Maurice 2YO wins G1 Futurity Stakes
Maurice's 30 stakeswinners include 6 2YOs, among them Azula & Namesake in Australia. (PHOTO: Joan Faras)
Maurice delivered the perfect final flourish to Arrowfield’s sensational year when his 2YO son Admire Zoom scored an exuberant, 2.5 length victory in Sunday evening’s Kyoto Asahi Hai Futurity S. 1600m G1.
It was the colt’s third start from the same Yasuo Tomomichi stable & carrying the same Kondo family silks as Admire Mars who won the 2018 edition of the race.
All 5 current Arrowfield stallions with 3YO+ runners have now posted at least one Group 1 winner in 2024. They are collectively represented by 102 yearlings catalogued for Magic Millions 2025.
ADMIRE ZOOM is SW30 & the sixth Gr1 winner for Maurice in the Asahi Hai Futurity
Dam SW Daiwa Zoom
4×3 Sunday Silence@ArrowfieldStud @JRA_WorldRacing @LongBallToNoOne @netkeiba @tetrarch1911 @JRAVAN_info pic.twitter.com/KoWiZvIC8q
— Pedigree Update (@pedigreeupdate) December 15, 2024
Admire Zoom is Maurice’s first elite 2YO winner among 6 Group 1 winners, his 30th stakeswinner and the 2nd Group winner from his 2022 Japanese crop, after Group 3 winner Arte Veloce who started favourite in the Futurity and finished a somewhat unlucky 5th.
Admire Zoom’s jockey Yugo Kawada said, “He delivered exactly as he felt during the race. After his strong showing in his second start in the maiden race [a 3-length maiden win over 1600m at Kyoto on 10 November], I was confident that he wouldn’t lose today with that kind of performance.”
The colt will now aim to emulate recent Futurity winners & Champion 2YO Colts Admire Mars, Do Deuce & Jantar Mantar and match or exceed his juvenile success as a 3YO.
Maurice had two other juvenile winners in Japan this weekend, both also over 1600 metres: Denkmal, who scored in very quick time at Nakayama, and On The Move at Chukyo. They are among the 21 2YO winners that have put Maurice in 2nd spot on Japan’s 2024 2YO Sires’ Premiership.
Bred by Shadai Farm, Admire Zoom is out of the Listed winner Daiwa Zoom (by Sunday Silence’s son Heart’s Cry), from the family of dual US Group 1 2YO winner Strategic Maneuver, former Australian sire Archregent and 2023 Gosford Guineas LR winner Royal Tribute (by Snitzel).
[JRHA Select Sale 2023] Hip No.115 Maurice – Daiwa Zoom c. was purchased for 115 million yen. https://t.co/PJV5dfhaz1 #SelectSale pic.twitter.com/ZQV5zXbxvL
— JRHA-SELECT SALE (@SELECTSALE_eng) July 10, 2023
At ¥115 million (~A$1.1 million) Admire Zoom was Maurice’s top-priced yearling at the 2023 JRHA Select Sale, bought by Junko Kondo from the Shadai Farm draft.
Maurice has been effective in Japan with mares by Sunday Silence sons, a combination that has produced 28 stakes performers from 293 runners, 12 of them stakeswinners including Group 1 winners Admire Zoom & Geraldina.
Aided by Australia’s additional black type opportunities, he’s proving even more effective downunder with mares by Danehill’s sons & grandsons, siring 14 stakes performers & 8 stakeswinners from 101 runners bred that way – notably Group 1 winners Mazu (from a Flying Spur mare) and Arrowfield Magic Millions graduate Hitotsu (dam by Redoute’s Choice).
The first 24 yearlings from Maurice’s high quality 2023 crop – bred on a $82,500 fee in the wake of Hitotsu & Mazu – will be offered at Magic Millions 2025 and 15 of them are out of Danehill-line mares, including Arrowfield’s yearlings out of Group winners I Am Serious, Flying Evelyn, Mallory & Noire, and 4 lots out of Redoute’s Choice mares.
