Japan: Deep Impact colt brings $3.1 million at JRA yearling sale

A $3.1 million Deep Impact colt shone brightest Monday at the Japan Racing Horse Association’s July yearling sale in Hokkaido, Japan, where figures increased across the board.

The auction also featured the first yearling by international champion Sea the Stars to sell at public auction. The bay colt, a half-brother to European champion juvenile Mastercraftsman, brought about $502,480 from buyer Kaneko Makoto Holdings. Paca Paca Farm sold the colt, a son of the Black Tie Affair mare Starlight Dreams. He is a half-brother to 2008 Locust Grove Handicap winner Genuine Devotion and to Irish Group 1-placed Famous.

Takaya Shimakawa bought the sale-topping Deep Impact colt, who is out of the End Sweep mare Admire Kirameki. The mare is a half-sister to Tosen Jordan, a Japanese Grade 1 winner that Shimakawa campaigned. Northern Farm was the seller. The colt’s price in the local auction currency was 250 million yen.

The auction at the Northern Horse Park sold 202 yearlings for about $68,495,695, resulting in an average price of about $339,088. Compared year-to-year in the local auction currency, gross was up 15 percent and average gained 13 percent from last year, when 197 yearlings sold. The median price of approximately $244,959 also climbed by 5 percent.