Kiwi horse stars in Tokyo

It’s more than a few furlongs from Avondale Racecourse to a 17th-century Shinto shrine in Nikko but the link is strong, writes Dean Parker

“Now the balloon’s up and they’re under starter’s orders,” I barked. “Regal Monarch, the favourite, looking settled with the inside draw … ” No interest from the sacred horse standing before me, the sole inhabitant in a sacred stable, though a crowd of Japanese inspecting wooden carvings nearby became intrigued.

“This time! Mum’s Pav first out, followed by She’ll Be Right, Regal Monarch handily placed in third … ”

The Japanese had now come into the stable to watch me doing my race-call horsewhispering, but I was getting total indifference from the great horse. It just stood there in all its sanctity, looking away from me into the distance.

I tried a different tack. I gave out a long wail, followed by an invocation. “Now the siren has sounded. Hold all tickets. Stewards’ inquiry into race six. Horses involved are seven, eight, nine and 10 …”

Success! The beast turned its head to stare at me. Everyone cheered. “Ash!” called out my companion. It turned and looked at her. “Ash! We’ve come from Avondale.” What was that look in its eyes? Ancient memories?

Ash used to be the mount of the Clerk of the Course at the Avondale Races, a great handsome thing, a whiter shade of grey. A few years ago he was presented to the Japanese Government — the fourth in a series of gifted horses going back to the 1970s — and his homely name peremptorily changed to Kotuku.

He now lodges in the oldest wooden stable in Japan, 17th century and elaborately carved, part of a magnificent shrine near Nikko. There he embodies the noble spirit of all horses, his every wish rightly attended to by reverential Shinto monks.

Not bad for an Avondale Westie.

Most New Zealanders visiting Tokyo take a cultural side-trip down to Kyoto as an add-on. Kyoto is the old Japanese capital, site of ancient Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines. But Nikko has Kyoto beat. And it also has Ash. It’s a small town nestled in mountains, a two-hour train ride north of Tokyo. There are climbing roads from here that are all Devil’s Elbows, taking you up into mountain streams, cypress groves, lilies, blossoming pink cherry trees, milky-blue lakes, glaciers, sulphurous hot springs, cedars, pines, spectacular waterfalls, marshlands, ancient wooden bridges,