Dare to be different with Admire Mars
7 things to know about Japan’s Champion 2YO & three-time Group 1-winning miler Admire Mars, whose first Australian yearlings sell at Magic Millions 2024:
1. The success of the Sunday Silence sire-line doesn’t rest solely on the shoulders of Deep Impact. Sunday Silence has 55 other stakes-siring sons and 11 of them boast 30 or more stakeswinners. They include Daiwa Major, sire of Admire Mars, the best of his 8 Group 1 winners and 46 Group & Listed winners.
2. Daiwa Major actually heads Sunday Silence’s list of top performers, as the winner of three internationally rated Group One 1600-metre races: the Kyoto Mile Championship (twice) and the Yasuda Kinen. Named Japan’s Champion Sprinter-Miler in 2006 & 2007, Daiwa Major is a notable sire of 2YOs, with 13 stakeswinners at that age, 4 of them in elite company including Admire Mars and last Sunday’s Hanshin Juvenile Fillies G1 winner Ascoli Piceno.
3. Unbeaten in 4 starts at two including the Hanshin Asahi Hai Futurity S. G1, Admire Mars was Japan’s Champion 2YO of 2018 with a 116 rating – a figure bettered only once by a Japanese juvenile since 2005.
4. The following season Admire Mars was Japan’s joint Champion 3YO Miler after winning the Tokyo NHK Mile Cup G1 in 1:32.4, followed by his 2019 Hong Kong Mile G1 triumph at Sha Tin, where he defeated multiple Group 1 winners Waikuku, Beauty Generation, Indy Champ and Zaaki.
5. Admire Mars remains the only 3YO winner of the Hong Kong Mile since it achieved Group 1 status in 2000 and his winning time of 1:33.25 is the fastest of the past decade – faster than all 3 of Golden Sixty’s Hong Kong Mile victories, faster than Beauty Generation & Able Friend, and faster even than Maurice in 2015.
6. The first Japanese-bred Admire Mars yearlings impressed buyers at the 2023 JRHA Select Sale where they averaged ~A$600,000 and achieved a top price of ~A$1.5 million, paid for Northern Farm’s colt from a half-sister to Champion 3YO Filly Sinhalite.
7. Admire Mars has 5 fillies & 4 colts on offer at Magic Millions 2024 featuring:
Damsires Fastnet Rock, High Chaparral, Lope de Vega, Not A Single Doubt & Snitzel.
Relatives or descendants of Group 1 winners Banchee, Demerger, Go Indy Go, Katie Lee, Let’s Elope, Samadoubt, Shackleford, Southern Speed, Tuscan Evening, Xtravagant & Zarkava.
Check out Admire Mars’ Magic Millions 2024 draft here.
