The flying horsebox made a good landing in the rain yesterday but today the sun is out and it is a beautiful day and we could see Fuji from the track.

Hidden behind some cloud the majestic mountain started to emerge as the three international horses for Sunday's Japan Cup came out on to the track.

First to appear was Trading Leather, a 4yo son of Teofilo bred by a now trained by Jim Bolger, he had his regular jockey Kevin Manning in the irons for an outing on the grass track - just to open his lungs as they said. Manning said afterwards that he was very pleased with where the horse is at this moment and he should know as he's ridden him in all his races. When asked at the Media Conference if the horse was better at 2000 or 2400m, Manning said that much depended on the pace in the race. Trading Leather was bought by Godolphin in March and there was no answer to the question of the horse's future plans after this race.

German star Ivanhowe, winner of this year's Grosser Preis von Baden Baden which we were lucky to witness, just had a brief outing on the dirt. He's a nice horse by Soldier Hollow bred by his owners Gestut Schlenderhan. His trainer Jean-Pierre Carvalho is French but trains in Germany at Cologne, and his jockey Filip Minarik is Czech-born but lives in Germany so a very international horse. Should he finish in the first three, he's in line for a super bonus for the GP Baden and the Japan Cup.

The Canadian entrant Up With The Birds is a 4yo bay colt by Stormy Atlantic although the horse is reported to be very laid back and easy to work with. He appears to have a strong finish which he may well need on Sunday as this is going to be a very tough race with so many of the star Japanese horses in the field.

The barrier draw will be held tomorrow and we will discuss some of the locals best hopes after that,