse (ZAR)	Recent Winner
1	SHADAI FARM	651	2662	229	313	498,393,014	EISHIN FLASH
2	NORTHERN FARM	625	2502	201	256	426,975,550	APAPANE
3	SHIRAOI FARM	210	933	58	77	120,993,774	ALISEO
4	SHIMOKOBE FARM	134	573	37	44	78,512,908	DASHER GO GO
5	CHIYODA FARM	148	591	29	39	69,784,586	DAIWA BARBARIAN
6	NORTH HILLS MANAGEMENT	96	410	26	34	61,705,847	EARNESTLY
7	BIG RED FARM	136	527	36	40	56,469,628	MEINER KITZ
8	OIWAKE FARM	84	328	19	24	37,767,730	ORO MEISTER
9	YANAGAWA FARM	61	316	22	28	37,364,237	KOPANO GINGU
10	MISHIMA FARM	60	292	15	19	33,392,787	MEISHO BELUGA

2010 JAPAN RACING ASSOCIATION
LEADING SIRE

#	Stallions	# of start (head)	# of start (race)	win (head)	win (race)	Total Purse (ZAR)	Recent Winner
1	KING KAMEHAMEHA	277	1216	108	139	198,019,818	APAPANE
2	SYMBOLI KRIS S	261	1116	77	99	149,746,469	ALISEO
3	FUJI KISEKI	263	1046	72	89	144,631,131	KINSHASA NO KISEKI
4	KUROFUNE	278	1209	97	127	140,282,536	BATEAU D’OR
5	MANHATTAN CAFE	238	905	67	89	140,075,019	GESTALT
6	AGNES TACHYON	220	844	65	84	134,638,573	KOPANO GINGU
7	SPECIAL WEEK	219	919	57	69	117,403,265	GUENA VISTA
8	SAKURA BAKUSHIN O	222	903	69	77	113,172,285	DASHER GO GO
9	JUNGLE POCKET	175	731	47	61	105,169,400	JAGUAR MAIL
10	NEO UNIVERSE	200	843	53	75	97,844,495	VICTOIRE PISA

2010 JAPAN RACING ASSOCIATION
LEADING SIRE OF TWO-YEAR-OLDS

#	Stallion	# of start (head)	# of start (race)	win (head)	win (race)	Total Purse (ZAR)	Recent Winner
1	HEART’S CRY	23	46	12	14	11,801,519	MEISHO NARUTO
2	DEEP IMPACT	35	58	14	14	11,468,413	RED SAINT
3	KING KAMEHAMEHA	49	94	13	14	10,292,787	TSURUMARU ONE PIECE
4	AGNES TACHYON	31	54	8	9	9,624,525	REVE D’ESSOR
5	FUJI KISEKI	36	66	10	10	9,294,685	ADMIRE SAGAS
6	JUNGLE POCKET	32	72	6	7	9,087,320	MAGICAL POCKET
7	SAKURA BAKUSHIN O	32	73	8	8	9,071,754	SUGINO ENDEAVOR
8	NEO UNIVERSE	38	75	5	6	7,027,107	ALL AS ONE
9	TANINO GIMLET	43	81	6	7	6,919,590	MIENER GIBSON
10	MANHATTAN CAFE	27	49	10	10	6,336,371	CAFE RAPIDO

Statistics Courtesy of JRA

JAPAN'S SHADAI FARM ACQUIRES HARBINGER

Harbinger
(Photo : Racing International)

JAPAN SWOOPS : THE REST WALLOW

We all know it, the Japanese brought us Toyota, Nissan and Sony, and Shadai Farm gave us Sunday Silence. We’re more interested in horses though, and the Sunday Silence story is a compelling one. As good as he was in earning himself the status of America’s Horse Of The Year, when it came to his retirement to stud, Sunday Silence was blacklisted by American breeders.

It was said that he was too slight, too light of bone, it was said he was crooked in the knees and trailed his hocks. In fact, he was condemned for every possible reason, despite the fact that he was the best horse, by far, of his generation. Frustrated by the lack of appreciation his colleagues exhibited for the horse, Arthur Hancock III took the next best option: he sold the horse to Japan’s most famous breeder, Zenya Yoshida of Shadai Farm. The Japanese have an appreciation for a horse with the stamina to go 2400m, and the ability to beat all-comers, whatever his make or shape.

History tells us this was one of breeding’s most successful gambles, and Sunday Silence went on to wow the rest of the world with a succession of exceptional performers. They ran at two, they ran short and long, they ran on the turf and the dirt, and they excelled at home and abroad. There were simply no limits for the Sunday Silences, and those of us who have them, should cherish the moment. Summerhill’s acquisition of Admire Main in a venture with Shadai Farm is an expression of its appreciation of this great stallion’s legacy. Admire Main’s record may be uniquely Japanese, but the Sunday Silence story is universal.

This week’s announcement of the acquisition of the world’s highest-rated racehorse, once again highlighted the Japanese propensity for a good deal, as well as their appetite for risk, as Shadai Farm outpointed the world in acquiring Harbinger. After suffering a career ending injury following his emphatic win in Ascot’s King George VI & Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Gr1), has been sold to stand in Japan.

According to Highclere Thoroughbred Racing’s website, the deal to sell the four-year-old to the Shadai Group “values the horse as one of the highest-priced transactions in recent times”. Director John Warren explained, “There were a number of top stud farms from both home and abroad involved in the negotiations, and there was a very strong bid to keep the horse in England. Unfortunately for the British bloodstock industry, the final bid from the famous Shadai Group, where Sunday Silence stood, was far too strong to be able to compete.” Harbinger is currently in recovery following the condylar fracture he sustained to his near-fore cannon bone at the start of last month when being prepared for York’s Juddmonte International (Gr1).

ADMIRE MAIN : TIMEFORM RATED 120

AFRICA’S FIRST SON OF SUNDAY SILENCE

Whenever he went to post in his Classic year,
a good bit of Japan’s GDP went with him.

Multiple Grade Stakes winner of
US$2,054,827 (± R17million)

For more information please visit :
www.summerhill.co.za

CALL :
Linda Norval 033 263 1081

Striding into the future

There are all number of theories as to the secret of racing  success . Adding to the vault of knowledge is Japanese ‘stride research’ that was unveiled today at the Asian Racing Conference:

The success of Deep Impact, an unremarkable-looking racehorse, is down to his incredible stride, extensive scientific data revealed.
 
Dr Hiroko Aida, from the Japan Racing Association, displayed the running form of Deep Impact in the veterinary science workshop at the 31st Asian Racing Conference in Dubai.
 
A host of measurements were taken from high-speed video data of the Kikuka Syo (Japanese St Leger) at a rate of 250 frames per second.
 
Sophisticated analysis has revealed that the champion racehorse’s ratio of overlap time to stride duration was 8.5 per cent, compared to that of an average horse, which is 17.1 per cent.
 
It was postulated that this characteristic, which is also common to the great American horse Secretariat, may be an essential feature of superior horses.
 
Aida said that such video analysis could in the future identify the “next Deep Impact” before he hits the sale ring.