A Deep Impact colt out of the 2011 Champion New Zealand three-year-old filly King's Rose topped the yearling session of the JRHA Select Sale in Hokkaido, Japan on Monday.
Consigned by Northern Farm, the brother to Gr.3 Epsom Cup (1800m) winner and multiple Group placed Satono Arthur was purchased by Masahiro Noda's Danox Ltd. for ¥250 million (NZ$3.37m).
"He is a very nice individual," Noda said. "I thought he would be less than U.S. $2 million, but today's market is very strong, and I was determined to go for more."
King's Rose won six races in New Zealand including the Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) for Jason Bridgman, before transferring to Peter Moody in Melbourne.
Bred and raced by Hong Kong-based Dr Gene Tsoi, King's Rose is a daughter of Redoute’s Choice. She twice won at Group Two level for Moody and placed at Group One level on a further four occasions, including narrow runner up finishes in both the Gr.1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) and Gr.1 Emirates Stakes (1600m).
2011 New Zealand Champion three-year-old filly King's Rose
Photo: Trish Dunell
King’s Rose has had three foals to date, with four-year-old entire Satono Arthur her eldest, whilst she has also left a two-year-old colt by Lord Kanaloa.
The Lord Kanaloa colt was the highest priced yearling not sired by Deep Impact at last year’s sale when sold to NICKS Co. for ¥180 million (NZ$2.43m).
In total 233 yearlings went through the sales ring and 211 of them were bought for ¥9,674,500,000, NZ$ NZD 130,560,054, which is 12.0% more than 12 months ago.
The average price, ¥45,850,711, NZ$618,812 is a 14.7% increase compared with 2017 and the clearance rate improved from 89.3% in 2017 to 90.6% in 2018. The gross sale, average price, and clearance rate are new records at the yearling session of JRHA Sale.
"The gross sale and the clearance rate are both far beyond my expectation", said Katsumi Yoshida of Northern Farm, leading consignor on Monday session. "Nice individuals are sold very well. And I am very happy to see, not only Deep Impact but also other sires are very popular. It is an amazing market."
