Mosheen’s Japanese-bred granddaughter to race in Australia for Price and Kent Jnr
Fastnet Rock mare also produces $4.8 million colt at JRHA Select Sale in Hokkaido
Japan became the latest frontier for rising Victorian training duo Mick Price and Mick Kent Jnr in their increasingly global quest to source high-quality racing prospects after they purchased a yearling filly with a strong Australian connection for more than AU$600,000 yesterday.
Kent Jnr, who has been instrumental in the partnership’s decision to search far and wide for elite racehorses over the past two years, was in attendance on day one of the Japan Racing Horse Association Select Sale in Hokkaido and he was delighted to come away with a daughter of Epiphaneia (Symboli Kris S) for ¥60 million (approx. AU$648,730).
She is the first foal out of Paronella (Lord Kanaloa) – herself a placed daughter of four-time Group 1-winning Australian mare Mosheen (Fastnet Rock) and a half-sister to three-time Grade 3 winner Primo Scene (Deep Impact) – and Kent Jnr was delighted to take home the Northern Farm-bred filly.
“Mick and I over the past 24 months have been dipping our toes in the international market. We’ve bought ten or so from the United States and eight or so from Tattersalls [in the UK],” Kent Jnr told ANZ Bloodstock News of their international investment.
“Just last month we bought a couple of breeze-up horses from Arqana [in France] and we were keen to explore the Japanese market.
“It is not easy to get over here and I was fortunate that Northern Farm looked after us and welcomed us in with a business visa. Just to get over here, it’s a rare opportunity.”
A colt out of Mosheen by Arrowfield shuttler Maurice (Screen Hero) sold earlier in the session for ¥450 million (approx. AU$4.8 million), the most expensive yearling traded yesterday, which was also a record price for a yearling out of an Australian-bred mare sold in Japan.
Sydney-based Satomi Oka, a member of the Federation of Bloodstock Agents Australia and Inglis’ Japan representative, was also active yesterday, going to ¥21 million (approx. AU$227,000) for a Duramente (King Kamehameha) filly out of Necklace (Darshaan), a Group 1 winner in Ireland, on behalf of Yulong’s Yuesheng Zhang, who has been a force at thoroughbred sales in both hemispheres so far this year. The filly was catalogued as Lot 101.
Kent Jnr inspected the 243-lot catalogue in its entirety in the two days leading up to the yearling sale at Northern Horse Park, located in the epicentre of the country’s envied breeding industry, and the trainer labelled the filly by Shadai Stallion Station’s Epiphaneia as his favourite on type.
“The filly we purchased has got a huge Australian flavour to her pedigree. She is by the best stallion in Japan at the moment and the dam side all makes sense for Australian racing,” he said.
“Together with her pedigree, she stood out on type as well, so it was a big relief when the hammer came down.
“She has got a beautiful big head with a big nostril, gorgeous big ears and she’s got a lot of length and scope to her. What I have noticed over here is that a lot of horses have got shorter, upright pasterns, which ties in with why they enjoy fast ground and they’ve got that speed.
“I fell in love with her, basically. She was the one horse we wanted to buy today, so it’s all worked out really well.”
Standing for ¥18 million (approx. AU$194,620), Epiphaneia is the sire of 2021 Japan Horse of the Year Efforia, a three-time Grade 1 winner, Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (Gr 1, 1600m) winner Circle Of Life, and three-time Grade 1-winning filly Daring Tact, the first undefeated winner of the Fillies’ Triple Crown. His yearlings averaged ¥78,052,632 (approx. AU$843,920) yesterday.
The Australia-bound filly will remain in Japan to be broken-in and pre-trained before joining the Price-Kent Racing stable.
“I haven’t seen a nicer set-up, it’s absolutely horse heaven at Northern Farm,” Kent Jnr said.
“She is going to get the benefit of the beautiful pastures and the state-of-the-art pre-training system.
“She’ll be broken-in here, spelled and then enter pre-training at one of their famous pre-training centres and we’ll aim to bring her out to Australia towards the end of the year before it gets too cold.”
The young trainer also marvelled at the transparency of the Japanese breeders, making it much easier for him to be able to gauge potential prices of the horses he and Price were interested in buying in what he described as an “incredible sale”.
“The reserves on all the horses are public knowledge and were set several days ago and they’re usually well below what they might fetch,” Kent Jnr said.
“Northern Farm was also extremely helpful in indicating what they might have fetched and we put a value on her.
“So far, there’s been 140 lots sold, 97.8 per cent clearance and the average is near-on a million Aussie dollars, so it is just unbelievable and they tell me the foal sale [today] is supposed to be more expensive.”
After the final horse was purchased, the Yoshidas’ Northern Farm had sold the nine highest-priced yearlings of the Select Sale, while the overall session achieved an aggregate of ¥12,870,000,000 (approx. AU$139.3 million), an average of ¥57,972,972 (approx. AU$626,814) and a median of ¥42,000,000 (approx. AU$454,110).
Maurice, who will stand at Arrowfield for an increased fee of $82,500 (inc GST) this southern hemisphere season, averaged ¥105,000,000 (approx. AU$1.13 million).