Group 1 winner in America adds to Japan's international achievements
By Brian Russell - 19 July 2005
“The tremendous input of Sunday Silence into their international success adds further to his stature as a truly great sire and suggests Australian breeders can do no harm by using his sons and grandsons as a sires and his female descendants as breeders”
That both Australian and Japanese trained horses could enjoy much more success in the Europe and North America if they had greater exposure has been suggested by the performances of Newcastle based galloper Choirsir a couple of years ago at Ascot in England and by that of the Japanese bred and trained Cesario at Hollywood Park in California on July 3.
As it is very few horses from either country contests races in Europe or America and not all of those who make the trip handle it well physically and some no doubt have difficulty on the terrain of English tracks.
American racing appears a better environment for the Japanese and Australian racing and an interesting concept as far as Australia is concerned could be regular ‘test matches’ in California each year between American horses and ours.
There is a lot of rich racing on turf in California early each year in addition to classic events and it could stir a lot of excitement if say half a dozen, or more, Aussies were flown over for their racing in January-February and a contingent of the Americans then made the reverse trip for our rich autumn contests. A sponsor of travelling expenses could enjoy tremendous exposure from such a racing adventure.
Only a handful of Japanese owned and trained horses have made their way to America in the past and Cesario has the distinction of being the first of them to win at Group1 level. She trounced an international field including visitors from Great Britain and Ireland in taking the $750,000 American Invitational Oaks by four lengths.
The second placed filly in that race was the American bred Melhor Ainda, a daughter of the A.P. Indy sire Pulpit and the unraced Argentinian bred Potrinner, a sister to Potridee, a winner of a Group1 Invitational at Hollywood Park, and a sister to the dam of the Sunday Silence Japanese Oaks third Dia De La Novia.
The third money in the Invitational Oaks went to Singhalese, a daughter of the In the Wings (by Sadler’s Wells) sire Singspiel (IRE), one used by Darley in the Hunter Valley in 2001, and Baize, a mare by the Forli grandson Efisio.
Returning to the history making winner of the Invitational Oaks, Cesario, she was bred in Japan, a country in which her four wins have included an appearance in the Japanese Oaks, using the Sunday Silence sire Special Week and the American Group 3 winner Kirov Premier, a daughter of Sadler’s Wells and the Habitat mare Querida.
Out of a mare by the Nijinsky sire Maruzensky and from a daughter of noted European sire Saint Crespin, Special Week won nine races including the Japan Cup-Gr.1, a race in which he was successful at four after being third in it the previous year.
Cesario’s dam Kirov Premiere is an Ireland bred American Group 3 winning sister by Sadler’s Wells to France Listed winner and Group 2 placed Theatre Critic.Their dam Querida won one minor race in Ireland but was a half-sister to English champion sprinter-miler Chief Singer.
Pia, the fourth dam of Cesario, won the English Oaks but flopped as a producer, her 10 foals including only two modest winners. She was a sister to the unraced Promesa, the third dam of the Mr. Prospector European champion Distant View, the sire of the Yallambee Stud, Romsey, Victoria shuttle sire Distant Music (USA).
The family also produced Amethea (GB), a good South Australian producer whose offspring included Sir Gerald (won the South Australian Derby) and Miss Amethea, the grandam of Adelaide Cup-Gr.1 third Mystery Adventure.
The bottom line of the pedigree of Cesario goes back to one of the most famous mares in bloodstock breeding history, Plucky Liege. This smart English two-year-old by Carbine’s English Derby winning son Spearmint produced 10 winners including Bois Roussel (won the English Derby), Sir Gallahad 111 (won the Grand Prix de Paris and placed in the French Derby), Bull Dog (a high class stakes winner in France) and Admiral Drake (also won the Grand Prix de Paris).
These four offspring of Plucky Liege played significant roles in breeding world wide last century as sires.
Although Cesario’s Group1 win in America was a first for Japanese owned and trained horse, it followed on some splendid successes for their horses overseas in the past eight years. In that period they have won major races in England, France, the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong.
A closed-door policy had inhibited Japanese horses appearing abroad and the few that did prior to the late 1990s had been looked on with curiosity. One of their first to run in Europe was Sirius Symboli, a Japanese bred son of the Lyphard (by Northern Dancer) France performer Mogami and Sweet Epsom, a daughter of the My Babu grandson Partholon.
After being first past the post in five of six starts in Japan including success in their 1985 Derby, he was switched to Europe, where he did not win but managed a third in the French St Leger-Gr.2, and moderate performances in the Ascot King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes-Gr.1 and Germany’s Grosser Preis von Baden-Gr.1 Earlier triumphs in France and England
Japanese horses, however, made world racing leaders reflect on the quality of the those from the cherry blossom land when two of them between them won Group1 races in France on successive Sundays in 1998.They were Seeking the Pearl and Taiki Shuttle.
Although they were owned and trained in Japan, they were both American bred with Seeking the Pearl being a filly by the Mr. Prospector sire Seeking the Gold and from a Seattle Slew mare and Taiki Shuttle, a son of the Halo sire Devil’s Bag and the Caerleon mare Welsh Muffin.
Also in 1998 two Japanese bred horses but English owned and trained, won minor races in England. They were Godabi (by the Ahonoora sire Dr Devious) and Shiva (by the Woodman sire Hector Protector and from a Shirley Heights mare). Both Woodman and Hector Protector are American bred horses whose stud careers have embraced use in Australia.
Two more Japanese owned and trained but American bred performers were successful at Group1 level in Europe in 1999. They were El Condor Pasa (Kingmambo – Saddlers Gal, by Sadler’s Wells and out of a Seattle Slew mare) and subsequent Widden Stud shuttle sire Agnes World (Danzig – Mysteries, by Seattle Slew).
Ranked the second best horse in the world for the year in the International Classifications, El Condor Pasa ran four times in France that year for two wins, including the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud-Gr.1, and a second in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe-Gr.1. As a three-year-old the year before he had won the running of the Japan Cup in which Special Week was third.
In his only run in Europe in Europe in1999 champion Japanese sprinter Agnes World had shown he was one of the best in the world in short races by winning Europe’s premier sprint the Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp-Gr.1 on the same program on which El Condor Pasa was runner up in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
Agnes World came back to Europe again in 2000 but this time campaigned in England. Once again he suggested he was a world class sprinter, winning the Darley July Cup-Gr.1 at Newmarket and finishing second in the King’s Stand Stakes-Gr.1 at Royal Ascot,
In the same year the Japanese bred and trained Sunday Silence three-year-old colt Air Shakur followed up a win in the Japanese Two Thousand Guineas-Gr.1 equivalent and a nose second in their Derby by crossing to England for a fifth in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes-Gr.1 won by current Sadler’s Wells classic sire giant Montjeu.
The appearance of these Japanese horses in Europe was part of a scheme by the Japan Racing Association devised to encourage greater publicity for their racing by having more runners on the international stage. Agnes World for instance earned a Japanese bonus of close on A$400,000 for his success in the Newmarket July Cup.
The Japanese international success story continued in 2001 very early in the year when they had two home bred and performed runners do them proud at the Dubai World Cup meeting.They were Stay Gold (Sunday Silence – Golden Sash, by Dictus), winner of the Sheema Classic-Gr.2 by a nose from Fantastic Light (USA) (visits the Darley Stud), and To The Victory (Sunday Silence – Fairy Doll, by Nureyev), the second placegetter in the World Cup.
Stay Gold ran later in the year back home and in November finished fourth in the Japan Cup. After that effort he was one of the Japanese representatives at the Hong Kong international carnival, adding to his laurels as world class performer with a win in the Hong Kong Vase-Gr.1.
The other to Japanese runners at that meeting were two American bred horses in Eishin Preston (by the Nijinsky sire Green Dancer and from a mare by the Lyphard sire Monteverdi), winner of the Hong Kong Mile-Gr.1, and Agnes Digital (by the Mr. Prospector sire Crafty Prospector and from the Chief’s Crown mare Chancey Squaw), winner of the Hong Kong Cup-Gr.1.
Eishin Preston was the mainstay of the Japanese international contenders over the next two years, in particular winning the Queen Elizabeth 11 Cup run in Hong Kong in two successive years but failing to place in two cracks at the Hong Kong Cup.
The tremendous input of Sunday Silence into their international success adds further to his stature as a truly great sire and suggests Australian breeders can do no harm by using his sons and grandsons as a sires and his female descendants as breeders.
Although they are the third biggest breeding country behind America and Australia, it is difficult to envisage a big number of Japanese horses competing abroad in the years to come as the only value is prestige.Their prize money dwarfs that of other countries and their yearling prices are beyond the range of most buyers.
There could be prospects, however, to buy Japanese females of breeding age that have not been racing stars for use here, at reasonable price, although transport adds considerably to the cost.
It appears in the breeding of any domestic animals it is a good idea to bring in from time to time stock from another environment. We have seen this in recent years through the success achieved here by mares from America with little or no proven performance and in quite a few cases by sires of modest fashion.
Japan, by the way, is hoping that the promotion they have received through the achievement of their horses internationally, will see the world reciprocate by sending more competitors for their racing.
This year the number of races in Japan open to international competition more than doubled and this means that such races will have international Group1 status, something they did not enjoy when restricted to Japanese trained horses.