THE RISING SUN

Manhattan Cafe (JPN)… a good case in point.
(Image : Oumanoshasin/Impereal)

JAPAN CUP (G1)
Tokyo, Turf, 2400m
25 November 2012

Mick Goss
Summerhill Stud CEOIf you think that the frequency with which we revisit the achievements of the Sunday Silence-line reflects an obsession, you’re right. But the truth is, it’s because members of the tribe keep thrusting themselves into the international limelight, and it was no different in Asia’s richest horserace, the $5million Japan Cup (Gr.1) on Sunday. Four of the first five home were grandsons of the great stallion, and toiling in their wake was last month’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (Gr.1) heroine, Solemia, as well as the second and third in the recent Melbourne Cup (Gr.1).

The emergence of Japanese racing in recent decades owes just about everything to Sunday Silence, as well as to the Yoshida family who stood him at their Shadai Stallion Corporation headquarters, and whose Sunday Racing syndicate owned the first three past the post on the weekend. The winner by just a nose, was the Fillies’ Triple Crown ace, Gentildonna (by the all-conquering Deep Impact), ensuring a second consecutive defeat for the Japanese star, Orfevre, who had “winner” written all over him in the Arc when he was nabbed on the post by Solemia. The extent to which the “Arc” result distorted their merits, was reflected in Sunday’s outcome, when Orfevre was decidedly Solemia’s superior. Himself a Triple Crown hero a year before Gentildonna annexed the fillies’ version, Orfevre looks every inch the world class racehorse, and will doubtless find his way to the Shadai Stallion Station when his time comes.

The signs of Japan’s growing status as a source of genuine international racehorses have been evident for decades now, and it’s an arguable proposition that they are today, pound-for-pound, the bastion of the finest mile and a half performers in the world. I spoke personally with Teruya Yoshida on an aircraft one day between Hyderabad and Mumbai, about the policy behind their acquisition of the best European Derby and “Arc” winners. He explained that it was a formula that had served Europe and Britian so well for centuries, yet they’d reached a stage where they were discarding them in favour of the speedier American types like Sir Ivor and Nijinsky. This presented Japan with an outstanding opportunity to poach the best European horses at those distances for their own purposes, and to rewrite the Japanese racing programme to suit their progeny. These days, the Japanese revere their leading performers at those trips, and they are never short of a willingness to give their St Leger winners (at a mile and three quarters) and even further, a shot at stud. A good case in point is the excellent sire Manhattan Café (by Sunday Silence no less), who ranks perennially in their top five stallions. The Japanese have always been good at spotting a gap, and in this one, they’ve outplayed the world. They gave us Toyota, remember.

THE SUN HAS RISEN

Japan Racing Association Leading Breeder and Sire
(Courtesy of JRA - Correct as at 14 May 2012)

“JAPAN HORSERACING STATISTICS”

Heavens knows, Japan and its economy have had some bumpy rides in recent years. Earthquakes, tsunamis, deflation, you name it, the Japanese have known it, yet they’re an amazing nation. Devastated in the wake of the Second World War, flattened by the tragedy of a nuclear proliferation, they must rank with the most tenacious people on earth. Just a week ago, after all their reverses, Toyota Motor Corporation announced record profits, and were once again elevated to the status of Number One automobile manufacturer in the world.

Yet they’re not the only Japanese entity that’s best in the world: look at the earnings logs of their top breeders and their leading stallions, and you begin to understand why Japanese racing thrives, and thrives better than anywhere else in the world. The Yoshida family’s dominance of Japanese racing’s affairs is immediately apparent: Northern Farm, the guys that sent us Admire Main (let me reword that, the guys who could afford to send us Admire Main), have earnings already approaching R300 million this season, while their brother farm, Shadai ranks second on R264 million. The family conglomerate Shiraoi, with a fraction of the runners, sits on R78 million, and ranks third on the log. In order to put all of this into perspective, Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley Japan Farm ranks ninth on R30million. Imagine that: the year is only four-and-a-half months old, and a single breeder has already totted up close to R300 million in earnings! At the rate we pay them, that would amount to R18 million in premiums!

Now turn to the stallion log, where every one of the top ten stands at the Yoshida family’s Shadai Stallion Station. Nowhere else in the world, not even in Ireland where Coolmore stands alone, is the dominance so complete. Reassuringly, for South African breeders who understand the line and who’ve patronised Admire Main, seven of the top ten sires are sons of Sunday Silence.

"A BILLION SURE AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE"

The Japanese Breeders’ Championship
(Image :  OCW/SHorse/JRArch)

THE JAPANESE BREEDERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP

Those were the words of Texan oilman, Nelson Bunker-Hunt when his silver empire collapsed in 1987, forcing his bankruptcy and the sale of his breeding stock, which had earned him five Eclipse Awards as America’s Champion Breeder.

We turn now to a billion of a different kind, half of which and more is what it takes to win a Japanese Breeders’ Championship. Readers will have seen our piece yesterday on the state of affairs a week ago, and here we illustrate the subtle change at the top of the log following Saturday’s Arima Kinen (Gr1). What hasn’t changed is the family origins of the leaders : it’s simply a matter of one Yoshida replacing another. In South African terms, the margin would be material, irrecoverable at this time of the year. In Japanese terms however, you can see just how close things are, and there are still a couple of days left. This must surely be a world record in terms of the intensity of the battle, the earnings of the two protagonists, and the narrowness of the margin.

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	740	3362	279	393	594,728,478	Victoire Pisa
2	Northern Farm	701	3178	259	353	593,326,739	Rose Kingdom
3	Shiraoi Farm	230	1161	70	103	145,792,899	Aliseo
4	Chiyoda Farm	170	744	39	53	86,020,072	Birdie Birdie
5	Shimokobe Farm	150	674	40	48	85,288,768	Dasher Go Go
6	North Hills Management	104	484	33	44	84,441,884	Transcend
7	Big Red Farm	143	668	37	45	64,917,464	Meiner Kitz
8	Mishima Farm	67	367	21	26	43,628,478	Meisho Beluga
9	Oiwake Farm	90	392	21	26	42,742,391	Golski
10	Yanagawa Farm	64	369	25	33	42,156,522	Kopano Gingu

Courtesy of JRA 28 December 2010

Japan Racing Association
Leading Sire

#	Stallion	# of start (head)	# of start (race)	win (head)	win (race)	Total Purse (ZAR)	Recent Winner
1	KING KAMEHAMEHA	313	1551	129	179	269,224,348	Rose Kingdom
2	FUJI KISEKI	283	1262	89	119	178,989,130	Kinshasa no Kiseki
3	SYMBOLI KRIS S	296	1381	90	118	172,785,072	Aliseo
4	KURUFUNE	299	1492	112	154	171,916,304	Whale Capture
5	MANHATTAN CAFE	269	1130	79	111	166,108,623	Gestalt
6	AGNES TACHYON	252	1028	79	101	155,602,101	Reve d’Essor
7	SPECIAL WEEK	237	1104	67	83	150,924,275	Buena Vista
8	SAKURA BAKUSHIN O	245	1156	86	107	145,624,058	Grand Prix Boss
9	NEO UNIVERSE	239	1067	64	96	135,115,000	Victoire Pisa
10	JUNGLE POCKET	220	950	55	74	126,197,029	Jaguar Mail

Courtesy of JRA 28 December 2010

Japan Racing Association
Leading Sire of 2 Year Olds

#	Stallion	# of start (head)	# of start (race)	win (head)	win (race)	Total Purse (ZAR)	Recent Winner
1	DEEP IMPACT	74	187	34	41	38,916,159	Real Impact
2	SAKURA BAKUSHIN O	51	159	19	24	26,539,783	Grand Prix Boss
3	KING KAMEHAMEHA	82	213	30	32	22,667,391	Belshazzar
4	AGNES TACHYON	57	133	18	21	22,511,812	Reve d’Essor
5	FUJI KISEKI	56	139	22	23	19,847,319	Sadamu Patek
6	HEART’S CRY	50	131	16	18	18,074,855	Win Variation
7	KUROFUNE	51	147	13	16	18,475,145	Whale Capture
8	JUNGLE POCKET	74	191	11	12	15,968,551	Magical Pocket
9	MANHATTAN CAFE	52	125	16	19	13,945,580	Shonan Mighty
10	NEO UNIVERSE	73	185	12	13	13,604,928	All As One

Courtesy of JRA 28 December 2010

JAPAN BREEDERS' CHAMPIONSHIP : INTERNECINE COLLISION

Click above to watch Victoire Pisa winning the
Arima Kinen (Gr1)
(Photo : Racing Post)

“IT’S OPEN WARFARE…”

The Yoshidas have long been the dominant force in Japanese breeding. That’s clear from their latest statistics, which have three family entities at the head of breeding’s affairs, and each and every one of the top ten sires on the General and Juvenile Sires’ logs, residing at their Shadai Stallion Station.

For all that though, when it comes to the Champion Breeders title, it’s open warfare. And it’s about as tight at the top as you can get, the lead changing with the passing of each weekend.

Last weekend, Katsumi Yoshida’s Northern Farm (with whom we have Admire Main,) grabbed the lead for the first time in 2010, overcoming a huge mid-year deficit, only to have older brother, Teruya’s Shadai Farm take the Group One Arima Kinen on Sunday with Victoire Pisa. And you might’ve guessed it, 2^nd and 3^rd were Northern Farm graduates.

This was the position last week : we’ll provide an update tomorrow on the latest from the “Land Of The Rising Sun,” and the domain of the late, great Sunday Silence.

Editor : Just have a peek at the earnings schedule, converted to Rands (ZAR). Imagine we could play for those stakes!

Japan Racing Association
Purse Rating / Breeder

#	Breeder	# of start (head)	# of start (race)	win (head)	win (race)	Total Purse (ZAR)	Recent Winner
1	Northern Farm	694	3097	254	346	575,991,001	Rose Kingdom
2	Shadai Farm	731	3281	274	383	569,617,489	Victoire Pisa
3	Shiraoi Farm	228	1132	67	99	142,932,656	Aliseo
4	Shimokobe Farm	149	662	40	48	85,027,939	Dasher Go Go
5	North Hills Management	104	473	32	43	84,034,688	Transcend
6	Chiyoda Farm	168	723	36	50	83,376,705	Birdy Birdy
7	Big Red Farm	143	652	37	44	61,903,701	Meiner Kitz
8	Oiwake Farm	88	386	21	26	42,601,234	Golski
9	Yanagawa Farm	64	365	25	33	41,923,803	Kopano Gingu
10	Mishima Farm	67	358	20	25	41,891,945	Meisho Beluga

Courtesy of JRA 20 December 2010

Japan Racing Association
Leading Sire

#	Stallion	# of start (head)	# of start (race)	win (head)	win (race)	Total Purse (ZAR)	Recent Winner
1	KING KAMEHAMEHA	308	1520	128	177	262,431,785	Rose Kingdom
2	FUJI KISEKI	283	1232	87	116	175,713,280	Kinshasa no Kiseki
3	SYMBOLI KRIS S	292	1354	89	117	171,244,848	Aliseo
4	KURUFUNE	298	1459	109	148	166,986,938	Whale Capture
5	MANHATTAN CAFE	266	1106	77	109	163,911,393	Gestalt
6	AGNES TACHYON	251	1006	76	98	153,748,766	Reve d’Essor
7	SPECIAL WEEK	236	1085	65	80	143,911,684	Buena Vista
8	SAKURA BAKUSHIN O	244	1127	85	105	143,395,138	Grand Prix Boss
9	JUNGLE POCKET	213	917	52	71	121,713,570	Jaguar Mail
10	NEO UNIVERSE	235	1042	63	93	117,913,425	Victoire Pisa

Courtesy of JRA 20 December 2010

Japan Racing Association
Leading Sire of 2 Year Olds

#	Stallion	# of start (head)	# of start (race)	win (head)	win (race)	Total Purse (ZAR)	Recent Winner
1	DEEP IMPACT	73	169	33	37	33,550,653	Real Impact
2	SAKURA BAKUSHIN O	51	154	19	24	26,483,962	Grand Prix Boss
3	AGNES TACHYON	56	122	15	18	21,035,051	Reve d’ Essor
4	KING KAMEHAMEHA	77	200	29	30	20,502,903	Tsurumaru One Piece
5	FUJI KISEKI	55	129	21	22	19,382,656	Sadamu Patek
6	HEART’S CRY	46	121	14	16	16,497,315	Lift The Wings
7	KUROFUNE	50	139	11	13	15,040,421	Whale Capture
8	JUNGLE POCKET	67	174	9	10	14,518,578	Magical Pocket
9	MANHATTAN CAFE	49	111	14	17	12,761,176	Shonan Mighty
10	NEO UNIVERSE	70	172	12	13	12,249,347	All As One

Courtesy of JRA 20 December 2010

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