Tōkyō Yūshun

Tōkyō Yūshun
Japanese Derby
東京優駿
日本ダービー

Grade 1 race
85th Japanese Derby (Winner:Wagnerian) (Jockey:Yuichi Fukunaga)
Location	Tokyo Racecourse, Fuchū, Tokyo
Inaugurated	1932
Race type	Thoroughbred Flat racing
Race information
Distance	2400 meters
Surface	Turf
Track	Left-handed
Qualification	3-y-o, Colts & Fillies
Weight	Colt 57 kg, Filly 55 kg
Purse	¥ 432,000,000 (as of 2022) 1st: ¥ 200,000,000

The Tōkyō Yūshun (東京優駿), also called the Japanese Derby (日本ダービー, Nippon Dābii) is a Grade 1 flat horse race in Japan for three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies run over a distance of 2,400 metres (approximately 1 mile 4 furlongs) at the Tokyo Racecourse, Fuchū, Tokyo in late May or early June.

It was first run in 1932 and is the Japanese equivalent of the English Epsom Derby. It is the second leg of the Japanese Triple Crown, preceded by the Satsuki Shō (the Japanese equivalent of the English 2,000 Guineas) in mid-late April and followed by the Kikuka Shō (the Japanese equivalent of the English St. Leger Stakes) in mid-late October.

Since 2010, the Tokyo Yūshun (along with several other JRA Japanese domestic Grade 1 races, including the other Japanese classics such as the Satsuki Shō and the Kikuka Shō) is open to international competition due to Japan's inclusion in the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities' ICS Part I category, in which all graded black-type races in the JRA calendar are open to international competition. Races prior to 2001 (along with the other Japanese classics) were only limited to Japanese-bred horses. Since 2001, foreign-bred horses are allowed, but until 2010 this race (and the other classics) were only limited to Japanese-trained horses. The current rule allows fielding at most seven entries either not bred/trained in Japan.

Step races

	Race name	Grade	Racecourse	Distance	Priority-entry-rights to Derby
1	Satsuki Shō	GI	Nakayama	Turf 2000m	Yes (top 5)
2	Aoba Sho	GII	Tokyo	Turf 2400m	Yes (top 2)
3	Principal Stakes	Open	Tokyo	Turf 2000m	Yes (winner)
4	Kyoto Shimbun Hai	GII	Kyoto	Turf 2200m	No (in normal case)
5	NHK Mile Cup	GI	Tokyo	Turf 1600m	No

If horses from the National Association of Racing win any 3-year-old JRA Grade 2 or 3 races before the Derby, they will be eligible to enter the Japanese Derby if ranked high enough in prize money. Priority entry rights cannot be applied to them; should they finish in such position in such races, extra entry right will be given out to Kyoto Shimbun Hai (at most of two).

The Satsuki Shō, the Aoba Shō and the Principal Stakes are the official trial races for the Japanese Derby. The top five finishers in the Satsuki Shō, the top two finishers in the Aoba Shō and the winner of the Principal Stakes are guaranteed a place in the field for the Derby, regardless of prize money. Overall, there are seven automatic qualifying spots in the Derby; the other 10 entries are "at-large" horses determined by prize money earned prior to racing in the Derby. The Kyoto Shimbun Hai is officially considered a step race even though it does not normally give entry rights. The NHK Mile Cup, the only non-Triple Crown three-year-old GI horse race, is not an official step race, but has gained importance in recent years as horses such as Tanino Gimlet (2002), King Kamehameha (2004, won) and Deep Sky (2008, won) participated in that race and would eventually win the Derby.

Winners since 1990

Year	Winner	Jockey	Trainer	Owner	Time
1990	Ines Fujin	Eiji Nakano	Shuho Kato	Masaaki Kobayashi	2:25.3
1991	Tokai Teio	Takayuki Yasuda	Shouichi Matsumoto	Masanori Uchimura	2:25.9
1992	Mihono Bourbon	Sadahiro Kojima	Tameo Toyama	Mihono International	2:27.8
1993	Winning Ticket	Masato Shibata	Yuji Ito	Yosimi Ota	2:25.5
1994	Narita Brian	Katsumi Minai	Masaaki Okubo	Hidenori Yamaji	2:25.7
1995	Tayasu Tsuyoshi	Shinji Kojima	Akio Tsurudome	Kanichi Yokose	2:27.3
1996	Fusaichi Concorde	Shinji Fujita	Minoru Kobayashi	Fusao Sekiguchi	2:26.1
1997	Sunny Brian	Naohiro Onishi	Senji Nakao	Moriyasu Miyazaki	2:25.9
1998	Special Week	Yutaka Take	Toshiaki Shirai	Hiroyoshi Usuda	2:25.8
1999	Admire Vega	Yutaka Take	Mitsuru Hashida	Riichi Kondo	2:25.3
2000	Agnes Flight	Hiroshi Kawachi	Hiroyuki Nagahama	Takao Watanabe	2:26.2
2001	Jungle Pocket	Koichi Tsunoda	Sakae Watanabe	Yomoji Saito	2:27.0
2002	Tanino Gimlet	Yutaka Take	Kunihide Matsuda	Yuzo Tanimizu	2:26.2
2003	Neo Universe	Mirco Demuro	Tsutomu Setoguchi	Shadai Race Horse	2:28.5
2004	King Kamehameha	Katsumi Ando	Kunihide Matsuda	Makoto Kaneko	2:23.3
2005	Deep Impact	Yutaka Take	Yasuo Ikee	Makoto Kaneko	2:23.3
2006	Meisho Samson	Mamoru Ishibashi	Tsutomu Setoguchi	Yoshio Matsumoto	2:27.9
2007	Vodka	Hirofumi Shii	Katsuhiko Sumii	Yuzo Tanimizu	2:24.5
2008	Deep Sky	Hirofumi Shii	Mitsugu Kon	Toshio Fukami	2:26.7
2009	Logi Universe	Norihiro Yokoyama	Kiyoshi Hagawara	Masaaki Kumeta	2:33.7
2010	Eishin Flash	Hiroyuki Uchida	Hideaki Fujiwara	Tomomitsu Hirai	2:26.9
2011	Orfevre	Kenichi Ikezoe	Yasutoshi Ikee	Sunday Racing	2:30.5
2012	Deep Brillante	Yasunari Iwata	Yoshito Yahagi	Sunday Racing	2:23.8
2013	Kizuna	Yutaka Take	Shozo Sasaki	Shinji Maeda	2:24.3
2014	One And Only	Norihiro Yokoyama	Kojiro Hashiguchi	Koji Maeda	2:24.6
2015	Duramente	Mirco Demuro	Noriyuki Hori	Sunday Racing	2:23.2
2016	Makahiki	Yuga Kawada	Yasuo Tomomichi	Makoto Kaneko	2:24.0
2017	Rey de Oro	Christophe Lemaire	Kazuo Fujisawa	U Carrot Farm	2:26.9
2018	Wagnerian	Yuichi Fukunaga	Yasuo Tomomichi	Makoto Kaneko	2:23.6
2019	Roger Barows	Suguru Hamanaka	Katsuhiko Sumii	Hirotsugu Inokuma	2:22.6
2020	Contrail	Yuichi Fukunaga	Yoshito Yahagi	Shinji Maeda	2:24.1
2021	Shahryar	Yuichi Fukunaga	Hideaki Fujiwara	Sunday Racing	2:22.5
2022	Do Deuce	Yutaka Take	Yasuo Tomomichi	Kieffers Co Ltd	2:21.9

Earlier winners

• 1932 - Wakataka
• 1933 - Kabutoyama
• 1934 - Fray Mor
• 1935 - Governor
• 1936 - Tokumasa
• 1937 - Hisatomo
• 1938 - Sugenuma
• 1939 - Kumohata
• 1940 - Ieryu
• 1941 - St Lite
• 1942 - Minami Homare
• 1943 - Kurifuji
• 1944 - Kaiso
• 1945 - No race
• 1946 - No race
• 1947 - Matsu Midori
• 1948 - Miharu O
• 1949 - Tachikaze
• 1950 - Kumono Hana
• 1951 - Tokino Minoru
• 1952 - Kurino Hana
• 1953 - Bostonian
• 1954 - Golden Wave
• 1955 - Otokitsu
• 1956 - Hakuchikara
• 1957 - Hikaru Meiji
• 1958 - Daigo Homare
• 1959 - Komatsu Hikari
• 1960 - Kodama
• 1961 - Hakusho
• 1962 - Fair Win
• 1963 - Meizui
• 1964 - Shinzan
• 1965 - Keystone
• 1966 - Teito O
• 1967 - Asa Denko
• 1968 - Tanino Harromore
• 1969 - Daishin Volgard
• 1970 - Tanino Moutiers
• 1971 - Hikaru Imai
• 1972 - Long Ace
• 1973 - Take Hope
• 1974 - Colonel Lancer
• 1975 - Kaburaya O
• 1976 - Climb Kaiser
• 1977 - Lucky Ruler
• 1978 - Sakura Shori
• 1979 - Katsurano Haiseiko
• 1980 - Opec Horse
• 1981 - Katsu Top Ace
• 1982 - Bamboo Atlas
• 1983 - Mr. C.B.
• 1984 - Symboli Rudolf
• 1985 - Sirius Symboli
• 1986 - Dyna Gulliver
• 1987 - Merry Nice
• 1988 - Sakura Chiyono O
• 1989 - Winner's Circle

See also

• Horse racing in Japan
• List of Japanese flat horse races

References

• Racing Post:
  • 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003
  • 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
  • 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022