Japan's Kentucky Derby candidates sport U.S. pedigree interests

Prominent U.S. runners have played a key role in the development of the Japanese breeding and racing program into an international superpower. Chief among those, of course, is Horse of the Year Sunday Silence, with the 1989 Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner becoming a breed-shaping sire in Japan.

Sunday Silence appears in the pedigree of all four Japanese-bred colts who are considered potential Kentucky Derby candidates. However, other American expatriates figure prominently in this quartet, as well.

Derma Sotogake, who won Saturday’s Group 2 UAE Derby to punch his ticket to Louisville with 100 Kentucky Derby points, is from the first crop of Mind Your Biscuits, who stands at Shadai Stallion Station. The New York-bred Mind Your Biscuits was a multiple Grade 1 winner who gained international appeal by taking two editions of the Golden Shaheen in Dubai.

Derma Sotogake is out of a mare by Neo Universe, a son of Sunday Silence.

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UAE Derby runner-up Dura Erede, who is also bound for Kentucky, is by Duramente, who in turn is by King Kamehameha, a son of the late Lane’s End stallion Kingmambo. Duramente is out of a Sunday Silence mare. Sunday Silence is also the maternal great-great grandsire of Dura Erede.

Continuar, third in the UAE Derby, is accepting an automatic bid to the Kentucky Derby via the series of points races in Japan designated by Churchill Downs. He is from the second crop of Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner and Eclipse Award champion Drefong, who also stands at Shadai. Continuar’s dam sports both Kingmambo and Sunday Silence in her pedigree.

A fourth Japanese-bred colt could qualify for the Kentucky Derby, as Mandarin Hero is expected to run in the Santa Anita Derby on April 8. The colt is from the first Japanese-sired crop of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner and Eclipse Award champion Shanghai Bobby, who originally stood in Kentucky. Mandarin Hero is out of a granddaughter of Sunday Silence.

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