JAPANESE STAYERS

For many years, stayers from Japan have been regarded as the best in the world. It is the result of having sourced the best bloodlines from every racing continent in order to breed a superior athlete, and their results worldwide are proof of their success.

With this in mind, Mount Hallowell Stud Owner Craig Thompson decided to investigate the process of acquiring Japanese bred horses to race in Australia.  Initially using his many business contacts in Japan, Craig then inspired Gai Waterhouse to travel to Japan and become involved in the inspection and purchase of weanlings to eventually race in Australia.

In 2015, for the first time, Gai Waterhouse travelled to Japan in search of this superior athlete direct from the source, and they were able to identify four colts that will be ground-breaking for the Australian staying ranks.

Hallowell Stud partnered up with GWR in this ground breaking venture, in search for potential horses that could become the staying champions of the future.

The complex rules and regulations of racing in Japan make it very difficult for horses to be exported permanently for racing, a process also opposed by the Japanese culture.

The four colts involved in this venture will remain in Japan to be nurtured and developed from a young age, right through to the early stages of their racing career. The importance of the environment, in which the Japanese horses are exposed to, is just as significant as the horses’ bloodlines in producing superior staying types. A young horse begins its early education in September and it will remain in full pre-training, to the point of its first start which could be as early as July, the following year.

Once the four colts have completed their training and education, and have potentially raced in Japan, we will then look to import them to Australia to commence their rise through the staying ranks. 

WHY JAPAN?

WORLD CLASS FACILITIES

A constituent of the Japanese Racing Industry’s success, is the world class training facilities that they have access to. Their aim of developing a superior athlete that can achieve worldwide success is built on the back of extensive scientific research in the areas of nutrition, exercise physiology, reproduction and pasture maintenance. 

The variety of training grounds, such as the expansive grass gallops, uphill turf course, indoor sand track, straight indoor woodchip gallop and uphill indoor woodchip gallop are open for use even in the winter months. Their training facilities are a perfect place for horses to prepare for future athletic success.

Developed and pre-trained in Japan, the four colts will have access to these facilities and the same training methods that have produced world champion stayers year after year. The timeline of events for the colts included in the package is likely to include the following:

Current – March 2016:   The four colts will remain at the vendors’ farms until March of 2016, the point when the final payment for purchase is made. During this period, the colts are weaned and reared in the expansive rolling hills of Hokkaido which is crucial to their early development.

March 2016 – September 2016:   The four colts will be transferred to Paca Paca Farm to continue their development.

September / October 2016:  The four colts will be transferred to the Bloodhorse Thoroughbred Centre to begin their initial education. Here a European style of breaking-in is utilised, where horses are lunged and long-reined before being ridden. After about 3 weeks of lunging and driving on a long rein in preparation for the introduction of a bit, the breakers steadily introduce the yearlings to the feeling of having a rider on their backs. These preparations go on through October and yearlings are also trained to walk through the starting gate at this time.

June 2017:  The period between autumn as a yearling (September-November, 2016) and spring as a 2 year old (March-May, 2017), is the most important time for building up their strength and stamina. Indoor training facilities enable the young thoroughbreds to be given various training regimes, even in the harsh winter conditions. Horses remain in training at the Bloodhorse Development Centre until they are close to making their racing debut, at which point they are transferred to one of the two JRA training centres. 

STALLION PROFILES

RULERSHIP

This regally bred son of Horse of the Year King Kamehameha is unlucky not to have multiple Group 1 wins to his name. He won eight of his twenty starts, the highlight coming in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup in Hong Kong when he destroyed a field of Group 1 performers by three and a half lengths.

Thought to be one of the most emphatic wins in the history of this great race, Rulership put the race to bed at the 400 metre mark. He was forced to compete against World Champions and multiple Group 1 winners, Orfevre, Gentildonna, Gold Ship and Eishin Flash, and each and every time he gave a great showing, fighting out the finish. A winner from 1800 to 2400 metres, he also secured victory in the Group 2 American Jockey Club Cup, the Group 2 Kinko Sho and the Group 2 Nikkei Shinshun Hai amongst many other Black Type events. Rulership retired to Shadai Stallion Station as the winner of eight races, five of which were at Stakes level.

WORKFORCE

Workforce, bred by the internationally acclaimed breeder Prince Khalid Abdullah of Juddmonte Farm, was Champion 3 Year Old Colt in Europe in 2010 and a history-making great of his time. Workforce was the winner of four races by a more than a combined fourteen lengths and this included Europe’s two most prestigious Group 1 Classics, the Epsom Debry and the Prix De L’Arc De Triomphe.

From the family of St Leger winner Brian Boru, he won on debut by six lengths over 1400 metres, a trip far short of his best. After a short spell, he headed straight to the Group 2 Dante Stakes over 2100 metres, already second favourite for Europe’s most highly sought after Classic, the Group 1 Epsom Derby. He stayed on strongly to the line, finishing second to multiple Group 1 winner Cape Blanco but it soon transpired that the bit had slipped through his mouth, ending his chances early in the piece and making his second placing look all the more impressive.

The fact that no horse beaten in the Dante had ever gone on to win the Derby was fresh in everyone’s minds and Workforce started at 6/1 for the great race. Ridden by international sensation, Ryan Moore, he sat towards the rear of the field and at the 600 metre mark he was asked to run down the leader. Once in front he kept finding more to win by an astonishing seven lengths, breaking Lammtarra’s track record by almost a second. This magnificent performance evoked memories for Workforce’s trainer, Sir Michael Stoute, of his first Derby winner, the great Shergar .

His disappointing run less than two weeks later prompted his connections to keep him ticking over quietly until the Group 1 Prix De l’Arc De Triomphe over 2400 metres, arguably Europe’s greatest race. Weaving his way through no less than eleven individual Group 1 winners, Workforce ensued in a battle with Japan’s Nakayama Festa, fighting bravely to win the race by a head .

This great racehorse stands at Shadai Stallion Station in Japan for approximately a$33,000 and he currently has 2 year olds on the ground.

NOVELLIST

Novellist, one of the most talented racehorses to come out of Germany, raced predominantly in his homeland but his greatest display of brilliance came in his one and only appearance in England, at Ascot in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. This son of Monsun, who is also the sire of the last two Melbourne Cup winners Fiorente and Protectionist, won his first four starts by a combined 24 lengths, two of which were at Group level.

In three attempts at Group 1 glory as a three year old, Novellist was narrowly beaten by multiple Group 1 winners Pastorius and Danedream (later the winner of the Prix De L’Arc De Triomphe by an astonishing five lengths) before winning the Group 1 Italian Derby by four and a half lengths. From this first Group 1 victory, Novellist never looked back, winning his subsequent and final four starts, three of which were at Group 1 level.

Novellist’s penultimate race day appearance was in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes over 2400 metres, a race won by some of the most highly acclaimed horses in the sport’s history, Nijinsky, Mill Reef, Shergar, Pentire, Daylami, Montjeu and Galileo to name a few. Novellist’s performance saw him lower the course record time that Harbinger set three years previously by more than two seconds, an incredible feat in itself. He put five lengths on last start Group 1 Irish Derby winner, Trading Leather, and the world’s highest rated horse, Cirrus Des Aigles, was left in the distant wake of this great colt. He made five individual Group 1 winners look like handicappers and Champion Jockey, Johnny Murtagh reported that the hardest thing he had to do was to pull him up, and it was a struggle.

Novellist hails from a top class family who raced successfully from 2000 metres to 2400 metres. His dam, Night Lagoon was a Champion 2 Year Old Filly and his sire, Monsun, produced 63 Group winners many of whom are Group 1 producing stallions themselves. Monsun passed away in 2012, only 12 months before he began to show his dominance Down Under with Group 1 Australian Cup and Melbourne Cup winner, Fiorente. As his established sire sons, such as Manduro and his up and coming sire sons, such as Fiorente begin to rise up the ranks in Australia we continue to look towards these bloodlines as a source of Cups winners, and who better to continue the legacy than one of his highest rated sons, Novellist.

Novellist retired as the winner of nine of his eleven starts, four at Group 1 level and seven were Black Type. He smashed a track record held by one of the world’s highest rated racehorses at the UK’s premier track and he put lengths on numerous Group 1 winners showing a turn of foot that few great racehorses could replicate. He stands at Shadai Stallion Station in Japan for almost a$44,000 and his highly anticipated foals hit the ground in 2015.

JRHA SELECT

The Japan Racing Horse Association (JRHA) has been a consistent source of world class stayers. The world’s highest rated horse, JUST A WAY was a graduate of the sale in 2008, along with ADMIRE RAKTI, REAL IMPACT and TOSEN STARDOM, all of whom have performed at Group 1 level in Australia. The four colts were all purchased from the JRHA Foal Select Sale, having been inspected by Gai.

These include:

1. LOT 317 – RULERSHIP / STAR OF SAPPHIRE COLT

2. LOT 325 – WORKFORCE / QUICK MAIL COLT

3. LOT 368 – NOVELLIST / PEACE OF WORLD COLT

4. LOT 456 – NOVELLIST / AIAI BOTAN COLT 

CURRENT STATUS

The four two year old’s transferred from Paca Paca Farm to the Yoshizawa stable in early March 2017 to be prepared for race conditioning.  Due to ownership conditions with the JRA it was decided to send the horses to France to continue their racing careers with the world famous racing stables of Criquette and Freddie Head.

Unfortunately the Workforce-Quick Mail colt strained a tendon and was sold.

The three remaining colts were transferred to France to be trained by Criquette and Freddy Head.

After a period of three months it was decided to send two of the colts back to Australia with Wolfe (Novellist-Peace Of The World) and the unnamed Novelist-Alai Boton colt arrived at the Werribee Quarantine Centre on February 1.

The Rulership-Star Of Sapphire colt remained in France and was transferred to the stables of promising trainer Francis Graffard and was named Hush Writer.

He made an auspicious debut when finishing a close second to the highly rated colt Bugle Major at Longchamp over 10 furlongs on April 24.

Graffard is confident that Hush Writer will race against the best colts in France this Northern summer.

At his next start Hush Writer put up an amazing effort to finish a fast finishing third to Nocturnal Fox and Al Malhouf in the Group 2 Prix Hocquart Longines (2400m) at Chantilly.

The inexperienced colt had only bad luck in the run and stamped himself as a future Group 1 winner.

Trainer Gai Waterhouse has decided to bring Hush Writer back to Australia as soon as possible to be aimed at the 2018 Melbourne Cup.

Hush Writer entered quarantine in early July and is expected in Sydney toward the end of July

Both Wolfe and the unnamed colt have been spelled and will come back into work with Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.