Nowadays, the Japan Cup is one of the most prestigious and valuable races not just in Japan, but anywhere in the world; in terms of international appeal, is often mentioned in the same breath as the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and the Melbourne Cup. At the last count, the total prize money was in excess of ¥1 trillion, or just over £6 million, with ¥500,000,000, or £2.78 million, going to the winner.
Run over 2,400 metres, or approximately a mile and a half, on turf at Tokyo Racecourse on the last Sunday in November, the Japan Cup is a Grade 1, weight-for-age, conditions race open to horses aged three years and upwards. The race has a safety limit of 18, but, rather generously, up to ten foreign-trained starters are allowed.
Established in 1981, the Japan Cup is, and always has been, an invitational race. However, it has always had an international flavour, with winners from Europe, including Britain and Ireland, North America and Australasia featuring on the roll of honour down the years. However, one of the aims of the Japan Racing Association (JRA) in creating the Japan Cup was to provide an opportunity for locally-trained horses to compete with rivals of international calibre at the highest level.
It would be fair to say that the specified aim has been achieved in spades in recent years. The brilliant 2023 winner, Equinox, trained by Tetsuya Kimura, was, in fact, the eighteenth Japanese-trained horse in a row to carry off the lucrative first prize. No-one could argue that the stoutly-bred son of Kitasan Black – who was beaten favourite in the Japan Cup in 2017 – was not a deserved winner, having won his three previous starts of 2023, all at Grade 1 level.
The last ‘overseas’ winner of the Japan Cup was, in fact, Alkaased, a five-year-old Kingmambo colt, trained in Newmarket by Luca Cumani and ridden by his compatriot, Lanfranco ‘Frankie’ Dettori. In what proved to be his last race, Alkaased was all out to win by a head.