By Henry Hilton

Commentary Jan. 08, 2010 - 05:41AM JST ( 4 )

OK, let’s be honest about it: Tokyo’s Nakayama race track ain’t Ascot. Even when allowing for a spot of post-holiday cheer, it is still crowded,uncomfortable and the atmosphere is pretty bland.

Yet the place, during its first meeting in the New Year, had a lot going for it, as well as providing clues as to Japan’s current economic situation. The stands were heaving by the third race on a 12-race card but since it’s only 200 yen for admission and lots of old-timers were here to meet their friends, Nakayama is more than just a betting venue. Parents were there with the kids for a day out, businessmen came with their briefcases to escape the office and just about everyone gobbled up the junk food with the aid of a great deal of decently priced beer.

Of course, there is no point, though, in disguising the fact that the venue ultimately revolves around speculating on the nags. It’s all part of a well-established Japanese tradition that goes back to the first overseas-organized races at Negishi outside the Yokohama foreign settlement in 1860. Then, the riders were mainly English and their ponies imported from the China coast. Almost all the thoroughbreds on display that day are Japanese-bred and all but one of the jockeys Japanese.

A hundred and fifty years ago, the organization was thoroughly amateur with unpaid stewards and paltry prize money. Now, it’s all highly professional with the support of a vast betting public and a huge breeding industry up in Hokkaido. What was once little more than an occasional diversion for Westerners in the Yokohama and Kobe treaty ports has evolved into one of Japan’s premier sports.

Still, appearances can be misleading. Nakayama - like Japan in general - is going through hard times. The statistics from the bigwigs in the Japan Racing Association point to a continuing decline in both attendance and a falling off in betting revenue. For now, there is probably little that can be done to prevent further contractions until the recession blows over but in comparison with many of its international counterparts, the Japanese racing scene remains enviably alive. The crowds are still huge and the purses in the biggest races enormous.

The industry is also making efforts to become more international. The fattest plums, such as the prestigious Japan Cup, are very much open to foreign horses and even at Nakayama’s mid-week meeting in January, there is a European jockey riding against his Japanese peers.

Indeed, anyone thinking of placing a bet over the next month would be well advised to reckon with the young Frenchman Anthony Crastus, who got backers out of deep trouble both with a nicely judged winner and a placed horse at Nakayama. And one final tip from the racing bureau for the longer term: look out for the nicely named 3-year old filly Saint Emilion which broke her maiden tag this week and is surely going on to greater things.

Racing in Japan may not have the glamour of overseas meetings and its bureaucratic structure may not be to everyone’s taste, but its resilience has been well tested over the past decade. Once the economy really starts to pick up again, it is certain to surge ahead once more. At least you can put your shirt on that.