Takarazuka Kinen

Takarazuka Kinen
宝塚記念

Grade 1 race
Location	Hanshin Racecourse, Takarazuka, Hyōgo, Japan
Inaugurated	1960
Race type	Thoroughbred
Website	japanracing.jp/
Race information
Distance	2200 meters (About 11 furlongs / 1+3⁄8 miles)
Surface	Turf
Track	Right-handed (inner course)
Qualification	3-y-o & Up, Thoroughbreds
Weight	3-y-o 53 kg \ 4-y-o & up 58kg
Purse	¥ 286,000,000 (as of 2015) 1st: ¥ 150,000,000

The Takarazuka Kinen (宝塚記念) is a Grade I flat horse race in Japan for three-year-old and above thoroughbreds run over a distance of 2,200 metres (approximately 1+3⁄8 miles) at Hanshin Racecourse (阪神競馬場) in late June. It is one of the two "All-Star" races in Japanese horse racing; the other is the Arima Kinen (the Grand Prix) in late December.

It was first run in 1960 with a distance of 1,800 metres. From 1961 to 1965 the race was run over 2,000 metres and since 1966 it has been run over its present distance.

The race is run on the turf and is named after the city of Takarazuka, Hyōgo, the location of Hanshin Racecourse, which is the venue of the race.

As with the Arima Kinen, the majority of the runners in the field are selected by a vote from racing fans, while the remainder are determined by the amount of prizemoney won.

Winners since 1994

Year	Winner	Age	Jockey	Trainer	Owner	Time
1993	Mejiro McQueen	6		Yasuo Ikee	Mejiro Shouji Co., Ltd.	2:17.7
1994	Biwa Hayahide	4	Yukio Okabe	Mitsumasa Hamada	Biwa Co Ltd	2:11.2
1995	Dantsu Seattle *	5	Yoshiyuki Muramoto	Kenji Yamauchi	Tetsuji Yamamoto	2:10.2
1996	Mayano Top Gun	4	Seiki Tabara	Masahiro Sakaguchi	Yuu Tadokoro	2:12.0
1997	Marvelous Sunday	5	Yutaka Take	Makoto Osawa	Sadao Sasahara	2:11.9
1998	Silence Suzuka	4	Katsumi Minai	Mitsuru Hashida	Keiji Nagai	2:11.9
1999	Grass Wonder	4	Hitoshi Matoba	Mitsuhiro Ogata	Y. Hanzawa	2:12.1
2000	T M Opera O	4	Ryuji Wada	Ichizo Iwamoto	Masatsugu Takezono	2:13.8
2001	Meisho Doto	5	Yasuhiko Yasuda	Isao Yasuda	Yoshio Matsumoto	2:11.7
2002	Dantsu Flame	4	Shinji Fujita	Kenji Yamauchi	Tetsuji Yamamoto	2:12.9
2003	Hishi Miracle	4	Koichi Tsunoda	Masaru Sayama	Masaichiro Abe	2:12.0
2004	Tap Dance City	7	Tetsuzo Sato	Shozo Sasaki	Yushun Horse Club	2:11.1
2005	Sweep Tosho	4	Kenichi Ikezoe	Akio Tsurudome	Tosho Sangyo	2:11.5
2006	Deep Impact *	4	Yutaka Take	Yasuo Ikee	Kaneko Makoto Holdings	2:13.0
2007	Admire Moon	4	Yasunari Iwata	Hiroyoshi Matsuda	Riichi Kondo	2:12.4
2008	Eishin Deputy	6	Hiroyuki Uchida	Akira Nomoto	Toyomitsu Hirai	2:15.3
2009	Dream Journey	5	Kenichi Ikezoe	Yasutoshi Ikee	Sunday Racing	2:11.3
2010	Nakayama Festa	4	Yoshitomi Shibata	Yoshitaka Ninomiya	Shinichi Izumi	2:13.0
2011	Earnestly	6	Sato Tetsuzo	Sasaki Shozo	Koji Maeda	2:10.1
2012	Orfevre	4	Kenichi Ikezoe	Yasutoshi Ikee	Sunday Racing Co Ltd	2:10.9
2013	Gold Ship	4	Hiroyuki Uchida	Naosuke Sugai	Eiichi Kobayashi	2:13.2
2014	Gold Ship	5	Norihiro Yokoyama	Naosuke Sugai	Eiichi Kobayashi	2:13.9
2015	Lovely Day	5	Yuga Kawada	Yasutoshi Ikee	Kaneko Makoto Holdings	2:14.4
2016	Marialite	5	Masayoshi Ebina	Takashi Kubota	U.Carrot Farm	2:12.8

* The 1995 and 2006 races took place at Kyoto Racecourse.

Earlier winners

• 1960 - Homare Hiro
• 1961 - Caesar
• 1962 - Kodama
• 1963 - Ryu Forel
• 1964 - Hikaru Pola
• 1965 - Shinzan
• 1966 - Eight Crown
• 1967 - Taiyo
• 1968 - Hikaru Takai
• 1969 - Date Horai
• 1970 - Speed Symboli
• 1971 - Mejiro Musashi
• 1972 - Shofu Midori
• 1973 - Hamano Parade
• 1974 - Haiseiko
• 1975 - Naoki
• 1976 - Fujino Parthia
• 1977 - Tosho Boy
• 1978 - Erimo George
• 1979 - Sakura Shori
• 1980 - Teru Tenryu
• 1981 - Katsu R
• 1982 - Monte Prince
• 1983 - Hagino Kamui O
• 1984 - Katsuragi Ace
• 1985 - Suzuka Koban
• 1986 - Persian Boy
• 1987 - Suzu Parade
• 1988 - Tamamo Cross
• 1989 - Inari One
• 1990 - Osaichi George
• 1991 - Mejiro Ryan
• 1992 - Mejiro Palmer

External links

• Horse Racing in Japan