A day at the races - Japanese style

Long known as the sport of kings, horse racing in one form or another has for more than a century been just as popular in Japan as in any of the Western nations.

For the Irish the interest in the sport is perennial; for the English the year peaks with the Grand National at Aintree near Liverpool; Australia effectively shuts in early November for the Melbourne Cup; America has the Kentucky Derby.

Irrespective of where you are though, regardless of background, bank balance, crown or language spoken, there is something a little bit special about watching a large body of horses on such muscular yet elegant legs hurtling past at breakneck speed. For those close enough to the tracks, the earth can actually start trembling as they approach and pass but even for those watching on TV the sheer majesty of horses in full flight can cause the hairs on the back of the neck to stand up.

Japanese racing, as so much in the nation, is largely split into east and west camps; Kanto and Kansai. The Kanto region is arguably the focal point of the nation’s annual 22 GI (Grade One) races with 12 of the total taking place at Tokyo’s Fuchu Racecourse or Nakayama in Chiba Prefecture to the east of the capital.

In the Kansai region eight of the 22 annual GI events will be split between the Japan Racing Association (JRA) tracks in this neck of the woods — at Kyoto and Hanshin. Two are run at the Hanshin Course and six at the Kyoto Track, including the year’s longest GI race — 3.2km, ¥132 million first prize Tenno Sho (Emperor’s Cup) on April 29th.

Most races, in Kansai and Japan overall run for around 1,600m to 2,400m although there is a smattering of long slogs and sprints thrown in for good measure; the longest over 4km and the shortest a 1,000m Summer Dash in mid-July.

In terms of surface, racing in Japan is largely on turf with just 13 of over 130 graded (GI-GIII) races taking place on dirt tracks last year (2006). Only two of the 13 are GI races — the February Stakes a couple of months ago won in fine style by Sunrise Bacchus, and the Japan Cup (dirt) in late November — both held in Tokyo.

Race meets are held through most of the year, although the summer months do become a little quieter during the annual onslaught of stifling heat and humidity — no GI races scheduled in July, August or September and much of the action moving to Hokkaido.

A typical day will involve a dozen races or so with any graded race coming in at number 10 or 11 on a given fixture list. Oftentimes, races earlier in the day are a mixture of dirt and turf racing. Many fans have their own favorites with horses too tending to favor one surface or the other. Races over the hurdles are far less common in Japan than elsewhere in the world although a few major jump races do take place — king of the crop is perhaps the April 14th Nakayama Grand Jump.

A rank lower than the JRA meets are the events supported and run by the local government racing boards up and down Japan; Himeji and Sonoda in Hyogo Prefecture representing this particular level of the sport here in Kansai. Generally scaled down models of the bigger JRA courses with far less in the way of amenities, these gatherings are more often for the full timers or out and out racing addicts but can provide an inter- esting way to while away an afternoon.

There is another east-west split in the way many jockeys align themselves with one region for the run of the mill racing weekends that don’t feature the graded races. In this regard one man almost single handedly carries the Kansai region head and shoulders above its Kanto rivals — Yutaka Take.

Undoubtedly Japan’s leading jockey, week in, week out, Take makes this end of the Tokaido his regular hangout although he does venture east for some of the bigger races. Perhaps not the biggest name (quite literally at somewhere around 55kg) in Japanese sporting circles, Take is becoming increasingly known on the international stage thanks to his amazing pairing with the now retired Deep Impact — winner of so much on the GI calendar in recent years and is far ahead of the Japanese jockey field with 2,883 lifetime wins at the time of writing, while his closest rival, Norihiro Yokoyama, trails a distant second with 1,750. Take, at present, is the name many newer fans look out for and bet on — giving little more than a passing glance to the beast he is sat upon.

Gambling in racing here, as around the world, plays its part in the culture of the sport and unfortunately it is perhaps this angle that sees it labeled as more of an old man’s sport than a family pastime or potential outing for younger folk.

Scenes of old men with stubby pencils behind one ear and a dog-eared copy of a racing paper in one hand, often unshaven and looking in need of a shower, typify the race-going fan in the eyes of outsiders but these characters are not as common as some would have you believe. It is often at the entrance halls to the facilities that such people are to found, working out how to place that next hot tip or looking up at the clouds forming overhead and pondering the condition of the going.

It is, however, a sad fact that Japan restricts betting to courses and a limited number of JRA offices scattered around the country. Once inside the racetrack it is extremely simple to place a bet; many of the betting slips are self-explanatory and some facilities have easy to follow handouts. Perhaps this is the only negative side of racing in Japan but it is something the JRA would do well to remedy given the excellent range of cheap eateries, play-grounds and even free bouncy castles and horse rides on offer to pull in families at some of the courses around the nation; many families opting for a day at the races to enjoy the facilities more so than the gee gees.

JRA homepage (info on racing schedules, tracks, betting and much more — in English, French, Chinese and Korean — even Japanese) http://japanracing.jp/

Text & photos: Mark Buckton