Racing: Sprint Cup is the target for Japanese progress

Haydock on Saturday will be the next pitstop on racing's Group One circuit under threat of turning Japanese. In the most valuable contest of the year at the Lancashire track, the £200,000 Sprint Cup, the five-year-old mare Air Thule will run for the honour of Nippon as she attempts to become the first horse born and trained in her country to win at the highest level in Europe.

After generations of self-imposed exile, Japan's emergence on the world thoroughbred stage has been marked in recent seasons. But Seeking The Pearl and Taiki Shuttle, the Group One trailblazers when they won, respectively, the Prix Maurice de Gheest and Jacques le Marois at Deauville four years ago, were, though Japanese-trained, American-bred. So were the pair who came after them, El Condor Pasa and Agnes World. And the only two Japanese-foaled European Group winners, Shiva and Sunday Picnic, were trained in these parts.

Japan's history as a racing nation has been brief compared to the countries with which she now competes. It was not until the 1930s, when the counterparts to our Classics were established, that it reached a sound footing. After World War II a concerted effort was put into the breeding industry but ventures abroad by Speed Symboli, fifth to Park Top in the 1969 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and Sirius Symboli, eighth to Petoski in 1985, showed that its products still fell short of the quality required.

The standard of breeding stock has been raised in recent decades by extravagant buying at the sales but until recently commensurate improvement in racing stock had been unproven. Japan's lucrative prize-money regime negates the necessity for foreign trips, while its domestic programme excludes competition from abroad in all bar a handful of races.

The Japan Cup, now firmly on the international circuit, is the highest-profile event available to foreigners but recent good shows by the home side against the invaders has emboldened the Japanese Racing Association to double the number of open contests to 24 from 2004 and open its Classics to two foreign-bred (though not raced) runners apiece, and the country's horsemen to embark on missions to the Occident.

The best strike came in Dubai when Stay Gold beat Fantastic Light in the Sheema Classic, just before To The Victory's near miss in the World Cup. Both were sired by recently deceased stud phenomenon Sunday Silence, American-bred but naturalised Japanese.

Air Thule represents the trainer Hideyuki Mori and jockey Yukata Take, the team behind July Cup winner Agnes World. Mori's assistant, Masafumi Matsuda, 28, has had the responsibility of supervising Air Thule's European tour. They have been based at Geoff Wragg's stables in Newmarket for the past month and the mare has blossomed since her arrival in the town where her ancestors once plied their trade.

The wide-open spaces contrast to the frenetic Ritto training centre near Kyoto and have acted as a soporific. Although the light grey mare has yet to win at the top level, she came close on her first venture outside Japan when she took May Ball to three-quarters of a length at Deauville last month, with another of Saturday's rivals, Nayyir, third.

Her chance on Saturday should not be underestimated. Air Thule has won six of her 18 races. "The best she has done in Japan was win a Group Two," said Matsuda, "so on the book she is not as good as Agnes World. But in her time in Newmarket she has made much progress. In Japan, she was nervous. She does not like noise or crowds and was always tense.

"Here, she is relaxed. She can have a pick of grass, she can walk out on her own. Her muscle condition has developed and she is very happy. We were pleased with her run at Deauville, which was her first attempt at a straight track and on softer ground than suits her. And she has improved since then."

Air Thule has become a familiar sight in Newmarket with her bright red bridle. She is ridden daily by Matsuda, who adores her. "She is my little Japanese geisha girl," he said. "The colours are right; she has her white face, her red bridle and her black mane. If she is successful at Haydock, I will demonstrate the dance of the geisha in the winner's place."

* Tony McCoy created another piece of history yesterday when notching the fastest century of winners in scoring an 18-1 treble at Newton Abbot. McCoy beat his own record by 13 days.

* Kieren Fallon today faces the Jockey Club's disciplinary committee and potentially a lengthy ban for causing interference on Golden Nun at Newmarket on 17 August. His case goes to the committee as he had been suspended for 16 days for interference within the previous year.