Progeny of champion dirt sire Gold Allure glitters at Tokyo

All that glitters was indeed gold on Sunday, as champion Japanese dirt stallion Gold Allure - who succumbed to heart disease at the age of 18 on Thursday - supplied a brace of stakes winners at Tokyo.

His four-year-old son Gold Dream held off the US-bred Best Warrior to land the Grade 1 February Stakes by a neck, while Epicharis continued his winning streak to land the Hyacinth Listed stakes over a mile.

Both races lead west, with the February Stakes being a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Classic and the Hyacinth Stakes victory of Epicharis seeing him qualify for the Kentucky Derby.

Gold Allure, who stood at the Shadai Stallion Station, was an eight-time winner who showed the best of his ability when switched to dirt, recording four Grade 1 wins on the surface including the 2003 renewal of the February Stakes. He raced in the colours of Shadai Race Horse Co Ltd, and was also bred by the Shadai Group through one of their breeding arms, Oiwake Farm.

A son of the legendary Sunday Silence, Gold Allure is out of the winning Nureyev mare Nikiya.

Champion dirt sire in 2014 and 2016, he also filled the runner-up spot on that particular sires’ list six times during his career at the Hokkaido-based operation.

His most notable performers include dual Grade 1 winner Espoir City, dual February Stakes winner Copano Rickey and Smart Falcon, a 19-time winner who registered a top-flight victory in the Tokyo Daishoten. He has been responsible for 34 Graded stakes winners, 97 Graded stakes wins and 719 winners.

2016 proved to be his most popular season in the sales ring when four lots by the sire sold for more than ¥35,000,000 (£250,000/€292,335), with a yearling colt out of Polonnaruwa selling for ¥83,160,000 (£737,000/€694,455) at the JRHA Select Sale.

He is represented at stud by both Espoir City, who stands at Yushun Stallion Station, and Smart Falcon, who now resides at Shadai Stallion Station.