Yabusame, a five-year-old son of Fine Needle, landed his biggest race of his career on Sunday, 11 January, when winning the Listed Yodo Tankyari Stakes. Run over 1200m on the turf at Kyoto, he beat 15 rivals by upwards of a neck, with Uncle Cross (Talismanic) in second.
Now the winner of five of his 15 starts, he had previously won two Open class contests in the Higashiyama Stakes and Sanuki Tokubetsu.
Bred by Nisshin Farm, Yabusame is out of the multiple winner Stellar Hope (Grass Wonder), who has produced eight winners including the Listed scorer Hopeful Sign (Monterosso).
Fine Needle, standing at a fee of 1,500,000 Yen in 2026, has sired a Group winner in each of his first four crops to race, beginning with A Shin Fencer, Culture Day, Abu Qir Bay, through to last season’s G3-winning juvenile colt A Shin Deed.
