‘It goes back to Sunday Silence.’ Is this the year a Japanese horse wins the Kentucky Derby?
They’re improving by the year, these racehorses from Japan. They won a pair of Breeders’ Cup races in 2021. They won the UAE Derby in 2022 and 2023. Surely, sooner rather than later, a horse from the “Land of the Rising Sun” will win the Kentucky Derby.
“I believe so,” said Chip McGaughey, Keeneland’s assistant director of sales, marketing and analytics, who in his duties visits Japan at least twice a year. “The Thoroughbred industry in Japan continues to grow stronger.”
This could be the year. UAE Derby winner Derma Sotogake is tied with Santa Anita Derby winner Practical Move for fourth choice at 10-1 in the morning line for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby 149.
He’s joined by Continuar, a 50-1 shot who won the “Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby” competition.
Why does Churchill Downs invite a Japanese horse to the Kentucky Derby?
“Well, I think that racing is very much an international sport,” said Kate Hunter, the president of Marugai Racing and representative for the Japanese horses at Churchill Downs this week. “So many countries around the world take part in American horse sales, but also their own racing industries are thriving all over the world, or they’re making the effort to make them thrive. And so, I firmly believe that the Kentucky Derby isn’t just America’s greatest race.”
“The Japanese market is very important,” McGaughey said. “It has been for the last 40-50 years, since Teruya Yoshida first began coming to America to purchase broodmares and stallions.”
The turning point came in 1990 when Yoshida purchased Sunday Silence. The 1989 Kentucky Derby winner proceeded to lead Japan’s sire standings from 1995 to 2007, five years after his death.
“It goes back to Sunday Silence,” McGaughey said. “Since then, the Japanese Racing Association has continued to grow stronger. They’re racing for a lot of money and their yearlings and stallions continue to improve.”
Two years ago, Japanese horses snapped an 0-for-13 streak in the Breeders’ Cup by winning two races at Del Mar. Marche Lorraine won the Distaff. Loves Only You won the Filly and Mare Turf.
Only two Japanese-bred horses have run in the Kentucky Derby, however. Master Fencer finished sixth in 2019. UAE Derby winner Crown Pride was 13th last year. Bred in Kentucky to a Sunday Silence mare, Lani finished ninth in the 2016 Kentucky Derby after racing in Japan.
Trained by Hidetaka Otonashi, Derma Sotogake is Japan’s strongest Derby contender yet. He finished third on the dirt in the Saudi Derby before his UAE win, also on the dirt.
“What’s been absolutely amazing to see is the Japanese willingness to take on dirt racing — since the dirt surface in Japan is so different from Dubai, from Saudi, from America,” Hunter said. “It’s been really heartening to see them take up that challenge, because it is a true challenge, because the Japanese (surface) is a deep, beach, triple-washed sand kind of thing.”
Derma Sotogake’s owner is 73-year-old Hiroyuki Asanuma, a dermatologist in Hokkaido. He uses the word “Derma” as the first name for all of his horses and a theme for naming his 2-year-olds. Last year’s theme was sumo wrestling techniques. Sotogake is a trip move in the sport.
“I’ve been in the business 30 years and this is my first big horse,” Asanuma said after his colt’s win in Dubai.
Trained by Yoshito Yahagi, Continuar finished third in the UAE Derby. The Japanese-bred Mandarin Hero shipped to Churchill Downs after an impressive second-place finish in the Santa Anita Derby. Lacking enough qualifying points, the colt is second on the also-eligible list.
“There’s always the Preakness,” Hunter said. “There’s always hope at the end of the tunnel.”
Japan hopes this will be the year it wins the Kentucky Derby.
“I think in a lot of ways, the Kentucky Derby is always on the mind of any horsemen with international ambitions,” Hunter said. “And with Lani coming over here and running in all three Triple Crown races (fifth in the Preakness; third in the Belmont), I’d say he probably was that linchpin that kind of switched things on.
“Each year we’ve gotten more Triple Crown nominations than the year before. So, hopefully, that interest will keep growing. And if this isn’t the year, one of these years will be.”
Kentucky Derby
When: 6:57 p.m. Saturday
Where: Churchill Downs
TV: NBC and Peacock
Purse: $3 million (Grade 1)
Distance: 1 1/4 miles
For: 3-year-old Thoroughbreds
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