Tokyo Daishōten G1 Guide

Venue: Ōi

Distance: 2000 metres

Prize money: ¥136,000,000

The Tokyo Daishōten dates back to 1955 when it was known as the Aki-no-Kura and was renamed in 1966. The conteset became a full-blown Group 1 race in 2007 and brings together JRA and NAR runners on the latter’s home dirt.

It is held at the end of December each year at the right-handed Ōi racecourse in the Shinagawa area of Tokyo.

Notable winners include Gold Allure, Vermillion, Kane Hakili, Copano Rickey, the two-time winner Hokko Tarumae, and the remarkable Omega Perfume who in winning the race in 2021 became the first horse to win the same G1 contest in Japan four times in a row.

Featured winner:  Omega Perfume

The grey established himself as one of Japan’s most popular racehorses thanks to an incredible record of success, chiefly in the Tokyo Daishōten at Ōi racecourse. Omega Perfume bagged a fourth consecutive win in that contest at what was supposed to be his career swansong in December 2021. No horse but himself had won the same Grade 1 in Japan three times in a row, let alone four.

Mirco Demuro rode the Shogo Yasuda-trained entire to each of his four victories in the Tokyo Daishōten. But connections had second thoughts about retirement and the remarkable entire was back in action at Hanshin in April 2022 to win the Grade 3 Antares Stakes.

Omega Perfume was purchased for ¥16,200,000 out of the Chiba Thoroughbred Sale in 2017 and raced for owner Reiko Hara. His Antares Stakes win took his earnings to ¥725,988,000, having won 11 of his 24 starts to date.