THE Irish Ambassador to Japan, Anne Barrington, recorded a double of sorts last week.

Just days after the construction of a new state-of-the-art embassy complex in Tokyo was approved, Ireland’s most senior diplomat in the Land of the Rising Sun was at Tokyo racecourse presiding over the newly elevated Group 2 Ireland Trophy.

The Ireland Trophy, an exchange race between Leopardstown and Tokyo Racetrack, started life two decades ago as a lowly handicap but has enjoyed listed status in recent years.

However, due in part to significant lobbying from the Irish Embassy, its status was elevated to Group 2 this year which coincided with the celebration of the 60th year of diplomatic relations between Ireland and Japan.

CROCOSMIA

Leopardstown’s Pat Keogh presented the trophy to the connections of Crocosmia (Stay Gold) who led all the way in the nine-furlong fillies and mares only turf event and banked the €425,000 winner’s prize.

It was a particularly competitive race and there may be a case to further elevate the race to Group 1 status if the standard of the competition is similar next year. In its inaugural running as a group race this year, it attracted three previous Group 1 winners in addition to two other graded race winners and three further runners who had previously finished second in graded races.