The Japan Racing Association (JRA) announced the strengthening of its partnership with the Victoria Racing Club (VRC), agreeing to allocate a berth for the Emirates Melbourne Cup winner in future Tenno Sho (Spring) races.
The VRC has also added the 3,200-meter Tenno Sho (Spring) to its list of ballot exempt races (winner only) for the Emirates Melbourne Cup, which this year will take place on Nov. 4 at Flemington Racecourse.
VRC Chief Executive Dale Monteith was on hand to watch 5-year-old Admire Jupiter win the 2008 Tenno Sho (Spring) over defending champion Meisho Samson by a slim margin on May 4 at Kyoto Racecourse. The winning jockey, Yasunari Iwata, won the 2006 Emirates Melbourne Cup aboard Delta Blues in a Japanese one-two with Pop Rock for trainer Katsuhiko Sumii.
Iwata is expected to head back Down Under in the autumn with Admire Jupiter for the Emirates Melbourne Cup, which has upped its first-place prize money to A$3.3 million for this year’s race.
Monteith hopes the new exchange between Australian and Japanese racing will catch on to something bigger—like a world staying championship.
“The VRC is delighted to be able to join with the JRA and promote staying racing to the world,” Monteith said in a statement through the JRA.
“The linking of the Tenno Sho (Spring) with the Emirates Melbourne Cup, to ensure that the winner of the Tenno Sho will be exempt from the ballot for the Melbourne Cup, will further ensure that the two great races become the staying championships of World Racing.
“In 1995, the VRC identified the Tenno Sho and the Japanese staying horses are amongst the best in the world. They proved it in 2006 when Delta Blues and Pop Rock ran one, two in the Emirates Melbourne Cup.
“We very much look forward to Japanese best stayers competing in this year's Melbourne Cup and the Tenno Sho will certainly identify potential horses to target for the 2008 Emirates Melbourne Cup.”
Last year, the Emirates Melbourne Cup did not feature a Japanese entry due to the equine influenza outbreak that ravaged both Japan and Australia. No horses from abroad ran in this year’s Tenno Sho (Spring), which has received international Grade 1 status since 2007.
Makybe Diva, who won the Melbourne Cup three consecutive times from 2003 to 2005, was the first overseas-trained horse to enter in the Tenno Sho (Spring) in 2005. Eye Popper, who placed third in that race, became the first Japanese horse ever to take a crack at the Melbourne Cup that year. He ended up 12th.
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