Japan Cup Preview

目的地 東京

DESTINATION TOKYO 40th Japan Cup November 29, 2020

In association with

Racing Post Monday, July 6, 2020

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日本の競馬へようこそ

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WELCOME TO RACING IN JAPAN

hat do you think of when you hear the word Japan (and on this occasion please exclude the fine Aidan O’Brien-trained Group 1 winner Japan)?

It may bring to mind pictures of beautiful cherry blossoms, the symbolic and magnificent Mount Fuji, or the old wooden buildings of Kyoto with a lady walking by in a colorful kimono. If you are feeling hungry, you might think of sushi.

Those are typical images of Japan, but they are not the only ones. You must surely know more about Japan so please let me change the question. How many of the following Japanese words do you know: samurai, ninja, karate, judo, sumo, sashimi, ramen, udon, edamame, tempura, matcha, manga, karaoke?

I think most of you will know at least half of them. They describe things that are very Japanese and cannot be explained well in other languages. They have not been translated and so the original Japanese words are used all over the world. I think they show the uniqueness of a country which, because it is very different, continues to attract people from all over the world.

If I had asked the same question in the

1980s far fewer people would have been familiar with these words – most would have not even heard of them. Why? I think simply because of a lack of information. The culture, food and lifestyle of a country in far-east Asia were not covered frequently on television and newspapers. Besides, the language barrier had maintained Japan’s air of mystery to others.

Now, thanks to modern technology, you can access information on almost every subject, whenever and wherever you want, on your computer or smartphone. The Japanese language might be all Greek to you but if someone uploads detailed information in English on the internet then a convenient app or website can help you to figure out what is written (although unfortunately most are still far from perfect in translating Japanese into English).

I feel the situation in horseracing is

Q Which was the first British race to simulcast in Japan, allowing Japanese punters to bet?

A The Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2019 (Deirdre ran in the race)

similar. My seniors tell me that, back in 1981 when the Japan Racing Association established the first international invitational race, the Japan Cup, the most difficult part in inviting overseas horses to compete was in explaining what horseracing in Japan was like. No-one outside Japan knew that the meeting would be held to the correct international standards and that the racing was of a high level.

Nowadays, I assume you are more familiar with Japanese horseracing. You might know Japanese horses are getting stronger, that top British and Irish jockeys are regularly riding in Japan throughout the winter, and that it is a seriously huge business with excellent prize-money.

Japan is still mysterious, distant and different but I believe in horseracing terms it is not that different and, thanks to improved transport, not that difficult to travel to.

It is my sincere hope this publication will give you a greater knowledge and understanding of Japanese horseracing. It is a sport that fascinates Japanese people and we are looking forward to welcoming you to our racecourses and to Japan.

NOBU FURUTA JAPAN RACING ASSOCIATION GENERAL MANAGER, London

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PURE DEVOTION

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HOSE wanting to savour the Japan Cup in the fullest and most authentic manner might consider bringing a blanket, flask and patience. None are compulsory but to the most dedicated racing fans they are a must, for although one of the world’s greatest horseraces takes less than two and a half minutes to run, it offers the hardiest of devotees a magnificent marathon experience.

No matter what time you turn up you will get in, for Tokyo racecourse is one of the wonders of the racing world and accommodated no fewer than 187,524 people on Japan Cup day 1995. Even so, there are some who believe you cannot arrive too early – and in Japan, early almost certainly means earlier than anywhere else on the planet.

There was no racing on the Thursday evening of the 39th Japan Cup week last year but there was still a long line of prospective customers in the Fuchu suburb, queuing outside the track’s main entrance. At around 5pm the line was maybe 50-strong, its members there because, like the jockeys preparing to ride in Sunday’s showpiece event, they know the importance of position and timing at the gates. Once those gates opened at 8am on raceday they wanted to give themselves the best possible chance of obtaining their preferred position.

When the visiting Englishman approached, Kenji Yoshida immediately began preparing a cup of sweet tea. With him were Michiko Takarada and Lisa Wilson, each one of them part of a different group within the queue. Inside such groups a rotation system operates. Some spend the day outside the racecourse, others do the

On a visit to the Japan Cup Lee Mottershead encounters the world’s most dedicated horseracing fans night shift, supported by sleeping bags and a passion for racing that makes Japanese fans uniquely wonderful.

“I have been here for one week,” said Kenji. “If we just came on Sunday we would have no chance of getting the best positions.”

For Kenji that position was one overlooking the winning post. Michiko planned to sprint elsewhere when the gates were finally unlocked. After stating where that was, she offered a deep and meaningful reason for following racing.

“I want to have the best spot in the paddock to see my favourite horses and to take pictures,” she said. “In the paddock I can see them more closely than I could if I was at the winning post.

“The horses are cute and pretty. I see them as a shadow of my life. Sometimes the horses run well and sometimes they run not so well. They have good days and bad days.

It is like my life.”

For Kenji, life is enhanced by his hobby. “I like racing because, for me, it is a sport with no borders,” he declared. “Racing is very international. That is why we love it.”

There is certainly no doubting the Japan Cup’s international pedigree. Since its inauguration in 1981 the race has been won by horses trained in Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, America, Australia and New Zealand. Many a local champion has also been triumphant and seemingly also Japanese was the life-size robot horse who, together with a smaller robot pony, spent

Japan Cup week promoting the showpiece inside Tokyo’s always busy Shinjuku station.

The big lad had no name but still caused quite a stir by moving his head and whinnying on a regular basis. This is quite an achievement for a robot horse, although he did cost the Japan Racing Association in the region of 10 million yen, which is roughly £70,000 or €80,000, so they knew they were getting something good.

“At first, people think this must be a real horse,” said Hideki Abe, team manager in the JRA event promotions section, as a commuter stopped to stroke the beast, on whose back a model smiled and waved at transfixed passers-by. “One of our challenges is to attract new fans,” explained Abe. “We have to use eyecatching ways to do that, so we spend a lot of money. We are really proud of the facilities we have at our racecourses. We believe if people come they will enjoy themselves.”

As the clock ticked down to 8am on Sunday, 80,826 people were preparing to enjoy themselves at the races. A not inconsiderable number of them had already arrived, with very many waiting outside the

Q When was horseracing first held in Japan?

A 1860 – it was started by the British who settled in the Yokohama area after Japan opened up its borders in the Edo period

west gate entrance, which connects the racecourse to its railway station. In the polite, orderly line, soon-to-be racegoers had mats, bags, binoculars and a burning desire to obtain a plum home for the hours that followed. Here, again, was evidence that nowhere in the world are there racing fans remotely like Japanese racing fans.

Officials allowed us to watch the first race of the day (unofficial) but warned we could only view from certain pre-assigned positions. “It is dangerous,” more than one of them insisted. They were right. Rain had poured for three days in Tokyo, making the racing surface for horses soft and the racing surface for humans slippery. These, however, were seasoned campaigners. When the turnstiles opened they sprinted furiously but safely. It was, truth be told, a most remarkable sight. Hundred upon hundreds of men and women, some shouting instructions to others, darted towards a spot on the running rail or a favoured seat in the enormous grandstand, their gallop for glory accompanied by the day’s opening musical fanfare. Fortunately, there were no fallers, with no-one hitting the deck until race three.

The casualty then was Ryan Moore, who parted company with his mount, Lord Hommage, immediately after their close-up second in the long-distance juvenile maiden. Moore was unscathed and unruffled. With mud on his back, he quickly headed back into the tunnel where all runners and riders must return. Once weighing-in is completed, each race’s successful connections are then escorted to the winner’s circle, placed perfectly right in front of a vast grandstand that feels like a city in itself.

Frankie Dettori twice made that

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‘LIKE THE JOCKEYS PREPARING TO RIDE IN SUNDAY’S SHOWPIECE EVENT, THE FANS KNOW THE IMPORTANCE OF POSITION AND TIMING AT THE GATES’ triumphant journey on the Saturday and he made it again following another maiden on the Sunday. Prizes are presented on podiums, accompanied to the tune of Handel’s rousing hymn Thine Be The Glory.

Dettori is adored in these parts, as was obvious after the ceremony when admirers filled the air with shouts of, “Frankie!

Frankie! Frankie!” Each and every one wanted his autograph, some of which were given on pictures of Enable.

“Everyone goes crazy here,” Dettori said as he walked back down the tunnel. “I love it in Japan and really like the racing. They expect a lot from me and I try to give it to them.”

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ETTORI was not the only jockey being hero-worshipped. The paddock was lined with posters and blankets, on which famous names were displayed. A man in spectacles studied a form guide behind a banner with the Belgian flag that read ‘Soumillon: Bonne Chance’. They like Soumillon in Tokyo but they really like this country’s racing idol, a man who helped to make Japanese racing popular with the nation’s citizens. ‘You are the best, Yutaka Take’ said one large sheet, while another carried the message ‘The world’s number one jockey – Yutaka Take’.

Given the stars who were set to ride in the 2020 Japan Cup, there might have been some healthy debate about the identity of the world’s leading jockey. As well as Take, Dettori, Soumillion and Moore, William Buick, Oisin Murphy and the now Japanbased Christophe Lemaire were all set to take part in a 15-runner contest boasting an enormous first prize of £2,167,824. Yet in the Turfy merchandise shops sited around the

racecourse it was not a human but a horse who was attracting the greatest attention.

Selling liberally were plushies – small cuddly toys, to the uninitiated – of selected equine champions, including Almond Eye and Deirdre. None, however, was more popular than the doll with the familiar head and racing silks of Deep Impact, the Japanese racing icon who had died earlier in the year. Such was the popularity of the Japan Cup’s 2006 winner, the whole meeting was being held as ‘Deep Impact Memorial Day”’ while the Longines-sponsored Japan Cup itself had its title extended with the words ‘Deep Impact Memorial’.

You only had to stroll around the racecourse to see it was not an honour too far. The sport’s top horses are superstars in Japan. Proof of that could be found towards the east end of the track in the racecourse’s magnificent racing museum, a facility that, like many other things here, must be seen to be believed. Much of the ground floor was devoted to Deep Impact. On that particular weekend the exhibition featured flowers and heartfelt personal tributes that made it feel like a shrine to a lost icon.

That icon excelled on the track and subsequently excelled at stud. As the Japan Cup field circled in front of the stalls at just before 3.40pm, four of the runners were seeking to give their illustrious late father a fourth victory in Japan’s most international racing showpiece. That fourth victory would have been achieved had Suave Richard not proved too quick for Curren Bouquetd’or.

For winning jockey Murphy, it was an afternoon to remember, as it was for the winning groom, who, like Suave Richard’s jockey, collected five per cent of the win

Fans are in it for the long haul as they camp outside the racecourse gates and (above) the JRA’s robot horse promotes the event

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Q Who was the first British-based trainer to win the Japan Cup? A Clive Brittain – he landed it in 1986 with Jupiter Island prize-money, equivalent to £108,391 (Japan is a very good place to work in a racing yard). It was also an afternoon to remember for anyone experiencing this incredible occasion for the first time.

In the final countdown to the off-time, the racecourse was filled with the sound of tens of thousands of people singing, chanting and clapping in unison. The decibel level stayed high as they watched the action unfold, some using binoculars, some transfixed by the giant screen, others holding a mobile phone in the air, keen to capture the moment the 39th Japan Cup was won.

You could tell how much it had meant to the man in the saddle. Murphy adores Japan and Japan’s racing fans have quickly come to adore him. ‘Oisin Murphy You’re Champ’ stated another of those paddock-side banners. That champ, a young man who spends his winter months living and riding in Japan, was now a Japan Cup hero.

“This is a dream come true and a fantastic thing to happen,” he said, deep in the bowels of the tunnel, long after soaking up every second of the crowd’s acclaim.

“We have some amazing meetings in Europe, like Royal Ascot and the Arc weekend, but this is a little bit different,” he explained. “It’s a big deal. This race gets newspaper coverage for weeks on end here.

There’s only one Japan Cup and to put my name on it is massive.”

Also massive is the Japan Cup. It is one of the world’s greatest races and it provides one of the world’s greatest racing experiences, both for those who take part and those who watch. Even if you choose not to spend a night or two sleeping on the street, the Japan Cup is unforgettable.

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IS name would be extremely high on the list of go-to jockeys for the top trainers anywhere in the racing world, while the list of major international prizes to elude him gets shorter every year.

Ryan Moore lives for riding the best against the best. And for the 36-year-old that has meant spending three months of every year for most of the last decade in Japan.

During that time he has been associated with some of the country’s outstanding champions, notably Gentildonna and Maurice, while last autumn he got to experience at first hand the power and potential of a pair of outstanding two-yearolds in Salios and Contrail.

He has won many of the country’s top prizes as well as excelling on Japanesetrained horses at major meetings in Dubai and Hong Kong.

Moore first made Japan his winter home in 2012 but his links with the country’s horses and horsemen go back much further.

“My first time was in 2004 – it was a long time ago,” Moore says. “The first time I was very young and it was hard to work it all out.

But once you start riding in Japan Cups, races like that, you get to know the quality of the races and the horses. At that point it became more interesting.”

Moore’s star was rising rapidly in Europe, something that would not have escaped the attention of keen observers in Japan.

In 2010 he won his first Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe aboard Workforce, denying Nakayama Festa and Masayoshi Ebina by just a head, a result which to this day represents the closest a Japanese-trained horse has come to lifting Europe’s greatest prize.

The following month Moore headed to Kyoto to partner dual Classic winner Snow Fairy for Newmarket-based Ed Dunlop in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup. Snow Fairy’s success at Kyoto – one she would repeat in thrilling fashion 12 months later – sealed the deal as far as Japanese trainers and owners were concerned when it came to their estimation of Moore.

“Snow Fairy had won two Oaks but she was a little bit unfancied,” recalls Moore.

“She had run well without winning since the Irish Oaks and you never quite know how they’re going to perform in a different country.

“In her first win there she was exceptional.

It was a massive achievement because at that time it had been a good while since any European horse had won in Japan. It’s hard to say but it was probably as good a performance as she produced.

“We were a bit unsure what would happen. I always felt a filly who had won two Oaks should be competitive in races around the world but winning in Japan is very tough.”

Snow Fairy powered away from her rivals, who included Japanese Triple Crown heroine Apapane, to score by a yawning four lengths and in doing so put the first European win in Japan on the board since Alkaased in the 2005 Japan Cup. In 2011 the competition was just as stiff and listening to Moore now, completing the double on Snow Fairy was clearly a source of immense satisfaction.

He says: “That was a good day. She was fancied but Kyoto is not always a straightforward track and I switched her in down to the fence in the back straight. She didn’t win by far but she always felt like the winner throughout the race. It was a massive

WHO WOULDN’T WANT TO RIDE IN JAPAN? Regular visitor Ryan Moore tells Scott Burton why the country has long been his No. 1 racing destination

achievement to go back and win there again.”

With every passing year the magnitude of those two wins becomes more obvious, since no European-trained horse has scored at Grade 1 level in Japan in the intervening period.

Hori and the ‘Beast’ Maurice

The Japan Racing Association strikes a fine balancing act in attracting the best foreign riding talent on short-term contracts, with no more than five jockeys licensed in overseas jurisdictions allowed at any one time and each restricted to a maximum of three months across any calendar year.

Moore’s passage from occasional big-race visitor to someone who gears the European off-season around extended periods in Japan came about through trainer Noriyuki Hori, the man who oversaw the stellar career of Maurice and who has given Moore the leg-up in 11 of his 20 Group or Graded wins aboard Japanese horses.

“I think I’ve been going for Nori for eight or nine years and he’s trained some brilliant horses over that time. He’s been a pleasure

Q Which British-based jockeys rode in Japan on a short-term licence in 2019?

A Oisin Murphy, William Buick, Ryan Moore and Frankie Dettori. Between them they had 345 rides and 57 winners for total earnings of more than £11 million

to work with,” says Moore. “The same goes for all the JRA staff and the other trainers.

Everyone is always very polite and very helpful.

“Nori had spent time in England with Sir Michael Stoute. The JRA sends its young trainers out all around the world to get as much experience as they can with different people.

“Nori spent time with Michael, who was someone he always looked up to. As I was riding for Michael at the time he made contact and asked if I would go out. He organised it with an owner in the yard. You have a sponsoring trainer and owner and they do the paperwork.”

Hori has provided Moore with many of his biggest triumphs in Japan, thanks to horses such as Real Impact, Satono Crown and, most recently, Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes winner Salios.

But it is Maurice who has proved to be both Hori’s and Moore’s masterpiece to date, with the British rider aboard for four of the Screen Hero colt’s six Group and Grade 1 successes.

“He is an exceptional horse,” Moore says simply. “I actually rode him as a two-year-old when he was with another trainer. He had a big reputation but he kind of lost his way. Nori got him and he was brilliant.

“I rode him in four Group 1s for Nori and he won all four. He won the Mile Championship in Kyoto, which I’ve ridden in a few times and is as tough a mile race

as you’ll find anywhere. With 18 runners you need things to go right. And if they’re not going right you need an exceptional horse to win.

“Then he went to the Hong Kong Mile and beat Able Friend, who is as good a miler as Hong Kong has ever had.

“I got back on him the following year and he won the Tenno Sho Autumn, which I always liken to the equivalent of a Champion Stakes. Usually all the best horses turn up in it because it falls in a slot when

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JEAN-CHARLES BRIENS

Q Which Japanese-owned horse won the Eclipse Stakes in 1992?

A Kooyonga, owned by golf course entrepreneur Mitsuo Haga and named after the Kooyonga golf club in Adelaide, Australia was always a little bit hard to predict.”

The roar of the crowd

all the best are around. He won that well and then when he went back to Hong Kong he put up a freakish performance in the Cup.” Maurice raced in the colours of Kazumi Yoshida and by the time he swept aside a star-studded field in the 2016 Longines Hong Kong Cup, rumours were rife in the Japanese racing press that he would be sent straight to the Shadai stallion station.

When asked in the post-race press conference about whether Maurice had run his last race, Hori said somewhat playfully: “That’s what I keep reading.”

Moore says: “I wish I’d had another go on him in another big race because I thought he was exceptional.

“I was hoping he would back up for the Arima Kinen at a mile and a half because I thought he would have destroyed them at that trip. He was a brilliant horse.

“The only problem with Maurice was he was always complicated at the start and the stalls were in front of the grandstand that day [at Sha Tin]. He started slowly and gave himself work to do. But to be honest, when you let him down, he quickened as well as any horse I’ve ever ridden. He was an absolute beast.”

Moore has been just as popular with the country’s trainers when venturing outside

VINCE CALIGIURI (GETTY IMAGES)

Ryan Moore with trainer Noriyuki Hori after winning the 2016 Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin on the “exceptional” Maurice (left) who won four from four Group 1 races for the British jockey

their own backyard and he boasts a pair of Dubai World Cup night victories for Japan, partnering Real Steel to score in the 2016 Dubai Turf and the mighty Gentildonna for trainer Sei Ishikaza two years earlier in the Dubai Sheema Classic He had also been given the responsibility of riding Gentildonna in her successful Japan Cup defence in November 2013 and, while he is in no doubt as to the prestige attached to that race, in terms of pure performance it is the Dubai win which sticks out in Moore’s mind.

“When she won the Sheema I thought ‘Wow! she’s special’. That day in Dubai she just played with them.

“She was already a Japan Cup winner and when I rode her at Tokyo she won but she made very hard work of it. I was a bit confused by that performance.

“I then rode her the following year in the Japan Cup and she disappointed there [finishing fourth]. I should have then ridden her when she won the Arima Kinen but I went home for Christmas!

“Gentildonna was very good but she

It is clear from chatting with Moore that the Arima Kinen remains very near the top of big races on his to-do list.

The sheer noise generated by 100,000-plus people at Nakayama, or on Japan Cup day at Tokyo, is ample demonstration of how passionate Japanese racing fans are.

Moore points out that the size and scale of the JRA tracks means it is not always easy for those fans to get close to their heroes, although when the opportunity arises it is never wasted.

“You’re racing only twice a week with 12 races every meeting,” he explains. “They have a little photo opportunity for the winning horse. You’re really kept away from the fans for most of the time unless you ride a winner. Then you go up, have your picture taken and then there’s an opportunity to sign autographs. Every time you win there always seems to be a large group of people who want you to sign for them.

“They love their racing and their betting and I suppose it’s a lot harder to have contact with the jockeys and trainers in Japan than it would be in Britain or France or America, where you have to walk among the crowd a lot of the time to get to the parade ring.

“In Japan you get on them in the ring, you go out under these tunnels on to the track and then you race. You’re kept away from the fans. You hear them and the noise is always very loud for the big races.

“When you’re at the start for the Arima Kinen it’s like being in a football stadium.

You’re two and a half furlongs away but it’s still very loud. When you’re at the start for the Japan Cup you’re right in front of the grandstand and it’s very noisy. All you can see is people.”

Moore has established himself to the extent that he could walk into any yard in the world and expect to be offered some choice rides in big races, yet Japan is now his unquestioned second home after Newmarket.

The fact that the JRA calendar offers him the chance to race for some of the country’s most prestigious prizes once the heart of the European season ends is obviously one attraction.

But it is equally clear that the quality of horse he gets to ride is a key factor in Moore returning year after year, just as it has led Christophe Lemaire and Mirco Demuro to go one stage further and pass the exams to become full-time licence-holders in Japan.

“Fair play to them [Lemaire and Demuro] for getting themselves out there and doing the jobs they’ve done.

“The horses are fantastic, the sport could not be better run, and the prize-money is better than anywhere else in the world.

Hong Kong would be up there and those two would be the standout places but Japan has the advantage of its breeding.

“They would know how lucky they are and they feel very fortunate to be riding there.

The reality is that, if you ask any jockey around the world and they would want to be there.”

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Pioneering Irishman Harry Sweeney, president of Darley Japan, tells Tom Peacock about his love of breeding and racing in his adopted country

HE racing and bloodstock environment which first greeted Harry Sweeney in Japan back in 1990 bears little resemblance to the one which is admired the world over today. Arriving with scant knowledge of the country as a young Irish veterinarian commissioned to run a small stud farm in Hokkaido, Sweeney has been borne along by the tide and has remained ever since.

He became the first recognised foreign owner in the country and acquired his own stud, with Paca Paca Farm reaching the summit of the domestic sport by breeding 2012 Japanese Derby winner Deep Brilliante. So unique is his expertise that he is also president of Darley Japan.

“There has been an enormous improvement in the quality of bloodstock and the level of horsemanship in my time here, really enormous,” he says.

“If there was a gap between the quality of horses and horsemanship that probably explains why in the early days of the Japan Cup the foreign horses won it nearly all the time, but now it’s very difficult for a foreign horse to win it because the Japanese horses have caught up.”

Quite how they caught up provides a multi-faceted answer from Sweeney, but the arrival of one particular horse is an obvious starting point.

“The pedigrees have been improved,” he explains. “When I came initially they looked rather vague to me because there were a lot of traditional Japanese bloodlines; it’s almost a thing of the past now because the pedigrees here are truly international.

“That’s been changed by many factors.

One, of course, has been Sunday Silence, who has been an enormous influence on bloodstock in Japan, and his sons. Also, it became quite fashionable to buy mares abroad and a lot of the big farms have done that.”

Sunday Silence, whose captivating rivalry with Easy Goer yielded a Kentucky Derby and Preakness, was transferred to the Shadai Stallion Station upon his retirement in 1990. He was to virtually redraw Japan’s stud book in his image, with his son Deep Impact carrying on in a similar vein.

“He was a big, big influence,” Sweeney says. “He wasn’t particularly impressive –

COME AND SEE THE

MAGIC he was tall, leggy and lean. He got stock a bit like himself – maybe light of bone, with weakish hocks, but one thing about them, they absolutely all could run.

“The typical Sunday Silence characteristics are still prevalent in the industry here in Japan – the Japanese thoroughbred is taller than the European, and a lot of that comes from him.”

Sweeney feels the practice of importing bloodstock, which was concentrated at around the time of Sunday Silence but continues to the present day to include the likes of California Chrome and Harbinger, has had knock-on effects.

“There was no real tradition of sales around 30 years ago, most of the sales from farms were private transactions, and that’s changed significantly – the majority of horses have been transacted in the sales ring, much like in Europe and America ,” he says. “That transition has resulted in a great increase in the level of horsemanship,

preparation of yearlings, and so in.

“When I came to Japan initially, the biggest market was for foals, that’s unique to Japan, and it’s still the case that sometimes foals are more expensive than yearlings. This wouldn’t be a good place to be a pinhooker! But now yearling sales have taken off.

“It goes back to when the standard of Japanese pedigrees was rather thin and sparse so there was a rush to get the good horses. At that time, there was also a tradition of selling horses in utero, breeders would sell them before the foal was even born. It gradually changed to people

Q Which horse owned by the Queen is in the family line of Deep Impact, Japan’s champion sire?

A Deep Impact’s great-grandmother is Highclere, who won the 1,000 Guineas and Prix de Diane in 1974 for the Queen

Harry Sweeney at his Paca Paca Farm in Hokkaido with Love And Bubbles, dam of the 2012 Japanese Derby winner Deep Brillante

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KYODO NEWS (GETTY IMAGES)

buying them when they were a week old. I saw horses transacted for a million dollars when they were less than a week old.

“That doesn’t happen now, because there’s enough quality to go around. People are more selective and more judicious about how they do it.”

Although ownership in Japan has opened up a little since Sweeney jumped through hoops to obtain his licence, and Godolphin is one of the overseas entities now entitled to have runners, it is still the preserve of only a few.

“Despite the scale of the racing and the huge money here – it’s quite fantastic – not many foreign owners take it up,” he says.

“I suppose in the end people want to have a Royal Ascot winner. It doesn’t matter to them that if they had the equivalent horse in Japan the horse would be winning four or five times more prize-money.

“Racing is local to many people, they want to attend, bring their friends, enjoy the day at the races. For the same reason, perhaps

you don’t find too many Europeans with horses in training in Australia.”

Japanese connections, though, have been emboldened to become more adventurous in campaigning their horses. Agnes World broke new ground by winning the 2000 July Cup at Newmarket and tourists have become a more familiar sight, from the near-misses of El Condor Pasa and Orfevre in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe to last year’s dominance in the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival, the Hong Kong International and the popular victory of adopted Brit Deirdre in the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood.

The fans have come too, most famously when thousands descended on Longchamp in 2006 to watch the fabled Deep Impact endure another Arc near-miss. They have been cultivated by the attractions of racing at home.

“Certainly it’s a very cheap day out, even on Derby day it costs 200 Yen, which is not even £1.50, and that includes your racecard,” Sweeney says.

“It’s very easy to access because usually public transport, including train lines, pull up right outside the track; in the case of Tokyo, trains are zooming in every few minutes.

“It also doesn’t have the same requirement to dress up so

people go rather casually: young couples, college students, but huge, huge crowds.

You can get 120,000 at Tokyo for Derby day, it can be 140,000, 150,000 and the peak in my time is 180,000.

“The incredible thing is that these are just huge sporting stadia, they must be some of the greatest sporting stadia in the world because even if the crowd is huge it’s reasonably comfortable to get to the paddock, back up to your seat before the race starts – and there are seven tiers of grandstands.

“It’s not like Cheltenham, where you can’t move, and even if you have a seat you’ll have difficulty getting to it. It’s a pleasure to go there.”

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nd on one of the prestige days, the spectacle is even more arresting. “The Japan Cup is one of the great races, along with the Japanese Derby and Arima Kinen,” affirms Sweeney. “The atmosphere is just electric, that’s the only word to describe it, especially when there’s a bit of a parade and the horses go down to the start.

“When the starter calls them in, the crowd starts to clap and there’s a live fanfare as they start to load. The noise there, even after 30 years, it often gives me a kind of tingle in my spine, it’s just so exciting. And if you’re lucky enough to have a horse involved it’s just an absolutely incredible experience.

“There’s so much passion with the fans for the game, they make so much noise during the finish, it’s like nowhere else in the world. It’s like the sound you’d get at Anfield after Liverpool have scored, except that it’s sustained through the start of the race to the end of the race.”

It is not just the thrill of having a bet, either. Sweeney says he encounters interest in the sport before he has even made it to the track.

“Betting turnover is substantial but there’s a definite passion for horses here,” he says. “When I’m in Tokyo for a big race, say the Derby, I’ll often ask the taxi driver at random what he thinks. He might say, ‘I

don’t follow racing that closely but so-andso seems like a really good horse’. He’ll still be able to name the favourite.

“It’s very, very rare after getting in a taxi around Derby time for the driver to have no clue about it at all. If you asked that same question in London, I’d say you’d be very lucky to get a driver who knew anything about it at all.”

The Japan Cup has provided rich pickings across the global spectrum with American mare Mairzy Doates claiming the inaugural running in 1981. She was followed through the years by the pioneering Clive Brittain and Jupiter Island, Germany’s Lando and the New Zealand icon Horlicks. Latterly, Sweeney has witnessed triumphs for domestic champions such as Deep Impact, Vodka and Almond Eye. Asked to name a favourite, Sweeney pauses for thought.

“Gentildonna won a very thrilling race [in 2012],” he says. “She beat Orfevre, who had been the Arima Kinen and Derby winner, in a dramatic finish. The thing about these races is that because we have only 24 Group 1 races in the entire season, all of them will run against each other, even those in the same ownership, like Orfevre and Gentildonna.

“They can be dramatic just for the quality of the field as well, anywhere between eight, ten, 12 Group 1 winners landing up against each other. That’s unique.”

Despite that stream of early success, there has not been an overseas-trained winner of the Cup since Luca Cumani’s globetrotting Alkaased 15 years ago.

Sweeney acknowledges the abundance of other options at around the same time of year, such as the Breeders’ Cup and Hong Kong International races, are alluring and sometimes easier pickings for horses, but feels the occasion in Tokyo is enough of a pull to win over new connections.

“I suppose Japan is a little bit more intimidating for foreign owners and trainers, especially if you don’t speak Japanese or have someone to guide you around,” he muses. “But if trainers and owners came out here, they experienced it and saw the magic of it . . . it would make them feel they want to be part of it.”

Q Tenno Sho is the name of a Japanese Group 1 race. What does Tenno Sho mean?

A Emperor’s Cup. Two Tenno Sho are held in a year. Tenno Sho Spring is the only two-mile Group 1 race in Japan and is usually held on the first Sunday of May at Kyoto. The Tenno Sho Autumn, also a Group 1, is held at Tokyo racecourse, over 2,000 metres (1m2f), at the end of October

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A GIRL CALLED DEIRDRE

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ORSES become special to us for a variety of reasons: some for their pure brilliance, like Frankel or Deep Impact, others for being etched in global racing history, like Stanerra or Agnes World, while others are ultra-reliable, run with a warrior-like spirit and continually make their connections gleam with pride. But few horses have all these traits.

The outstanding mare Deirdre is one of them. Trained by Mitsuru Hashida and owned by Toji Morita, she takes everything in her stride no matter where in the world she has to perform and with the expectations of a nation on her shoulders.

All this while enjoying plenty of bananas, her favourite food, along the way.

Deirdre is a daughter of the outstanding middle-distance performer Harbinger out of the talented mare Reizend but was bought for the relatively reasonable price of 21,000,000 Japanese Yen (€171,000/ £155,000). It was her racing mind which really caught the attention of connections.

Her early love for competitive racing would go on to define her and she began to flourish on the gallops as she grew fond of her workrider Yuta Komiyama.

Seiko Hashida, the racing manager, reflects on the start of the six-year-old’s career: “In the early days she was a modest type of filly, but we could tell she has an inner fortitude. What I thought was special about her is she always had answers no matter what we asked her.

“She’s a friendly mare. Deirdre is very smart and understands who she is and what

James Stevens tells the story behind the popular globetrotting mare whose Group 1 exploits have made her Japan’s latest favourite export

we want. She looks calm, but she’s also timid and cautious. For instance, even when she looks okay, Yuta, the rider, can feel her heartbeat becoming faster when she finds something mysterious, then Yuta waits until she feels okay then they will go on.”

Deirdre was still physically immature in the spring of her three-year-old season and although she was running well she managed to win only once. She was pitched into Group 1 company in the Oka Sho, the Japanese equivalent of the 1,000 Guineas and staged at Hanshin, but Japanese racing fans could see she was a horse for the future and so she started as a 206-1 chance.

As the field turned for home, she raced in last position with 16 runners in front her in the dash to the line. Yasunari Iwata was patient and began to slice through the field with Deirdre swerving past tiring horses to seal sixth behind winner Reine Minoru.

It was clear she was talented and that she would develop over longer distances. And, having won on her next start at Kyoto, she ran another stormer at the top-level when finishing fourth in the Yushun Himba, the Japanese Oaks, behind the highly rated Soul Stirring. This was the promise connections were hoping for, and the moment her career transformed.

Victorious over at 2,000m (1m2f ) at Sapporo and then sealing a first Group success in the Shion Stakes in 2017, her date with destiny came in Shuka Sho. From 206-1 to 53-10, the confidence was behind Deirdre even if the wet conditions were against her. In fact, this was the toughest ground she had yet experienced on the racecourse. Racing from a midfield

Q Who was the first British horse to win a Group 1 race in Japan twice?

A Snow Fairy, trained by Ed Dunlop and ridden by Ryan Moore, won the Queen Elizabeth II Cup in 2010 and 2011 position she continued to gallop and speed up on the turn for home with Christophe Lemaire in the saddle for the first time. As the line approached she reached top gear, sprinting to finish for a first Group 1 win.

“The ground on Shuka Sho day was similar to the British description of soft, which is considered as the toughest surface for a Japanese racecourse,” trainer Mitsuru Hashida recalls. “We had to differ from the strategy we had planned before the race. She lost her position to 15th of 18 runners when they went through the second corner. She eventually started to move up from the rear around the third corner from outside, where she had to be all muddy.

“But she brought a sweeping victory with her change of gear in the final furlong. There was a time we felt it was going to be very difficult to win in the middle of the race but she and Christophe Lemaire made it.”

The maturity and quality in this breakthrough success had Deirdre’s connections dreaming of more riches away from Japan. Hashida adds: “I considered taking her abroad to race after the success of the Shuka Sho on soft ground. She was good at travelling and she was versatile, taking to different environments very well.”

An array of international targets were available but Hashida and the team had their hearts firmly set on attempting to become a part of the rich history of British horseracing.

“I have always thought Britain is the origin of horseracing,” says assistant trainer Yoshi Hashida. “Japanese horses are used to running on oval, flat tracks quite different from those in Britain, but it was necessary to get into the spirit of racing’s original home if we wished to truly understand the significance and history of horseracing.

“The first target was Royal Ascot and being a daughter of Harbinger was one of the big reasons for us giving it a try. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but diligent encouragement and kind support from the people in racing from the UK helped us tremendously.”

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ONNECTIONS had trips to Hong Kong and Dubai on the agenda before that. In her 2018 campaign, and in Deirdre’s first test outside of Japan, she finished a fine third in the ultra-competitive Dubai Turf, beaten by the outstanding Benbatl.

And at home that year she won twice at Graded level before finishing a good second in the Hong Kong Cup. She came to Britain in 2019 where she would be stabled at Abington Place stables in Newmarket, home of successful trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam. From there a buzz among British racing fans was beginning to develop as an ambitious European campaign began.

Her first test was the Prince of Wales’s

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DAN KITWOOD (GETTY IMAGES)

Stakes, the Group 1 feature on the second day of the meeting. As anticipation grew, the rain came on a miserable day at the racecourse just 30 miles west of central London. She shaped well but just failed to find that exuberance when sixth of eight runners as the conditions were massively in favour of her opponents.

And those opponents were outstanding: Crystal Ocean would win this race and become one of the highest-rated horses in the world in 2019, Magical finished second but would win two more Group 1 races that season and third-place Waldgeist would go on to Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe success just a few months later.

The dream then rolled on to the Qatar Goodwood Festival, another monumental meeting in the action-packed summer of racing in Britain. But this time Deirdre would be taking on her own sex - and some of Europe’s very best fillies and mares - in the Group 1 Nassau Stakes.

Hashida, reasoning that Goodwood is a tricky course, called on the experience of Oisin Murphy, on his way to becoming Britain’s champion jockey and with a passion for Japanese racing.

“I’d been riding Cheval Grand for the team

Q Which Japanese horse was the first to run in a Group 1 race in Britain?

A Speed Symboli ran in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 1969. His dam’s sire, Rising Light, was owned by King George VI

and they asked if I’d be interested and I was delighted,” Murphy says. “Deirdre’s the most beautiful filly with a wonderful temperament - she’ll make an incredible broodmare. She’s a great character and she’s built like a colt.”

With the ground more in her favour and with Deirdre now more experienced at racing in Britain, Hashida had confidence as they tackled the Nassau. He says: “Goodwood is a genuinely beautiful place. I was thrilled to witness the scenes and moments harmonised from horse-loving people and the racing industry. It made me feel I have touched the principle of horseracing’s history, and culture.

“Considering the run at Royal Ascot, and her rising curve of the condition afterward, I felt that we could have a good chance to win.”

Hashida was spot on. Murphy maintained her in a midfield position around the testing and undulating Goodwood track and, as they turned for home, he smoothly snuck her in a deadly position on the rail, poised for history. Mehdaayih, ridden by Frankie Dettori, was the first to show her hand, powering into the lead. The question was asked of Deirdre.

Initially she looked to be struggling but that grit and determination she had shown throughout her career came to fore as she moved upsides Mehdaayih and charged into the lead in the final yards. In just a few strides Deirdre had made global horseracing history to the delight of thousands watching on their TV screens back in Japan.

She became just the second Japanesetrained horse to win at the top-level in

Britain, 19 years on from Agnes World’s famous July Cup success, who made history for Hideyuki Mori and jockey Take.

“It’s the stuff of dreams,” reflects Murphy.

“My ambition as a child when watching the Japan Cup was to bring over Japanese horses so to give them a Group 1 in Britain is special as I knew how important that would be. It was a massive day for Japanese racing and they’ll do a lot more of it in the future.

“I didn’t feel any pressure before the race but the significance of it was massive. I’m over the moon for everyone who has made this happen, it’s brilliant.”

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ASHIDA adds: “Japanese fans would realise the importance the Nassau Stakes has when we look at the names of the winners. This would extend to our surprise when we noticed how many brilliant horses are the progeny of Nassau Stakes winners.

“The fans with a deep knowledge have appreciated it already, and we have had great acknowledgment from them. It’s brilliant to win a race with history, at a famous British racecourse, full of undulations and uniqueness, with a Japanese-bred, Japanese-trained horse.”

And for those in Japanese racing Deirdre has been an inspiration to fuel the dream of winning some of the world’s biggest races.

Only two months later more international success came with Lys Gracieux becoming the first Japanese winner of the Cox Plate, one of Australia’s most famous races.

“The campaign we had, I believe, has been

Deirdre’s crowning moment when landing the Group 1 Nassau Stakes at Goodwood under a jubilant Oisin Murphy – also pictured in a postrace embrace with trainer Mitsuru Hashida

a good opportunity for Japanese horsemen to get to know more about other racecourses, different from those in Asia, such as Japan, Dubai, or Hong Kong,” adds Hashida.

“I received good reaction from other trainers who would like to go abroad as we have with Deirdre and, as president of the Japanese Trainers’ Association, I’m very happy about that. These interests are sharply increasing and of course I would love to get more opportunities to race overseas.”

And while the inspiration of that day at Goodwood continues to resonate with thousands of passionate fans in Japan, her story has not finished yet and we can only imagine what her next chapter may include.

After her Goodwood success Deirdre continued to shine on the big stage with a fourth in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown and went one better in the British edition. She would run well again in Hong Kong and narrowly be denied more glory in Saudi Arabia. But now she is back in Britain, fresh from a fine fifth in the Eclipse at Sandown, one of Europe’s most acclaimed races.

There may be almost 6,000 miles separating Tokyo and London and horseracing may be quite different in the two countries but, when it comes to Deirdre, racing fans from both countries feel closer than ever in their admiration as she strives to continue making history.

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The barrier draw for the hugely popular Arima Kinen, whose all-star field is selected by public vote

AUtUMN GLORIES As the leaves start to turn there’s more than just the Japan Cup to be excited about, says Scott Burton

he Japan Cup has become something of a quest for the world’s greatest jockeys, with the roll of honour over the last 20 years including Frankie Dettori, Ryan Moore and Hugh Bowman – all winners of the Longines World’s Best Jockey Award – as well as global luminaries Olivier Peslier, Christophe Soumillon and, in 2019, Oisin Murphy.

For horsemen the race becomes a more prestigious target with every year that passes since the last winner to have been trained outside Japan in 2005.

Since then the list of top European horses to take up the challenge has included Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe heroines Danedream and Solemia, dual Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Conduit and multiple international Group 1 winner Cirrus Des Aigles.

That none have been able to cross the line in first place is testament to the strength of racing and breeding in Japan.

But, as has become obvious with the increased desire of Japanese owners and trainers to travel in search of international success, the tougher the challenge, the greater the incentive to try to overcome it.

While Japan Cup day at Tokyo is now firmly established as one of the key racing dates in the calendar, the whole autumn is a feast of top-quality racing.

Highlights include three further legs of the Autumn International series – the Queen Elizabeth II Cup, the Mile Championship and the Champions Cup on dirt – as well as a raft of informative two-year-old races and the traditional climax to the year in the Arima Kinen, where the field is assembled after a ballot of Japan’s passionate and knowledgeable fans.

Great Grand Prix departures

Run over an extended mile and a half (2,500 metres) at Nakayama at the end of December, the Arima Kinen (Grand Prix) was first run in 1956 and has developed into a hugely popular event.

The all-star field ensures public interest and it regularly attracts the biggest betting turnover of any race in the world.

Unlike almost all other top-level races in Japan the Arima Kinen has a televised post position draw which is attended by owners, trainers and jockeys, which these days is always a blend of the top Japan-based talent and leading international riders.

Its end-of-season date in the calendar also means it has provided the swansong for many of the country’s most successful and popular thoroughbreds, including the mighty Deep Impact, who drew a crowd of

117,251 to Nakayama in 2006 for his final racecourse appearance, the vast majority of whom stayed on after racing for his retirement ceremony.

While he already had six Grade 1 races to his credit, including the 2005 Triple Crown and the 2006 Japan Cup, there was still plenty on the line for the human entourage around Deep Impact.

Having suffered his first career defeat in the Arima Kinen when unable to reel in Heart’s Cry 12 months earlier, Deep Impact had also failed to give his true running at Longchamp in the Arc. Redemption came in the Japan Cup in late November but it was at Nakayama where he gave a bravura performance under Yutaka Take, coming from near last exiting the back straight to run right away from classy rivals.

Eleven years later Kitasan Black was another horse to exit the stage in glory at Nakayama, with Take once again orchestrating the show from the saddle.

A son of Deep Impact’s brother Black Tide, Kitasan Black became as famous for his owner Saburo Kitajima’s post-race serenading of the crowd as for his gallant attacking style from the front.

Having lost a shoe and his Japan Cup crown the previous month at Tokyo, Kitasan Black and a motionless Take roared back to their best in front of rapturous fans to put the seal on a glittering career, his seven Grade 1 wins a match for Deep Impact.

In 2019 Lys Gracieux became the latest advertisement for the Japanese policy of keeping the very best running past their three-year-old season.

She was a consistent Grade 1 performer at three and four but Yoshito Yahagi wrought even more improvement from her at five and, after posting Japan’s first win in Australia’s most important weight-for-age race, the Cox Plate, Lys Gracieux became the latest superstar to round off her racing days with an emotional farewell success in the Arima Kinen under Damian Lane.

International heritage

Given how late in the year it falls, foreign participation in the Arima Kinen has yet to materialise since the race was opened up to international competition.

But there is both incentive and precedent

Q Which Japanese horses have won Group 1 races in Britain?

A Agnes World won the July Cup in 2000 and Deirdre landed the 2019 Nassau Stakes

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when it comes to the JRA’s Autumn International series, four races which carry not only handsome prize-money but also attractive bonuses to the winners of some of the best races staged around the world earlier in the year.

The Queen Elizabeth II Cup is run for fillies and mares in mid November and is regularly won by a top-notcher.

In 2019 the Christophe Soumillonpartnered Lucky Lilac emerged from the shadow of Almond Eye to register a second career Grade 1 victory, while in 2018 it was Lys Gracieux and Joao Moreira who arrived fast and late to catch Crocosmia, who has the unfortunate distinction of having finished runner-up in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup three times.

In the 12 years or so after the race became an internationally recognised Grade 1 event, it attracted a steady stream of foreign fillies and mares, with a pair of French-trained pioneers setting down an impressive marker in 2003.

Tigertail had already raced in four different countries that season before arriving in Kyoto, where she produced a thrilling effort under Thierry Gillet to be third, beaten a length and a half by Admire Groove.

Trainer Rodolphe Collet enjoyed further reward for his enterprise a fortnight later

‘THE ARIMA KINEN’S ALL-STAR FIELD ENSURES PUBLIC INTEREST AND IT REGULARLY ATTRACTS THE BIGGEST BETTING TURNOVER OF ANY RACE IN THE WORLD’ when Tigertail ran sixth behind Tap Dance City in the Japan Cup. Compatriot Ana Marie finished eighth under 22-year-old Soumillon and would also go on to face the starter in Tokyo at the end of the month.

It was largely French trainers who targeted the Queen Elizabeth II Cup over the next few seasons, with the Aga Khan’s Prix de l’Opera heroine Shalanaya performing best of the visitors when fourth in 2009, one of the race’s more sensational editions.

Buena Vista had been beaten a nose in her attempt to land the fillies’ Triple Crown the previous month and was sent off the red-hot 3-5 favourite, but could manage only third behind Queen Spumante and T M Precure, who were allowed to open up a huge lead on the chasing field and were returned at 76-1 and 91-1 by disbelieving Japanese punters.

Up to this point British interest in the race had been limited to Kitasan Black bowed out with success in the 2017 Arima Kinen after having been placed at Nakayama in two previous tries

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Q Which of the following are races in Japan? a) The Queen Elizabeth II Cup b) Lord Derby Challenge Trophy c) Epsom Cup d) Doncaster Cup A All of them third horse this century to complete the Yasuda Kinen-Mile Championship double in the same season, bringing further riches to the Silk Racing Syndicate, whose sky blue and red silks have become so famous through the exploits of Almond Eye. The size of Indy Champ’s achievement can be measured by the stature of his two predecessors, Maurice in 2015 and Daiwa Major in 2007, who would both rank extremely highly in terms of Japanese horses to have excelled at below the Derby distance.

Maurice capped his 2015 campaign with victory in the Longines Hong Kong Mile at Sha Tin, matching the achievement of Hat The Snow Fairy team celebrate the first of her two Queen Elizabeth II Cup wins at Kyoto in 2010 Trick ten years earlier.

While the Yasuda Kinen’s position in the careered to a four-length success. the James Given-trained Summitville, who calendar makes it an unlikely target for finished out of the money in 2005.

The Japanese racing public knew exactly European milers, Hong Kong’s top milers But in 2010 one of the country’s most what to expect 12 months later when have taken up the challenge on several internationally minded handlers, Ed Dunlop and Moore returned with Snow occasions, with Fairy King Prawn making Dunlop, set his sights on Kyoto with his dual Fairy to defend their title but a wide draw in the breakthrough in 2000.

Oaks winner Snow Fairy. stall 16 looked a significant drawback, while The Mile Championship has a similar Ryan Moore had been aboard for her joining her on the trip from Britain was that bonus structure to the Queen Elizabeth II Classic victories at Epsom and the Curragh season’s Oaks heroine, Dancing Rain.

Cup, with $700,000 on offer for any horse and the pair were reunited against a Moore was forced to bide his time who can take the prize having also full field which included in rear but never once triumphed earlier in the season in any one Apapane, who a month forsook the rail and, in of ten top international Group 1s spanning earlier had become the wide open spaces Britain, France, Hong Kong, Dubai and the third winner of of the Kyoto Canada. the fillies’ Triple straight Snow The Chantilly-based Collet family were the Crown, as well Fairy took off in last trainers from outside Japan to head to as Canadian breathtaking the Mile Championship in 2011, with challenger fashion to Rodolphe saddling Saphresa – a three-time Ave. burst winner of Newmarket’s Sun Chariot Stakes, Moore between her a race which is now part of the bonus tracked his rivals for a programme – while his father Robert ran main second Royal Ascot winner Immortal Verse. danger historic The six-year-old Saphresa fared best of Masayoshi success. the French fillies when flying home to take Ebina and It is some third under Christophe Lemaire, while Apapane irony that Immortal Verse also performed creditably throughout since that in seventh. the race but as 2011 triumph Saphresa was a standing dish at Kyoto for the field fanned no foreignthree consecutive seasons, also finishing out into the trained runners third in 2009 and fourth in 2010. straight, took Snow have graced the By the time she ran third to Eishin Apollon Fairy back to the inside Queen Elizabeth II Cup in the 2011 Mile Championship she had rail from where she but, with a glittering list of 11 been purchased by leading Japanese owner races worldwide which offer Teruya Yoshida, and her legacy continues to Maurice, winner of the Mile Championship in 2015, ranks high among Japanese horses bonuses for the winners if they can run first, this day, as her son by Deep to have excelled at below the Derby distance second or third, the incentives to launch a Impact, Satono Impresa, fresh challenge have never finished fourth to Contrail in Christophe Soumillon been greater. celebrates 2019 Queen this season’s Tokyo Yushun Elizabeth Cup victory Like the Queen (Derby). on Lucky Lilac Elizabeth II Cup the The final weeks of the Mile Championship year also feature a trio of temporarily Grade 1 races for twomoves from Kyoto year-olds with a fine to Hanshin in track record in November 2020 unearthing future while its traditional stars. home closes for The Hanshin redevelopment.

Juvenile Fillies as well as One of only two all-age the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes Grade 1s over the trip in the and the Hopeful Stakes have Japanese calendar alongside June’s proved hugely influential in recent Yasuda Kinen, it is the major years, wth Rey De Oro, Lucky Lilac, autumn target for milers, the best Saturnalia and Contrail having of which will then often bid to round gone on to Classic glory the off their season in Hong Kong the following season after winning one following month. of these end-of-year championship In 2019 Indy Champ became the events.

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JAPAN CUP WINNERS MAKE A DEEP IMPACT ON THE BREED If a £2.14m first prize was not enough of an incentive to make the trip, a prestigious future stallion career in Japan is all but guaranteed, says Andrew Hawkins

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HE breeding game is changing and evolving around the world.

Federico Tesio once said: “The thoroughbred exists because its selection has depended, not on experts, technicians or zoologists, but on a piece of wood: the winning post of the Epsom Derby.

If you base your criteria on anything else, you will get something else, not the thoroughbred.”

However, the most attractive traits to breeders are changing in jurisdictions right across the globe, with speed and precocity generally the most prized assets on offer.

In countries such as Australia and the United States, this has been a decades-long trend with the majority of their races geared for sprinter-milers, while this has also been the case for most of Asia.

However, even in traditional staminaheavy jurisdictions such as Britain, Ireland, France and Germany, there has been a move towards producing horses who are more likely to be early developers and better performers over shorter distances.

Commercially, it makes sense; a latedeveloper requires patience and is unlikely to attract the same plaudits and prestige as once would have been the case.

However, Japan is one country where stamina in the racehorse is still considered to be commercially appealing and where most of the leading stallions provide stout influences. The incredible success of the late Deep Impact is just one example among many.

“I think Japan is one of the last jurisdictions that prizes stamina as a desirable trait, although usually in unison with speed,” says Kate Hunter, president of Japanese thoroughbred organisation Marugai Racing. “It is a very old-school approach of trying regularly to mix speed and stamina together to bring out the best of both worlds.

“Japan also highly prizes the longerdistances races held around the world as the epitome of racing excellence – you need only to look at the Japanese focus on the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe to see that.

“If those are the races they wish to focus on, stamina is key to making a victory possible.”

Of the top 12 stallions in Japan last season only three were genuine sprintermilers: the freakish Lord Kanaloa, who is by a prolific stayer in King Kamehameha and has already produced a Japan Cup winner in Almond Eye; the Australian-bred Kinshasa No Kiseki; and dirt performer and producer South Vigorous.

The other nine – Deep Impact, Heart’s Cry, Stay Gold, King Kamehameha, Rulership, Daiwa Major, Gold Allure, Orfevre and Harbinger – all performed to some degree at a mile and a half. Even a horse such as Daiwa Major, who was best between a mile and a mile and a quarter, stretched out to the longer trip to twice run third behind Deep Impact and Matsurida Gogh in the Arima Kinen.

“Due to the way a typical Japanese racing season is structured, having a horse who can race as more than a specialist is almost vital,” Hunter says. “Having a horse who can perform only under a specific set of conditions is incredibly limiting, which is why you see most top stallions or top racemares usually showing aptitude as a sprinter/miler, as a miler/Classic type or emerging in the Classic/stayer mould.

“I think the local constructs have helped to keep stamina at the forefront of breeding and have prevented Japan from falling into the same speed-only focus you see most other top-class nations spiralling towards.”

Races like the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) and Arima Kinen hold an important place in the hearts of Japanese racing fans and horsemen, but a winner of the Japan Cup, defeating all-comers from around the world to keep the trophy on home soil, is as prized as they come.

“Japan has four really big races. For three-year-olds, obviously the 2400-metre Derby, the Tokyo Yushun, is king,” Hunter says. “For older horses, they have their own autumn triple crown with the 2,000-metre Tenno Sho Aki, or Autumn; the 2,400-metre Japan Cup, and the Arima Kinen over 2,500 metres. To capture all three is a rare feat

and, while the Arima Kinen may be a little more dear to local hearts as the yearly grand finale, and the Tenno Sho has a longer history, the Japan Cup sits firmly as a true test because it attracts so many good horses.”

In its 40-year history, the Japan Cup has gone from an international showcase, with nine of the first 11 winners trained abroad, to a Japanese-dominated affair, with only two foreign winners since 1997.

In the last decade, 36 international gallopers have competed without success.

None have finished closer than fifth, achieved by Dunaden in 2013 and Idaho in 2017, while Arc winner Danedream

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Q Have any Japanese horses ever entered the Grand National?

A Yes, Fujino-O in 1966. Sent to Britain to be trained for Aintree by Fulke Walwyn, Fujino-O was given automatic top weight. Sent off at 100-1, he refused at the 15th fence

finished sixth in 2011. Last year was the first time no foreign raider contested the race.

“As the symbol of international races in Japan, the Japan Cup has a unique role in the racing calendar and makes it almost incomparable when you have a solid foreign contingent involved,” Hunter says.

“Hopefully, further financial incentive will bring more runners so the Japan Cup can keep its status as one of the world’s most important races.”

Victory in the Japan Cup offers far more for a colt and its connections than simply the 300 million yen (£2.14 million) first prize. It would all but guarantee a future stallion career in Japan.

The last three foreigners to win the Japan Cup – Pilsudski, Falbrav and Alkaased – were given the opportunity to stand at stud in Japan, while other international victors Pay The Butler and Golden Pheasant also found a home in the country.

The late, great Deep Impact – imperious winner of the Japan Cup in 2006 and seven-time champion sire before his death last year – at Shadai stallion station

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SHADAI STALLION STATION

UCCESS now, though, would be far more lucrative, given just how strong the Japanese ranks have become since Alkaased’s narrow victory over Heart’s Cry in 2005.

“Since most past foreign winners of the Japan Cup have stood in Japan, a foreign winner of the Japan Cup now would instantly get an offer from a Japanese stud farm, without a doubt,” Hunter says. “The Galileos and Dubawis have not had the best of luck in Japan but the Japanese respect those lines greatly. If they could win, especially over firm ground in Japan, there would be more than just the Japan Racing Association bonus and prize-money up for grabs.

“Ever since the Japanese started asserting their dominance in the Japan Cup, it has been a symbol of pride to see how strong their locally bred horses have become.

While that pride might take a hit if they were to lose to a foreign raider, I think the

excitement of finding a horse that good to join their breeding ranks would soon soothe any bruised ego.”

Hunter says that it is the quality of international participation that elevates the Japan Cup to its position of importance on both the local and global calendars.

“The more international runners who line up, the greater the race is elevated,” she says. “Being able to say you not only beat the best of your generation among the domestic ranks but also the top foreign contenders vastly improves your ranking and your perception, especially if you’re looking to create a stallion.

“That would hold equally true, if not more so, for a foreign runner who won the Japan Cup. With a few good internationals loading into the gate it can easily become the best race of the year.”

What could also make an international winner of the Japan Cup so attractive to Japanese breeders is the fact they almost certainly will offer an outcross to Sunday Silence, the late all-conquering champion American galloper who has had a bigger impact on the Japanese breeding industry than any other thoroughbred.

Sunday Silence and his sons, particularly Deep Impact but including a raft of leading stallions such as Heart’s Cry, Stay Gold, Special Week, Fuji Kiseki and Daiwa Major, have had such success across the board there is a need to find alternative bloodlines.

“For a long while finding new mares has been one of the key focuses of Japanese breeders,” Hunter adds. “We have managed to develop quite a stable of impressively talented Japanese-bred stallions over the past 20 years. But with every new foal born you are perpetuating Sunday Silence blood so finding new stallions to outcross them with is a yearly struggle for a lot of breeders.

We will normally see five or more foreign imports arrive in Japan each year to work on balancing the studbook.

“A foreign Japan Cup winner would be immensely popular for that reason alone, not to mention the prestige they would instantly have for toppling the best locals.”

So what attributes are required for a Japan Cup winner shipping from abroad?

Hunter says that ground is a major factor, noting that the most recent foreign winners – Alkaased, Falbrav, Pilsudski, Singspiel and Lando – all had won on a firm or good to firm surface.

“I think the right horse to come to a Japan Cup is proven in handling quick ground, as it more than likely will be a fast track,” Hunter adds. “Not only is that likely to be an asset in the race itself, but for breeders who are scouting potential stallion prospects, fast-track form is crucial.

“I’d also say it’s critical for a horse to have a high-class turn of foot as most races at Tokyo are won by coming off the pace with a good closing kick. That was Deep Impact’s signature move and it really is a strong asset.”

Immortality awaits the next foreign winner of the Japan Cup.

TOKYO 16

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HOW COULD YOU

SAY NO?

N

owhere in the world is there racing like Japanese racing. This should come as no surprise for Japan is like nowhere else in the world. Experience a few days in its capital city and you will surely agree.

No matter what you have read about it, no matter how many times you have seen it on film and television screens, Tokyo is more than you imagined. It is bigger, bolder and busier than you believed, yet look in different places and it is peaceful, relaxing and serene. Tokyo is whatever you want it to be, not least delicious. It is a place like no other.

At first it can be almost overwhelming. For western visitors the initial submersion may be daunting, not least because Tokyo looks different due to the different script. Much of what is written on shop windows, neon signs and billboards is only comprehendible if you are familiar with the Japanese language.

It may take a short while to settle yourself into the new reality but it really only does take a short while. The mystery is part of the magic.

To get an instant dose of Tokyo in a single scene you should do what everyone who comes here does. So populated is the Shibuya Crossing it feels like everyone is doing it at once. This is a bigger, bolder, madder version of Piccadilly Circus. It is not a palace, tower or bridge, yet an intersection slap bang in front of a railway station is perhaps the most identifiable and iconic of all Tokyo’s landmarks.

A plethora of roads converge into one scramble junction. Pivot on the spot and you see buildings and brightness. Far from the ground are enormous television screens pumping out advertisements. Traffic flows from here and there into everywhere as pedestrians form vast huddles at the corner of the adjoining pavements.

Suddenly, all the traffic comes to a halt.

For a brief second you see a completely empty crossing. Then, as if released from sets of starting stalls, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people pour into the thoroughfare, weaving left and right, so that they somehow manage to avoid each other and reach their chosen destination. It is manic and it is mayhem but it works. Never has crossing the road been more thrilling.

Lee Mottershead recounts his experiences as a first-time visitor to the capital for the Japan Cup last November

Once you’ve done it you might even want to return in the opposite direction, just so you can do it again. If you don’t, you’ll probably hang around to watch all the others take on the challenge.

The journey from Shibuya to Shiodome is around seven kilometres. You could walk or get a taxi but when in Tokyo it seems wrong not to take advantage of the superb public transport system where possible. For long journeys away from Tokyo the famous Shinkansen bullet trains provide rides that in themselves form part of the core tourist experience. The trains are wonderfully regular, incredibly reliable and fast, but so smooth does it feel from your seat that it is hard to believe you are hurtling along at up to 320 kilometres per hour.

The local trains do not move quite so fast but they are musical. As a train leaves a station a short, cheery jingle is played. At the next station a different bell-like ditty will ring out, for stations, lines and stops all have their own departure melodies. When you emerge into the clean, modern commercial district of Shiodome, it is likely a number of tunes will be going around your head.

Racing fans should try to clear their minds, for within Shiodome is a punter’s paradise.

It must be seen to be believed, although even after you have seen it you struggle to believe it. As you make your way through the entrance you find yourself in a betting shop like no other. Betting mall might seem a more accurate description, for the narrow escalator keeps going up and up, from one storey to the next. In total, the elegant Wins establishment – operated by the Japan Racing Association, a government body responsible for all the nation’s top-tier racing – has no less than nine floors. On none of them can you punt on anything other than Japanese horseracing. In this shop, in other shops and outside of shops,

Q Minoru, the 2,000 Guineas and Derby winner of 1909 was named after whom?

A William Hall Walker named the horse after his Japanese friend’s son. Walker, who started the farm that is now the Irish National Stud, asked gardener Tassa Lida and his son Minoru to build him a Japanese garden. In homage Walker named the horse Minoru

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the people of Japan do an awful lot of punting.

That punting is what pays for Japanese racing. Even on the showpiece days entrance to racecourses, such as Tokyo’s prestigious own track in the Fuchu suburb, costs less than £1.50 and there are hardly any race sponsors. Despite all that, an average maiden at a JRA track boasts a prize fund of around £70,000/€80,000. Betting is the reason why.

In 2019 punters gambling purely on JRA races staged on the sport’s elite tracks – whose meetings take place almost exclusively at the weekend – staked 2,893,934,093,500 yen, a huge figure equivalent to roughly £21 billion/€23 billion.

The JRA, which exclusively controls that betting, returns 75 per cent to successful punters, pays ten per cent to the treasury and uses the remaining 15 per cent to pay for its racing product.

Punters bet at the track, on the internet, via telephone and in the 42 JRA Wins shops, of which the flagship branch is in Shiodome.

Within the JRA it is known affectionately as Harrods. This does not do Harrods a disservice.

F

ROM one floor to the next punters watch an abundance of screens. In that sense, many of the levels are mirror images of the others, although the scene is mixed up with a gift shop selling cuddly toys, a cafe, restaurant, photographs of equine champions and ladies in red coats explaining how bets should be placed.

By some margin the most popular wager in Japan is the Trifecta, whereby the first, second and third must be found in the correct order. In 2019 that represented 31 per cent of all business. It seems an ambitious mission, but in Tokyo and elsewhere across Japan punting opportunities are relatively limited. The only sports on which betting is legal are horseracing – whose betting is all in parimutuel pool form – motorboat racing, motorcycle racing and cycling. When combining JRA action and the National (Clockwise from left) crossing the road has never been more thrilling than at Shibuya; Shinkansen bullet trains; the Harrods of betting at Shiodome; the famous Meiji Jingu shrine

Q Which Japan-bred thoroughbred was the first to run in the Derby at Epsom?

A Saxon Warrior in 2018. Born at Northern Farm, Hokkaido, he won the 2,000 Guineas and started as 4-5 favourite for the Derby, finishing fourth to Masar Association of Racing’s more ordinary midweek fare, racing takes 62.3 per cent of the betting yen.

For the polar opposite experience, head to one of Tokyo’s many open spaces. The city is blessed to have an abundance of parks that, depending on the time of year, will offer spectacular colours, perhaps never more dazzling than when rich red leaves abound in the autumn. Tokyo loves its trees and also its temples, which provide a chance for relaxation and contemplation away from the buzz of traffic. The famous Meiji Jingu shrine, situated near Harajuku, is well worth seeing, as is the Sensoji shrine, near which a host of memento shops will seek to relieve you of yen.

You can also spend that cash on a trip up either the Skytree or Tokyo Tower – modeled on the Eiffel Tower – both of which provide stunning views over the metropolis below, although a fantastic vantage point can be had for free from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building’s observation decks.

Among the things you will see down below is an array of exciting food options, some authentically Japanese, some truly global.

Nothing could be more Japanese than ramen, a wide bowl filled with steaming broth, noodles, meat, fish or vegetables and possibly even half a boiled egg. If you want to have it local style, the best option is to find one of the countless small independent cafes with vending machines outside their front door. At the machine you take your pick from the menu, pay for it and then head inside to eat. Different but equally authentic lunch ideas can be found at the Tsukiji fish market, where locals sit on benches, eating simple food cooked perfectly. Even if you are not hungry the market is worth seeing.

International cuisine is prepared without fault across Tokyo. This traveller had the finest pizza of his life in the Roppongi

17

district, while the fashionable Ginza shopping area – home to the world’s biggest branch of Uniqlo and much more besides – is strangely also home to more than one restaurant serving top-class paella.

Tokyo is also resplendent with a number of impressive French restaurants, no doubt to the delight of leading jockey Christophe Lemaire, who has enjoyed tremendous success since relocating to Japan.

“I am still French but this is my second home,” Lemaire says. “I enjoy my life here and, although I will never become a true Japanese person I try my best to be like the Japanese. I put in a lot of effort to speak the language and to respect the way of life and culture here, which I like very much, so it’s not a big deal for me.”

But in Japan, jockeys are a very big deal.

Any racing fan who spends time in Tokyo will not even need to go racing to see that it is a big sport. Arrive during the countdown to a Group 1 race and you will find it hard not to spot the promotional material.

Among the finest promotional tools are jockeys. Yutaka Take helped to make racing fashionable in Japan. Now he and his weighing room rivals hold celebrity status – as do the best animals they ride.

“The horses and jockeys become very famous, either by winning many Group 1s or by racing at a high level for three or four years,” says Lemaire. “Some horses are able to bring in 100,000 or more people to the racecourse. They are more than racehorses.

They are celebrities and public figures. The jockeys also become very famous.”

With an embarrassed expression, Lemaire outlines his own celebrity level. “Are you sure I can say it?” he asks. “Well, like a soccer player. When people see a famous footballer in the street you can see a look of astonishment on their faces. Then they ask to shake your hand or have a picture taken with you, maybe because they hope it will bring them some luck or success. That happens to me a lot.”

Does he like it? “Yes, of course,” Lemaire says. “For your ego it’s quite nice. Japanese people are always respectful, so even if they recognise you and ask for an autograph or picture they do it very carefully and respectfully. They are nice, polite people, so it would be hard to say no to them.”

It is every bit as hard to say no to Tokyo.

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all you need to know Japan Cup Roll of Honour Year Winner

1981 Mairzy Doates

Foaled Age

Jockey

USA 5 Cash Asmussen

Trainer

John Fulton (USA)

Owner

Arno Schefler

Time

2:25.3

1982 Half Iced

USA 3 Don MacBeth

Stanley Hough (USA)

Bertram Firestone

1983 Stanerra

IRE

Frank Dunne (Ire)

Frank Dunne

2:27.6

2:27.1

1984 Katsuragi Ace

JPN 4 Katsuichi Nishiura

Kazumi Domon (Jpn)

Ichizo Node

2:26.3 2:28.8

Winner

£2,143,000

Second

£857,000

Third

£536,000

Fourth

£321,000

Fifth

£214,000

1989 Horlicks

NZ

1990 Better Loosen Up AUS 5 Michael Clarke

Sixth

£171,000

1991 Golden Pheasant USA 5 Gary Stevens

Charles Whittingham (USA) McNall/Gretzky

2:24.7

Seventh

£150,000

1992 Tokai Teio

JPN 4 Yukio Okabe

Shoichi Matsumoto (Jpn)

2:24.6

1993 Legacy World

JPN 4 Hiroshi Kawachi

Eighth

£129,000

Ninth

£64,000

Tenth

£43,000

PLUS bonuses of $3 million to

the winner; $1.2 million to the second; $750,000 to the third; $200,000 to fourth or below to winners of these 2020 races . . .

Tancred Stakes

Australia

Dubai Sheema Classic

UAE

Investec Derby

GB

Manhattan Stakes

USA

Prix du Jockey Club

France

Prince of Wales’s Stakes

GB

Dubai Duty Free lrish Derby

Ireland

Coral-Eclipse Stakes

GB

5 Brian Rouse

1985 Symboli Rudolf

JPN 4 Yukio Okabe

Yuji Nohira (Jpn)

Symboli Bokujo

1986 Jupiter Island

IRE

7 Pat Eddery

Clive Brittain (GB)

Marquess of Tavistock 2:25.0

1987 Le Glorieux

FR

3 Alain Lequeux

1988 Pay The Butler

USA 4 Chris McCarron 6 Lance O’Sullivan

1994 Marvelous Crown JPN 4 Katsumi Minai

Robert Collet (Fr)

Sieglinde Wolf

2:24.9

Robert J Frankel (USA)

Edmund A Gann

2:25.5

Dave O’Sullivan (NZ)

Graham de Gruchy

2:22.2

David Hayes (Aus)

Gabe Farrah et al

2:23.2

Masanori Uchimura

Hideyuki Mori (Jpn)

Horse Tajima

2:24.4

Makoto Osawa (Jpn)

Sadao Sasahara

2:23.6 2:24.6

1995 Lando

GER 5 Michael Roberts

Heinz Jentzsch (Ger)

Gestüt Haus Ittlingen

1996 Singspiel

IRE

4 Frankie Dettori

Michael Stoute (GB)

Sheikh Mohammed

2:23.8

1997 Pilsudski

IRE

5 Michael Kinane

Michael Stoute (GB)

Lord Weinstock

2:25.8

1998 El Condor Pasa

USA 3 Masayoshi Ebina

Yoshitaka Ninomiya (Jpn)

Takashi Watanabe

2:25.9

1999 Special Week

JPN 4 Yutaka Take

Toshiaki Shirai (Jpn)

Hiroyoshi Usuda

2:25.5

2000 T M Opera O

JPN 4 Ryuji Wada

Ichizo Iwamoto (Jpn)

Masatsugu Takezono

2:26.1

2001 Jungle Pocket

JPN 3 Olivier Peslier

Sakae Watanabe (Jpn)

Yomoji Saito

2:23.8

2002 Falbrav

IRE

2003 Tap Dance City

USA 6 Tetsuzo Sato

4 Frankie Dettori

Luciano d’Auria (Ita)

Scuderia Rencati

2:12.2

Shozo Sasaki (Jpn)

Yushun Syndicate

2:28.7

2004 Zenno Rob Roy

JPN 4 Olivier Peslier

Kazuo Fujisawa (Jpn)

Shinobu Oosako

2:24.2

2005 Alkaased

USA 5 Frankie Dettori

Luca Cumani (GB)

Michael Charlton

2:22.1

2006 Deep Impact

JPN 4 Yutaka Take

Yasuo Ikee (Jpn)

Kaneko Makoto Holdings 2:25.1

2007 Admire Moon

JPN 4 Yasunari Iwata

Hiroyoshi Matsuda (Jpn)

Darley Japan Farm

2:24.7

2008 Screen Hero

JPN 4 Mirco Demuro

Yuichi Shikato (Jpn)

Teruya Yoshida

2:25.5

2009 Vodka

JPN 5 Christophe Lemaire Katsuhiko Sumii (Jpn)

Yuzo Tanimizu

2:22.4

2010 Rose Kingdom

JPN 3 Yutaka Take

Sunday Racing

2:25.2 2:24.2

Kojiro Hashiguchi (Jpn)

2011 Buena Vista

JPN 5 Yasunari Iwata

Hiroyoshi Matsuda (Jpn)

Sunday Racing

2012 Gentildonna

JPN 3 Yasunari Iwata

Sei Ishizaka (Jpn)

Sunday Racing

2:23.1

2013 Gentildonna

JPN 4 Ryan Moore

Sei Ishizaka (Jpn)

Sunday Racing

2:26.1

2014 Epiphaneia

JPN 4 Christophe Soumillon Katsuhiko Sumii (Jpn)

2015 Shonan Pandora JPN 4 Kenichi Ikezoe

Tomokazu Takano (Jpn)

U Carrot Farm

2:23.1

Tetsuhide Kunimoto

2:24.7 2:25.8

2016 Kitasan Black

JPN 4 Yutaka Take

Hisashi Shimizu (Jpn)

Ono Shoji

Juddmonte Grand Prix de Paris France

2017 Cheval Grand

JPN 5 Hugh Bowman

Yasuo Tomomichi (Jpn)

Kazuhiro Sasaki

2:23.7

2018 Almond Eye

JPN 3 Christophe Lemaire Sakae Kunieda (Jpn)

Silk Racing

2:20.6

King George VI & Queen Elizabeth GB

2019 Suave Richard

JPN 5 Oisin Murphy

NICKS Co Ltd

2:25.9

Arlington Million

2002 race took place at Nakayama over 2,200 metres 2010 Rose Kingdom finished 2nd to Buena Vista who was disqualified

Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud

France

USA

Juddmonte International Stakes Sword Dancer Stakes Irish Champion Stakes Grosser Preis von Baden

GB USA Ireland

Germany

Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational USA Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe France Qipco Champion Stakes Caulfield Cup Canadian lnternational Cox Plate Breeders’ Cup Turf Melbourne Cup

GB Australia Canada Australia USA Australia

Q What is the name of the international jockeys’ invitational series in Japan?

A World All-Star Jockeys. The JRA has been running the series since 1987. It is held in August at Sapporo racecourse in Hokkaido. Jockeys representing Britain who have won the series are Ryan Moore (2010) and Richard Hughes (2013)

Yasushi Shono (Jpn)

The toast of Tokyo: British-based jockey Oisin Murphy cemented a burgeoning association with Japanese racing with victory in the country’s showpiece Japan Cup on Suave Richard in 2019

Turf track up to the world’s best The turf track at Tokyo racecourse provides a pliant, cushioned surface thanks to technology such as the Verti Drain aeration machine and careful management by a large groundstaff team.

The turf is comprised of Noshiba grass, a local variety which is durable and resistant to scarring by hooves. This is combined with Italian Ryegrass and the overall effect is to provide excellent grip, making it easier for horses to run at full speed.

In order to maintain the track in top condition, and because of Japan’s considerable rainfall, the track base is made from gravel and crushed rocks to ensure it is well drained. The track is notably flat, with few undulations and only 2.7m variation in height throughout. The mowing height of the grass is 12cm.

Track maintenance on racedays is performed by 150 staff. After each race they check the track and repair areas stripped by horses’ hooves. This not only provides fair and safe conditions to minimise accidents but enables horses to display the best of their ability.

Italian Ryegrass

prize-money IN THE JAPAN CUP

Noshiba grass

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Surface grass height 12cm Upper course bed A: Mountain sand with soil conditioners, 20cm Upper course bed B: Mountain sand, 30cm Lower course bed: Crushed rocks, 20cm

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about racing in japan Anchorage

11hrs

Dublin Amsterdam London Frankfurt Paris Milan

8hrs

12hrs 12hrs 4hrs Hong Kong

7hrs 6hrs

12hrs

Tokyo

Chicago

New York

Los Angeles

Travelling time to Tokyo

9hrs

Melbourne

Q Which Japanese Group 1 horses in training have names relating to Britain?

A Tower Of London, owned by Godolphin, is one of the best sprinters in Japan. Mozu Ascot, a son of Frankel, has won turf and dirt Group 1 races

Hokkaido

Air Cargo Horsebox

Sapporo Hakodate Grade 1 races FOR WHICH TRAVEL SUBSIDIES MAY BE AVAILABLE TO OVERSEAS RUNNERS Chukyo Takamatsunomiya Kinen Champions Cup Hanshin Takarazuka Kinen Kyoto Tenno Sho (Spring) Queen Elizabeth II Cup* Mile Championship*

Nakayama Sprinters Stakes Tokyo Yasuda Kinen Tenno Sho (Autumn) Japan Cup

* Temporarily moved to Hanshin for 2020 due to redevelopment of Kyoto

Honshu Niigata

Hanshin

Miki Horseland Park

Fukushima Narita International Airport Shiroi Quarantine Centre Nakayama

Kokura

Tokyo Chukyo

Kyushu

Shikoku

Kyoto Kansai International Airport

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