Briley finally has made it to the Kentucky Derby with Coal Battle, who won four straight stakes races from November through February before finishing third in the Arkansas Derby in March. “It’s a good thing I don’t drink,” Briley says. “Because I’d be a drunk.”

Japan’s best showing in the Kentucky Derby came last year, when Forever Young became the first horse from Japan to finish in the money in the Run for the Roses. Forever Young finished third as part of a historic three-way photo finish at the wire to determine the Derby outcome.