Horse racing in Japan is one of the most fascinating as there are more than 21,000 horse races conducted in a year in any one of three different types that include Ban’ei racing or draft racing, jump racing or the race over hurdles and the flat horse racing.  Ten tracks from a total nearly thirty race tracks of Japan are know as the main or central track. In these ten main tracks you will find the top rated horse races conducted which are conducted by Japan Racing Association which is know to operate oversight with the Japanese government. However the other twenty tracks are owned and operated by the municipal racing authorities which are run under the association with National Association of Racing. There are also two tracks namely Chukyo Racecourse and Sapporo Racecourse which are separately run meeting under the NAR or the JRA jurisdiction.

Some of the best of top rated horse races in Japan are conducted during the fall and the spring season. The most prominent race of the country is the Grade 1 Japan Cup whci his a 2400m invitational grass race that is held during the month of November at Tokyo Racecourse that offers a purse of about ¥530 million which is nearly US$4.6 million.