Racing: Richest harness race won but she can't hear cheers

Driver George Brennan, trainer Noel Daley and groom Risa Tanaka enjoy the $1.8 million win with trotter Broad Bahn. Photo / Lisa Photo Inc

It can't have been easy for Risa Tanaka to make a life in harness racing.

It rarely is for females. Even less so if you are a young Asian woman from a non-racing family.

But they weren't Tanaka's greatest obstacles to racing success.

Because Risa Tanaka is deaf.

Which makes it all the more incredible that she stood beaming in triumph on the greatest stage in harness racing last week.

The former New Zealand horsewoman is the groom and constant companion for Broad Bahn, who won the world's richest harness race, the US$1.5 million ($1.8 million) Hambletonian at The Meadowlands in New Jersey last Sunday.

The 3-year-old trotter is trained by former Aussie Noel Daley but it is Tanaka who looks after him day and night, as grooms do in North America, where they are often assigned a horse for its entire career.

But while she was all smiles on the victory dais, Tanaka couldn't distinguish the cheers that accompanied the biggest victory in harness racing.

Tanaka was born deaf in Japan, her parents not realising until she was 2.

"My parents realised I didn't even know my own name or react to noises like other children," Tanaka told US reporters after the win.

When her parents visited New Zealand seven years later doctors told them this country was Risa's best chance of growing up to reach her potential.

"Living in Japan was hell. I was treated like an outcast and my family like second-class citizens.

"It was hard growing up. The older I became, the more difficult challenges I faced. Even to this day I'm still learning, and I have got a lot of catching up to do."

But Tanaka fell in love with horses, became a successful pony club rider and decided she wanted a career in racing.

Harness racing presented the first opportunity and she worked for a series of trainers, including champion horseman Mark Purdon.

"Risa was great with the horses, she just lived for them," Purdon told the Herald.

"And her lip-reading was so good her deafness was never really a problem, it was actually easy to forget about it."

Tanaka worked so hard she gained her race driving licence and reined four winners in the South Island from 47 drives.

"The only time it [deafness] was even a slight issue in that regard was when she was driving a horse in front during fast work and I wanted to tell her to go faster or slower," explained Purdon.

"But she was a great worker, absolutely faultless."

Tanaka quit driving in 2006 to move to North America and work for Kiwi trainer Chris Ryder.

Now she hopes to one day train under her own name, with a very specific dream.

"My dream is to breed one from Broad Bahn and train his baby," she smiles. "But first I have got to find a mare that matches his bloodline. That would be my dream and goal."

And Tanaka says she is in racing for life.

"Going to school or university isn't for me. I'm terrible with communication and listening. I find it very hard with people talking with their backs or sides to me.

"I heavily rely on lip reading at all times, and I can hear only with familiar voices like my parents and my brother.

"I hated being interviewed on TV as I had no idea what the reporters were asking."

But she says the horses don't know and don't care that she can't hear.

"I am very familiar with horses and their systems. Horses don't talk. I can read and understand their body language."