Teruya Yoshida: I am not so much worried about theeconomy. [Shadai] is receiving so many owners andtrainers who want to see our horses. The prices might
not be so great, but there should be plenty of buyers.

While there are many successful owners and breeders
in Japan, there is no doubt that brothers Teruya andKatsumi Yoshida are the dominant forces. Withbroodmare bands that placethem among the handful ofbreeders atop the world judging
by both numbers and quality,
they perennially are 1-2 on
Japan=s lists of leading owners
and breeders and are resolutelycompetitive even with eachother. Their horses have won
premier international prizes--suchas Teruya Yoshida=s Heart=s Cry(Jpn) (Sunday Silence), who won
the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic,and Katsumi Yoshida=s Delta
Teruya YoshidaBlues (Jpn) (Dance in the Dark
M MacDonald{Jpn}), victor in Australia=s G1
Melbourne Cup--and thus have elevated the reputationof Japanese-breds around the globe.
Joined by their younger brother, owner and breeder
Haruya Yoshida, in running the powerhouse Shadai
Stallion Station, the Yoshidas= influence stretches intoNorth America and Europe as they are frequent buyers
at the top of elite bloodstock markets on bothcontinents. Before the Japan Racing Horse
Association=s benchmark sale of yearlings and foals
began on Monday, Teruya Yoshida, the master ofShadai Farm, discussed the state of Japan=s market andother topics with Michele MacDonald. Katsumi Yoshida,owner of Northern Farm, plans to do a similar interview
at the completion of the sale.
Q: How would you describe the state of the bloodstock
market in Japan now after several years of general
economic declines?
Teruya Yoshida: The general economy is very tough.
We can=t be so optimistic in this environment. We
haven=t experienced such a bad economy before, so wewant to see what=s going on with the horse market in
the next few days. The prizemoney in this country is
still very, very good, so that helps, and there are many
horse lovers who are keen to own racehorses even inthis economy. Some are looking forward to a weakermarket because it is a good opportunity to buy, but thenumber of buyers at the very top of the market isreduced.
Q: What are your expectations regarding your own
consignment of 89 horses (54 yearlings and 35 foals)
considering the economic situation?

Q: Do you foresee a continuing shift in the preferenceof Japanese buyers toward yearlings and away fromfoals?
Teruya Yoshida: I don=t know yet. There is only one foal
session this year, so the number of foals on the market
is small, but there are many people who want to see
foals here [at Shadai Farm], so the interest remains
strong.@
Q: As the economy has tightened, have you diverted
more of your young stock to racing rather than tosales?
Teruya Yoshida: Shadai Farm has clients who are still
very active in racing and when they are happy to buy, I
am happy to sell. There is no difficulty in finding
clients, and when the cost of horses bred by Shadai isthe same, the quality is much better [in this kind ofmarket], so the benefit to clients is good. My businessplan has not changed.
Q: How many racing syndicates or groups is Shadai
involved with in racehorse ownership?
Teruya Yoshida: Most of the horses bought by clients
have one owner, although there is one large
partnership. With some expensive horses, like [G1Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) winner] Eishin Flash(Jpn) (King=s Best), we kept a half interest.@
Q: How many horses in training do you own?
Teruya Yoshida: Plenty (laughs). Including horses inwhich we keep 10-percent ownership, we have about
200 in training now. There are a few I have 100percent ownership in, like [G1 Yushun Himba (JapaneseOaks) dead-heat winner] Saint Emilion (Jpn) (Zenno RobRoy {Jpn}), and some others I have a 50-percent
interest in. Horses I have bred have been doing well, so
it doesn=t matter so much how big my interest is.
(smiles)
Q: Shadai is one of the world=s most prolific andsuccessful breeding farms. How much land does it
encompass and how many mares are in your broodmare
band?
Teruya Yoshida: AThere are about 500 hectares [about1,236 acres] total, with the main area about 300
hectares [741 acres] and another branch and a training
center. There are 450 mares, and we have about 60 to70 mares owned by clients that we board.@
Visit the TDN Q&A archive for aseries of in-depth one-on-one
interviews with interesting figuresin the industry.

Q: Do you keep horses in other countries?
Teruya Yoshida: We have one mare in America now andI have three two-year-olds in France that are Europeanbreds. Every summer we go to Deauville and it is fun tohave horses there. My trainers are Andre Fabre, DavidSmaga and Pascal Bary because we see those people
almost every morning at breakfast at our hotel and I
can greet them with a big smile.@
Q: You have acquired many outstanding mares inrecent years in Europe and America. What selection
criteria do you use and has there been any market thathas been particularly productive for you?
Teruya Yoshida: Any group (or graded) stakes winner isOK, but from my economic status, I buy many Italianand German group winners. Sometimes I buy Frenchmares because I have a good French agent [PatrickBarbe]. There have been many good mares I=ve boughtin America and at Tattersalls. If they are good, they will
be good anywhere. But we don=t know what will
happen until they produce foals, so I have to buy anumber of mares. Sometimes the expensive ones aren=tsuccessful and the so-so ones are. Maybe one or two
from 10 will be good ones. It=s fun to see how they go.
We are always looking if the price is OK.@
Q: Which horses would you rate the best you havebred?
Teruya Yoshida: Heart=s Cry (Jpn) (Sunday Silence), theG1 Dubai Sheema Classic winner [and the only
Japanese-bred to defeat Triple Crown winner Deep
Impact (Jpn) {Sunday Silence}], and Neo Universe (Jpn)(Sunday Silence), who won two Japanese Classic races
and now is a successful sire. We=ve been doing very
well. Our percentages of starters and winners are very
high and that is a good characteristic of this farm.
Q: Which horse in your consignment do you feel has
outstanding potential?
Teruya Yoshida: The Zenno Rob Roy colt foal (Hip 377)
out of winner Festa Delle Donna (Jpn) (HectorProtector). Everybody likes him, so maybe he will be
fairly expensive.
Q: With more than half the sale catalog formed by theoffspring of Sunday Silence or out of daughters or
granddaughters of Sunday Silence, has the influence ofthat blood exceeded a saturation point in Japan? Are
new lines needed and are you seeking new stallions for
the Shadai Stallion Station?
Teruya Yoshida: It=s a matter of course. We=ve been
[seeking new bloodlines and stallions] since mybabyhood. They are not so easy to find, but we have tomeet the challenge anyway.
Q: Which of the sires at the Shadai Stallion Station
could be the next national leader following the 13-year
reign of Sunday Silence and years following his death in2002 of other horses vying for the top position?

Teruya Yoshida: There are some good ones and they
are competing now. Sunday Silence=s son Zenno RobRoy [Japan=s 2004 Horse of the Year and 2009 leading
freshman sire who was produced by American Grade I
winner Roamin Rachel (Mining)] has a good chance. His
offspring look good and my feeling is he will besomething special.