ENGLISH TEXTS
Classic victory for a Japantrained horse. In the process, he was named Dirt Horse of the Year in both Japan and the United States. So the question remains: who could ever have imagined that a racehorse would reach such heights? And what if it had all been orchestrated by Katsumi Yoshida, Forever Young’ s breeder, the master of Northern Farm? It is in the sales rings that destinies are shaped. Forever Young was purchased as a foal for the substantial sum of 98 million yen, around $ 900,000. His dam, acquired by the Japanese breeder after a Group 2 victory and a fourthplace finish in a Group 1, was first sent to Frankel, then to Deep Impact and Heart’ s Cry. Her first foal earned a respectable living, amassing more than 80 million yen in prize money( nearly € 440,000). In 2021, Forever Darling gave birth to the future Forever Young, a son of Real Steel, a descendant of the legendary Miesque and winner of the Dubai Turf( Gr. 1) under Ryan Moore. But it’ s not all about big money. Let’ s go back in time to September 2014. We are at the Keeneland yearling sales, a marathon. Lot 4,118 enters the ring: a daughter of Congrats, a Group 2 winner and himself a son of the champion A. P. Indy. The dam of this as-yet-unnamed chestnut filly had been a solid performer. A Stakes winner, she was also, and above all, a two-time Group 1-placed runner, notably finishing second in the prestigious Frizette Stakes over 1,600 meters at Belmont. Purchased for $ 8,000 by AmÉrican owners, she was named Forever Darling( and would later become the dam of Forever Young). Her granddam, Roamin Rachel, was a Group 1 winner and would later produce the champion Zenno Rob Roy, voted Japan’ s Horse of the Year in 2004 after his treble in the Tenno Sho Autumn, Japan Cup and Arima Kinen.”
BREEDING
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TELLING STORIES TO REVITALIZE BREEDING
BY JOCELYN DE MOUBRAY
At the end of the day a stalThere may be different problems facing racing and breeding industries across the globe but the one which each and every country has to face up to is the decline in the number of thoroughbred foals. Winfried Engelbrecht Bresges, the CEO of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, put it at the Asian Racing Conference held this February in Riyadh saying there is‘ concern as an industry that we are not growing.’ The International Stud Book Committee has shown that between 2005 and 2022 the global foal crop fell by 30 % from 123,000 to only 86,000.
The fall in numbers has been particularly dramatic in North AmÉrica with the USA’ s foal crop going from 35,000 to 18,000 and Canada’ s from 2,800 to 1,800. The numbers fell between 20-40 % during this period in Australia, New Zealand, Britain, Ireland, Brazil, and India, with only major breeding countries seeing growth Japan and France. The French foal crop peaked in 2021 at 5,700 but it has fallen since and is projected to be 4,800 in 2025, the same as in 2005 and down by 16 % from its highest point. In the United States racing and breeding are going through a period of crisis with the authority and competence of both the Jockey Club and the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority being called into question, and not only by billionaires squabbling on social media. The decline in numbers has led inevitably to closures of racetracks and several high profile ones are currently fighting for survival. If the commercial market has been sustained by favorable tax policies, it has been highlighted elsewhere that if the future depends upon the whim of a seventy nine year old it cannot be called secure. In Europe, the Italian racing business’ decline seems to be accelerating with its pattern races being cut from year to year and now German racing and breeding is poised dangerously on the brink with the foal crop projected to fall below 600. At this level you have to wonder for how long Germany will be able to sustain its already greatly reduced racing program and more course closures and
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