JRHA Prepares for Equinox in High Summer

[Wandering Eyes]

HOKKAIDO, Japan — At Northern Horse Park, one of the great tourist attractions of Hokkaido, the next few days will be all business. 

Japan's most prestigious bloodstock auction, the JRHA Select Sale, springs back to action with a session of yearlings on Monday, but what many observers will be waiting to see is the reception given to the first foals of world champion Equinox. 

Twenty-five of his debut crop are set to sell on Tuesday, including a colt from American champion dirt mare Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute). His reserve, which is published beforehand along with those for all horses in the sale bar the first and last lot in the ring each day, is the highest of the foal session at ¥100m (€580,000). 

The Select Sale's early date in the calendar means that most of these foals, though well grown, are not yet weaned. This prompts a carnival of sorts on Tuesday morning, when the youngsters are brought with their dams to the shade of the woods alongside the sales arena to stand patiently while final inspections are made in the hours before the day's trade begins. But as much as this is about assessing the foals, where else would one have the chance to see such a stellar line-up of broodmares all in one place? Grade 1 winner follows Group 1 winner follows Grade 1 winner – a reminder of the Japanese breeders' exhaustive hunt for top-class bloodstock from all corners of the world. It is a spectacle like no other, but then, this is a sale like no other. 

Over the last decade, the growth in turnover has more than doubled, with the combined aggregate of 2015 of ¥13.1bn (€76.4m) increasing year on year to the 2024 record of ¥28.9bn (€167.8m). The difference in the number sold in those two years? Only two: 470 in 2015 and 472 last year. 

Demand for high-end bloodstock is not of course exclusive to Japan – corresponding elite sales in Europe and America have seen similar growth, often masking concerns lower down the order – but one key difference here is that neither the size of the foal crop nor the the crowds at the races are diminishing in the way they are in most other parts of the world. 

On Saturday morning, Teruya Yoshida welcomed a group of visitors to his Shadai Farm and sounded a brief note of caution regarding the wider economic picture on the back of trade tariffs imposed on Japan.

“I can't say there is a lot of confidence [in the market] because of President Trump,” he said. “We export a lot of automobiles to America and that trade has been damaged.

“But we have many people here for the sale – there are more lookers than last year – so I think we will be okay.”

Yoshida continued, “But in Japan Racing Association the betting has grown five per cent on last year, and in NAR [the National Association of Racing circuit, mainly on the dirt] it is up 10 per cent. Racing is so popular here. That means more people may come into ownership – the racing clubs [syndicates] are almost sold out.”

The racing clubs in Japan offer not just a way into ownership but also a chance to be at the heart of the action with some top-class runners. In recent years such names as Almond Eye, Gentildonna, Lys Gracieux, Daring Tact, Loves Only You, Epiphaneia, Efforia, Buena Vista, and of course Equinox, have been owned by clubs.

 

The first Equinox foal in the ring is the colt out of Camprock | Emma Berry

 

Despite the unpredictability of the goings-on in the White House, it is fair to say that expectations are high in Hokkaido. For a start, it never hurts to have a world champion to showcase. In 2023, Auguste Rodin, from the small final crop of Deep Impact, gave a global reminder of the talents of the former Japanese champion sire with his victories in the Derby, Irish Derby, Irish Champion Stakes and Breeders' Cup Turf. But these exploits were not enough to match the superiority of Equinox, who strolled through the Dubai Sheema Classic, bloodlessly dispatching such classy challengers as Westover, Mostahdaf and Rebel's Romance, before retuning to his home nation to win the Takarazuka Kinen and Tenno Sho en route to a hero's farewell in the Japan Cup. The latter was named the Longines World's Best Horse Race of that year, just as its winner towered over all Thoroughbreds on rankings. 

Equinox, a grandson of Deep Impact's full-brother Black Tide, was himself a member of the first crop of Kitasan Black. He now stands alongside his father at Shadai Stallion Station, the pair commanding equal fees of ¥20m (€116,000) in 2024 and 2025 – the highest of any stallion in Japan. The 'Book Full' sign was hung outside Equinox's stable just as soon as that record fee for a freshman had been announced, and he ended up covering 203 mares in his first year.

A number of those heading to Tuesday's sale were available for viewing on Saturday at Shadai, Northern and Oiwake Farms – the studs respectively owned by the Yoshida brothers Teruya, Katsumi and Haruya.

Teruya Yoshida has been in the game for too long to get carried away at this early stage by thoughts of what Equinox may or may not achieve in his secondary career. Wisely, he focuses instead of the achievements of his sire, whose fee has quadrupled since he first took up residence at the Shadai Stallion Station. 

“Of course Equinox is remarkable but the father of Equinox, Kitasan Black, also produced this year's Derby winner [Croix Du Nord], so I have more confidence in him. [Equinox] is just a beginner as a stallion,” he said. “The standard of Japanese horses is now very high so we will be very proud to present all these horses at the sale.”

That the Japanese breeders are reaping rewards on the track and at the sales is as a result of concerted investment in the best race mares and stallion prospects available – from North and South America and across Europe and Australia. Yoshida's latest in-training purchase was Klaynn (Make Believe), just five days before she won the G2 Oaks d'Italia by seven lengths. The owner may have been associated with reams of good horses over the decades but such was his desire that the Endo Botti-trained filly wear his silks in the Italian Classic that he had jockey Cristian Demuro take a set with him from France to Milan. 

“For 20 years we have been buying many good mares from all over the world and that is now returning to the quality of the horses here,” Yoshida said. “We've invested in quite expensive mares and that has seen some changes. But from my experience, good horses can also come from so-so mares, not always the expensive mares.”

 

Foal inspections underway at Oiwake Farm | Emma Berry

 

Yoshida is in good heart this Saturday morning as the bloodstock world prepares to turn its attention to the sale he runs with his brother Katsumi. Together, their Shadai and Northern Farm operations account for around 1,600 broodmares – almost double the amount of active mares across all of Germany. 

He reminisces about the purchase of Northern Taste, some 50 years ago, in the early days of the Shadai Corporation. 

“Before I bought Northern Taste, Lyphard was sold and he was a small horse but he became such a good stallion. Because I saw Lyphard the year before I had good confidence to buy Northern Taste,” said Yoshida.

“When I went to America I expected the American horses to be big. Northern Dancer [sire of Lyphard and Northern Taste] was not big but he had a strong temper. I tried to have a photo taken with him at Maryland but he bit me, so I can't forget him. My father always liked to go to see good horses anywhere in the world. Now we have many foreign visitors here, so I am happy.”

Those foreign visitors are undoubtedly happy to be here. In years gone by, the Yoshida clan set about learning all they could from some of the more established Thoroughbred breeding nations. Now, they are the ones teaching the lesson. 

 

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