Racing: Japan feature thrills Bay club visitors

The giant Miho training facility can house up to 2000 horses in work.

The 2014 edition of the longest running international reciprocal-city race in the world has recently taken place.

On Saturday March 22, the Bayleys International Japan NZ Trophy was run at the Gate Pa track in Tauranga, with the second leg of the international double taking place with the staging of the New Zealand Trophy race at Nakayama race course in Japan, on April 12.

Originally called the Japan Bay of Plenty International, the autumn feature at the Gate Pa course was first run in 1971, with the Japan reciprocal race also taking place in the same year.

The seed for the Japan Bay of Plenty International was sown when Bay of Plenty Racing Club president Bob Silson first travelled to Japan in 1966.

The major focus of the trip was to explore the possibilities of meat exports to Japan. A secondary mission was to investigate the computerised totalisator system. While the Japanese tote system never got off the ground in New Zealand, contact had been made between the two country's racing fraternities.

The New Zealand Trophy race is hosted by the Japan Racing Association (JRA) each year and is also designated as the NHK Mile Cup Trial, which is a Group 1 race for the best 3-year-old milers in Japan.

Representing Racing Tauranga at this year's New Zealand Trophy was the club's president Roger Hills and committee member Roger McIntyre.

"The significance of the race in Japan is shown by the other New Zealand invited guests who included the New Zealand High Commissioner, New Zealand Trade Commissioner and the New Zealand Military Attache to Japan," Hills said.

The Western Bay racing contingent got a great snapshot of Japanese racing, which is one of the world's thoroughbred powerhouses. The trip started with a visit to the JRA Miho training centre north of Tokyo.

"First time visitors from New Zealand and Australia are blown away by the scale of the training facility that houses in excess of 2000 horses in work," Hills said.

"The morning that we were there, around 1400 horses were put through their paces depending on where they were at in their preparation for racing. There are two training courses, with each course having up to five different tracks, each with a different racing surface.

"We arrived at the North course at 6am, to be greeted by 200 horses going down a tunnel to the centre of the track to warm up before completing their various training assignments."

The north course has an inside sand track for slow work, a bark surface and a grass and astro track, completed by a sand track for fast work. The southern course has three tracks comprising four different surfaces. On the outside of the north course is a man-made hill of about 1km rising up some 30m where steeplechasers and distance horses build up their stamina requirements.

The comprehensive track amenities are just the start of a training complex that employs thousands of workers. Two magnificent equine swimming pools provide other fitness options with extensive veterinary facilities.

The training complex is surrounded by a myriad of apartments for the trainers, jockeys, track work riders, grooms and other staff that earn a living at the training centre. The Kiwi contingent stayed a night at the one of the two hotels owned by the JRA for visiting owners and racing guests.

On race day, the Racing Tauranga team were picked up early for the trip to the Nakayama racecourse for the 32nd running of the New Zealand Trophy.

"Initially we were somewhat puzzled when told it was the 32nd time that the race had been run, as our Gate Pa track has hosted 43 editions of the Japan exchange race," Hills said.

"However a little investigation revealed that in the early decades of the race it was only hosted every two years in Japan."

The racing is on a completely different scale to New Zealand. The course has a capacity well in excess of 100,000 people. Situated on the eastern side of Tokyo, the course is also the home to one of the richest steeplechases in the world in the Nakayama Grand Jump, which was won by a Kiwi raider St. Steven in 2002.

The New Zealand Trophy is for 3-year-old colts and fillies over the metric mile. In Japan geldings are ineligible for group races as they have no value for breeding purposes. The stake was about $1 million.

"Prior to the running of the fifth race, the New Zealand representatives were introduced to the crowd and the New Zealand anthem played. From there the formal welcome took place where speeches and gifts were exchanged," Hills said.

"Prior to the New Zealand Trophy we were taken down to the mounting yard to view the horses and awaiting jockeys. From there the horses with the jockeys on board went down a 300m tunnel, before arriving on course in front of a crowd well in excess of 40,000."

The 2014 New Zealand Trophy was won by the favourite Shonan Achiever from Shonan Wadachi.

"After the race I presented the winning owner with the New Zealand Trophy that we had brought from Tauranga. The Air New Zealand representative then presented the carved trophy that the owners hold for a year, with the New Zealand High Commissioner giving the winning owner, trainer, jockey and groom gold trophies.

"The general consensus at the end of the day was that it was one of the best New Zealand - Japan meetings held, with hosts and visitors looking forward to next year's two reciprocal races in the Western Bay of Plenty and Japan."