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Mile Championship G1 Guide

The second of Japan’s two weight-for-age Grade 1 races over 1600 metres, the Mile Championship has been won by six horses who have also won the Yasuda Kinen.

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Venue: Kyoto (Hanshin 2020, 2021 & 2022)

Distance: 1600 metres

Prize money: ¥388,800,000

The Mile Championship in November is the second of Japan’s two weight-for-age Grade 1 races over 1600 metres, the other being the Yasuda Kinen in June of each year. Six horses have won the Yasuda Kinen and the Mile Championship in the same year since the latter race was established in 1984, including the first victor, the interestingly-named Nihon Pillow Winner.

A further six Mile Championship winners went on to win the subsequent year’s Yasuda Kinen. The late-season feature is a regular lead-in for horses being pointed towards a Hong Kong Mile raid and in 2015 the mighty Maurice pulled off the Kyoto-Sha Tin double. The brilliant mare Gran Alegria won the Yasuda Kinen and the Mile Championship in 2020. She won the Mile Championship again in 2021 – at her final start – but was denied a back-to-back double due to being beaten by only a head in the June 2021 running of the Yasuda Kinen.

Featured winner: Maurice

Japan’s brightest prospects are often given time to mature and Maurice is a classic example of a late-developer blooming into an awesome champion. The Noriyuki Hori-trained son of Screen Hero won two of three starts as a two-year-old but was beaten in all four outings as a three-year-old.

When 2015 dawned, Maurice had not raced since the previous May but his time at the farm had enabled him to develop into a powerful athlete, later to be dubbed ‘The beast from the East’. He posted a perfect campaign of six wins from six starts, including a rolling Group 1 treble in the Yasuda Kinen, Mile Championship and Hong Kong Mile, defeating Hong Kong’s champion Able Friend at Sha Tin.

Maurice returned to Hong Kong in late April 2016 to win the Group 1 Champions Mile but the journey home with quarantine isolation and the tight turnaround meant he was a dull second in the Yasuda Kinen next time. The champion miler returned from a summer break with a good second to Neorealism first-up over 2000 metres at Sapporo, then stepped up to end his career with brilliant wins at that distance in the Grade 1 Tenno Sho (Autumn) and the Group 1 Hong Kong Cup.

Past Winners

YearWinnerAgeJockeyTrainerOwnerTime
2021Gran Alegria5Christophe LemaireKazuo FujisawaSunday Racing1:32.6
2020Gran Alegria4Christophe Lemaire Kazuo FujisawaSunday Racing1:32.0
2019Indy Champ4Kenichi IkezoeHidetaka OtonashiSilk Racing1:33.0
2018Stelvio3William BuickTetsuya KimuraSunday Racing1:33.3
2017Persian Knight3Mirco DemuroYasutoshi IkeeG1 Racing Co Ltd1:33.8
2016Mikki Isle5Suguru HamanakaHidetaka OtonashiMizuki Noda1:33.1
2015Maurice4Ryan Moore Noriyuki HoriKazumi Yoshida1:32.8
2014Danon Shark6Yasunari IwataRyuji OkuboDanox Co Ltd1:31.5
2013Tosen Ra5Yutaka TakeHideaki FujiwaraTakaya Shimakawa1:32.4
2012Sadamu Patek4Yutaka TakeMasato NishizonoSadamu Onishi1:32.4
2011Eishin Apollon4Ken-ichi IkezoeMasahiro MatsunagaToyomitsu Hirai1:32.9
2010A Shin Forward5Yasunari IwataMasato NishizonoEishindo Co., Ltd.1:31.8
2009Company8Norihiro YokoyamaHidetaka OtonashiHideko Kondo1:33.2
2008Blumenblatt5Yutaka YoshidaSei IshizakaCarrot Farm1:32.6
2007Daiwa Major6Katsumi AndoHiroyuki UeharaKeizo Oshiro1:32.7
2006Daiwa Major5Katsumi AndoHiroyuki UeharaKeizo Oshiro1:32.7
2005Hat Trick4Olivier PeslierKatsuhiko SumiiCarrot Farm Co., Ltd.1:32.1
2004Durandal5Ken-ichi IkezoeMasahiro SakaguchiTeruya Yoshida1:33.0
2003Durandal4Ken-ichi IkezoeMasahiro SakaguchiTeruya Yoshida1:33.3
2002Tokai Point6Masayoshi EbinaMasahiro SakaguchiMasanori Uchimura1:32.8
2001Zenno El Cid4Olivier PeslierKazuo FujisawaShinobu Oosako1:33.2
2000Agnes Digital3Hitoshi MatobaToshiaki ShiraiTakao Watanabe1:32.6
1999Air Jihad4Masayoshi EbinaMasanori ItoLucky Field Co., Ltd.1:32.8
1998Taiki Shuttle4Yukio OkabeKazuo FujisawaTaiki Farm1:33.3
1997Taiki Shuttle3Norihiro YokoyamaKazuo FujisawaTaiki Farm1:33.3
1996Genuine4Yukio OkabeYasuhisa MatsuyamaShadai Race Horse Co., Ltd.1:33.8
1995Trot Thunder6Norihiro YokoyamaKatsutoshi AikawaTeruo Fujimoto1:33.7
1994North Flight4Koichi Tsunoda Keiji KatoTaihoku Bokujo1:33.0
1993Shinko Lovely4Yukio OkabeKazuo FujisawaOsamu Yasuda1:35.7
1992Daitaku Helios5Shigehiko KishiYasuo UmedaMasaichi Nakamura1:33.3
1991Daitaku Helios4Shigehiko KishiYasuo UmedaMasaichi Nakamura1:34.8
1990Passing Shot5Takashi KusunokiMitsuru HashidaTadaharu Morimoto1:33.6
1989Oguri Cap4Katsumi MinaiTsutomu SetoguchiShunsuke Kondo1:34.6
1988Soccer Boy3Hiroshi KawachiYukiharu OnoShadai Race Horse1:34.6
1987Nippo Teio4Hiroyuki GoharaKinzo KubotaYuichi Yamaishi1:34.9
1986Takara Steel4Yoshiyasu TajimaEizaburo SakamotoYoshio Murayama1:35.3
1985Nihon Pillow Winner5Hiroshi KawachiMasatoshi HattoriHyakutaro Kobayashi1:35.3
1984Nihon Pillow Winner4Hiroshi KawachiMasatoshi HattoriHyakutaro Kobayashi1:35.3
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