Triple Crown winners are the rarest of gems in the world of Thoroughbreds. Just the thought of a potential Triple Crown winner grabs the country's imagination. And completing that feat makes for a global sensation.
So perhaps it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that one of the more recent Triple Crown winners—American Pharoah —has become an in-demand stallion in horse racing-hungry Japan.
That demand might be on the verge of exploding if American Pharoah's son, the Japan-based Luxor Café, follows in his sire's hoofprints and wins the May 3 Kentucky Derby (G1) at Churchill Downs.
"Mr. (Noriyuki) Hori also trained Cafe Pharoah, who is the full brother to Luxor Cafe, and he was a multiple graded stakes, group 1 winner in Japan," said Kate Hunter, Churchill Downs Asia representative. "There are several other American Pharoahs that have run really well in Japan. It's to the point that when I've got Japanese coming to buy horses with me at Keeneland, they're either looking for mares in foal to Pharoah or mares they can get in foal to Pharoah and take back to Japan."
American Pharoah, the 2015 Triple Crown winner, has 54 runners in Japan. This year, American Pharoah has had 34 starters with 81 starts between them. They've tallied 17 wins among 11 winners.
American Pharoah's top active earners in Japan include Luxor Café ($379,057), June Blair ($389,874), and Escale ($401,856). Cafe Pharaoh, who last raced in 2023, won four group races, including two group 1, and earned $5,447,518 across Japan and the Middle East.
The sire began his stud career in 2016 after a 9-1-0 record from 11 starts and $8,650,300 in earnings. He stands this year at Ashford Stud near Versailles, Ky., for $45,000.
It's taken a little while for the Japanese auctions to reflect their affinity for the sire. Naturally, with the resume that American Pharoah carries, his first runner to enter a sales ring in Japan delivered a hefty price. The colt now known as Danon Pharoah sold for ¥194,400,000 at the 2018 Japan Racing Horse Association July Select Yearlings Sale. But then none sold in 2019, one in 2020 and 2021, before seven sold in 2022 and five in 2023.
Overall, American Pharoah is not the most successful sire in Japan, nor is he the best United States-bred sire by some measures. He ranks 61st overall and 16th among American stallions. But the biggest glaring difference is that the stallions he trails have hundreds more runners.
Drefong is the American-bred sire whose progeny have earned the most in Japan this year. His 281 runners have made 844 starts for earnings of $6,763,468 and an average earnings index of 1.70. American Pharoah has 36 runners that have made 86 starts for $1,111,598 in purse winnings. However, his progeny have an AEI of 2.13.
Based on AEI, as of April 29, American Pharoah ranks sixth among all sires in Japan, not just those from America.
With a growing appetite for American sires and their offspring in Japan, American Pharoah, who is the 14th leading sire by progeny earnings in North America, is the apple of many owners' and breeders' eyes.
One of American Pharoah's sons is now standing in Japan. Van Gogh, a European champion as a 2-year-old, has stood at East Stud in Hokkaido since 2022.
"They invested in the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years, and they've had a lot of good success," Hunter said." Nearly all of his offspring that have come to Japan have ended up as winners."
"He's a very popular sire over there," she added.
Luxor Café is no different.
Out of the More Than Ready mare Mary's Follies, Luxor Café needed three races last year before he broke his maiden, doing it in his final race as a 2-year-old. Starting with that win, he's churned out four consecutive victories. Luxor Café enters the Derby with a 4-1-0 record from six starts, including a perfect 3-for-3 record this year, all in stakes competition in Japan. He won his last start, the Fukuryu Stakes, by five lengths to secure his spot in the Derby.
He'll have Joao Moreira in the irons with a chance to put American Pharoah in another exclusive club. Should Luxor Café win the Derby, American Pharoah will join Gallant Fox, Count Fleet, and Seattle Slew as the only Triple Crown winners to sire a Derby winner.
