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Holy salkow, Batman, Miki’s back! Yes, Japan’s very own Babe on Ice, Miki Ando, roared back to form in the opening event of the Grand Prix figure skating series, not only winning October’s Skate America competition in Connecticut, but overshadowing younger teen star Mao Asada, everybody’s current tip for greatness. Ando, of course, was panned after finishing a disappointing 15th at the Turin Olympics, but she’s lost a bit of chunkiness and taken her skating to a higher level; maybe now she will start to fulfill her promise. Next up on the calendar is the NHK Trophy from November 30 to December 3 in Nagano. Japan’s women skaters are hot right now. Catch them while you can. FV See sports listings for details.
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By Fred Varcoe
Follow the ponies
In an attempt to boost flagging interest, Japan horse racing
looks overseas
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Yutaka
Take rides Time Paradox to victory at the 2004 Japan
Cup Dirt
courtesy of JRA
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If you’re planning on going to the races, don’t
wait until summer. Japan’s horse-racing courses do provide
year-round action, but the big events straddle the hot season.
G1 races in the Tokyo area coming up before summer include
the Nakayama Grand Jump (April 16), the NHK Mile Cup (May
8), Yushun Himba (aka the Japan Oaks, May 22), the Tokyo Yushun
(aka the Japan Derby, May 29) and the Yasuda Kinen (June 5).
There are also a number of G2 and G3 races.
Horse racing, as one of the few pastimes in Japan wherein
gambling is legal (the others are cycling and boat racing),
has always enjoyed a healthy following. In 1996, for example,
nearly $1 billion was waged on a single race (the Arima Kinen),
while that same year over 14 million people visited the track.
Yet even though racing remains a huge sport in Japan, the
prolonged economic downturn has affected attendance and betting
revenues, and the Japan Racing Association (JRA), which governs
the sport, is trying to figure out ways of making up the deficits.
Last year, the JRA staged 3,452 races at ten courses for nearly
¥70 billion in prize money. But, for the first in 14 years,
total bets failed to reach the ¥3 trillion. Around 8 million
people attended races, down for the eighth consecutive year.
Speaking of the recent downturn in JRA revenues, Kinya Okamoto,
the new president of the Japan Association of International
Racing (JAIR), told the Japan Racing Journal, “It’s
been a very tough time, and there’s no simple way of
getting out of the situation. We’ve undertaken all kinds
of measures to cut excessive costs and raise profits. However,
although there are still a lot of very worried-looking people
in the horse racing industry, I don’t think we are in
dire straits.”
The JAIR is involved with both the JRA, which governs racing
on a national level, and the National Racing Association,
which handles things at the local level, but it’s in
the international arena that Japanese racing could find a
way of stopping the rot. Going global is one way of expanding
the appeal of the sport, and if the Japanese hadn’t made
the atmosphere here so hostile to foreign horses and riders
in the first place, they wouldn’t need to explore this
avenue.
In a move to broaden the appeal of their races, the JRA and
the Hong Kong Jockey Club are linking two of their prestigious
races, the JRA’s Group 1 Yasuda Kinen (a one-mile competition
on June 5) and Hong Kong’s Group 1 Champions Mile (May
14), under the banner of the Asian Mile Challenge. While the
Yasuda Kinen has been open to international runners since
1993, the Champions Mile is allowing them in for the first
time. To spice up the competition even further, the associations
are jointly offering a bonus of $1 million should the same
horse win both events. Plans are afoot to expand this idea
to other mile races in Asia next year.
This makes sense. Countries within the Asian Racing Federation
generate 64 percent of the world’s betting, breed 35
percent of thoroughbreds, and offer 51 percent of thoroughbred
prize money. It’s a massive market. Japan and Hong Kong
are in the lead, and perhaps together they’ll be able
to breathe new life into the sport.
The Nakayama Grand Jump takes place at Nakayama Racecourse.
The NHK Mile Cup, Yushun Himba, Tokyo Yushun, and the Yasuda
Kinen all take place at Tokyo Racecourse. See listings for
details.
Would you like to comment on this article? Send a letter
to the editor at letters@metropolis.co.jp.
Discuss sports
with METROPOLIS readers at http://forum.japantoday.com
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