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Japan Cup G1 Guide
Japan’s biggest race in terms of the international attention it receives is the Japan Cup, which was first staged in 1981 as a restricted invitational race.

BRINGING ASIAN RACING TO THE WORLD
The first edition of the Japan Cup was won by the US-trained Mairzy Doates in 1981. International raiders went on to dominate the race’s early years. Horses trained outside Japan won nine of the first 11 Japan Cups and 14 of the first 25, right up to and including the British-trained Alkaased’s win in 2005. But the tables have turned markedly with Japan’s prowess as a thoroughbred powerhouse resulting in the cup remaining on Japanese soil ever since. The outstanding mares Gentildonna and Almond Eye, each with two victories, are the only horses to have won the Japan Cup more than once.
El Condor Pasa’s Japan Cup victory in 1998 ended a run of three consecutive wins in the race for foreign-trained stars and signalled an era of home domination in the international feature. His achievements in Europe the following year were a key part of Japan’s emergence as a serious force on the global stage as he won the G1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and the G2 Prix Foy. But he is remembered most for his gallant second-place in the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe when he led the field only to be run down late by the exceptional European three-year-old Montjeu.
El Condor Pasa’s Japan Cup win came at the end of a progressive three-year-old campaign in which he also won the G1 NHK Mile Cup. The Yoshitaka Ninomiya-trained colt won eight of his 11 starts and was never out of the first two. He was Japan’s Horse of the Year in 1999.
Year | Winner | Jockey | Trainer | Owner | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2021 | Contrail | Yuichi Fukunaga | Yoshito Yahagi | Shinji Maeda | 2:24.7 |
2020 | Almond Eye | Christophe Lemaire | Sakae Kunieda | Silk Racing | 2:23.0 |
2019 | Suave Richard | Oisin Murphy | Yasushi Shono | NICKS Co, Ltd | 2:25.9 |
2018 | Almond Eye | Christophe Lemaire | Sakae Kunieda | Silk Racing | 2:20.6 |
2017 | Cheval Grand | Hugh Bowman | Yasuo Tomomichi | Kazuhiro Sasaki | 2:23.7 |
2016 | Kitasan Black | Yutaka Take | Hisashi Shimizu | Ono Shoji | 2:25.8 |
2015 | Shonan Pandora | Kenichi Ikezoe | Tomokazu Takano | Tetsuhide Kunimoto | 2:24.7 |
2014 | Epiphaneia | Christophe Soumillon | Katsuhiko Sumii | U Carrot Farm | 2:23.1 |
2013 | Gentildonna | Ryan Moore | Sei Ishizaka | Sunday Racing | 2:26.1 |
2012 | Gentildonna | Yasunari Iwata | Sei Ishizaka | Sunday Racing | 2:23.1 |
2011 | Buena Vista | Yasunari Iwata | Hiroyoshi Matsuda | Sunday Racing | 2:24.2 |