NORTHERN Racing bred the Group 1 Saudi Cup winner Forever Young, and their associates Northern Farm are the breeders of Byzantine Dream who won the Group 2 Longines Red Sea Turf Handicap, and another Group 2 winner, Ascoli Piceno, at the weekend in Riyadh.

This was another big race win for a produce by a sire standing at the Shadai Stallion Station. This time it is Epiphaneia, the Group 1 Japan Cup-winning son of Symboli Kris S (Kris S). The four-year-old Byzantine Dream has a fascinating race record. He won his only start at two, began his second season with victory in the Group 3 Kisaragi Sho in Kyoto, and in his next five runs only earned some money when fifth in the Japanese St Leger.

The 15-furlong St Leger was the same distance as the race in Saudi Arabia, and on just his second attempt at the trip he won from an international field. Oisin Murphy was in the saddle on the colt for trainer Tomoyasu Sakaguchi, who revealed that the race conditions were perfect for his charge, and that the victory was not a surprise. Byzantine Dream is the second member of his family in four generations to win a big race outside Japan.

Epiphaneia stood last year for the equivalent of some €90,000, and despite a stellar year with his runners, that price has dropped to €75,000 this time round. In 2024 his son Danon Decile showed that he was a horse on the upgrade when he caused a surprise, beating the hot favourite Justin Milano, to take the honours in the Group 1 Tokyo Yushun, the Japanese Derby.

Classic winner

This was Danon Decile’s third victory in five starts, but he has improved that win tally with success in the Group 2 American Jockey Club Cup in January. He was the second classic winner last year for his sire, who was himself runner-up in the 2013 Japanese Derby and 2000 Guineas. Epiphaneia made amends when landing the Group 1 Kikuka Sho, Japanese St Leger, and the following year he added the Group 1 Japan Cup to his career tally of six wins.

Epiphaneia’s daughter Stellenbosch won last year’s Group 1 Oka Sho, Japanese 1000 Guineas, and she and Danon Decile are among four classic winners for their sire, and among his total of seven Group 1 and four Group 2 winners. This is a decent reward for his first six crops aged four or more.

Byzantine Dream is the second winner for his dam, Japoni Chara (Jungle Pocket), who won three times. Her own dam was a winning full-sister to the stakes-winning fully Lailaps (French Deputy), and their half-brother Fusaichi Richard (Kurofune) was the champion juvenile colt in Japan 20 years ago, at a time when races were only granted listed status unless they were open to overseas runners.

The next dam Fusaichi Airedale (Sunday Silence) was a stakes winner and second in the Japanese 1000 Guineas.

Fusaichi Airedale’s unraced full-sister In This Unison (Sunday Silence) is the grandam of two Group 1 winners, siblings, and both fillies. Chrono Genesis (Bago) gained half of her eight wins at Group 1 level, while Normcore (Harbinger) was a seven-time winner. While just two of these were in Group 1 company, they did include a big international success when Normcore landed the Hong Kong Cup.

Shin Emperor

Third to Economics and Auguste Rodin, a length behind the winner, in the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown, rated one of the top 10 races in the world, and beaten a neck in the Group 1 Japan Cup on his last start in 2024, Shin Emperor gained the third win of his career when beating Group 1 winners Calif and Al Riffa in the $2 million Group 2 Howden Neom Turf Cup over 10 and a half furlongs on Saturday.

The French-bred, four-year-old winner, a son of Siyouni (Pivotal), has more than amply rewarded connections for their €2.1 million investment in him as a yearling, and he is surely deserving of a Group 1 success, having placed four times at that level. He is a full-brother to Sottsass (Siyouni), about to embark on his first season at stud in Japan after four seasons at Coolmore. Shin Emperor is a readymade stallion in time, and especially so if he puts a victory at the highest order on his CV. Trainer Yoshito Yahagi was pleased with the win, and will consider a summer campaign which could see him run at Royal Ascot and York.

Shin Emperor is a son of Starlet’s Sister (Galileo), who had previously bred three outstanding winners in Sistercharlie (Myboycharlie), Sottsass and My Sister Nat (Acclamation).

Sistercharlie won seven Grade 1 races, among them the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, and two editions each of the Diana Stakes and the Beverly D Stakes. Sottsass, was the best three-year-old in the world after his victories in the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club-French Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. His first crop raced last year.

My Sister Nat (Acclamation) won a Group 3 in France and was twice successful in the Grade 3 Waya Stakes in the USA. Her placed efforts included finishing a head second in the Grade 1 Flower Bowl Stakes, and being runner-up on the last of her 19 starts, beaten half a length by Loves On You in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Starlet’s Sister sadly died, aged 14, in November 2023 due to a bout of colic. Seven of her first eight foals are winners, and her ninth and final offspring is a three-year-old full-brother to Shin Emperor.

Leo’s Starlet

Starlet’s Sister is a full-sister to the Group 3 Prix Cleopatre winner Leo’s Starlet (Galileo) and a half-sister to the French listed winner and Grade 1 Clement L Hirsch Stakes runner-up Anabaa’s Creation (Anabaa). The latter bred a US stakes-winning juvenile, Create A Dream (Oasis Dream).

The grandam of Shin Emperor, Premiere Creation (Green Tune), won in France and the USA, and stateside she was placed in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks. She was the best runner out of the unraced Allwaki (Miswaki), a half-sister to the French listed winner and Grade 1 San Luis Rey Stakes-third Fast Cure (Cure The Blues). Two of that colt’s full-sisters were stakes producers, South Sea Blues (Cure The Blues) breeding the Canadian champion juvenile colt Leonnatus Anteas (Stormy Atlantic).

If you stand a stallion for €200,000 a cover, then surely he needs no introduction. Such is the case with Siyouni, a French sire sensation who stands ay Haras de Bonneval.

It is almost inconceivable that he went to stud at a fee of €7,000, and remained at that price until be jumped to €20,000 after his first juveniles raced. He is the sire of 10 Group 1 winners, 42 pattern winners and a grand total of 82 stakes winners. Some 176 of his stock have earned some blacktype, and for good measure, Siyouni has also sired three blacktype winners over jumps.

Erevann (Dubawi) and Fairy Godmother (Night Of Thunder) are early examples of the quality of runners already being produced by Siyouni’s daughters, and his daughters are showing a great rapport with sires from the Shamardal (Giant’s Causeway) line.