The rise and rise of Japanese bloodstock over the past three decades has been the result of nothing more complicated than recruiting well-credentialled stallions and well-credentialled mares.
This simple formula (well, it’s simple if one can afford it) has ensured that Japanese horses are now the equal of any in the world, certainly over middle and longer distances, which are the races which remain the most prized in Japan, as they do to (although admittedly sometimes to a lesser extent) in most nations. A classic example of Japan’s current high standards came when the Japanese horses Victoire Pisa and Transcend filled the quinella in the Dubai World Cup. The background of the winner Victoire Pisa, a son of the Sunday Silence stallion Neo Universe, particularly epitomizes the basis of Japanese dominance. Read more>
