denotes Keeneland Sales Graduate

Trainer Kojiro Hashiguchi and champion Gentildonna will become the newest members of the Japan Racing Association's Racing Hall of Fame Oct. 10, at an induction ceremony conducted at Kyoto Racecourse.

Kojiro Hashiguchi, 70, was born in Miyazaki, where his family owned an Arabian farm. After working as an assistant for several trainers, Hashiguchi started his own stable at Ritto Training Center in 1982.

Hashiguchi went on to train 991 winners, including 96 JRA graded stakes winners. In 2014, he won the Japanese Derby (Jpn-I) with Koji Maeda’s One and Only, his 20th contender in the Derby. He finished second four times prior. Hashiguchi also trained Heart’s Cry, who won the 2006 Dubai Sheema Classic (Jpn-I).

Gentildonna, the 2012 Japanese filly Triple Crown winner and five-time Japanese champion, as well as 2014 highweighted older mare in the UAE, has also earned her place in the JRA's Racing Hall of Fame.

Bred by Katsumi Yoshida's Northern Farm and owned by Sunday Racing Club, a syndication run by Yoshida's son, Gentildonna won 10 races from 19 starts.

The Deep Impact filly, out of Donna Blini, not only completed the Triple Tiara, she was the first 3-year-old filly to win and the only horse to achieve back-to-back wins in the Japan Cup (Jpn-I).

Her first foal, a filly by King Kamehameha, was born Feb. 15 and she is back in foal to King Kamehameha.

Fun House, the 2014 Broodmare of the Year, has produced another runner by Tapit   in Untapped, who will make her first start Sept. 16 in a one-mile maiden special weight for 2-year-old fillies at Churchill Downs.

Untapped is a full sister to 2014 champion 3-year-old filly Untapable, now retired, and the 3-year-old colt Taprize, who debuted April 23 but has not hit the board in three starts. Fun House also produced grade I winner Paddy O' Prado (El Prado).

All three siblings by Tapit are Winchell Thoroughbreds homebreds trained by Steve Asmussen.

Untapped posted a Churchill bullet Sept. 2, working five furlongs in 1:00 3/5 to rank fastest of 17 that day. The juvenile filly is the 4-1 favorite on the morning line.

Two other juvenile half sisters to grade I winners will debut Friday as well at Arlington International Racecourse going about five furlongs on the turf.

Chapeau Chic, by Hat Trick  , is out of the Joyeux Danseur mare Chic Dancer, who also produced 2015 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes (gr. IT) winner Her Emmynency.

The S.D. Brillie Partnership homebred has been training on the all weather-track at the Chicagoland oval for trainer Michele Boyce.

Scott Pierce's Gorgeous in Gold, trained by Michael Stidham, is a Malibu Moon   filly out of the Seeking the Gold mare Glasgow's Gold, who also produced grade I winner Swift Temper (Giant's Causeway). Glasglow's Gold has produced six winners from seven runners, including stakes winner Croisiere (Capote).

Stidham's other entry, Princess Lu Lu, is the 4-1 morning-line choice in the race.
 

Champion Tepin went out for light training over Woodbine's newly installed Tapeta main track at 6 a.m. EDT Sept. 15 under exercise rider Jason Hoyte, after arriving from New York a little after 5 p.m. one day prior.

The oustanding turf female of 2015, known as the "Queen of the Turf," brings a seven-race win streak into the Sept. 17 Ricoh Woodbine Mile (Can-IT). She will make her Canadian debut in the one-turn turf mile, seeking her sixth grade I score for owner Robert Masterson and trainer Mark Casse.
 
"She settled in perfect, as expected," said assistant trainer Norm Casse. "That's one of the things that makes her so special. She can go and do these things and never miss a beat. She was really happy yesterday and seems really happy this morning.

"I just wanted her to go out there and warm up a little bit and show a little of that energy she's been showing at Saratoga the past month. She looked really good."
 
Hoyte was pleased to be reunited with Tepin, who will go out for light training Sept. 16 as well.
 
"It was so nice to get on her. I haven't been on her since she was a 2-year-old," he said. "I can feel it in her that she has matured a lot. It's nice to get back on her. She was nice and relaxed."

After the first book of the Keeneland September yearling sale, a familiar name tops the leading consignor list by gross in Taylor Made Sales Agency. Clarkland Farm, behind the sale's Book 1 topper, leads by average for three or more sold.

Fifty horses consigned by Taylor Made sold for a total of $16,387,000, good for an average of $327,740. Gainesway ranks second by gross with 22 sold for a total of $10,570,000.

"The Keeneland September Yearling Sale is the heart and soul of the Thoroughbred industry," said Taylor Made's Duncan Taylor ahead of the sale. "All the buyers come here. What you find here that you don't find at any other sale in North America is that there are buyers from all over the world. It is an international buying bench." 

Since 2002, Taylor Made has finished as leading consignor by gross 11 times at Keeneland September. 

Clarkland sold three horses for an average price of $1,036,667, powered by the $3 million Scat Daddy   half brother to three-time champion Beholder and grade I winner and successful sire Into Mischief  .

Nancy and Fred Mitchell, as well as Nancy's daughter Marty Buckner, run the Lexington-based broodmare farm Clarkland Farm, also a major consignor. Clarkland has nine more horses consigned to Keeneland September.

For a second consecutive year the bulk of million-dollar yearlings during Book 1 for the Keeneland September sale came during the third session.

Maybe buyers begin feeling additional pressure as the availability of yearlings selected for exceptional conformation and pedigree starts waning. This week six of the eight horses bringing a million dollars or more sold during the third session compared with six of 11 in 2015.

Another constant was the dominating presence of leading North American sire Tapit   and top international sire War Front   among the seven-figure purchases. Gainesway's Tapit had the edge on War Front this year with four millionaires to War Front's two. These power buys gave Tapit a hat trick as the leading sire by gross sales ($18,560,000), by average ($612,500), and by median ($612,500) for 28 sold of 35 offered.

Claiborne Farm's War Front was the only other Book 1 sire with gross sales exceeding $10 million and an average above $600,000. War Front had gross sales of $11,865,000 for 18 sold of 26 offered and a $659,167 average.

The averages for both Tapit and War Front exceeded what their yearlings brought during the first three sessions of the 2015 September sale. Tapit's average increased 23% compared with 2015, and War Front's average rose 4%.

The next three leading sires by average for 2016 all had yearling values jump appreciable from a year ago.

WinStar Farm's Speightstown   and Adena Springs Kentucky's Ghostzapper   both made big leaps up the stallion ranks without the benefit of a million-dollar sale.

Speightstown, who was the ninth-leading sire by average in 2015 jumped in rank to the third spot with a $428,667 average from 15 sold. The son of Gone West and 2004 Eclipse champion sprinter had his average increase 36% from a year ago.

Ghostzapper, an Adena Springs homebred by Awesome Again and 2004 Horse of the Year, is the fourth-leading sire by average for this year's Book 1, with an average of $417,857 for seven sold. In 2015 Ghostzapper was the 18th-leading sire by average for the first three sessions of the September sale. His average grew by 57% between 2015 and 2016.

Ashford Stud's Scat Daddy  , who tragically died at age 11 in December 2015, made headlines Sept. 14 when his son out of Leslie's Lady, the dam of multiple champion Beholder and sire Into Mischief  , sold for $3 million to Coolmore associate M.V. Magnier. It was the highest September purchase since Mr. Besilu sold for $4.2 million in 2010.

The sale-topping purchase made Scat Daddy the fifth-leading Book 1 sire by average at $410,833 for 24 sold. The grade I-winning son of Johannesburg had a much stronger sale overall than a year ago, the $3 million purchase aside. This year he had four yearlings sell for $500,000 or more compared with none in 2015.