“If you’re living in Japan and you open a sports newspaper,” says Kanichi Kusano, until recently the Japan Racing Association’s [JRA] representative in London, “three major sports come up. One is baseball, one is sumo wrestling and the other one is horse racing. We are always exposed to racing and thoroughbreds are beautiful animals, and there is drama and romance and a challenge to the Arc because we’ve been trying to win for more than 50 years. I think that’s why Japanese people are so attached to the Arc.”
For thousands of Japanese racing fans who will make the 12,000-mile round trip to Paris, and millions more who are expected to tune in back home in the early hours of Monday morning, it is that time of the year once again. Since Speed Symboli, the first Japanese-trained runner in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, finished 11th in 1969, another 32 have tried and failed to win Europe’s most valuable and prestigious race, and three more – Byzantine Dream, Alohi Alii and Croix Du Nord – will make the attempt at Longchamp on Sunday afternoon.
As an example of persistence in the face of painful and often bitter experience, there is little to match it in international sport. Fans of the men’s England football team may grumble about 59 years of hurt, but the national team does at least have a World Cup win on the board. Over the past 30 years, Japan’s racing industry has grown to become, by metrics including betting turnover and prize money, the richest and most successful in the world. All it has to show for the trillions of yen and millions of air miles invested in the country’s attempt to win an Arc, however, is a series of increasingly agonising disappointments.
El Condor Pasa, Japan’s fourth Arc runner, finished half a length behind Montjeu in 1999 after leading to the final strides. The outstanding Deep Impact, who drew tens of thousands of Japanese fans to the Bois de Boulogne, was less than a length behind the winner in third in 2006 (though subsequently disqualified for banned medication).
The unfancied Nakayama Festa was just a head behind Workforce in 2010. And above all, there was Orfevre, who charged into a clear lead a furlong out in 2012 but wandered in front and was chased down by Solemia in the shadow of the post.
Bad ground and bad luck, with the draw and in the race, have both played a part in Japan’s 0-for-33 record in the Arc, as runners used to lightning-fast going in Japan come unstuck on the deep ground that generally prevails at Longchamp in early October. Kusano, though, thinks it has also been part of a learning process. “If you are an owner and you win a Japanese Derby,” he says, “normally they will think: ‘We might be able to win an Arc,’ but sometimes it’s not the case because it looks similar, but it’s a totally different game.
Solemia, in the foreground, pips the Japanese horse Orfevre to win the 2012 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Photograph: Remy de la Mauvinière/AP
“The Japanese turf is really flat and the Japanese horses are trained to become like a Formula One car, but in Europe, you need an SUV, because the surface looks green and smooth but, when you walk on it, it’s totally different. And that’s why the Japanese connections have studied a lot to bring horses which both run on smooth ground and maybe have an element of SUV.
“I think Japanese horses are becoming more capable [of winning], because all three horses [in this year’s race] have run and won in their pre-competition [prep race].”
It is certainly striking the three Japanese challengers for this year’s Arc have all had what could be described as a typically French preparation: an extended midsummer break and then a run in a trial. It is not the biggest team that Japan has fielded in an Arc – four runners in 2022 were spread out among the also-rans from 11th to 19th – but it has an unusual sense of strength in depth. So perhaps this will finally be the year when the travelling fans are rewarded for their indefatigable devotion to their equine heroes.
Japanese racing fans at Hanshin. Thousands of fans will make the 12,000-mile round trip to Paris for the Arc this weekend. Photograph: Lo Chun Kit/Getty Images
“Basically, gambling is prohibited in Japan and there are only four officially approved gambling sports, one of which is horse racing,” Kusano says.
“But the JRA [which has overall control of racing, breeding and betting] has done a very good job of changing the image from purely a betting sport to a more diverse sport that everyone can enjoy, and bonding people to racing in a different way to other countries.
Quick GuideGreg Wood’s Saturday tipsShow
Ascot: 1.15 Bright Thunder 1.50 Beautiful Diamond 2.25 Hamish 3.00 Apollo One 3.35 Apiarist (nap) 4.10 Rosario.
Newmarket: 1.30 Blessed Star 2.05 Colori Forever 2.40 Lady Of Spain (nb) 3.15 Lyneham 3.50 Miss Wong 4.25 Sierra Sands 5.00 Naina.
Redcar: 1.36 Pandemonium 2.11 Mighty Quiet 2.46 Spartan Times 3.20 Song Of The Clyde 3.56 Volterra 4.30 Jez Bomb 5.05 Kitsune Power 5.37 Emeralds Pride.
Wolverhampton: 4.20 Hamaleel 4.55 Coconut Cove 5.30 Kranjcar 6.00 Keep Talking 6.30 Gaiety Musical 7.00 Northern Blaze 7.30 Invincible Crown 8.00 Correspondence 8.30 Supreme King.
Newcastle: 4.40 Sacred Fire 5.15 Sweet Kiss 5.45 Rubellite 6.15 Hamda’s Joy 6.45 Rotokura Belle 7.15 Dryburgh 7.45 Daring Legend 8.15 Merapi.
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“From a Japanese fan’s aspect, when we have star horses lining up, of course people will travel, to feel part of the drama and the challenge. We’ve won in Hong Kong and the Middle East and most places with similar surfaces for racing, and this is the box that we have wanted to tick for a long time.”
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