Japanese wondermare Almond Eye has given birth to her first foal, a colt by Shadai Stallion Farm's high rising sire Epiphaneia, Almond Eye's breeder, Northern Racing, announced Jan. 13 on Twitter.
Welcome little boy !😍🥰 #almondeye#epiphania pic.twitter.com/kFJpKWkefJ
— Lemaire Christophe (@christo68914587) January 13, 2022
The daughter of Lord Kanaloa and the group 1-winning Sunday Silence mare Fuasaichi Pandora won 10 races for trainer Sakae Kunieda during a magnificent racing career, including nine at the highest level.
Among the big-race victories on Almond Eye's CV were the Dubai Turf Sponsored By DP World (G1), two Japan Cup (G1) scores, the Yushun Himba-Japanese Oaks (G1), the Oka Sho-Japanese One Thousand Guineas (G1), and the Victoria Mile (G1). She was the world's highest-rated mare or filly in 2020, on a mark of 124.
Now 7, she was retired to the breeding paddocks after her second Japan Cup success in 2020, in which she defeated that year's Japanese Triple Crown hero Contrail. Almond Eye captured 11 of 15 starts and bankrolled a remarkable $17,608,586 in lifetime earnings.
Epiphaneia, a grade 1-winning son of Symboli Kris S, is the sire of the top-class Daring Tact, the 2020 Japanese Triple Tiara heroine as well as 24 other stakes performers to date, including the newly crowned 2021 Japanese Horse of the Year Efforia and last month's Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1) captress Circle of Life.
Epiphaneia will stand the upcoming breeding season for a fee of JPY 18,000,000 (US$156,400).
