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The date is Christmas Day 2005. The location is Nakayama, Tokyo. The race is the Arima Kinen and the result…well, that would make a significant impact on the UK and Irish Flat season, eighteen years later.
The three-year-old Deep Impact was the golden boy of Japanese racing, heavily supported to retain his unbeaten record with an eighth straight victory. In comparison, Heart's Cry had not won for over a year and connections were still licking their wounds following a nose defeat in the Japan Cup, behind another familiar face from the 2023 flat season: Frankie Dettori.
Heart's Cry, ridden by Christophe Lemaire, kicked for home with two furlongs to run and the excitement on track built to a crescendo of noise as Yutaka Take began to chase the leader aboard Deep Impact. The colt possessed a devastating turn of foot, but the line came too soon with brave Heart's Cry holding on for a half-length victory. It would be Deep Impact's only defeat on Japanese soil.
The pair were welcomed to the Japanese stallion ranks: Heart's Cry retired to the Shadai Stallion Station for an undisclosed fee in 2007 whilst Deep Impact joined his old foe in the same year, following a syndication deal worth approximately twenty-five million pounds. Both could boast European form – Heart's Cry had placed third in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Deep Impact filled the same position in the Group 1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe before a subsequent disqualification for a banned substance.
They were immediately popular with Japanese breeders. Deep Impact produced Real Impact in his first crop, who was Grade placed as a juvenile before a success in the Grade 1 Yasuda Kinen at three. Heart's Cry did even better – his son Win Variation took Grade 2 glory as a three-year-old and chased home Orfevre in the Japanese Derby and Japanese St Leger, accumulating earnings of over four million pounds during his career.
Both stallions achieved notoriety world-wide through their offspring. Heart's Cry's best progeny, Lys Gracieux, was a two-time Grade 1 winner in Japan before travelling to Australia for a Cox Plate success. The mare added the Arima Kinen, won by her sire, before retiring at the close of 2019. Deep Impact enjoyed UK Classic success in 2018 and 2021, with Saxon Warrior and Snowfall taking the 2000 Guineas and Oaks during their three-year-old campaigns.
In 2019, Deep Impact suffered a life-ending cervical fracture and Heart's Cry passed away four years later, having retired from stud duties. The two stallions achieved over 135 Group or Graded winners between them, with Deep Impact holding the title of Japanese Champion Sire for nine consecutive years between 2012 and 2020.
Success did not end there. In 2023, the two Japanese stallions would have a momentous influence on the UK and Irish Flat season with their two Aidan O'Brien-trained sons – Auguste Rodin and Continuous. Deep Impact's Auguste Rodin was touted as a possible Triple Crown contender following his effortless victory in the Group 1 Futurity Trophy as a juvenile and bounced back from 2000 Guineas defeat to take the Epsom Derby. The colt faced criticism after a lacklustre performance at Ascot, but appeared a different horse when recording a comfortable victory in the Group 1 Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown.
Meanwhile, Heart's Cry achieved new heights with his son Continuous. Well-beaten at Royal Ascot behind King Of Steel, the colt came to the fore with a victory in the Group 2 Great Voltigeur Stakes at York's Ebor Festival. He faced a significant test in the Group 1 St Leger at Doncaster in mid-September but relished the stamina test on soft ground to easily beat Frankie Dettori's mount Arrest by two-and-three-quarter lengths.
Deep Impact and Heart's Cry had already booked their place in Japanese horse-racing folklore and their exploits at stud had assured them a position in pedigrees for generations to come. Yet Classic success in the UK may have propelled them to new heights, with both Auguste Rodin and Continuous set to spear-head a new chapter for Coolmore, filling the empty shoes left behind by greats such as Galileo, Montjeu and Sadler's Wells.