Ban'ei

History

Ban’ei racing has its probable origin in agricultural work, when horses were used to pull farming machinery and sleds of wood. Eventually, the horses were tested for speed and strength in festivals of the late Meiji Era.

The popularity grew, and in 1953, Hokkaido’s four cities (Kitami, Asahikawa, Iwamizawa, and Obihiro) began to manage races. Races were run until three of the cities: Kitami, Asahikawa, and Iwamizawa closed operations in 2007 due to declining revenues. Obihiro racecourse is now the only one currently active and hosts races almost every Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Races do not occur in March, as trainers use the beginning of month to start preparing new horses. Races are also held on additional days to mark special occasions, such as New Year.

Overview

The Ban-ei course consists of a 200-meter dirt track with lines separated by ropes laid in the sand. This creates ten lanes, each with a starting gate and incorporating two hill-shaped obstacles. The second and steeper hill obstacle is called the “Ban’ei Point”. Horses haul sleds across this track, with sleds weighing from 450kg(sled as empty) to 1 ton in “Ban’ei Kinen”.

Jockeys stand and balance on the sled, using long reins as a whip and weight slabs under the feet of the jockey to replace the lack of a saddle. Jockeys must weigh 75kg, and if the jockey is underweight, more slabs are added to meet this weight. Horses are often deliberately stopped after first obstacle to give them a rest before being ushered to climb the second one. A horse has not finished until the whole sled is behind finish line.

After the race completes, race horses are freed from the sleds and led to the backyard, while sleds are moved back to the starting gate with the aid of a trolley.

Amount of weight that horse has to pull is determined by several factors. Younger horses and mares are not required to pull as much as their older or stallion counterparts. Money earned by the horse helps to determine the group and rating, and therefore weight that must be pulled. The group the competing horse is in is labeled 1-26, and groups are rated with Open, A1, A2, B1, B2, B3, B4, C1, C2 or D. This is similar to system used in local Japanese thoroughbred racing. Weight allowance of jockeys is either 10 kg or 20 kg based on the number of wins.

Because ban'ei racing is about strength and not speed, the winning time of big races is often slower than lower class races, where even small overtime can get horse quickly disqualified. With suitable ground conditions, horses pulling lightly-loaded sleds can clock speeds under 50 seconds.

Condition of the track is described using measured moisture percentage.

The track is repaired manually by trackworkers either during or between races. Watering is used to prevent excess dust for irritating horses and people.Heating system allows racing at winter months.

Horses

Horses in ban'ei are often either purebred or crossbred variations of Percheron, Breton, and Belgian. Their weight can surpass 1 ton, which is twice that of a Thoroughbred.

Potential stock is chosen from draft horses raised for meat. Most ban'ei horses start official racing as two-year-olds after passing inspection held between April and August. Horses that do not pass inspection are either sent back to a breeder as they can be used in events or tourism, or to feedlot.

Competing horses are mainly solid-coloured, but there have also been pinto ban'ei horses and two dominant whites.

Former racehorses not eligible for breeding are usually sold for meat. At the end of every fiscal year during the end of March, prolific retiring racehorses are honoured at their own ceremony. NAR gives yearly award to best horse.

Japanese Draft Horse

Japanese Draft Horse (Nihon Bankei Shu, 日本輓系種) is a breed with open studbook created by crossing purebred and halfbred horses together for five consecutive generations. (Horses that don't meet this requirement have been registered since 2003 as "半血種".)

Eight draft breeds have been listed as eligible for breeding program: Ardennes, Clydesdale, Shire, Brabançon, Breton, Boulonnais, Belgian and Percheron. (This isn't directly comparable to breeding stock available - as 2015, purebred stallions in stud are Bretons and Percherons, while data regarding new registrations of broodmares from 2014 indicates that from purebreds, three are majority: Bretons, Percherons and Belgians.)

Japanese Drafts are used mainly in ban'ei and horsemeat production. The ideal horse has draft phenotype and "hybrid vigour".

Breed doesn't have any colour or marking specifications. Colours of bay, chestnut, flaxen chestnut, black, gray and variety of roans have been recorded since they also exist in purebreds. In extreme cases horse may have multiple facial markings and all legs marked with white.

Open studbook policy has led to pinto pattern - one female family used in ban'ei can be traced to single stallion born in 1967, while dominant white seen in two horses was spontaneous, manifesting itself at 2010.

Prevalence of hereditary diseases is unknown, since at least one Western scientific source lists breed as "ban-ei" without hereditary diseases.

(As comparison, Japanese scientific database uses correct breed name.)

Records

Horses:

These horses didn't retire to stud:

To be listed to ban'ei racing's "Hall of Fame", horse's lifetime earnings has to exceed 100,000,000 million yen

Jockeys and trainers with over 2,000 wins:

Active as jockey or trainer:

Former jockey active as trainer:

Retired:

Other:

Grade races

All held in Obihiro, over 200 metres.

Two-year-olds

Three-year-olds

Four-year-olds

Three and four-year-olds

Three-year-olds and up

Abolished races

These were either high-stakes or graded races.