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When Buena Vista breaks from the starting gate in Saturday's Dubai World Cup, the 5-year-old mare will not only be trying to win the world's richest horse race but aiming to lift the spirits of all of Japan.
She is one of three horses - along with Transcend and Victoire Pisa - in the $10 million race that based in disaster-ravaged Japan.
Buena Vista had already arrived in Dubai when the March 11 earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, but her owners have since been forced to relocate 200 other horses and staff from one of its training centers because it was only 19 miles from the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.
"Every citizen is downhearted after the recent tragedies, and I am sure a victory would lift spirits of the Japanese people," said Katsumi Yoshida, a trustee of Sunday Racing Co., which owns Buena Vista. "Buena Vista is indeed very popular with the racing fans so a victory can only be a good thing for everyone."
While they are competitive on the track, all three Japanese owners spoke with one voice when it came to the crisis back home. They all said success Saturday could rally the spirits of the country which is struggling to recover from the disaster which so far has killed more than 9,700, left nearly 16,500 missing and could end up costing the country $309 billion.
Most of the Japanese teams are wearing black polo shirts with the word "hope" above a Japanese flag on the right sleeve and the date of the quake and tsunami on the back.
