BRINGING ASIAN RACING TO THE WORLD
The Victoria Mile in mid-May gives fillies and mares aged four and up a nicely-timed lead-in to the open weight-for-age Grade 1 Yasuda Kinen over the same course and distance at the beginning of June. Some of Japan’s greatest fillies and mares of this century have won the Victoria Mile, with Vodka, Apapane, Almond Eye and Gran Alegria on the honour roll, while 2022 saw the immensely popular white filly Sodashi seal victory.
The great Almond Eye toyed with her opponents in 2020 before being beaten by Gran Alegria in the Yasuda Kinen at her next start. Twelve months on, Gran Alegria was the superstar Victoria Mile winner but she too was unable to follow-up in the Yasuda Kinen as she crossed the line second, a head behind Danon Kingly.
In an era of great mares, Gran Alegria more than held her own thanks to her exploits as a brilliant sprinter-miler with a little extra up her sleeve. Her 2021 Victoria Mile success was achieved with sauntering ease and was one of six Grade 1 wins among her nine career successes from 15 starts.
The 2019 Oka Sho winner made people really sit up and take note early in her four-year-old season when she defeated the great Almond Eye in the 2020 Yasuda Kinen. She also won the Sprinters Stakes and back-to-back editions of the Mile Championship, and even turned up over 2000 metres, notably when third behind Efforia in the Tenno Sho Autumn.
The Kazuo Fujisawa-trained daughter of Deep Impact was awarded the JRA’s best sprinter or miler accolade in 2020 and 2021.
| Year | Winner | Jockey | Trainer | Owner | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Sodashi | Hayato Yoshida | Naosuke Sugai | Kaneko Makoto Holdings | 1:32.2 |
| 2021 | Gran Alegria | Christophe Lemaire | Kazuo Fujisawa | Sunday Racing | 1:31.0 |
| 2020 | Almond Eye | Christophe Lemaire | Sakae Kunieda | Silk Racing | 1:30.6 |
| 2019 | Normcore | Damian Lane | Kiyoshi Hagiwara | Seiichi Iketani | 1:30.5 |
| 2018 | Jour Polaire | Hideaki Miyuki | Masato Nishizono | G1 Racing | 1:32.3 |
10 in a million: Japan’s astonishing family of rare all-white racehorses
