ABOUT
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MONICA SAKURAI
Horses became a part of Monica's life when she turned 6 years old. From that time forward, Monica made it clear that competitive figure skating did not have the same appeal to her as the horses.
Prior to her career in the "Big Equitation", she rode in the Short Stirrup division and in the Hunter Pony division with excellent results on her ponies, Hillcrest Sandpiper and Field of Dreams. She moved up to the Children's Hunter Horse and Children's Equitation divisions with a mare named Step Aside. During her Junior riding career, she rode in the “Big Equitation" on the Northeast show circuits with her 17.3h Hanoverian gelding, Cat Burglar. When Monica was 13, the pair were Grand Champion and Grand Reserve Champion of the Fairfield-Westchester Professional Horsemen's Association Mini- Medal and the Mini- Maclay year-end finals respectively. The following year, they competed in all of the East Coast "Big Equitation" national finals including the Maclay, USEF Medal finals in Harrisburg, PA, USET East Coast Talent Search in Gladstone, NJ and the CHJA Junior Medal finals in Fairfield, CT (placing 6th) and qualified for New England Junior Medal Finals.
After retiring her equitation horse, Monica continued riding as a catch rider on an array of horses for a trainer specializing in imported youngsters for the hunter and equitation rings. At the age of 19, Monica successfully competed on Tisolde VDL, a 2000 KWPN mare imported by Sakura Hill Farm, LLC, in the 5- year old YJC Classes New York and New Jersey and went on to compete in the Junior-Amateur Jumper division.
Monica graduated in May, 2009, from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts as a Biology major with a minor in Russian Culture and Literature. While at Mount Holyoke, Monica competed in the Intercollegiate Open Division on the Hunt Seat Equitation team and consistently went to the Zone 4 Regionals.
Since graduation from Mount Holyoke College, Monica has focused on the jumpers; starting and educating young horses with a strong focus on flatwork and rideability. After having worked with United Kingdom Nations Cup rider John Brown through the summer of 2009, she began working with United Kingdom show jumper rider and Olympian Tim Stockdale in Northampton, England as well as his Young Horse trainer Daniel Delsart in the fall of that year.
She returned to Florida in 2010 to continue training with John Brown and has been training, riding, and competing Sakura Hill Farm horses and training youngsters for outside clients on a very selective basis. In 2013, she began training and riding for a private Hunter/Jumper farm and continued to produce Sakura Hill Farm's horses. Additionally, Monica has become an accomplished equine photographer as well as a website designer and social media manager/marketer founding her own business (The Equine Media Project) in 2011. Her diverse clientele include Sakura Hill Farm, Lake Ridge Farm, The Young Horse Show Series, Iconic Bay Equestrian, Seabreeze Farm, Bannockburn Farm and others.
In 2014 Monica purchased a farm in Osteen FL and opened Ryu Equestrian, where she will focus on boarding, breeding and the training of her own performance horses and youngsters. Her background in the world of competition as well as breeding, gives her a unique perspective allowing her to breed and produce horses that are better able to tackle the ever changing demands and challenges of the Equestrian Sport.
THE TEAM
Dr. Shannon Luznar DVM, DACT
(Reproductive Specialist)
The Equine Reproductive Center of Central Florida
Orlando Equine Veterinary Care
(General Veterinary Care)
Mark Male
(Farrier)
THE PHILOSOPHY
Breeding Horses Today, for the Equestrian Sport of Tomorrow.
Breeding horses today, for the Equestrian sport of tomorrow. We scour the globe, looking for outstanding pedigrees, performance records, approval results, and progeny, learning from our European and American mentors and paying close attention to their advice and taking advantage of their years of experience. No breeding decision is made lightly. We strive for perfection in every cross and all the while anticipate what changes the sport may undergo and what new challenges our foals will face to be highly competitive international-level athletes when they reach their prime.
Jumping talent is purported to be transferred to progeny through the dam, as such we endeavor to consolidate, enhance, and secure that talent through our carefully selected and robust mares whose bloodlines can be found at the top of the WBFSH Show Jumping rankings year after year. Our mare base consists of performance-producing foundation mares (many of whom were competitors themselves) selected with assistance and advisement of renowned breeders in Europe and North America to represent the best of the European bloodlines. Each was scrutinized thoroughly, and chosen in part for their own inherent abilities at the highest level, in addition to their proven sport producing bloodlines.
The highly sought-after dam sires, Ahorn, Heartbreaker, Ekstein and Quidam de Revel, as well as the valuable Dutch -niki and -nita mare lines are all well represented in our broodmare herd. Each of our jumper mares has no less than 38% blood to guarantee suitable crosses with today's stallions and the creation of prospects for today’s highest levels of equestrian sport.
We strive to never stop learning. We continue to broaden our knowledge base, researching the bloodlines at top of the international rankings, tracking their progress, and development, as we seek sires that are consistently producing International offspring. We take note of the European stallion approvals, paying close attention to young stallions as they begin to make their mark in Europe and take care to consider the jury’s commentary. We continually make use of these tools and others to maintain a modern, consistent, and adaptive breeding program that ensures we produce future international level prospects that can handle the demands of the modern competition ring.
 Quidam de Revel |
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 Ekstein |
 Heartbreaker |
 Quidam de Revel |
 Heartbreaker |
 Quidam de Revel |
 Quidam de Revel |
 Heartbreaker |
 Heartbreaker |
 Heartbreaker |
 Heartbreaker |
 Quidam de Revel |
 Ekstein |
 Ekstein |
 Ekstein |
Go On,
Raise the
Bar
 Niki B herself |
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 Palfrenier (Son of Niki) |
 Apollo (Son of Niki) |
 Apollo (Son of Niki) |
 Apollo (Son of Niki) |
 Miss Niki (Niki line mare) |
 Niki B herself |
 Vodka (Niki line mare) |
 Zaniki (Niki line Mare) |
 Cupid Shuffle (Niki Line gelding) |
COMPETITION
Our strong competition background and personal experience with many of our foundation broodmares having been proven in competition and/or through the KWPN IBOP (performance test) by Monica personally has given us a clear picture of their strengths and weaknesses than could not otherwise be gleaned. This level of understanding allows us to consider the unique genotypical and phenotypical attributes of our mares that may otherwise be overlooked and choose each cross accordingly. The diversity of our mare base, and our understanding of it, permits us to choose from among a large variety of stallions with proven production and performance records who themselves are out of international-level performance producing mare lines.
Any additions to our broodmare band are equally scrutinized with preference given to mares with a proven performance record at the highest levels of sport and dam lines that consistently produces the same.
Our goal has always been to produce sought-after, talented, and adaptable equestrian athletes with enhanced pedigrees for high level international competition.
Go On, Raise the Bar.
THE FARM
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