It is over 6,000 miles from Tokyo to Paris, but that has never stopped the autumnal Japanese pilgrimage to Longchamp, home of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. One of the most important races in Europe has caught the imagination of the Japanese racing public and owners, driven both by potential financial gain and the sheer excitement of cheering home a local hero on foreign soil.
Since 1999 Japan has sent 22 horses to Paris without a win, although some have come close. Agonisingly so for the punter beside me in 2012 when Orfreve somehow managed to lose after storming into a race winning position: a result that Orfreve’s Jockey that day Christophe Soumillon told the Racing Post years later ‘I still have trouble understanding why it didn’t happen.’
Japan has entered the race fourteen times since 1999, usually with one horse but on six occasions there have been more than one (although the number of runners has no relationship to performance).
The graph below shows the best result in each year when Japan had a runner, highlighting the four stars to who have come the closest.
The best finishing position of a Japanese horse in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe
The decade from 2004 to 2013 were the best of times, or worst of times if you hate to come so close and not win. Deep Impact, Nakayama Festa and Orfevre finished second or third four times in this period.
Since then the number of runners have increased but the results have got worse, with a sixth place for Harp Star in 2014 the start of a period that has seen the average best placing decline to almost 12th. Not much return for those 6,000 miles.
So what odds a change of fortune for Japan in 2021? Well the bookmakers have Chrono Genesis at around 10/1 and Deep Bond at around 20/1. So probably not. Although with Chrono Genesis being talked about in the same breath as Nakayama Festa and Orfevre, perhaps the good times might be returning – I’d be willing to take at least each way on that.
Sport.dat 