Racing Commentary: Japan has purchase to prise away the Derby: Erhaab's sale continues the fusion of western lines with eastern ambition which could one day combine at Epsom

THE announcement last Tuesday that, under a new sponsor, the Derby will be worth pounds 500,000 to the winner next year, may not have been the most important news concerning the race last week. Three days later, the sale to Japan of this year's Blue Riband winner, Erhaab, was confirmed and another step taken towards the day when a horse owned, bred and possibly even trained in that country takes the Epsom prize.

Erhaab, who was bought for dollars 5.5m ( pounds 3.5m), is the third successive Derby winner, and the fifth of the last nine, to take their breeding potential to Japan. Other distinguished British racehorses of recent years in Opera House, Armiger and Rodrigo De Triano have also gone east.

As purchasers of much of the globe's best staying stock over the last 10 years, the Japanese have principally been catering for their own needs and the emphasis on stamina in the sport in their country. But the focus is now also swinging to European middle-distance targets, just at a time when it is commonly accepted that, in the West, the pool of horses that actually stay the distance of the Epsom Derby is little more than a puddle.

The leader in the breeding field in Japan is the Shadai Farm at Hokkaido, which is home to stallions including Dr Devious, Hector Protector, Allez Milord and Sunday Silence, who won two legs of the American Triple Crown, as well as the Breeders' Cup Classic, in 1989.

Shadai is the property of Teruya Yoshida, White Muzzle's owner, who already has designs on Epsom. 'He'd like to raise their breeding to European standard and some day he will have horses in the Derby and one day he will win it,' Patrick Barbe, Yoshida's racing manager, said yesterday. 'And that might be sooner than you think.

'If the Derby had not been moved to a Saturday (and a clash with Japanese domestic prizes) I would not have been surprised to see Yutaka Take (the nation's top rider) in five of the next 10 runnings.'

In the last decade, Japan's racing has developed at the same rapid pace as so much of that country's industry, with crowds of 200,000 attending some meetings. 'Ten years ago it was almost impossible for a Japanese horse to win the Japan Cup (one of few races open to foreign-trained horses), but now they are at a level where they can compete and actually win the race,' Barbe said. 'The whole industry from breeders, to jockeys, to trainers has improved so much.'

It may arrest traditionalists in Britain to learn that the Derby has been ignored thus far largely because it was not thought to be worth the bother. 'The only reason they haven't come is because prize- money is so good in Japan,' Barbe said.

'There is no point racing in Europe for dollars 500,000 when you can get more back home. In terms of prize-money the King George (VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes) would be a Group Three race by comparison.

'But they may want to come for the prestige now and to show their breeding has improved.'

Of equal bewilderment to the purists will be the thought that Japan's attempts to annex the Derby from these islands for the first time since Empery won for France in 1976 are built on old turf values: the belief that the champion thoroughbred should display the classic fusion of staying ability and acceleration.

'Europe is more about speed now and Japan more about stamina,' Barbe said. 'The Japanese are clever and they are buying the bloodlines that suit their style of racing and I think they're right to buy stamina. The best horse is not the champion miler, but the horse that can stay a distance and also quicken. That's the real horse.'

Such a beast may have emerged at Ascot on Saturday when Celtic Swing vaulted to the head of betting on the 1995 Derby following victory in the Hyperion Stakes. The Lady Herries-trained colt beat Singspiel by eight lengths, with Winners Choice a further 10 lengths back in third.

For the colt's owner, Peter Savill, this was confirmation of home reports. 'I've been getting very excited about him for a long time,' he said. 'There is nothing of any age that can work with him at Lady Herries's stable and he must be the best I've had in 17 years as an owner.'

Celtic Swing is now as low as 12-1 for the Derby with Ladbrokes, who also offer the same price for the 2,000 Guineas, but the real value is on Savill's slip. He has got 250-1 for Epsom.

(Photograph omitted)