Japan’s Breeders’ Cup contingent is en route to the United States after 19 horses departed Tokyo’s Narita Airport on Tuesday, bound for Los Angeles.
The shipment, which left Narita just after 11am Tokyo time, is expected to arrive at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) about 4am Tuesday morning local time (8pm Tuesday evening Tokyo time) before the horses are transported by road to Del Mar, near San Diego.
Unlike with other big meetings like the Hong Kong International Races, where horses trained at Miho will fly from Tokyo and horses from Ritto will depart from Osaka, all 19 horses departed from Tokyo in one group.
“The horses from the west (Ritto Training Centre) got on a van bound for Tokyo on Monday,” said Kate Hunter, Japan’s Breeders’ Cup representative. “They have all done a week of pre-export quarantine before leaving today and it’s great to have them on their way.
“It’s a direct flight from LAX, about 10 hours, and then they have a two-hour journey down from LAX to Del Mar depending on traffic. There are five vans bringing them all down from LAX and they’ll depart when they are full, so there will be waves of horses coming into Del Mar until we have all 19 in.
“They then have to do 42 hours of quarantine when they arrive and that 42 hours starts the moment the last horse enters quarantine.”

The total of 19 is a new record for Japanese entries after nine participated last year, and Hunter – who is set up at Del Mar awaiting the arrival of the Japanese shipment – says that the sizeable group is already garnering plenty of attention in California.
“It’s a record number of horses participating from Japan, more than double from last year,” she said. “We’ve got some great horses coming across, some undefeated horses, some real talents. We’ve got a sensational crop of two-year-olds. We’re in 11 different races, should all of our horses make it in. We’ve never had that depth across the board before.
“From the American side, everyone’s excited because Japan’s participating in a big way. I’m sure Japanese racing fans are excited too because they always seem to enjoy it when their horses travel overseas.”
The six juveniles, who all run on Future Stars Friday on November 1, are somewhat of a wildcard, not just at Del Mar but even for those following on from Japan.
“I’m very excited to have American Bikini,” Hunter said. “She looks really talented as a two-year-old, that’s the sort of horse you want coming to a Breeders’ Cup. Satono Carnaval, obviously a graded stakes-winning two-year-old, so he’s another great addition; there aren’t many graded stakes for two-year-olds in Japan up until this point so to be able to convince one of them to come to the Breeders’ Cup is terrific.”
Thirteen of the 19 horses will step out on November 2, with the G1 Breeders’ Cup Classic (1 1/4m) to feature three horses who have already run in the United States in Dubai World Cup winner Ushba Tesoro, last year’s Classic runner-up Derma Sotogake and Kentucky Derby placegetter Forever Young.
“I was excited to have Ushba Tesoro and Derma Sotogake last year, but now to have all three of them, it’s truly exciting,” Hunter said. “They are the three best dirt horses in Japan and they have all proven themselves to be great horses. Basically, I want that to be a three-way dead heat – no other result is acceptable to me. If one of them wins, I will be excited of course but also sad that the other two didn’t win.
“I love all three of them very much, I have had a lot to do with all of them through their travels last year and this year and they mean the world to me.”
The last time the Breeders’ Cup was held at Del Mar in 2021, Japan was successful at the meeting for the first time with Marche Lorraine winning the G1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (1 1/8m) and Loves Only You taking out the G1 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (1 3/8m). Hunter is hopeful that Japan has another mare who can follow in their footsteps.
“Awesome Result, she’s the kind of mare you want to bring to the Distaff,” she said. “She’s undefeated from seven starts, it’s going to take a real talent to go up against horses like Idiomatic and Thorpedo Anna. Hopefully, she is the one to do it.
“Of the others, Shahryar was so big in Dubai and he’s been such a great horse over a number of seasons. I’m also excited about Remake and Don Frankie in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. They’ve proven themselves as top-class dirt sprinters and they deserve their chance.”
Pre-entries for all 14 Breeders’ Cup races will be announced on Wednesday morning, California time. It is the first stage in a two-step process for all intended runners at the meeting and provides an insight into the likely composition of the races ahead of official entries and the post-position draws next Monday ∎