Japan Cup 2025 Review: Calandagan digs deep to land thrilling Tokyo victory

The day has come and I have now arrived at Tokyo racecourse, booted and suited, ahead of the 45th running of the Japan Cup, a Group One of International significance and in my mind, a real test of Europe v Japan for bragging rights.

As mentioned in my preview, no European has won this prestigious contest since back in 2005, but have we really sent the best or even better suited horses competing? I am inclined to think not.

Before we get down to the race itself, I do like to take the opportunity to take a look at the differences in racing around the World in comparison to our own top meetings, and sorry to repeat myself (like a stuck record), but we simply have to start with the cost of entry.

Royal Ascot 2026 will cost you between £30 (Windsor Enclosure) and £95 (Queen Anne Enclosure) for entry alone with hospitality options available, and then if you want to make a day of it, you need a racecard for about £6 (I cannot find an accurate price on-line), and that’s before you have a drink, a bite to eat, or a bet, winning or otherwise.

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Attractive

Walking through the gates at Toyko Racecourse (and it’s a beautiful track, by the way) will set you back the huge sum of 200 yen, with reserved seating costing along the lines of 1000, 1500, or 2000 yen – or (about) £1 to get in, and £5, £7,50 or even £10 to reserve a seat, though there are hospitality options at bigger prices as you would expect anywhere in the racing World, though amazingly the racing is so popular here that the best meetings, Japan Cup included, require a ballot to decide if you will or won’t get entry to the course, can you even imagine that in the UK?

Once through the gates after picking up my FREE racecard, the course is as attractive as any I have ever visited, if a little scary size-wise, and it is clean and well signposted with Japanese and English on most boards, which was lucky – otherwise I suspect I would still be there trying to find my way out.

As is my habit, I found the time to have a wander round to suss out the food and drink options, and although less familiar than the fish and chips or burger van we are all begrudgingly used to, there was plenty of variety to pick from.

A coffee for £1.45, beer for £3, and a donut for £1.20 kept me going until lunchtime, after which decisions had to be made.

Should I partake in a bowl of ramen for £2.71 including all the toppings, or perhaps a piece or two of fried chicken for £1 each, pasta for less than a fiver, and a soft drink out of one of the numerous vending machines for about 80p?

Costs

Remembering everyone will tell you how expensive it is to live in Japan, then the lower costs of a day at the races tells its own story, and much as I do understand the rough economics, I do have to wonder how we can attract the next generation of racegoers if we continue to appear to rip off our customers?

Rant over and on to the racing, and I will admit I had little interest in the supporting card, other than those my Japanese compatriots suggested I might have a bet on!

That, ladies and gentlemen, is an admittance to a daily focus on UK racing that does NOT see me ignore elsewhere – it is just that with so much racing at home, there are only so many hours in the day.

To that end I have now decided to commit a few hours a week to look at Far East form in more depth in future, perhaps just the better races with the handicaps fluctuating too much, which may well mean more winners for us this time next year, but for now we have to settle for a report of what was and not what might have been.

Earlier races

The racing starts bright and early over here with the first race at 9.30am (and we moan in England with an 11am start) with the main race (The Japan Cup itself) due off at 3.40pm as Race 12, so I kept myself busy with a heady combination of food, drink, and keeping a close eye on any European jockeys in action on the undercard.

Alexis Pouchin hit second place in the opener over 1400mts on the dirt, but Tom Marquand went one better on board Gobadu (6/1) in the mile maiden for two-year-olds, landing a winner for trainer Yukihiro Kato.

Naturally, that peaked my interest, and although I swiped past the dirt races (story of my life as Tom won Race 5 and I missed it), I did open the wallet a fraction for Race 6, a nine furlong (1800mtr) race back on the green stuff where I liked the look of Christophe Lemaire’s Go Lucky in the paddock.

To my own amazement (and everyone else in the press room), the juvenile won with plenty in hand after racing up near the pace, though good as that made me feel, I did note it seems to be hard to peg back those near the front end, which had me worrying about my already placed bet on Calandagan later in the day.

Sensibly pulling stumps while I was (slightly) ahead, I watched the rest of the card with no financial interest and waited for the big one (missing out on a “Tom treble”, Sean’s Law) – the main if not quite only reason why I travelled halfway around the world.

Japan Cup

As the stalls opened, the crowd of close to 80,000 roared (making Cheltenham sound like a muted whisper by the way), and it was Seiun Hades who took them along by some margin for the majority of the race after Admire Terra dumped his jockey at the start before joining in the festivities riderless.

With Calandagan waiting under Mickael Barzalona, it looked through my rose-tinted spectacles that he only needed to push the button to coast home alone, but no-one told favourite Masquerade Ball, who went to war up the home straight and made my selection fight all the way to the line for a head success, with two and a half lengths back to the third.

Danon Decile deserves a mention for his excellent place, but I cannot take anything away from the winner with Almond Eye’s course record broken by 0.2 of a second, and I can now proudly sign off with a one tip one winner record for my Japan Cup preview!

Sean Trivass was a guest of the JRA and would like to thank them for their hospitality, as always.

READ MORE: Japan Cup 2025 preview: Calandagan leads European charge