Yutaka Take has made no secret of his longheld desire to win the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. He’s had 11 shots at the great race in the last 32 years, going back to White Muzzle’s sixth as third-favourite, but this year’s mount is flying under the radar.
That’s not to say there isn’t interest in Meisho Tabaru or the second of the two Japanese raiders, Admire Terra: the media will always get around Japanese horses in Paris, especially given Japan’s long history of so far fruitless assaults on France’s greatest race. But the betting markets in Europe suggest this will not be the year Japan breaks its duck. With four days until the race, British bookmakers have Meisho Tabaru ranging from 33-1 to 40-1 and Admire Terra 50-1.
That reflects the reality that the two horses are not from the megastar strata of Japanese raiders – the hype has not been stoked – and the fact that everyone now gets how difficult it is for a Japanese horse to leave the flat, fast tracks of Japan and take on the best Europeans on softer turf and a rising, dipping track.
If Croix Du Nord, Byzantine Dream and Alohi Alii couldn’t do it last year, or for that matter the great Deep Impact or Orfevre or Do Deuce or Titleholder or Kizuna or Gold Ship or Victoire Pisa or Meisho Samson just to list a few past stars that failed, why should this year be different?
But Take, knowing that at age 57 he has few opportunities to win the Arc left in front of him, is happy to be riding Meisho Tabaru, and perhaps the under-the-radar contender might be the one to make history. Let’s not forget, the unheralded Nakayama Festa was second at odds of 22-1 and that’s the closest Japan ever came to victory, beaten a head behind Workforce in 2010.
Nakayama Festa was a horse that lacked consistency at the highest level in Japan but notched a big one in the G1 Takarazuka Kinen – the early summer grand prix often run on a rain-affected surface – four months before his mighty run in Paris. Meisho Tabaru also lacks some consistency, but he has won the Takarazuka Kinen twice, the second of those four months ago on a yielding track.
“The Arc is a very special race, and although I haven’t achieved the kind of result I would have liked in it so far, it is a race I have always wanted to win one day,” Take said during a France-Galop press event at Chantilly four days out from the big race.
“I am very happy, and proud, to have been given another opportunity like this,” he added, conscious no doubt of the horses he has ridden before, the great Deep Impact, third and then disqualified, being the most obvious disappointment.
Meisho Tabaru has had the Arc as his aim since late summer of last year. It was decided by his late owner Yoshio Matsumoto and his son, the current owner, Yoshitaka Matsumoto, that 2025 would be a domestic grounding, leading into an international campaign in autumn 2026.
The five-year-old arrived in Chantilly on September 22, but his main piece of work during that first week did not impress Take or his trainer Mamoru Ishibashi.
“To be honest, we took him to Longchamp for a gallop last week, I was still in Japan, so I could only watch it on video, but honestly, I felt it left a little to be desired,” Ishibashi said.
“Normally in Japan, we don’t have Yutaka ride him in training, but this time I deliberately asked him to get on the horse. As soon as Yutaka got on him, at least from what I could see, the horse seemed to sharpen up a bit, and I thought, ‘He’s heading in the right direction.’
“Then I watched his final gallop, and I felt he was moving considerably better than he had the week before. So I think the final piece of work went very well.”
Take echoed Ishibashi’s words about the gallop, which happened on the straight Les Reservoirs turf. Meisho Tabaru went by his lead companion easily and professionally, without being asked a great deal by Take.
“Today was actually the first time I had ever ridden him in training,” Take said. “I had watched the video of his work last week, and my impression was that he looked a little heavy in his movement. I spoke with Mr. Ishibashi, and I think part of the idea behind today’s work was that I could sharpen him up a little and switch him on.
“But by the time we were heading out for the gallop, he was already more in ‘race mode’ than I had expected,” Take continued, “So, I didn’t have to push him particularly hard today. He more or less went through the work on his own. It reminded me again what a good horse he is, and I thought he moved extremely well.”
Ishibashi is a relative minnow among Japan Racing Association (JRA) trainers: Meisho Tabaru is the former jockey’s only Graded stakes winner since he started training at Ritto in 2014. His tally of wins from those 13 seasons stands at 194 with his best campaigns being 23 wins in 2023 and 2024.
He admitted that he could “never have dreamed” he would have a horse, like Meisho Tabaru, good enough to contest the Arc.
Yasuo Tomomichi on the other hand has trained many top-class horses, including the past Arc contenders Do Deuce and Makahiki, Derby winners both. His Admire Terra had worked at Chantilly a day earlier than Meisho Tabaru, the grey wisping through the morning mist under Cristian Demuro.
“I rode Admire Terra a couple of times (in work), once at Longchamp racecourse and he responded very good to what I asked,” said Demuro. “I rode him again yesterday morning and the horse was really in good form. He improved after his first gallop in Longchamp and he’s in the best condition, so cross the fingers for Sunday.”
But victory for Admire Terra would be a shock indeed. The five-year-old’s best performances have been at distances beyond 2400m, including a third in the G1 Tenno Sho Spring (3200m) and a win in the G2 Hanshin Daishoten (3000m) earlier this year.
Meisho Tabaru, though, has never raced at the Arc’s 2400m distance and his only attempt beyond 2200m brought a disappointing 13th in the G1 Arima Kinen over 2500m last December.
Despite this, Take will not lack confidence in his mount and has no intention of hiding away in the pack on the often front-running bay.
“Meisho Tabaru has produced good results in the past when he has either gone to the lead or raced prominently, so naturally that is something I have in mind,” Take said.
“But this is a race, and you never know what might happen. There are other horses involved as well, so I don’t want to go into it having decided beforehand that I have to ride him in one particular way. I certainly don’t expect it to be an easy race, so I want to go into it with a number of different scenarios in mind.”
Meisho Tabaru faces a tough opponent in last year’s winner Daryz who has looked a real champion in the making at times, as well as the crack mare Kalpana, winner of Europe’s other great mile and a half weight-for-age race the G1 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes. The field is undoubtedly good, but no contender is unbeatable.
Back in 2008 Take rode G1 Satsuki Sho and G1 Tokyo Yushun hero Meisho Samson to place 10th in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Meisho Samson was the best horse Ishibashi rode in his journeyman jockey career, partnering through 18 consecutive races including those classic wins and victory in the G1 Tenno Sho Spring before the ride was given to Take.
Now Ishibashi and Take stand together as Japan’s greatest jockey attempts for a 12th time to make history and win the race that has so long eluded him and all Japanese horsemen. That would be a fairytale outcome.
But, as Take said, it’s a horse race, “You never know what might happen.” ∎
