Dual group 1-winning mare Emily Upjohn has been sold to Northern Farm and will relocate to Japan later this year.
"Emily Upjohn is a wonderful horse that I had seen race, so when I heard about (her sale), I jumped at it immediately," Shunsuke Yoshida, the vice president of the behemoth Hokkaido stud, told Japanese publication Nikkan Sports.
Formerly owned by the Lloyd Webber family, Jonathan Shack and Stuart Roden, the daughter of Sea The Stars retired after finishing eighth in the Breeders' Cup Turf (G1T) at Del Mar last November, and was sold in foal to unbeaten 2022 Horse of the Year Flightline .
After winning her only start as a juvenile in 2021, the John and Thady Gosden-trained mare had a fruitful classic campaign, which included group 3 glory in the 2022 Musidora Stakes (G3) at York before an agonizing short-head second to the Coolmore-owned Tuesday in the Epsom Oaks (G1). She capped the year with a first group 1 success, taking out the British Champions Fillies and Mares Stakes (G1) at Ascot in dominant style.
Emily Upjohn's career highlight came when she returned to Epsom the following June and captured a redemptive win in the Coronation Cup (G1), beating 2022 Irish Derby (G1) winner Westover by 1 3/4 lengths.
Despite not being at her best at 5 in 2024, the mare still managed three elite-level placings, two of those coming behind subsequent Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (G1) heroine Bluestocking in the Pretty Polly Stakes (G1) at the Curragh and the Prix Vermeille (G1) at Longchamp.
Bred by Lordship Stud and Sunderland Holding out of winning Barathea mare Hidden Brief, Emily Upjohn was a 60,000 guineas purchase out of Book 2 at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in 2020.
