Deep Impact yearlings expected to spark multi-million bidding frenzy

One of the most glorious eras in the history of Japanese bloodstock will come to a poignant end this week with the Japan Racing Horse Association select sale of yearlings and foals, which will mark the premier auction finale for offspring of the late leading global sire Deep Impact.

While the ongoing pandemic will restrict attendance at the two-session auction that begins on Monday at the Northern Horse Park in Hokkaido, bidding is expected to be effervescent as buyers on site and online scramble over four Deep Impact yearlings catalogued from his small final crop.

Anticipation is building that the very first yearling set to stride into the ring, a bay colt by Deep Impact out of the American-bred, multiple Grade 2-winning Ghostzapper mare Go Maggie Go, could spark a heavy crossfire of yen.

Naohiro Goda, JRHA representative for international clients and a prominent Japanese television racing commentator, said the colt offered by Katsumi Yoshida’s Northern Farm could fetch a final bid exceeding ¥400 million (£2.6m/€3m).

All four of the Deep Impact yearlings in the catalogue “are beautiful individuals, which look like typical Deep Impacts, middle-sized and very athletic,” and they have garnered “huge attention” from media and prospective buyers, said Goda.

At the Chiba Thoroughbred sale of two-year-olds, which was conducted as an online auction on May 21, a two-year-old colt by Deep Impact out of [multiple European Group stakes-placed and American stakes winner] Premier Steps from the consignment of Shadai Farm was bought by Susumu Fujita for ¥470.1m, a record price at two-year-old sales in Japan.

“Many of us watching domestic bloodstock markets in Japan expect hip 1 [at the JRHA sale] will be sold for a similar or higher price,” said Goda.

The other Deep Impact yearlings in the JRHA catalogue are hip 52, a filly out of American Grade 1 winner Watsdachances, by Diamond Green, consigned by Oiwake Farm; hip 130, a filly out of Jewel Maker, by Empire Maker, consigned by Champions Farm Co Ltd, and the final offering of the yearling session, and hip 248, a colt out of Japanese champion Sweep Tosho, by End Sweep, consigned by Northern Farm.

Deep Impact has dominated the JRHA sale for more than a decade, much as he has dominated all sires worldwide by progeny earnings ever since 2012, when his oldest foals were just four. He once again leads this year’s list of top sires globally in prize-money earned by a wide margin.

Taking up the mantle of his legendary sire, American champion and Japanese superstar stallion Sunday Silence, Deep Impact has generated statistics that are eye-popping by any standard, anywhere, boosted in part by Japan’s rich purses.

Deep Impact pictured at Longchamp, where he contested the 2006 ArcCredit: Edward Whitaker

He has sired 51 Grade/Group 1 winners, including five European Classic winners from relatively few runners on the continent, and other international elite winners in the UAE, Hong Kong and Australia.

From 1,776 foals, including 109 registered two-year-olds, Deep Impact has sired 175 black-type winners (a remarkable 11.1 per cent of starters), with 142 at Graded/Group level (nine per cent of starters). His 1,570 starters have featured 1,130 winners (72 per cent) and a further 119 black-type placers, according to international data compiled by the American Jockey Club.

With seven winners of Japan’s most coveted race, the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) to his credit, including 2020 Triple Crown winner Contrail, Deep Impact rapidly matured into his own industry, with his offspring so far earning more than ¥66.56 billion (£435m/€509m).

Even though they debuted at the JRHA sale in 2008, a time when the world was slipping into grim recession, Deep Impact’s first foals immediately proved stars in the sale ring, with four of the 36 offered gaining seven-figure final bids including the foal session topper, a colt out of champion Biwa Heidi sold for ¥220m. That colt became Grade 1 winner Tosen Ra.

Overall, 189 yearlings by Deep Impact have been sold at public auction for an average price of $994,898, while his 184 foals sold have averaged $869,447. All of the most prominent auction graduates have lit up the board at the JRHA sale.

Last year at this venue, nine Deep Impact yearlings brought at least ¥100m, with the sale-topping colt out of American-bred mare Sheave, a half-sister to Kentucky Oaks winner Cathryn Sophia, bringing ¥510m from Tetsuhide Kunimoto. That colt has been named Shonan Addeybb.

With Deep Impact’s death in July 2019 at the Shadai Stallion Station aged 17, Japan’s best pipeline of both outstanding sale and racehorses abruptly stopped.

Looking forward, Goda said young proven sires such as Lord Kanaloa, by King Kamehameha and sire of international superstar Almond Eye, and Epiphaneia, by Sympoli Kris S and sire in his initial crop of Japanese filly Triple Crown winner Daring Tact, will be popular this year at the JRHA sale.

Some of the last offspring of the recently pensioned Heart’s Cry, as well as progeny of young stallions Maurice and Duramente, will also be in demand.

Overall, 248 yearlings have been catalogued for the first JRHA session, with 241 foals following in the concluding session on Tuesday.

As usual, there are a sprinkling of intriguing offerings with international connections, including two yearlings from the first crop of Deep Impact’s son Saxon Warrior, who won the 2018 2,000 Guineas for his breeders at Coolmore. Hip 90 is a chestnut filly by Saxon Warrior who is the first foal of multiple Graded/Group winner Treasuring, by Havana Gold.

Deep Impact's son Saxon Warrior: two yearlings from his first crop being soldCredit: Coolmore

A yearling colt from the first crop of American Triple Crown winner Justify out of Grade 1 winner Zipessa, by City Zip, also stands out in the catalogue, as does a colt foal by Frankel out of Grade 1 winner Callback, by Street Sense.

Other international sires of foals include American Pharoah, Justify, Mendelssohn, Le Havre and Yoshida. The catalogue also contains four foals from the first Japanese-bred crop by American champion and Dubai World Cup winner California Chrome.

Even though a new restrictive emergency order issued for Tokyo due to the Covid-19 pandemic is due to go into effect on Monday, Goda said buyers could travel north to Hokkaido, where the virus has not been severe.

JRHA officials plan to check temperatures at the sale entrance and have a team in place to frequently sanitise facilities, Goda said, adding that each registered buyer would be limited to one companion/adviser.

Since Japan is not allowing visitors from almost all countries, with the exception of athletes who will compete at the Olympic Games, international buyers are not expected at the sale, although they can bid online or through Japanese agents.

Domestic participation is expected to be strong, however. Japanese citizens have turned to racing for entertainment during the pandemic, pushing betting turnover up significantly, and Goda said some of them are interested in joining racing clubs or buying horses for their own accounts.

“I think you will find a lot of new names on the list of buyers,” he said. “The horseracing and breeding industry in Japan is expanding.”

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