Where are the Japanese? Work to do to entice Asian participation in spring carnival
Not for the first time a virus has stalled momentum on Japanese participation in Melbourne’s spring carnival.

When Delta Blues beat Pop Rock, clearing out on the rest of the field in the 2006 Melbourne Cup, some predicted it was the start of a wave of Japanese dominance in Australia’s most famous race.
Instead, the 2007 equine influenza outbreak meant neither horse returned for the following year’s race. Momentum was halted and Japanese visitors became a drip feed rather than the expected flood. Admire Rakti won the 2014 Caulfield Cup, but died after his Melbourne Cup start, one of just six unplaced Japanese runners, at that point, to contest the feature since 2006.
Melbourne’s 2019 spring was Japan’s – a Caulfield Cup to Mer de Glace and Cox Plate to Lys Gracieux – and could have restored the flow, but again a virus, this time Covid, stymied international involvement for the following two years.
The return of widespread European participation to pre-pandemic levels was announced on Tuesday – 56 horses nominated from 26 trainers across the big three races – but Japanese horses were conspicuous by their absence.