THE future racing career of Continuous will be watched with great interest. After all, Coolmore has an appealing stallion prospect on their hands, and another successful product of their blossoming relationship with Japan and the sires there.

The three-year-old bay, on his seventh start, won the Group 1 St Leger at Doncaster, and in so doing continued his rise through the ranks. Bred in Japan by Orpendale, Chelston Ireland and Wynatt, the colt has been a model of consistency. Last year he won twice, a maiden at the Curragh and the mile Group 3 Prix Thomas Bryon at Saint-Cloud.

Prior to his classic triumph, Continuous put himself firmly in the Group 1 picture with success in the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes. Other than finishing down the field in the French Derby, he has been placed on his other starts, including a runner-up finish to King Of Steel at Royal Ascot in the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes.

Coolmore’s decision to send Fluff (Galileo), a maiden winner of her only start at two over a mile at Navan, to Japan to be covered made sense. While she did not possess the racing ability of a number of her siblings, the move by Coolmore to ship her out of Ireland was made with one aim, to produce another Saxon Warrior (Deep Impact).

European champion

Fluff is a full-sister to the European champion juvenile filly Maybe (Galileo), successful five times at two from Ballydoyle when her victories included the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes, Group 2 Debutante Stakes, and the Listed Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot.

At three, she was placed in the Group 1 1000 Guineas. Maybe spent time in Japan, and while there she bred the Group 1 two-year-old winner and Group 1 classic hero Saxon Warrior (Deep Impact), now a Group 1 sire.

The attempt to replicate the feat with Fluff did not have the desired outcome, and a couple of matings with Deep Impact (Sunday Silence) resulted in a minor winner and a placed juvenile. Then she visited Heart’s Cry (Sunday Silence), producing Continuous. Fluff has a two-year-old Irish-born filly Angelica Tree (Lord Kanaloa), while her latest offspring are a yearling colt and filly foal, both by Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj).

As a son of Heart’s Cry, Continuous would be a most interesting stallion prospect in this part of the world, while his dam’s family is one that breeders in Europe are very familiar with. Fluff and Maybe are daughters, along with their Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac runner-up, pattern-winning own-sister Promise To Be True (Galileo), of the juvenile listed winner Sumora (Danehill). That mare was a target for M.V. Magnier when she came up for sale after Maybe appeared, and cost him 2,400,000gns.

That was 12 years ago, when Sumora’s three-parts sister Dancing Rain (Danehill Dancer) was a dual classic winner, triumphant in both the Group 1 Oaks at Epsom and the German equivalent. Dancing Rain sold two years later for 4,000,000gns and is dam of a pair of Group 1-placed runners, Group 2 winner Magic Lily (New Approach) and French stakes winner Jalmoud (New Approach).

Dancing Rain and Sumora are daughters of the unraced Rain Flower (Indian Ridge), and her siblings include the Group 1 Derby winner Dr Devious (Ahonoora), the leading sprinter Archway (Thatching), as well as the dams of the 2020 Group 1 Irish Oaks winner Even So (Camelot) and the Japanese Group 1 winner Suzuka Phoenix (Sunday Silence).

Group 1 winners

A champion at four in Japan, and an international Group 1 winner at five when he was successful in the Dubai Sheema Classic, Heart’s Cry is now the sire of a dozen Group 1 winners among a career total of more than 60 stakes winners.

Most are household names in their native Japan, while the likes of Just A Way in Dubai, Lys Gracieux and Admire Rakti in Australia, and Yoshida in the USA, have flown the flag for him on the global stage. Now Continuous is the first to do so in Europe.

This year Heart’s Cry reached a notable career landmark when he sired his 1,000th individual winner. He stood throughout his career at Shadai Stallion Station, and died there in March at the age of 22.

At the announcement of his passing, Shadai’s Teruya Yoshida said: “He produced so many top horses as a stallion, and he was also the horse who helped to break through the barriers and anxieties of overseas racing trips.

“After retiring from stud duties, he spent his time comfortably in the field. I wanted him to enjoy his retirement for longer, and I’m sorry we had to say goodbye so quickly.”

Heart’s Cry was retired from stud duties in 2021, and he has also established himself as a significant broodmare sire. His daughters have already bred the 2021 Group 1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) winner and Shadai stallion Efforia.

Bred at Shadai Farm, Heart’s Cry was a top-class performer on the track. In the spring of his three-year-old season he won the Group 2 Kyoto Shimbun Hai, and the following year he defeated none other than the great Deep Impact in the Group 1 Arima Kinen Grand Prix. At five he won the Group 1 Dubai Sheema Classic, and then ran third to Hurricane Run in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot.