She Will Reign's yearling colt hits the heights at JRHA Select Sale

Cover image courtesy of the JRHA

Slipper winner's quality reigns again

The She Will Reign colt by Heart's Cry was offered by his breeders at Northern Farm, who purchased the mare privately off the track from the syndicate of owners, headed by Darby Racing, in 2019.

The half-sister to the Group 2 winner and Kingstar Farm stallion Time To Reign, also won the G1 Moir S. as well as a G2 Silver Slipper S. in a 12-start career for trainer Gary Portelli that saw her win six races in all and earn over $3.2 million.

Danox Co Ltd, who race the 'Danon' horses and are backed by software executive Masahiro Noda, were the successful bidders on Monday, going to one of the Top 10 prices of the opening day for She Will Reign's yearling colt.

It was also the equal top-priced yearling on the day by Heart's Cry, the sire of a host of Japanese stars, including G1 Cox Plate winner and Japanese Horse of the Year, Lys Gracieux (Jpn). Heart's Cry was recently pensioned from duty at Shadai Stallion Station.

It's the second massive result for the progeny of a former Australian Group 1 winner at the JRHA Sale in three years, after Yankee Rose's (All American) filly by Deep Impact sold for ¥210 million, the equivalent of AU$2.55 million, in 2019.

Both mares raced in Darby Racing's ownership colours in Australia, and Scott Darby said it was another indication of the value of Australian bloodlines in the international market.

"It’s an amazing result and gee they sell well over there. Yankee Rose's first foal went for close to $3 million, so they certainly sell for big money," Darby told TDN AusNZ.

"What it highlighted to me, seeing Yankee Rose's progeny go through and now She Will Reign's, they might be spending big money buying our very best racetrack mares but you can see why. They put them to their good stallions and they make huge money on them."

Darby watched the colt be sold through the ring through an online stream and did notice a few similarities to his dam, who he picked out for $20,000 at the 2017 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale.

"It was a good result I watched him go through the ring and he somewhat resembled She Will Reign in looks, colour and type. It’s a good result for the breeder," he said.

"You'd be hard pressed trying to get that sort of money here in Australia. You’d have to have a lot of things go right and have the right stallion to even hit the million-dollar mark."

Another Rose set to bloom?

Yankee Rose, also a dual Group 1 winner, was an even cheaper buy, costing just $10,000 through the 2015 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale and going on to win over $2 million on the track. Her colt by Lord Kanaloa (Jpn) is catalogued to sell as Hip 398, in Tuesday's foal section.

Following the breeding careers of his two star mares in Japan has not been easy for Darby, but he is pleased to see their progeny so well received by the market.

"They were such cheap buys here as yearlings and then were able to well and truly surpass what we paid for them, but to see them go to another level and become international, who would have thought?" he said.

Yankee Rose's Deep Impact filly is named Romneya (Jpn) and is yet to race, while she also has a Duramente (Jpn) yearling filly.

She Will Reign, meanwhile, foaled a filly by young stallion Satono Diamond (Jpn) in January.

Progeny of Aussie mares in demand

The colt wasn't the only progeny of a Group 1-winning Australian mare to go through the ring, with a Heart's Cry colt out of G1 Robert Sangster S. winner Driefontein (Fastnet Rock), selling by Shadai Farm to Shinobu Nakanishi for ¥58 million (AU$704,546).

A yearling colt by Satono Diamond out of G1 VRC Oaks winner Set Square (Reset), was offered by Northern Farm and was also snapped up by Danox Co Ltd for ¥38 million (AU$461,599).

Hip 193, a colt by Just A Way (Jpn) out of G1 Australian Oaks winner Absolutely (Redoute's Choice), was purchased by Hayashi Fumihiko for ¥33 million (AU$401.157) from the draft of Northern Farm.

The top hips early in the day were colts by the late Deep Impact (Hip 1) and Lord Kanaloa (Hip 100), both who sold for ¥300 million (AU$3.64 million).

The Deep Impact colt, who was out of Grade 2 winner Go Maggie Go (USA) (Ghostzapper {USA}), was sold to Hasegawa Yuji, while the Lord Kanaloa colt, out of G1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mares' Sprint victress Finest City (USA) (City Zip {USA}), was bought by Fujita Susumu. Both were consigned by Northern Farm.

The lone colt by Coolmore's Justify (USA), Hip 113, who is out of G1 First Lady S. winner Zipessa (USA) (City Zip {USA}), sold for ¥200 million (AU$2.43 million) to Kaneko Mokoto Holdings from the draft of Shadai Farm.

A colt by Coolmore Australia's new addition in 2021, Wootton Bassett (GB), Hip 57, was purchased by Osamu Hiratu for ¥52 million (AU$631,662), while another Coolmore shuttler, Saxon Warrior (Jpn) had several hips sell including Hip 131, who went for ¥190 million (AU$2.31 million) to Kondo Junko.

Maurice (Jpn), who returns to Arrowfield Stud this year, also had a host of yearlings sell, including Hip 2, a colt from Northern Farm's consignment, sell for ¥92 million (AU$1.12 million), while his former Arrowfield barnmates Mikki Isle (Jpn) and Real Steel (Jpn) had yearlings sell up to ¥50 million (AU$607,300) and ¥37 million (AU$449,450) respectively.

Satono Aladdin (Jpn), who has shuttled to Rich Hill Stud for the past two seasons, had some strong results, including the ¥115 million (AU$1.4 million) paid for Hip 82, a colt offered by Northern Farm and purchased by Haramura Masatoshi.