Rich Hill Stud shuttle stallion, Satono Aladdin, a son of champion sire Deep Impact, has made a good impression on buyers with his first foals sold at the Japan Racing Horse Association (JRHA) Select Sale at Northern Horse Park this week. With four foals from the first-crop of the Group 1 winning miler going under the hammer, they sold up to 56,000,000yen (NZ$773,295) and averaged 40,500,000yen (NZ$559,258).

Satono Aladdin won on debut as a two-year-old and was Group 3-placed as a juvenile before training on to dual Group 2 victories over 1400m and was successful up to 2000m during his career. He was the winner of eight races with his career highlight an outstanding performance to claim top honours in Japan's most prestigious mile – the Group 1 Yasuda Kinen (1600m) in Tokyo.

Satono Aladdin will stand his second season at Rich Hill Stud, near Matamata, this spring for $12,500+GST. “The guys at Shadai were really rapt with the way they sold and said there was plenty of positive feedback on his stock,” Rich Hill Stud Managing Director John Thompson said. “Naturally, we're really looking forward to his first New Zealand foals arriving shortly.”

In a strong market, where the two-day sale of foals and yearlings saw 416 lots sold from 455 lots offered, the gross for the sale was a record 20,516,000,000yen, NZ$283,347,953 which is 14.5% more than last year. The median price for a foal was 30,000,000yen (NZ$414,332).