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Japan gets ready for Arc party
- Updated: September 27, 2016
Will Hayler takes a look at the Japanese challenge in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe down the years.
“Victory in the Arc de Triomphe is the dream of Japan and goal of the Japanese people.”
Jockey Yuichi Fukunaga may have been slightly over-egging the pudding before he finished eighth of 20 aboard Just A Way in the 2014 renewal of Europe’s most richly-endowed race, but for the millions of Japanese racing fans who will stay up into the small hours to watch the race this weekend, the end of the 47-year-quest for a first Japanese victory in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe cannot come soon enough.
It was back in 1969 that the first Japanese-trained horse to run in the race, Speed Symboli, finished 11th behind (Gold Cup winner) Levmoss. But while the first few runners from the country all finished at a distance behind the winners, it was El Condor Pasa in 1999 who first hit the post in the big race and gave Japan hope that victory in the Arc could be more than a pipe-dream.
The winner of the Japan Cup in 1998, he was sent for a European campaign the following year that saw him win both the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and the Prix Foy before heading to Longchamp.
Ridden aggressively in the Arc de Triomphe from the start, he was three lengths clear of the pack two furlongs out and seemingly travelling like the winner. But Irish Derby winner Montjeu, who went on to confirm himself a supreme middle-distance performer at four, started eating into El Condor Pasa’s advantage and, under the steely Mick Kinane, led 100 yards from the line to win by half a length.
Click here to watch the YouTube video of Montjeu beat El Condor Pasa in 1999
El Condor Pasa was beaten, but his achievements in Europe nevertheless confirmed that Japan were getting closer and also heralded a shift in the global racing picture that has in more recent years seen them claim major international prizes in Australia, Dubai and Hong Kong, and firmly establish Japan as an elite racing superpower.
Taki Shuttle, Seeking The Pearl, and then crack sprinter Agnes World came across from Japan to win European Group Ones.
In the Arc though, the cards have still yet to fall for Japan. The unheralded Nakayama Festa was beaten a head by Workforce in 2010, while Orfevre finished runner-up in both 2012 and 2013, the first defeat by unconsidered outsider Solemia producing this piece of Youtube gold. Now that’s pain.
In 2014, things moved up a gear when Japan went for three bites of the cherry with non-staying Just A …
