From Hokkaido To the Spa: Repole Set To Unveil Drefong Colt

[Wandering Eyes]

For decades now, Japanese buyers have frequented American bloodstock sales, eagerly snapping up racing and breeding stock of the highest quality to help grow the domestic Thoroughbred industry. By any metric, the undertaking has been a smashing success, given not only the performance of Japanese-based runners on foreign soil, particularly over the last six to eight years, but also the strength of the Japanese bloodstock markets.

The Japanese Racing Horse Association (JRHA)'s annual Select Sale is a mostly insular affair, but American owner Mike Repole is always ready to think a bit outside the box, and with a bit of a 'what's good for the goose, is good for the gander' mindset, the successful businessman and owner/breeder shipped out a team to the island of Hokkaido to shop last year's sale. They did not leave there empty-handed, signing for five yearlings and a pair of foals, some with recognizable pedigrees and others less so. The most forward of their grab, Bento Express (Jpn)–a son of the expatriated Eclipse Award-winning sprinter Drefong–becomes the first to face the starter when he goes postward in the Saturday opener at Saratoga.

Bento Express is set to become the sixth starter out of Tammy the Torpedo (More Than Ready), a dual Grade III winner on the turf for trainer Chad Brown, who was knocked down to Dr. Masatake Iida for $1.65 million in foal to War Front at the 2017 Keeneland November Sale. Repole dispatched Alex Solis II and Pat Cummings to Hokkaido last summer, and the experience left a real impression on Solis, who was making his first visit to the JRHA auction and embraced the challenge of finding Japanese-breds that might excel in this country.

All totaled, Solis signed for five yearlings on the first day of the sale–a second colt by Drefong out of a half-sister to MG1SW Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (¥41m/$255k); a colt by Triple Crown winner Contrail (Jpn) and half-brother to MGSW & G1SP Sound Chiara (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) (¥50m/$311k); a Kizuna (Jpn) filly out of champion Ginger Punch (¥68m/$423k); and a filly by leading freshman sire Nadal (¥78m/$485k) whose dam Lelievre (Jpn) (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) is a half-sister to champion Lucky Lilac (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) and is the pick of the lot, if you ask Solis.

The majority of the yearlings arrived in the States early last September, just two months after the sale, flying to Chicago via Alaska and spending a little time in Kentucky before being sent on to be broken. The Ginger Punch filly was broken in Japan and arrived in mid-February.

“When you start looking at the horses over there, you have some crossovers that look like American horses, dirt horses, turf horses, firm ground stuff,” he explained. “And then you also have the crossover of all the European mares that have very European attributes. So I just knew those probably wouldn't work in this country.

“So I really had to be careful, thinking, 'Okay, does this look like a horse that would fit the U.S.?' And so yeah, I think we bought things that looked more American-like, so that definitely pulled us towards probably a Nadal, the Drefongs.

Bento Express, purchased for ¥50 million ($310,962) from the draft of Dr. Iida's Chiyoda Farm Shizunai, has drawn the widest gate in a field of six for Saturday's debut, with Irad Ortiz, Jr. at the controls aboard the 5-2 second favorite. Solis and the Repole braintrust have been impressed with what they've seen thus far.

“He's a very good-looking colt, he looks very quick,” said Solis. “I was just trying to buy a nice physical, and he kind of fit the bill. He's an Apr. 13th foal. I wondered how early he would be. The Japanese, they really don't focus on 2-year-old racing. So I guess that's probably where this is coming from, just that it's truly an American type, and I think that's why he's probably jumping on the bit so early.”

Bento Express back at the barn | Sarah Andrew

Bento Express's worktab is highlighted by a bullet half-mile from the gate in :47 flat (1/114) over the Belmont training track June 22 and went the same distance in :47 3/5 (3/144) on June 28, also from the machine.

“He's trained well,” Solis said. “My question always has been is he a grass or a dirt horse? Just for the fact that Tammy the Torpedo and a lot of that family is grass. And Drefong still is Gio Ponti, he's out of a Trempolino mare at the bottom. Ghostzapper and then Trempolino. So I always wondered, Drefong's had a lot of grass in Japan, so I always wondered that. But he's trained well enough on the dirt that give it a shot. It's a positive sign.”

For the record, among the five group and 11 black-type winners sired by Drefong is G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) hero Geoglyph (Jpn)–also a close fourth in the 2023 G1 Saudi Cup–and this year's G2 UAE Derby victor and GI Kentucky Derby participant Admire Daytona (Jpn).

Bento Express would not be the first high-profile graduate of the JRHA Select Sales to post a victory at Saratoga. Yoshida (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) fetched just over $765,000 at the 2015 yearling sale and the 'TDN Rising Star' annexed the 2018 GI Woodward Stakes in his first try on the dirt, having won the GI Turf Classic some four months prior.

Solis indicated that they have a return visit to Hokkaido penciled in somewhere down the road in the back of their minds once assessing the success of their first raid on the Select Sale. This year's renewal of the auction begins with the yearling section on Monday, July 14, followed by the foal section on Tuesday, July 15. That session will feature 25 foals from the first crop by two-time Horse of the Year Equinox (Jpn).

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