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Yasuda Kinen G1 Guide
The Yasuda Kinen is the big daddy of Tokyo’s three 1,600-metre feature races during its spring season, following on from the NHK Mile Cup and the Victoria Mile.
Vodka won the race back-to-back in 2008-2009.
Distance: 1,600 metres
Venue: Tokyo
Prize money: ¥388,800,000
The Yasuda Kinen is the big daddy of Tokyo’s three 1,600-metre feature races during its spring season, following on from the NHK Mile Cup and the Victoria Mile.
It is one of only two open weight-for-age Grade 1 races at the distance during the season – the other being the Mile Championship in November – and is without question one of the world’s great mile races. The Yasuda Kinen was first run in 1951 and commemorates the JRA’s founding chairman Izaemon Yasuda. It received full Grade 1 status in 1993 and in 1995 Godolphin sent Heart Lake to become the first overseas-trained winner.
The race is often an end of season target for Hong Kong’s best milers but to date only Fairy King Prawn and Bullish Luck have beaten the Japanese in the run to the Tokyo winning post.
Featured winner: Vodka
The tough and versatile Vodka achieved two particularly notable feats in her career. At Fuchu, in May 2007, she became the first filly to beat the boys in the Japanese Derby; two years later, at the same venue, she became the first horse this century to win two renewals of the Yasuda Kinen.
Trained by Katsuhiko Sumii, the daughter of Tamimo Gimlet won at least one Grade 1 race in each of the four seasons she raced, starting with the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies as a two-year-old. She won her first Yasuda Kinen and the Tenno Sho (Autumn) at age four, defeating her old rival Daiwa Scarlet in the latter. At five, she bagged the Grade 1 Victoria Mile as a lead-up to her second Yasuda Kinen victory, and added the Japan Cup for good measure. Vodka retired with a record of 10 wins and seven placings from 22 starts for earnings of ¥1,304,876,000.
Past winners
| Year | Winner | Age | Jockey | Trainer | Owner | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Danon Kingly | 5 | Yuga Kawada | Kiyoshi Hagiwara | Danox Co Ltd | 1:31.7 |
| 2020 | Gran Alegria | 4 | Kenichi Ikezoe | Kazuo Fujisawa | Sunday Racing | 1:31.6 |
| 2019 | Indy Champ | 4 | Yuichi Fukunaga | Hidetaka Otonashi | Silk Racing | 1:30.9 |
| 2018 | Mozu Ascot | 4 | Christophe Lemaire | Yoshito Yahagi | Capital System | 1:31.3 |
| 2017 | Satono Aladdin | 6 | Yuga Kawada | Yasutoshi Ikee | Hajime Satomi | 1:31.5 |
| 2016 | Logotype | 6 | Hironobu Tanabe | Tsuyoshi Tanaka | Teruya Yoshida | |
| 2015 | Maurice | 4 | Yuga Kawada | Noriyuki Hori | Kazumi Yoshida | |
| 2014 | Just A Way | 5 | Yoshitomi Shibata | Naosuke Sugai | Akatsuki Yamatoya | |
| 2013 | Lord Kanaloa | 5 | Yasunari Iwata | Takayuki Yasuda | Lord Horse Club | |
| 2012 | Strong Return | 6 | Yuichi Fukunaga | Noriyuki Hori | Teruya Yoshida | |
| 2011 | Real Impact | 3 | Keita Tosaki | Noriyuki Hori | U. Carrot Farm | |
| 2010 | Showa Modern | 6 | Hiroki Goto | Hiroaki Sugiura | Keiichi Yamagishi | |
| 2009 | Vodka | 5 | Yutaka Take | Katsuhiko Sumii | Yuzo Tanimizu | |
| 2008 | Vodka | 4 | Yasunari Iwata | Katsuhiko Sumii | Yuzo Tanamizu | |
| 2007 | Daiwa Major | 6 | Katsumi Ando | Hiroyuki Uehara | Keizo Oshiro | |
| 2006 | Bullish Luck | 7 | Brett Prebble | Tony Cruz | Wong Wing Keung | |
| 2005 | Asakusa Den'en | 6 | Shinji Fujita | Michifumi Kono | Genichiro Tahara | |
| 2004 | Tsurumaru Boy | 6 | Katsumi Ando | Kojiro Hashiguchi | Takao Tsuruta | |
| 2003 | Agnes Digital | 6 | Hirofumi Shii | Toshiaki Shirai | Takao Watanabe | |
| 2002 | Admire Cozzene | 6 | Hiroki Goto | Mitsuru Hashida | Riichi Kondo | |
| 2001 | Black Hawk | 7 | Norihiro Yokoyama | Sakae Kunieda | Makoto Kaneko | |
| 2000 | Fairy King Prawn | 5 | Robbie Fradd | Ivan W. Allan | Phillip Lau Sak Hong |
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