Journalist Kate Hunter continues her visit with mares in Japan.
Like
any big breeding operation, the Yoshida brothers are looking for mares who have
performed at the highest level and impressively so. Turf has always been the
most important surface in Japan, but they know, better than most, that a dirt
horse can rule the turf. Case and point: Sunday Silence. So top level dirt
mares are not excluded when the Yoshida brothers go shopping.
These American mares were treated with the utmost love and kindness while I was
there. There were always 3 or 4 people working consistently throughout the day
at each of the dozens of broodmare barns owned by the Yoshidas. Few of the 15
horses I saw were kept in the same barn. Combined the brothers have over 1300
broodmares, but each barn of 10 to 20 broodmares was pristine with handlers
that cooed at and loved all over them.
Stardom Bound (2006, Tapit x My White Corvette, Tarr Road) was 2008 Eclipse
Award Champion 2 Year Old Filly after scoring three G1 wins that year including
the Bessemer Trust Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. She won two more G1s during
her career and was bought privately by Katsumi Yoshida's Northern Farm in 2010
while in foal to Big Brown, and produced a colt last year. She gave birth to a
King Kamehameha colt this spring before being bred to Deep Impact.
Unfortunately she is not in foal this year. Her sale price was never disclosed
to the public and when I asked what it was, my response was a big smile and a
shake of the head. I guess we will never know!
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Ginger Punch (2003, Awesome Again (CAN) x Nappelon (CAN), Bole Revenue (CAN)) who
won five G1 races including the 2007 Breeders' Cup Distaff, which led to her
being named the 2007 Eclipse Award Champion Older Female. Northern Farm bought
her for $1.6 million at the 2009 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November sale while in
foal to Bernardini. The resulting foal, was the filly Ginger Mist, who raced
for the first time on September 17th. Her second foal is a Zenno Rob Roy filly
and her 2011 foal is a Manhattan Cafe filly. She is currently in foal to Deep
Impact. You can be sure I'll visit her next year too. I was a big fan and
really want to see a little Ginger Impact!
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Azeri (1998, Jade Robbery x Zodiac Miss (AUS), Ahonoora (GB)) is known by all in
the US as the 2002 Horse of the Year, a rare honor for a female. She was an
Eclipse Award Champion Older Female for three consecutive years from 2002 to
2004. She produced 3 foals in the US before being bought by Northern Farm at
the 2009 Keeneland November sale for $2.25 million while in foal to Distorted
Humor. Her Distorted Humor filly is preparing for her debut later this year and
is rumored, she still isn't registered, to be named Amelie. Azeri has a 2011
Zenno Rob Roy colt that sold for 84 million yen (over $1 million) at the 2012 JRHA
Select Sale. She was not bred in 2012 because she foaled in May. They put her
under light therapy and gave her the year off. She was bred to Deep Impact this
season and has been confirmed in foal. That is another baby I absolutely want
to see next spring! I was allowed to give her a good scratch and made sure to
tell her it was from all of her fans back in the US.
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