In England it’s long been the Derby, Australia has the Golden Slipper, France the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, North America looks to the Kentucky Derby, and you can throw in a couple of Breeders’ Cup races too alongside all those other senior European Classics: these are some of the pinnacle races that have shaped thoroughbred breeding through the last century and into the current; the races that can make a stallion.
Hong Kong’s majors, for all the quality horses they have drawn down the years, have never been particularly high on that list.
But the signs are that times, perhaps, are changing.
Lord Kanaloa – awesome speed
Geldings, obviously with zero breeding value, predominate at Sha Tin and Conghua but in recent years the determination of Japanese interests to target Hong Kong’s lucrative Gr1 prizes with more of their best colts and entires has started to alter how the races are valued in a breeding context.
Japan, as the rest of the world must by now have realised, is a racehorse-producing powerhouse built upon excellent management of the breed. And Hong Kong has been of real importance for two of Japan’s most exciting young stallions: Maurice’s three power-packed wins at Sha Tin and Lord Kanaloa’s back-to-back displays of awesome speed elevated the global profiles of both.
While Lord Kanaloa has so far remained in situ at Shadai Stallion Station, relying on his incredible daughter Almond Eye to fly the family flag internationally, Maurice has continued to clock air miles, covering mares in hemispheres north and south thanks to a deal between Shadai in Japan and Arrowfield Stud in Australia.
Lord Kanaloa has already managed to get a champion. What Maurice will achieve is as yet unknown, but the initial signs are positive.
Maurice at Arrowfield (Photo by Bronwen Healy. The Image is Everything)
Maurice covered 265 mares during his first Japanese season in 2017, for 179 foals on the ground. At the 2018 Select Sale of foals, 13 of his progeny sold for a combined ¥587.52 million, a total bettered at that auction by only the great, late Deep Impact, Duramente, Heart’s Cry and Lord Kanaloa. This year, his first yearlings sold well overall and Maurice even topped the Hokkaido Selection Sale, with 13 of his offspring selling for ¥256.5 million.
“Many breeders believe Maurice’s offspring are high quality. The truth of that is shown in the one million yen colt from his first crop which sold at the JRHA sale,” says Shadai Stallion Station representative Ren Kaneko.
Maurice’s first Australian yearlings will hit the sales rings in early 2020. The stallion, who stands for AU$27,500 in 2019, covered more than 270 mares in his first three seasons below the equator, resulting in 148 foals in the past two years. The six-figure sale of his weanling out of Ausbred Friend, a half-sister to his old Hong Kong rival Able Friend, earlier this year provides a hint of how accepting buyers might be in the year ahead.
“We’re particularly happy with the quality of the mares he’s served, and his first yearlings have everything you’d expect Maurice would impart: size, strength and substance,” says Jon Freyer, Arrowfield’s Bloodstock Manager.
And the rising nine-year-old’s past exploits in winning the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile, G1 Champions Mile and G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup in the span of 12 wonderful months, will no doubt have a bearing on the upcoming decisions of buyers as well as mare owners, given the Australian industry’s close connections to Hong Kong.
“There is great respect in Australia for Maurice as a racehorse, everyone saw what he did in Hong Kong and knows he was rated right up there with the world’s best horses, including Australia’s own great champion Winx. And he’s simply awe-inspiring in the flesh – one of the most charismatic stallions we’ve ever stood at Arrowfield,” says Freyer.
That charisma was manifest during his racing days, when even the Sha Tin faithful took the raider to their hearts.
A strapping bay son of Screen Hero, devoid of the pre-potent blood of both Deep Impact and Danehill, things look especially promising for Maurice given the success of Japanese horses globally in recent times, but especially in Australia this year.
“The launch of his first sale yearlings is perfectly timed after the stunning Group 1 victories in Melbourne this Spring by Lys Gracieux, Mer De Glace and Fierce Impact, which have made Australian owners and trainers pay even greater attention to Japanese horses and bloodlines,” Freyer notes.
Maurice has 17 yearlings catalogued for the upcoming Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale in January and the 10-strong Arrowfield consignment includes colts related to the great Winx, G1 Caulfield Cup winner Tawqeet, champion filly Alinghi and dual G1 winner Hollow Bullet, as well as a filly out of a half-sister to Hong Kong’s ‘enigmatic one’ Pakistan Star.
Lord Kanaloa, meanwhile, has already begun to establish a legacy.
Multiple Gr1 winner Almond Eye, ruled out of Sunday’s Gr1 LONGINES Hong Kong Cup due to a fever, is an incredible standout from his first crop of 188 foals, which to date has delivered 128 winners from 160 starters.
Almond Eye – has now retired
His three racing crops have brought 255 winners in total, with 2018 G1 Mile Championship victor Stelvio also out of his first crop and this year’s G1 Satsuki Sho hero Saturnalia the star of his second crop.
His son Danon Smash, a Gr3 winner and Gr1-placed, will attempt to follow his lead and win Sunday’s Gr1 LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint, although surely there is not a horse in the field capable of matching the manner of the great sprinter-miler’s sensational performances in winning that race in 2012 and 2013.
Unsurprisingly, Kaneko admits Almond Eye’s success has helped boost her father’s books of mares and the value of his offspring. But given his imposing brilliance, Japan’s industry players always expected the champion galloper to succeed as a stallion, particularly as he offered a blend of speed to some quality but stout stock.
“We surely believed that Lord Kanaloa would be a success in Japan,” Kaneko says. “There are many middle and long-distance Sunday Silence mares now, so suitable sprinter stallions are desirable.
“Also, the JRA has a lot of two-year-old races under 1600 metres in the summertime and this is very important. That is why we are not surprised by his success and that he is going very well now.”
- Hong Kong Jockey Club
