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This is where the good stuff lives. Deep-dive previews, race reactions, standout performances, and the stories that define the sport—if it’s happening on the track, it’s here. From Japan to Europe, Australia to America, you’ll find sharp analysis, global form breakdowns, and the kind of insight that connects racing’s biggest stages. Whether you follow the classics, the sprinters, or the stayers, this is your home for world-class racing coverage—updated regularly, with no fluff.
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A Paradigm Shift in Japanese Racing: Forever Young and the Evolution of the JRA Horse of the Year Award
The 2025 racing season in Japan represents a seminal moment in the history of the sport, characterised not by traditional turf dominance, but by a significant structural evolution within the Japan Racing Association (JRA). In an unprecedented decision, the selection committee has conferred the title of Horse of the Year upon Forever Young, a specialist in dirt racing.
Archie Brookes
Jan 65 min read
2025 Group 1 Champions Cup Preview: Narukami’s Rise and the Battle for Dirt Supremacy
The 2025 Champions Cup represents a turning point. It is no longer a search for a successor, but the arrival of a new force. Narukami steps into Chukyo not as a hopeful three-year-old, but as the colt the entire dirt division must now answer to. Lemon Pop’s retirement created a vacuum. Narukami has spent the season rising into the empty space, turning potential into expectation.
Archie Brookes
Dec 5, 20256 min read
2025 Japan Cup Preview
On Sunday, November 30, the 45th Japan Cup brings together a field of 19, a world champion raider, two classic-winning three-year-olds, last year’s Derby hero, and a pack of hardened stayers and spoilers. It is the richest turf race on the Japanese calendar, with ¥1.09 billion in the pot and ¥500 million to the winner, but the real prize is status: the right to be called the new king of 2400 metres on firm Japanese turf.
Archie Brookes
Nov 27, 202520 min read
Calandagan: The Aga Khan's Red Flag in the Land of the Rising Sun
The 45th running of the Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse is more than a late-season Group 1. It is a test of global breeding philosophies, a referendum on two decades of Japanese dominance, and a stage where one foreign challenger attempts to break a long-standing barrier.
Archie Brookes
Nov 26, 20256 min read
2025 Mile Championship Preview – Who Will Be Japan’s Autumn Mile King?
The 42nd Japan Mile Championship (G1) at Kyoto brings the country’s best milers back to the traditional stage on Sunday. Run over 1600 meters on the right-handed outer turf course, this is Japan’s defining autumn mile, the natural counterpart to the spring Yasuda Kinen and a key stepping stone toward December’s Hong Kong Mile.
Archie Brookes
Nov 21, 202512 min read
Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup 2025 Preview: Class, Depth and a Kyoto Test
The 50th running of the Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1) on Sunday, 16 November 2025, returns this flagship mares’ championship to its traditional home at Kyoto Racecourse and does so with the weight of half a century of history behind it.
Archie Brookes
Nov 14, 20258 min read
Musahino Stakes 2025 - A Technical Examination of Tokyo’s Premier Autumn Dirt Mile
The Musashino Stakes is again positioned as one of the most revealing dirt miles on the Japanese racing calendar. Far from being a simple preparatory step toward the Champions Cup (G1), it functions as an evaluative environment in which form, conditioning, surface aptitude and tactical discipline are all tested. The structure of the race, with one turn, 1600 meters of dirt, and a long home straight, ensures that horses cannot rely solely on reputation or historical performanc
Archie Brookes
Nov 14, 20256 min read
Daily Hai Nisai Stakes 2025 – Kyoto Mile Trial for Japan’s Next Star
On Saturday, 15 November 2025, Kyoto Racecourse stages the 60th running of the Daily Hai Nisai Stakes (G2), one of Japan’s key early tests for 2-year-olds with classic or mile ambitions. Run over 1600m on the right-handed outer turf course, the race offers a total purse of ¥82,260,000, with ¥38,000,000 to the winner, and often serves as a springboard to the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes and later G1 mile contests.
Archie Brookes
Nov 13, 20259 min read
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