Japan’s racing industry, after hitting a low in 2011, has recovered steadily as evidenced once again in the fiscal 2018 third quarter.

JRA sales reached nearly 2,037 billion yen as of October 2, up 1.5% from the year earlier. While the growth rate’s gradual annual decline may be cause for concern in the long term, the current situation is sound.

Municipality-run NAR (National Association of Racing) racing marked an even greater increase with a 9.4% increase in average wagering per race-day as of August.

Online betting by both JRA and NAR accounted for 68.8% of total sales, up 4.4%. In the near future online betting is expected to amount to 70% of total betting and already accounts for 71.1% of NAR wagering.

JRA wagering took a new step in September with the introduction of cashless betting machines to enable registered customers to place bets using a contactless card.

The new card is linked to each user’s registered palm-vein information for biometric authentication to prevent fraudulent use and for reissuing cards.

As with other contactless cards used widely in Japan, money is preloaded into the card. The new system also allows card holders to wager on Pick5 bets and designated overseas races, which previously had been limited to users of registered IPAT accounts.

The new system began in September at Tokyo racecourse and will expand to three additional courses between October and November as well as three off-track betting sites by the end of November.

Favourable business performance has also impacted the breeding industry.

The 2018 Select Sale held by the Japan Racing Horse Association in July set a new record in its yearling sales division, reaching a sell-through rate of 90.6% that amounted to over 9.67 billion yen, up 12%.

The two-day sale grossed over 17.93 billion yen, also a record, including foal division sales of nearly 8.26 billion yen, down 5%. Thoroughbred sales organized by the Hidaka Breeders Association (HBA), including the Selection Sale, Summer Sale and Autumn Sale, came to over 9.31 billion yen, down 2.6% but still healthy.

This year’s biggest topics included the record-making achievements of JRA and NAR jockeys.

Yutaka Take reached the unprecedented milestone of 4000 JRA wins on September 29, showing no sign of slowing down as he approaches his 50th birthday next year.

The long-standing JRA champion notched 3000 career wins in 2007 and registered more than 200 wins annually in his prime along with many historic records.

However he had his share of struggles in the past decade, taking 11 years to add another 1000 wins as his career took a downturn following a major injury due to a fall in 2010.

Take came up short of 70 wins in each of his three seasons between 2010 and 2012. However, he redeemed himself in 2013 when he claimed the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) title with Kizuna and then notched over 100 wins for the first time in six years in 2015.

He was in the spotlight scoring five G1 victories between 2016 and 2017 in partnership with Horse of the Year Kitasan Black.

The NAR’s veteran rider Fumio Matoba, 62, surpassed Takemi Sasaki for most career NAR wins when registering his 7152nd victory on August 12.

Nanako Fujita, the JRA’s only active female jockey, set a new record for career JRA wins by a female jockey when she scored her 35th victory on August 25.

Debuting in 2016 as the JRA’s first female jockey in 16 years, she registered six wins in her first season, 14 wins last year and 19 as of the end of this September, giving her enough wins to ride in G1 races.