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JAPAN: Makybe Diva May Just Be The Start
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Story By Chris Scholtz
Makybe Diva
Photo by Bronwen Healy
Tuesday, 18 January 2005: The suggestion that champion Australian mare Makybe Diva may race in Japan in May is the first positive response to the move by the Japan Racing Association to double the number of major races open to international competition in 2005 to 60 events worth more almost $US60 million.
The long awaited move is the first step in a three-year plan to gain greater international recognition and status for Japanese racing from the International Cataloging Standards Committee.
Only 24 Japanese races were open to overseas horses in 2004.
Major events now on the open list include the $US1.3 million Tenno Sho (Autumn) and $US1.3 Tenno Sho (Spring) and the $US900,000 Takamatsunomiya Kinen.
The Tenno Sho Autumn is the race that may be targeted by dual Melbourne Cup winner Makybe Diva should she perform to expectations in Dubai in March.
The Japan Racing Association has indicated that by 2007 half of Japan’s black type races will be open to foreign competition.
http://www.aapracingandsports.com.au/cms/cmspopnews.asp?NID=55617
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By ADRIAN DUNN
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13mar05
CHAMPION mare Makybe Diva set an unofficial world record on turf in an amazing Australian Cup win at Flemington yesterday – then trainer Lee Freedman ominously warned her best was yet to come.
Makybe Diva ($2.90) clipped 0.7sec off Northerly's 2000m Flemington victory, clocking a sensational 1:58.7 to win the Australian Cup.
She came from last on the home turn to defeat Winning Belle ($14) by a length in the $1 million Group 1.
In contrast, her arch rival Elvstroem ($2.05 fav) faded into fourth place.
Stewards reported Elvstroem had suffered from mild heat stress, but trainer Tony Vasil was still keen to push ahead with his plans and leave for Dubai on Friday.
Makybe Diva has made Flemington her own with two Melbourne Cups and now an Australian Cup at the headquarters of Australian racing.
Jockey Glen Boss – who again turned a major win into a celebration, to the delight of the 25,599 crowd – declared Makybe Diva "the best I've ridden".
"She's given me so many thrills," he said.
Makybe Diva, a six-year-old bred in England, has now won 10 races and a staggering $7,872,135 to stake her claim as the greatest staying mare to race in Australia.
She goes to Sydney to take on NSW's premier weight-for-age horse Grand Armee in Saturday's $2.25 million BMW (2400m) at Rosehill.
She then takes to the world stage in the Group 1 $3 million Tenno Sho (3200m) in Japan on May 1.
"There's still a lot of improvement in her. She'll have a couple of quiet days at the farm then fly to Sydney Wednesday or Thursday. She's coming off a career peak and it won't be easy," Freedman said of the clash with Grand Armee.
"She's such a great mare. If I trained her to win at 1600 metres or 1400 metres at weight for age I'm sure she could do it."
Said Boss of the Grand Armee clash: "Bring it on, I can't wait."
After Sydney, Freedman will turn his sights to Japan.
Her primary target is the $3 million Tenno Sho (3200m) at weight-for-age at Kyoto on May 1.
"The Japanese are very hard to beat at home but they will have to be bloody good to beat her," Freedman said.
Owner Tony Santic declared her win was "nearly as good as the Melbourne Cup".
Freedman wanted a fast pace to bring Makybe Diva's staying powers into play and he got it.
Outsider Niagara Falls ($31) clocked 46.4 for the 800m between the 1600m and 800m when she opened up a huge gap on the field.
The suicidal pace suited Makybe Diva, who powered home in 44.96 for the last 800 and 22.71 for the last 400m. While Makybe Diva was at the peak of her powers, trainer Tony Vasil was struggling for answers until news of his post-race problem came through.
"A humbling experience," he said of Elvstroem's defeat.
But he was ready to acknowledge Makybe Diva as "freak, just a champion".
Vasil said Elvstroem had also suffered from heat stress in last year's Cadbury Guineas and BMW in Sydney.
"He'll bounce back. I'll give him a saline drench in the morning," he said.
Vasil said the weather in Dubai was no hotter than in Australia at this time of the year and pointed out the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free (1770m) will be run at night.
Damien Oliver said runner-up Winning Belle had run a super race.
"A career-best run. She duelled with the mare (Makybe Diva) for a while, but she outstayed her," he said.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12528093%255E11088,00.html
Makybe Diva's win took her to third on the all-time prizemoney winner's list behind Sunline and Northerly and in May she will get the chance to challenge Sunline's $11.2 million mark when she represents Australia in a $3 million 3200-metre race in Japan.
World at her feet
By ROD NICHOLSON
20mar05
NOT since the legendary Phar Lap ventured to Mexico to beat the world's best gallopers has so much fanfare and expectation surrounded an Australian galloper's tilt at world supremacy.
http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2005/03/19/pt_20s_diva_ent-lead__200x196.jpg
Makybe Diva is a freak, hailed by all as the world's best stayer and, by many genuine judges, the best stayer they have seen.
Her barnstorming win in the Group 1 BMW over 2400m at Rosehill yesterday merely confirmed her status. The thrashing of Sydney's weight-for-age hero Grand Armee (giving him a seven-length start at the top of the straight and cruising to victory by two lengths) continued her amazing record.
It was a staggering performance that assured the mare of the horse-of-the-year title and catapulted her into legendary status.
Such was the ease with which Makybe Diva ran down Grand Armee that her jockey, Glen Boss, had time to look and smile at the crowd and then rise to meet the winning post.
"He's a brilliant judge of pace, Glen," Freedman said. "I thought we were going to run a good second, but in the last 200 metres, she absolutely flew. There's no disputing she's the horse of the year. She's right up there with (former champion stayer of the 1960s) Galilee and those horses now."
Boss was surprised by the ease of the win.
"I expected it to be a real dogfight...but this mare has just got stronger every preparation," Boss said. "To come up here after what she did in Melbourne last week and to beat Grand Armee in his own backyard - that's something.
"She's just so honest and so loyal. She gives you everything."
Thw win followed last weekend's record time in the Australian Cup (2000m) at Flemington and added to her triumphs in two Melbourne Cups and a Sydney Cup (3200m), plus the runner-up trophy in the Caulfield Cup (2400m).
http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/todaysnews/photos/MakybeDiva.MKing.jpg
She now boasts $9,124,110 in prizemoney and will fly past the champ Northerly's $217,640 advantage in pursuit of Sunline's Australasian record of $11,351,607.
Makybe Diva is being set for the $3 million Tenno Sho (3200m) in Japan on May 1 and nobody could doubt her ability to win.
Further, she has captured the racing public's imagination.
Better Loosen Up might have won the Japan Cup, Choisir a couple of sprints in England, and Sunline a race in Hong Kong, but none departed these shores with so many well-wishers as Makybe Diva boasts. She is the stuff of legends, akin to Phar Lap's adventure during the Depression and his ability knitted a nation's focus.
"As long as Makybe Diva travels well on the world stage, I have no doubt she can win in Japan," trainer Lee Freedman said.
The trainer and jockey Glen Boss surely cannot believe their good fortune. They are connected with a champion, a people's horse.
“What a treat, I cannot believe this horse and I have never ridden a horse who can run sectionals like this.
“The harder they run up front the easier it is for me.
“I just cannot tell you what it feels like,” he said.
Makybe Diva ran her last 600m in 33.87, usually a top sprinters time, and certainly not at the end of 2400m.
Clearly Makybe Diva will bolt in the Horse of the Year Award and frankly she deserves every accolade because she has beaten the best stayers and the best weight-for-age gallopers this campaign.
She again assumed centre stage yesterday, despite the running of the Golden Slipper, the world's richest two-year-old race.
“If she can travel to Japan and settle in she can win,” he added referring to the Japanese trip the stable is undertaking.
The 11-horse field for the H. E. Tancred included several able rivals, such as Group 2 winner Hugs Dancer and New Zealand Group 1 winner Vouvray.
Danny Beasley aboard Grand Armee quickly had the six-year-old gelding bowling along in front, with Outback Prince and Cheval De Troy ( Shane Dye) on the pace, and Makybe Diva taking it easy third last.
At the halfway mark, Grand Armee was striding along in front, with Hugs Dancer, Outback Prince, and Vouvray in pursuit, and Makybe Diva 15 lengths at the rear.
Gai Waterhouse, trainer of Grand Armee and as good a loser as she is a winner, noted that Dye kept "niggling, niggling" at Grand Armee up front. Cheval De Troy was beaten 17.7 lengths, finishing in last place.
Stewards, too, took an interest in Dye's tactics, described during the hearing as being a "hindrance to Grand Armee" by chief steward Ray Murrihy.
The jockey maintained he was riding to the instructions of trainer Col Jillings, which were to lead or be close up and "go from the half mile".
Cheval De Troy, though, was a shot bird at that stage and dropped right out, with his AJC Derby campaign now in tatters.
Jillings confirmed the instructions and said Cheval De Troy, which had been luckless in the Canterbury and Rosehill guineas, would return home to New Zealand.
But it was Makybe Diva's day, and Webbey will strive for her to take her rightful place.
Coming down the straight, with a finish few will ever forget, Makybe Diva provided the second leg of a great double on the Australian turf.
Yet Makybe Diva isn't in the first 50 stayers in the world ratings which, of course, is outlandish, but Racing NSW handicapper Mark Webbey is working on an elevation.
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The planned trip to Japan holds special significance for Makybe Diva's owner, Tony Santic, whose business is tuna fishing in South Australia. He is a major exporter to Japan.
"It will be great for my business, it will be great for the Makybe, hopefully we can show them how good she is, we know how good she is," he said.
Today, Makybe Diva returns to Hall of Fame-trainer Lee Freedman's training complex on the Mornington Peninsula. She'll have a couple of days in a paddock in preparation for a flight to Japan next Monday.
That's a flight we must pray about, for many a horse from Down Under has headed to the land of the rising sun only to arrive sick and sorry.
The Bart Cummings-trained Saintly was lucky to survive in 1996. Eight years earlier, Cummings took Sky Chase there and it almost died. The horse returned home but never raced again.
Thankfully, the flight path to Japan doesn't resemble that of a milk run, stopping here, there and everywhere; the type that prevented past great Might And Power from attacking the Japan Cup after his triumphs in the 1997 Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.
Kevin Williams, the racing manager for Makybe Diva's owner Tony Santic, confirmed the travel arrangements for Japan. It was pleasing to hear.
There will be a stop-over in Hong Kong and it won't be for very long, if Williams is right, and then it's straight to Tokyo. For that the supporters of athletic perfection must give thanks. All going well, Makybe Diva may be in Japan within 16 hours of leaving Melbourne.
Awaiting in Japan is the April Stakes on the 10th.
A 2000-metre, $500,000 race under set weights and penalties, with Makybe Diva expected to carry 59 kilograms. Her major assignment is the $3 million Tenno Sho on May 1 - a group 1, weight-for-age race over the Melbourne Cup distance of 3200m.
How good is that? Makybe Diva competing over her optimum distance at wfa. It doesn't get much better. And if she happened to take home the $1.8m first prize, it would take her earnings to $10,924,110 leaving the mare just behind that other female freak Sunline, which retired having won an Australasian record $11,351,607 in stakes.
All going well, Makybe Diva will return to Australia after Japan, with Williams saying she would be put straight in a paddock. Then the focus will be on the spring, with Williams uncertain what her target would be.
The Cox Plate, maybe the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in France in October. Maybe even another tilt at the Melbourne Cup. Another tilt at the Cup rests in the hands of the Racing Victoria handicapper. No horse has won the race three times. We should pray he doesn't crucify her. And hope she returns safely from Japan, where Makybe Diva is set to do Australia proud.
cyoung@access.fairfax.com.au
From: specialweek Sent: 22/03/2005 11:18 PM
Latest news tells me that Australia will not hear the Nakayama Jump as contract with TVN has yet to be finalised. Makybe Diva will run in the April Stakes at Nakayama then the Emperors Cup May 1st at Kyoto
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The Emperor's Cup ( Tenno Sho )
April, 3,200 meters - Kyoto Racecourse
October, 2,000 meters - Tokyo Racecourse
The Tenno Sho (Emperor's Cup), is the most historic of all Japanese races.
Its origin traces back to 1880 when the Mikado's Vase Race was held at the Negishi Racecourse in Yokohama. From 1905, the race was run under the name of Teishitsu Goshoten Race, and a winner's prize was officially granted from Emperor Meiji. Later, the Teishitsu Goshoten races were held at officially recognized racecourses throughout Japan, including Meguro (Tokyo) and Naruo (Hyogo Prefecture).
In November of 1937 the Tenno Sho was held at the Tokyo Racecourse, and in May of the following year at the Hanshin Racecourse. It was then decided to regularly hold the race twice a year, with each race covering a distance of 3,200 meters. In 1947, the spring Tenno Sho was moved to the Kyoto Racecourse, where it has remained.
After a reorganization of Japanese racing in 1981, it became possible for a horse to participate in the Tenno Sho twice in the same year.
In October of 1987, the Fall Tenno Sho was shortened to 2,000 meters to attract 3-year- old horses who had shied away from the 3,200 meter distance.
http://www.imh.org/imh/jp/jp3.html
G'day All ... According to Expertform, despite the recent performances of
Makybe Diva, Sunline is still the top rating mare in the last fifteen
years. Rgds ... EJ.
Sunline remains the highest rating mare in modern history, despite the recent exploits of super stayer Makybe Diva.
Expertform ratings show that Sunline`s 77kg rating for winning the 2000
Doncaster Handicap is the peak performance by a mare since 1990.
Makybe Diva`s peak performance - despite her last two weight-for-age wins
in the Australian Cup and BMW Stakes - remains the 2004 Melbourne Cup when
she rated 75.5kg.
Makybe Diva`s record breaking Australian Cup rating was 73.5kg, while at
Rosehill she peaked at 74.5kg.
Sunline also has the second highest rating - her 76.5 effort when 2nd to
Over in the 2000 Doncaster Handicap.
It`s worth noting, however, that Sunline`s rates inferior to Makybe Diva at
weight-for-age. Her 2000 Cox Plate win rated 74kg, which marginally rates
below Makybe Diva`s BMW win.
Let`s Elope`s Melbourne Cup rating was 70kg, remembering she carried only
51kg, while her peak performance in the 1992 Australian Cup rated 73kg.
Might And Power`s 79kg for his Queen Elizabeth Stakes win in 1998 is the
benchmark rating while Northerly (pictured), matched Sunline with his 77kg
in 2002 Caulfield Cup.
Ausrace
Handy Harry
02-04-2005, 12:15
Makybe Diva Arrives Safely In Japan
Tuesday, 29 March 2005: Dual Melbourne Cup winner Makybe Diva arrived safe and sound in Japan today after an overnight flight from Melbourne.
"Travelled well, arrived safely, all OK," was the message reaching Makybe Diva's racing manager Kevin Williams today.
Williams, in Sydney for the Easter yearling sales, said he understood the mare had taken no harm from her 14-hour trip which included a scheduled two-hour stopover in Hong Kong.
Travelling foreman Clinton Youngson phoned trainer Lee Freedman this morning to say all was well.
"It looks like everything's OK. We're there, and we'll just go on from there," Williams said.
Makybe Diva is due to have a warm-up race over 2000 metres in the April Stakes at Nakayama on April 10 before tackling her main target, the $3 million Tenno Sho at Kyoto on May 1.
The race, at set weights over the Melbourne Cup distance of 3200 metres, is worth 132 million yen ($A1.61 million) to the winner.
If she wins either race, Makybe Diva will overtake Northerly as the greatest stakeswinner trained in Australia.
If she wins both she will be within touching distance of Sunline's Australasian record of $11,351,607.
Makybe Diva's connections were encouraged by the success of Elvstroem in the Dubai Duty Free over the weekend, proving that Australian form carries over into international racing.
Glen Boss, who has partnered Makybe Diva in all five Group One victories in Australia, will fly to Japan to ride her in both races.
Depending on how she goes, she may also travel to France to run in Europe's greatest race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, on October 2.
If that happens, it is unlikely she will race in Australia again.
Makybe on the money
Eden Harrington
04apr05
MAKYBE Diva is poised to smash the Australasian prizemoney record and reshape world opinion of our horses when her two-race Japanese raid begins in Sunday's $561,000 April Stakes (2000m) at Nakayama.
If she does, she will plug the lone hole in Lee Freedman's training CV: success overseas.
"We need to go and win overseas and she's the right horse to do it," Freedman said yesterday.
"I haven't gone overseas very often. I have been to Japan twice (with Naturalism) and been narrowly beaten in the Japan Cup, which was a disappointment.
"I have been to New Zealand once and ran second in the Railway Stakes.
"I have had a handful of runners in Hong Kong, no more than three or four over the years, but this is the right time to go again."
The champion mare is thriving in Nakayama with the hard-earned lessons of past international tilts aiding her preparation.
"I was just talking to one of my staff and he reported to me that she was starting to do well and starting to play, which is a good sign," Freedman said.
The April Stakes will carry first prizemoney of $290,000, but the purse Freedman is eyeing for Makybe Diva is the $1.5 million first prize in the Tenno Sho (3200m) on May 1.
Success in the latter event would propel Makybe Diva past Northerly's seasonal earnings record of $5,541,800 and within reach of Sunline's career record of $11,351,607.
But Freedman is realistic about Makybe Diva's chances on Sunday.
"You would say she will just win that race but when you travel overseas and you take on their horses at Group 3 level it isn't easy," he said.
"She's going to have to carry about 59.5kg and she will be back in distance, but she's certainly going to acquit herself well. Naturally when she gets to the 3200m, that's her backyard."
That will happen soon enough. Freedman, who will fly to Japan on Wednesday to oversee the final stages of Makybe Diva's preparation, is keen to see the six-year-old travel to Kyoto as soon as possible for the Tenno Sho.
From: InJapan5 Sent: 5/04/2005 4:49 PM
Can't find the weight which Makybe Diva will carry on Sunday yet, but I think she may be up against it over 2000m at Nakayama.
At this stage, I would think El Nova with 54kgs looks a serious challenger...
Looking forward to the 1000 Guineas on Sunday too. Eishin Tender will be the one for me.
From: specialweek Sent: 5/04/2005 7:37 PM
Thanks InJ5, you know I have the ultimate in respect for your selections.
I can't find the weight for her yet but I doubt the handicapper will give her a big weight. May even come in at 56kg or less
I will know tomorrow but she will carry 56 plus the handicappers G1 assessment.
http://www.aapracingandsports.com.au/photogallery/medium/2004/GS05A08995.JPG
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12745120%255E10048,00.html
From: specialweek Sent: 6/04/2005 1:02 PM
As far as I can work out she would get 55kg less 2kg as a mare plus 6kg as G1 winnner, so in fact she will carry top weight at 59kg.
Just spoke to the JRA and they say unofficially the mare will carry 59kg and a horse would carry 61kg but as jappy said earlier I can't remember a horse carrying 61kg here. She is the only G1 winner in the race.
Btw, cady you can't bet on this weekends race unless you live here. Don't think betfair will cover it. This weekends race will not be shown to Aust but the Tenno sho on May 1st will be. The April stakes is an open race in my opinion so picking the quinella might be difficult, let alone the tri.
Makybe Diva fails in Japan
Michael Manley
11apr05
SUPERSTAR Australian mare Makybe Diva put in an uncharacteristic effort yesterday when she finished seventh at her international debut in Japan yesterday.
Contesting the April Stakes (2000m) at Nakayama, Makybe Diva drifted back in the early stages and was not a factor on the tight, turning circuit.
The dual Melbourne Cup winner was beaten five lengths behind Suzono March.
Trainer Lee Freedman was disappointed with the result but not the mare. "It's a rare day at the office when Makybe Diva runs a little below par," he said.
Freedman said there were mitigating circumstances as the mare was heavily in season and did not like the firm track.
"She was really upset in the parade ring and sweated up. On the way down to the barrier she just pulled, which is not her as she's the calmest mare," he said.
Freedman said jockey Glen Boss had told him the mare didn't stretch out at all during the run.
Freedman said the field had run along at a good clip and the mare settled back as usual.
"Where you'd normally expect her to improve she just didn't," Freedman said.
He said he would monitor Makybe Diva for the next two days before committing to the $3 million Group 1 Tenno Sho (Emperor's Cup) at Kyoto on May 1.
"That race is 3200m and is her main mission. Give up never won a race and we are here, but I'll just keep an eye on her," Freedman said.
Makybe Diva left for Japan on the back of Group 1 wins in the Australian Cup (2000m) and The BMW (2400m).
She is undefeated in three starts over 3200m, splitting her two Melbourne Cups with victory in the 2004 Sydney Cup.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,12816011%255E10048,00.html
'Concrete' track beats Makybe Diva
By Tony Bourke
April 11, 2005
Trainer Lee Freedman has concerns about the hard tracks in Japan after champion mare Makybe Diva made her international racing debut at Nakayama yesterday.
Ridden by Glen Boss, Makybe Diva carried topweight of 59 kilograms and finished seventh in the April Stakes (2000m), won by Suzono March on the tight, turning track.
Speaking to his brother Anthony in Melbourne, Freedman said Makybe Diva never "let go" on a track he described as being "like concrete".
Makybe Diva, who reportedly sweated up badly before the race, finished about five lengths from the winner.
Although the race and the track were hardly suitable for Makybe Diva coming off her win in the group 1 BMW (2400m) at Rosehill on March 19, it was the only available lead-up race before her main mission, the $3 million group 1 Tenno Sho (3200m) at Kyoto on May 1.
However, Freedman told his brother he would be reluctant to run the mare again on a track as hard as it was yesterday.
Freedman said Makybe Diva would be moved to Kyoto on Friday after vets and farriers could find no major problems with the six-year-old following her seventh to Suzono March in the April Stakes (2000m) at Nakayama.
Freedman said a seasonal complaint and, to a lesser extent, the firm track conspired against Makybe Diva performing at her peak shouldering 59 kilos.
"Obviously, it will depend on how she pulls up and the sort of conditions she will find in Kyoto, but apparently they don't water the tracks over there," Anthony Freedman said.
age
Makybe needs rain
Tim Habel
26apr05
JOCKEY Glen Boss will partner champion mare Makybe Diva in a crucial gallop at Kyoto racecourse today in preparation for Sunday's $3.1 million Tenno Sho (3200m).
Makybe Diva has been troubled by hard tracks in Japan and trainer Lee Freedman will be guided by how she works today.
Travelling foreman Clinton Youngson said rain was forecast for today and tomorrow but connections wanted more rain closer to race day.
"It just means they won't water for a few days. Unless we get a couple of inches it will still be hard," he said.
Makybe Diva is stabled alone at Kyoto because of quarantine restrictions.
The plan to have New Zealand jumper Fontera as a companion after his Nakayama Grand Jump race last weekend had to be shelved after the horse fell. The Kevin Myers-trained horse is being treated for an injured back and hind fetlock damage.
Youngson said Makybe Diva was 8kg below her BMW-winning weight, but that was to be expected after a float trip from Sydney back to Rye then the flight to Japan.
Owner Tony Santic will spend a few days in Japan on business related to his massive tuna fishing operation then join in the preparation of the mare later in the week.
Freedman wants officials to add water before Makybe Diva's big show
By Geoff Wilson, Andrew Eddy
April 27, 2005
Trainer Lee Freedman called for Japan's Kyoto track to be watered after champion mare Makybe Diva galloped yesterday morning in preparation for Sunday's $3.9 million Tenno Sho.
The Hall Of Fame trainer declared the track "as hard as a cricket pitch" following Makybe Diva's workout over 2000 metres with jockey Glen Boss aboard.
Freedman and the horse's owner, Tony Santic, remained adamant Makybe Diva would not start in the group 1 race, over 3200m, if the track was too hard.
Makybe Diva was beaten at her first start in Japan at Nakayama on April 10. This weekend's forecast is for rain.
Australia's greatest mare won't be fish out of water
April 29, 2005
Tony Santic has been sending tuna to Japan for years. This time around he's exporting a really big fish, writes Deborah Cameron in Tokyo.
She has ridden to Japan on a tuna's back and on Sunday it will be time to see whether Makybe Diva can hook one of the biggest prizes in world racing.
The six-year-old mare, winner of two Melbourne Cups, an Australian Cup, The BMW and a Sydney Cup, is the pride of a racing stable powered financially by tuna sales in Japan.
When owner Tony Santic decided to enter the horse in the ¥261.2 million ($3.1m) Emperor's Cup, it said as much about his racing hopes as it did about his ambitions for Tony's Tuna, Australia's second-largest tuna farm.
Such is the standing of Makybe Diva that, like a visiting megastar, requests for information about her progress in Japan are being fielded by diplomats at the Australian Embassy in Tokyo.
The horse, the only international starter in the group 1 race, is featured on the Japan Association for International Horse Racing's website. As befits her rock star status, the website reveals her recent weight loss (two kilograms on a journey between racetracks), which it says was no problem.
When Makybe Diva won the Melbourne Cup, Santic is said to have hosted his best contacts from Japan's tuna industry at track-side and to have taken them as his guests to a grand party afterwards at Crown Casino. It was a moment of marketing perfection to gambling-mad, tuna-mad Japan.
It is hard to overestimate the value and importance of the tuna trade. A two-kilogram wedge of the finest sells for ¥65,000 ($800), sometimes more, at Tokyu Foodshow, a noisy and booming market near the Shibuya subway station in the heart of Tokyo. Sashimi tuna and sushi are hardly ever less than ¥1000 for a takeaway pack, with millions sold every day.
When Tony's Tuna was started in 1994 at Port Lincoln in South Australia, the company immediately started fishing for a piece of the southern bluefin market in Japan, where premium prices are paid. Japan spent ¥215 billion ($265 million) in 2003 on imported tuna, airfreighting about a quarter of it to the fish market.
Whether Santic's champion mare makes as big a splash abroad as his fish remains to be seen.
There had been a cloud hanging over Makybe Diva's entry in the group 1 Emperor's Cup, known as the Tenno Sho in Japan, because of firm track conditions.
But she now seems certain to start after course officials watered the track on Wednesday night.
Relieved trainer Lee Freedman said the mare would take her place at Kyoto provided there were no problems before then.
"At this stage we'll run … and I think we can expect her to run very well," he told Melbourne radio station Sport 927.
Freedman has been told more water will be put on the track before the race. He and Santic had threatened to pull the champion mare out of the 3200-metre race if the track remained as hard as it was earlier in the week.
Makybe Diva was clearly uncomfortable when she ran seventh on a rock-hard track at Nakayama on April 10 and her connections were worried she would injure herself if she raced on a similar surface again on Sunday.
"I'm significantly happier with the track and the turf," Freedman said. "This one's quite firm but it's a bit more sandy-based.
"There was a reasonable amount of watering done last night and there are plans to water it again. It's just a matter of how much they put on."
Makybe Diva will carry 56 kilograms from barrier 12 as the only foreign entry in a field which contains some of Japan's leading stayers, including Eye Popper, My Sole Sound and Admire Groove, the only other mare in the race. The others will all carry 58kg in the set-weights race.
Freedman said Makybe Diva had adapted well to the strange surroundings. "She is really well, worked well on Tuesday and will be doing a little bit more tomorrow morning," he said.
Glen Boss will ride her in a fast gallop, which will be her last serious hit-out before the race.
"Her attitude's extremely positive at the moment. She's very focused on what she's doing," Freedman said. "She's eating extremely well and she seems very relaxed."
He said it was difficult to get a line on the opposition but, given the size of the stakes money, there were bound to be good horses in the field. "You run a $3 million group 1 race in Devonport and you'll get a good field there," he said. "All we can do is have her there as good as we can on the day, and I think we will."
Though Makybe Diva is not expected to start favourite, a foreign starter adds great interest to the field for punters. Japanese gamble heavily and at last year's Emperor's Cup wagered ¥27.2 billion ($330m), much of it at thriving betting shops that would dwarf suburban TABs. That's three times as much as Australians wager on the Melbourne Cup.
Despite the international prestige of the Emperor's Cup and Tokyo's great race, the Japan Cup, race tracks in Japan are drab compared with the colour and glamour associated with Australia's greatest races. "It is nothing like the Melbourne Cup or the Sydney Cup," said Austrade's commissioner in Hokkaido, Joanna Nursey-Bray, a racegoer and promoter of Australian thoroughbred interests in Japan.
She said that virtually no women went to the track and that the vibrancy of the crowds at Australian racecourses was the envy of Japan's racing industry, which has been looking for ways to build its appeal.
Nursey-Bray, who lives in the region at the heart of Japan's domestic racing scene, said links between the Japanese and Australian horse industries were growing.
Stallions from Japan were being shuttled to Australia for breeding purposes and Japan's big thoroughbred interests were major buyers at the annual horse sales in Sydney and on the Gold Coast, Nursey-Bray said.
Demand from Hokkaido's 2000 or more stud farms has created a market for grain and other specially formulated racehorse food, of which Australia was the biggest supplier.
It is those Hokkaido horses, powered by Australian stockfeed, that Makybe Diva will be up against on Sunday.
SMH
With AAP
Win will put stakes record in Diva's sights
By John Coomber
May 1, 2005
The Sun-Herald
Makybe Diva will crack the $10 million barrier and overtake Northerly as the highest-earning Australian-trained racehorse if she wins the Emperor's Cup (Tenno Sho) in Kyoto, Japan, today.
The dual Melbourne Cup winner will lift her stakes earnings to more than $10.7 million if she wins.
She will then be within striking distance of Sunline's Australasian record of $11.35 million.
Makybe Diva is the first foreign-trained horse to enter the historic Tenno Sho, run over her pet distance of 3200 metres.
She is bidding to extend her unbeaten record to four from four over the gruelling distance. Jockey Glen Boss said she had thrived over the past week and was ready to give a great account of herself.
"She is in really great shape," Boss said after taking her over a final hit-out before the race.
"She had a really good week this week," Boss told radio station 2KY.
"All the indications are really positive. She's put on weight, her coat looks terrific. She's done everything in good style.
"You couldn't have her in any better condition."
Trainer Lee Freedman was also happy after the course curator watered the track for a second night in succession.
Freedman was also hoping a forecast of a possible storm last night would come good.
A Makybe Diva win would round out a superb season overseas for Australian horses following Elvstroem's victory in the Dubai Duty Free last month and Karasi's win in the Nakayama Grand Jump a fortnight ago.
Freedman has said Makybe Diva will return home after today's race and be given an autumn spell while her connections decide the mare's next campaign.
She may be set for Europe's richest race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in October or, depending on what weight she gets, may try to win an unprecedented third Melbourne Cup.
Today's race will be telecast live on Sky Channel at 4.40pm Sydney time.
smh
Diva shows no dash in Japan
By Tony Bourke and AAP
May 2, 2005
http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2005/05/01/SPORT_diva_wideweb__430x336.jpg
Tough going: Makybe Diva and Glen Boss struggle to make ground in the Tenno Sho in Japan yesterday. The champion mare finished seventh.
Photo: AFP
Champion mare Makybe Diva could not reproduce her Australian form in the $3.1 million Tenno Sho (Emperor's Cup) at Kyoto in Japan yesterday, finishing down the track for the first time in a 3200-metre race.
Makybe Diva, which started $1.70 favourite on the NSW TAB, did not produce her usual finishing burst in the straight and was seventh behind the Japanese galloper Suzuka Mambo, which paid $58.80 for a win. "She's run a great race, but at the end of her preparation she's just felt it," trainer Lee Freedman said.
The omens seemed to be with Makybe Diva when heavy rain began falling in Kyoto about an hour before the race but it came too late to have much effect on the firm track, and jockey Glen Boss was unable to get her into the action from the top of the straight after travelling in the second half of the field.
As happened at her previous start in Nakayama, Makybe Diva failed to "let go" on the hard ground and she finished about five lengths from the winner, which got the better of the early leader Big Gold in the final stages, with Eye Popper third.
"When she moved into the race we all thought she was home, but she felt the track," said Kevin Williams, the racing manager for Makybe Diva's owner, Tony Santic. "She changed stride twice and the stride got shorter and shorter.
"We're disappointed, but it's the end of the preparation and we all understand that. You can't be as good as you were going into the Caulfield and Melbourne cups, or the Australian Cup for that matter."
Boss and Freedman watched replays of the past six or seven Emperor's Cups in the lead-up and the striking feature was the winners rarely, if ever, came from well back in the field, which is Makybe Diva's preferred racing style.
Suzuka Mambo clocked 3 minutes 16.5 seconds, a tick outside Kingston Rule's 1990 record for the Melbourne Cup.
Race timing in Japan is done from a moving start after the horses have travelled about 50 metres rather than when the gates open as in Australia.
In her previous three wins at the distance, the 2003-4 Melbourne Cups and the 2004 Sydney Cup, Makybe Diva's best time was 3:19.90 in her first Melbourne Cup.
Makybe Diva received ¥7.92 million ($96,000) for finishing seventh, which lifts her stakes earnings to $9.22 million, about $120,000 short of Northerly's record for an Australian-trained horse and just more than $2.1m shy of Sunline's Australasian record of $11.35m.
Strapper Clinton Youngson said the mare had pulled up well after yesterday's run but the consensus was that the champion stayer was starting to feel the effects of a long campaign.
Makybe Diva's defeat against what was regarded as a substandard field of Japanese stayers has added to the tarnish on Australia's international racing reputation following the disappointing runs of Elvstroem and Grand Armee in Hong Kong the previous weekend.
Makybe Diva will stay in Japan for another 10 days to complete her quarantine period then return home for a spell, while Santic decides whether to send her to France for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in October or sets her for a bid to win an unprecedented third Melbourne Cup.
The Japan campaign at least had a bright side for Boss, Australia's premier group 1-winning jockey of the past two seasons.
From four rides at Kyoto on Saturday, Boss won two races and finished second.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Horseracing/Diva-shows-no-dash-in-Japan/2005/05/01/1114886252093.html
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