NHK Mile Cup
| Grade 1 race | |
| Location | Tokyo Racecourse, Fuchu, Tokyo, Tokyo |
|---|---|
| Inaugurated | 1996 |
| Race type | Thoroughbred |
| Website | japanracing.jp/ |
| Race information | |
| Distance | 1600 meters (About 8 furlongs / 1 mile) |
| Surface | Turf |
| Track | Left-handed |
| Qualification | 3-y-o, colts & Fillies only, Thoroughbreds |
| Weight | Colt 57 kg, Filly 55 kg; 2 kg allowance for Southern Hemisphere-breds |
| Purse | ¥ 175,200,000 (as of 2015) 1st: ¥ 92,000,000 |
The NHK Mile Cup (NHKマイルカップ ([NHK Mairu Kappu] Error: {{nihongo}}: text has italic markup (help))) is a Grade 1 flat horse race in Japan for three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies, run over a distance of 1,600 metres (approximately one mile) on the turf at Tokyo Racecourse in May.[1]
The NHK Mile Cup is sponsored by the Japanese public broadcasting organization NHK, and as such, this race is broadcast not only on Fuji TV (one of NHK's competitors) but on one of the NHK channels that cover horse racing (NHK General TV; the other, BS-1, covers certain other races such as the Japan Cup). (In Japanese horseracing, "Sponsor" doesn't mean the man or organisation provide prize money. They provide only the prize, cup, trophy etc.)
Before the year 2001, it is the only colt and fillies G1 race that non-Japanese bred four-year-olds (then) fillies can participate, which made this race considered as the "Japanese Derby for non-Japanese bred horse" until foreign-bred horse restrictions were lifted in 2001, as well as the change to three-year-old restriction. Until 2010 it was limited to domestic-trained horses, but these restrictions were removed that year (along with the Japanese classics). A maximum of nine foreign horses are allowed entry in the NHK Mile Cup. It is considered one of the prep races for both the Yushun Himba (the Japanese Oaks) and the Tokyo Yushun (the Japanese Derby).[2]
Step races
| Race name | Grade | Racecourse | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mainichi Hai | GIII | Hanshin | Turf 1800m |
| 2 | Margelet Stakes | OP | Hanshin | Turf 1400m |
| 3 | New Zealand Trophy | GII | Nakayama | Turf 1600m |
| 4 | Oka Sho | GI | Hanshin | Turf 1600m |
| 5 | Satsuki Sho | GI | Nakayama | Turf 2000m |
The New Zealand Trophy is the only formal trial race for NHK Mile Cup. The top three finishers of that race will be granted participation right in this race. If a horse from the National Association of Racing (NAR) finished in top three in the New Zealand Trophy, at most of two extra participation rights will be issued within the other four races.
Winners
(Winners in italic are also later winners from either Yushun Himba or Tokyo Yushun that year)
| Year |
Winner |
Jockey |
Trainer |
Owner |
Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Taiki Fortune | Yoshitomi Shibata | Yoshiyasu Takahashi | Taiki Farm | 1:32.6 |
| 1997 | Seeking the Pearl | Yutaka Take | Hideyuki Mori | Tomoko Uenaka | 1:33.1 |
| 1998 | El Condor Pasa | Hitoshi Matoba | Yoshitaka Ninomiya | Takashi Watanabe | 1:33.7 |
| 1999 | Symboli Indy | Norihiro Yokoyama | Kazuo Fujisawa | Symboli Bokujo | 1:33.8 |
| 2000 | Eagle Cafe | Yukio Okabe | Futoshi Kojima | Kiyoshi Nishikawa | 1:33.5 |
| 2001 | Kurofune | Yutaka Take | Kunihide Matsuda | Makoto Kaneko | 1:33.0 |
| 2002 | Telegnosis | Masaki Katsuura | Hiroaki Sugiura | Shadai Racehorse co. | 1:33.1 |
| 2003 | Win Kluger | Koshiro Take | Shigeki Matsumoto | Win Co. Ltd. | 1:34.2 |
| 2004 | King Kamehameha | Katsumi Ando | Kunihide Matsuda | Makoto Kaneko | 1:32.5 |
| 2005 | Rhein Kraft | Yuichi Fukunaga | Tsutomu Setoguchi | Shigemasa Ohsawa | 1:33.6 |
| 2006 | Logic | Yutaka Take | Kojiro Hashiguchi | Koji Maeda | 1:33.2 |
| 2007 | Pink Kameo | Hiroyuki Uchida | Sakae Kunieda | Kaneko Makoto Holdings Co., Ltd. | 1:34.3 |
| 2008 | Deep Sky | Hirofumi Shii | Mitsugu Kon | Toshio Fukami | 1:34.2 |
| 2009 | Jo Cappuccino | Kota Fujioka | Kazuya Nakatake | Keiko Ueda | 1:32.4 |
| 2010 | Danon Chantilly | Katsumi Ando | Kunihide Matsuda | Danox Co. Ltd. | 1:31.4 |
| 2011 | Grand Prix Boss | Craig Williams | Yoshihito Yahagi | Grand Prix Co. Ltd. | 1:32.2 |
| 2012 | Curren Black Hill | Shin-ichiro Akiyama | Osamu Hirata | Takashi Suzuki | 1:34.5 |
| 2013 | Meiner Ho O | Daichi Shibata | Yoshihiro Hatakeyama | K Thoroughbred Club Ruffian | 1:32.7 |
| 2014 | Mikki Isle | Suguru Hamanaka | Hidetaka Otonashi | Mizuki Noda | 1:33.2 |
| 2015 | Clarity Sky | Norihiro Yokoyama | Yasuo Tomomichi | Tadakuni Sugiyama | 1:33.5 |
| 2016 | Major Emblem | Christophe Lemaire | Yasuhito Tamura | Sunday Racing | 1:32.8 |
References
- ^ "2011.05.03 2011 NHK Mile Cup (G1) - Preview - News - Horse Racing in Japan". Japanracing.jp. 2011-05-03. Retrieved 2011-12-24.
- ^ "Japanese Derby hopefuls look to cement credentials in NHK Mile Cup". Thoroughbred Times. 2010-05-07. Retrieved 2011-12-24.