More Sports / Horse Racing Apr 23, 2020
The Japanese Derby and other high-profile races will be run behind closed doors due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic
More Sports / Horse Racing Apr 2, 2020
The Japan Racing Association said Thursday it will extend its closed-door, audience-free events through April 19. The three upcoming Grade One events, the Osaka Hai, scheduled for Sunday, Oka-sho, scheduled for April 12, and Satsuki-sho, scheduled for April 19, will be among the races that ...
More Sports / Horse Racing Nov 22, 2019
Japan Cup provides annual celebration of horse racing
by Adrian Webber
When the entrance gates open at Tokyo Racecourse on Sunday, another chapter in the history of one of the world's most prestigious horse races will also open, and those passing through the gates on Sunday will experience the unique atmosphere that accompanies the running ...
National / Media | BIG IN JAPAN Sep 7, 2019
Speed bumps and potholes on the road to 2020 Tokyo Olympics
by Mark Schreiber
When planners proposed the opening date of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, they pored over historical weather data in search of the day with the lowest statistical likelihood of rain. It turned out to be Oct. 10. Happily that day, a Saturday, was fine. As ...
More Sports / Horse Racing Jun 15, 2019
The Japan Racing Association said Saturday it would exclude 156 horses from racing this weekend, an unprecedented number, after finding a prohibited substance in their feed additives. The JRA held its races as scheduled on Saturday, and will do likewise on Sunday with the remaining ...
More Sports / Horse Racing Apr 3, 2019
Japanese thoroughbred mare Vodka, who became the first filly to win the Japanese Derby in 64 years, has died from laminitis, the Japan Racing Association said Wednesday. The 15-year-old mare died Monday in Newmarket, England, where she had been staying to mate. She tied the ...
More Sports / Horse Racing Dec 28, 2018
Jockey Christophe Lemaire picked up two wins on Friday to set a single-season Japan Racing Association record with 213 wins. The French-born Lemaire steered 2-year-old colt Maillot Blanc to victory in the sixth race of the day at Nakayama Racecourse to break star jockey Yutaka ...
More Sports / Horse Racing Aug 25, 2018
Nanako Fujita breaks Yukiko Masuzawa's record for most wins by Japanese female jockey
Nanako Fujita rode to her 35th career victory on Saturday, rewriting the record for wins by a Japanese female jockey. Fujita rode second favorite Seiun Ririshii to victory in the 12th race in Niigata. The 21-year-old Fujita had been tied with Yukiko Masuzawa with 34 ...
National / Social Issues Dec 25, 2017
New JRA system to let addicts' families block online gambling
by Alex Martin
The Japan Racing Association says it will begin accepting applications Thursday from family members living with those clinically diagnosed with gambling disorders or suspected of struggling with its symptoms.
More Sports / Horse Racing Oct 21, 2017
Nanako Fujita breaks single-season win record for Japan Racing Association female jockeys
Nanako Fujita won her 12th race of the year on Saturday to set the single-season record for most wins by a Japan Racing Association female jockey. The 20-year-old Fujita steered Belmont Lahaina to victory in the 11th race of a meet in Niigata to break ...
More Sports / Horse Racing Oct 20, 2017
Kitasan Black, a five-time Grade One race winner, will retire after the Arima Kinen in December, the stallion's trainer Hisashi Shimizu said on Friday. "(Kitasan Black's) owner (Saburo Kitajima) decided that he would retire this year after running the autumn Tenno-sho, the Japan Cup and ...
More Sports / Horse Racing Aug 6, 2016
Nanako Fujita is set to make her overseas debut at a Ladies World Championship race on Aug. 19 at Sandown Park Racecourse in England, the Japan Racing Association announced Saturday. The 18-year-old Fujita became the first female jockey from the JRA in 16 years when ...