First Group 1 winner for Real Impact

Real Impact’s first-crop Japanese son Lauda Sion enlivened Sunday evening at Arrowfield Stud when he landed the ¥205 million (~A$2.9 million) Tokyo NHK Mile Cup 1600m G1 in a time of 1:32.5.

The 3YO colt defeated the favourite, last year’s Champion 2YO Filly and last-start 1000 Guineas runner-up Resistencia (by Daiwa Major) by 1.5 lengths, with Gilded Mirror (by Orfevre) third. 

Real Impact, who has 231 foals from his first three crops conceived at Arrowfield, is the first son of Deep Impact to sire a Group 1 winner. 

3c LAUDA SION (Real Impact) and Mirco Demuro 🇮🇹 winning the G1 NHK Mile for 3yos at Tokyo today in 1.32.5#JRA pic.twitter.com/gNot9a5afa

— G (@LongBallToNoOne) May 10, 2020

Lauda Sion’s jockey Mirco Demuro said after the race, “I knew that the track today ran better for front runners, and considering that he’s usually an evenly-paced colt, I planned to keep him well up in front.

“He’s always quick out of the gate so we were able to secure a good position and I felt he had plenty to outrun Christophe’s filly in the final stages.”

Bred by Katsumi Yoshida’s son Shunsuke and trained by Takashi Saito for Silk Racing, Lauda Sion is the fourth foal and best performer out of Antiphona (by Songandaprayer, a Grade 1-winning son of Unbridled’s Song).

Lauda Sion’s grand-dam Snatched is an unraced half-sister to Champion US 2YO Cuvee, and was bought by Dr Tsunoda for US$280,000 at Keeneland in January 2008.

Lauda Sion was one of Real Impact’s 15 first-crop 2YO winners in Japan last year and his leading earner, with two wins and a Group 3 placing from four starts. He opened his 3YO campaign with success in the Tokyo Crocus S. LR on 1 February and six weeks later a second placing in the Chukyo Falcon S. G3. 

Real Impact himself was second in the 2011 NHK Mile Cup and a month later won the Yasuda Kinen G1, also at 1600 metres. He subsequently travelled to Australia where lived up to his name with a superb front-running victory first-up in the 2015 George Ryder S. G1, before running second in the Doncaster Mile G1. Those performances earned him a Timeform figure of 124.  

Real Impact’s first-crop Australian runners are now rising three and Arrowfield’s Paul Messara, who trains five of them for the Stud, says, “They have the makings of lovely three-year-olds, with a little patience. Tempel One and Outburst in particular have shown ability and I’m looking forward to seeing them progress.”

Twenty-two yearlings from Real Impact’s second Australian crop have sold for an average price of $75,941 this year, with a top price of $220,000 achieved for Arrowfield’s Magic Millions filly out of Wingstack, purchased by Paul Perry. His top-priced colt out of Global Good was bought for $200,000 by Robert Roulston from the Supreme Thoroughbreds draft at the Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale.