"Excellent!" was the first word that came to mind when M.D of SAHorseracing.COM, Ash Maharaj, described the service levels so far experienced by the hosts of the Japan Cup, the Japanese Racing Association.

"From the time we got into the classy Hyatt Hotel, we have been treated extremely well, our needs where taken care off and our every request answered," said Ash Maharaj from Tokyo, where he has become the first South African media personality to be officially invited by the JRA to attend their most prestigious annual racemeeting.

Lobby of the Hyatt in Tokyo

"Their level of service rivals Hong Kong and this region is known of that. The Japanese are hospitable and friendly people. Hong Kong International Races is the best week of racing in the world when it comes to service levels and we have been lucky to have a solid relationship with Hong Kong. This relationship was developed before our horses competed in Hong Kong with regularity. We would like to say that we had some part in promoting their racing to South Africans and the same can be said about the vision of this trip to Tokyo.

"The intention is to expand the horizon of South African`s mentality in order to expose Japan as a viable option for a good 2400m South African trained horse.

"We were also invited to the prestigious welcome dinner party of Friday night, a function reserved for connections of the horses, selected media and JRA personal. It was an honour," continued Ash Maharaj.

Welcome Dinner party

Ash Maharaj on internationalisation: "South Africa can be proud of a lot of things in terms of international expansion and our presence here will serve to inform the Japanese that we want to become a global player. I have already had contact with some of the chiefs of the JRA`s international department and their interest in South Africa is positive. Hopefully this can lead to a relationship like the one that is currently being pursued with the Koreans. That relationship was started by my visit to Seoul last year this time."

Barrier Draw for the Japan Cup and Japan Cup Dirt

"Our presence in Japan has created some more awareness of our media product and South African racing in general, we already have a following in terms of the users visiting our website. This visit will re-enforce that.

The two day racemeeting in Japan takes place this weekend with the Japan Cup dirt on the Saturday and Japan Cup on Sunday.

The famous district of Shinjuku at night