The Kisaragi Sho (Japanese きさらぎ賞) is a Japanese Grade 3 horse race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run in February over a distance of 1800 metres at Kyoto Racecourse. The race is also known as the NHK Sho.

2026 winner 3 year colt colt, Zoroastro (Maurice – Almirena by Deep Impact) https://www.pedigreequery.com/zoroastro7

It’s Japan’s remarkable story – the purchase of Sunday Silence, what injected a breed-shaping development like no other in creation, the Japan ‘brand’ racehorse.

As a yearling Sunday Silence was considered undesirable, ‘skinny’, a modest pedigree growing into an unappealing stallion. His sire Halo got a difficult reputation yet by all accounts the Halo blood yielded a type to run on virtually any surface, being especially good and durable in mud and extremely competitive. He is of course a genetic ‘close’ to Northern Dancer. Sunday Silence simply was a whole lot more than what hit the eye.

The winning colt’s sire Maurice stands at A$55k shuttling to https://arrowfield.com.au/stallions/maurice/ Australia. Yearlings sold have averaged $197 – $200k, top price $600k.

In Australia, Maurice has produced multiple G1 winner Hitotsu and Mazu, (AUS-G1,1200m, Eagle Farm) & G1 performer, Cosmic Crusader. Maurice’s progeny achieve distances 1200m – 2400m.

At Arrowfield – Hitotsu stands for a fee of $22,000 serving 162 mares in his 1st season.

Maurice’s distaff develops through French breeding – @ the St Simon type @ TB-o1.

TB-o1 signature is a real and scientifically recognized Y-DNA haplogroup; it carries a powerful ancestral story.

Profiling Zoroastro > 4×3 Sunday Silence – 4×4 Sadler Wells – 5×5 Lyphard, taking attention to Maurice direct male line.

@ Silver Hawk by Roberto, daughter/dam Gris Vitesse duly dosage St Simon / Rablais blood#BT – Mat de Cocagne (Fr) Chouberski 5×5 + Kildare/Le Samaritain/ Le Sancy + Fastnet Alcantara, +Motley are of prescribed genetics, heart and soul.

What Japan appears to focus primarily, heads @ #BT type where though Lyphard by Northern Dancer, has that special dam Goofed (Court Martial) her dam Barra, primarily feminine #BT through 5×5 Chouberski.

French bred and exported to Brazil – Mat de Cocagne (Fr) biases #BT (Byerley Turk) lines, the constitutional makeup https://luizeduardolages.com/aiscan.htm.

Mat de Cocagne (Fr) is classified notably #female family 61 and the line @ ancestral origin Wyvills roan mare. Alike, #female family 61, King Fergus 1775 sire of Hambletonian, these distinguishing descendants indicates TB-M branch, crosses in several back strains to St Simon.

All branches of Rabelais, whether in France or South America, operated in the stout/professional areas of the functional diagram. St Simon down through Rabelais by the sequence: Biribi-Birikil-Mat de Cocagne-Al Mabsoot (FR). Stout “chefs-de-race” Typology of the Racehorse, Franco Varola

The difference between racing and breeding in South America and that in Europe prompted me to make an exception …….. to unify the stout and professional sections in a single, aptitudinal area. South American branches of Rabelais do not represent the standard, ………to prove that even in a different environment of the Rabelais line it has never given up its original vocation. ex- Franco Varola

@ Halo – 5×5 Blue Larkspur, recognize Roberto, 4×4 Blue Larkspur .

Blue Larkspur male-line expands Domino: interwoven history (thoroughbred & standardbred) by haplotype formulation competitive strains ‘speed’ the early and continuing technique upon American bred. It resulted to develop the breed specific speedier than what earlier English thoroughbreds had not achieved. More importantly is distinguishing how these lines are still the important jig-saw.

The invincibility blood: Hyperion/dam, Selene (male line – St Simon) to his daughter Lady Angela (Nearctic) and Aristophanes, son Forli > 5×6 Sadlers Wells. Another strain @ Forli placed to @ La Meilleure (IRE) dam of Sholokhov, Zoroastro’s 2nd dam sire.

The distaff – stamina German bred. Confusingly, 4th dam sire Kalaglow (IRE) is of GSB ‘error’ in not sire Kalamoun (IRE). (link)

• Zoroastro’s distaff has Catnip, 2nd dam of Nearco, female family 4-r. Zoroastro distaff (f.f. 4-r), Catnip, 2nd dam of Nearco!! The remarkable and undefeated Nereide (Ger) had distances 1000m to 2400m inclusive of a record set. These are the names – the wider breeding formats the incredible champions of the future. https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/taking-stock-of-n-names-nazis-and-new-beginnings/

Genetic relationships @ German breeding are of stamina stayers. Naxos (f.f.4-r) – champion 3-year-old filly in Germany, is fine bred for true ‘type’; breed rare specific conformation, tremendous shoulder, short back, long rump, the Dark Ronald’s typeset. German dams like Aversion, that came to culminate German bred crosses with the USA’s (Sadlers Wells) getting the classic breeder in Galileo and Sea the stars (Cape Cross/Green Desert USA). Thereof, also came the desirable international hybrid and its typology.

This is what Japan leads to – dynamic breeding.

Sires Maurice and Hitotsu (Aus) across Australian mares offers similar potential.