The Takamatsunomiya Kinen (高松宮記念) is a Grade 1 flat horse race in Japan for four-year-old and above thoroughbreds. It is run over a distance of 1,200 metres (approximately 6 furlongs) at Chukyo Racecourse in late March.

Takamatsunomiya Kinen
高松宮記念
Grade 1 race
2019 Takamatsunomiya Kinen winner Mr Melody
LocationChukyo Racecourse
Inaugurated1971
Race typeThoroughbred
Websitejapanracing.jp
Race information
Distance1200 metres
(About 6 furlongs)
SurfaceTurf
TrackLeft-handed
Qualification4-y-o & Up, Thoroughbreds
Weight4-y-o & up 58 kg
Allowances
2 kg for fillies and mares
Purse¥ 367,700,000 (as of 2024)
1st: ¥ 170,000,000
2nd: ¥ 68,000,000
3rd: ¥ 43,000,000
[1]
Bonusessee Global Sprint Challenge

The forerunner of this race was the Chukyo Daishoten (中京大賞典). It was started as the Takamatsunomiya Hai (高松宮杯) when the victory cup was designed by Prince Takamatsu in 1971, and was given Domestic Grade 2 status when race grading was introduced to Japan in 1984. It was run over a distance of 2,000 metres. This was shortened to 1,200 metres and elevated to Domestic Grade 1 in 1996, and to its present level in 2006. Horses trained outside Japan have been eligible to run in the race since 2001. It was renamed the Takamatsunomiya Kinen in 1998 because the family of Prince Takamatsu stopped designing the victory cup.

From 2011 The Takamatsunomiya Kinen has taken over from the Centaur Stakes as a Japanese leg of the Global Sprint Challenge Series it is the second leg of the series preceded by the Lightning Stakes and from 2012 followed by the Dubai Golden Shaheen.

It is also the only JRA Grade 1 turf race not held at one of the 4 major racecourses: (Hanshin, Kyoto, Nakayama, Tokyo).

Winners since 1996

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Year
Winner
Age
Jockey
Trainer
Owner
Time
1996 Flower Park 4 Seiki Tabara Shouichi Matsumoto Katsumi Yoshida 1:07.4
1997 Shinko King 6 Yukio Okabe Kazuo Fujisawa Osamu Yasuda 1:08.0
1998 Shinko Forest 5 Hirofumi Shii Hironori Kurita Osamu Yasuda 1:09.1
1999 Masa Lucky 6 Shinji Fujita Yutaka Masumoto Masataka Marui 1:08.0
2000 King Halo 5 Yoshitomi Shibata Masahiro Sakaguchi Yoshio Asagawa 1:08.6
2001 Trot Star 5 Masayoshi Ebina Eiji Nakano Minoru Takano 1:08.4
2002 Shounan Kamp 4 Shinji Fujita Hiroyoshi Okubo Tetsuo Kunimoto 1:08.4
2003 Believe 5 Katsumi Ando Shigeki Matsumoto Koji Maeda 1:08.1
2004 Sunnung Dale 5 Yuichi Fukunaga Tsutomu Setoguchi Shigeki Goto 1:07.9
2005 Admire Max 6 Yutaka Take Mitsuru Hashida Toshikazu Kondou 1:08.4
2006 Oreha Matteruze 6 Yoshitomi Shibata Hidetaka Otonashi Yuuichi Odagiri 1:08.0
2007 Suzuka Phoenix 5 Yutaka Take Mitsuru Hashida Keiji Nagai 1:08.9
2008 Fine Grain 5 Hideaki Miyuki Hiroyuki Nagahama Shadai Race Horse 1:08.9
2009 Laurel Guerreiro 5 Shinji Fujita Mitsugu Kon Laurel Racing 1:08.0
2010 Kinshasa no Kiseki 7 Hirofumi Shii Noriyuki Hori Kazumi Yoshida 1:08.6
2011 Kinshasa no Kiseki* 8 Umberto Rispoli Noriyuki Hori Kazumi Yoshida 1:07.9
2012 Curren Chan 5 Kenichi Ikezoe Takayuki Yasuda Takashi Suzuki 1:10.3
2013 Lord Kanaloa 5 Yasunari Iwata Takayuki Yasuda Lord Horse Club 1:08.1
2014 Copano Richard 4 Mirco Demuro Toru Miya Sachiaki Kobayashi 1:12.2
2015 Aerovelocity 7 Zac Purton Paul O'Sullivan Daniel Yeung Ngai 1:08.5
2016 Big Arthur 5 Yuichi Fukanaga Kenichi Fujioka Akira Nakatsuji 1:06.7
2017 Seiun Kosei 4 Hideaki Miyuki Hiroyuki Uehara Shigeyuki Nishiyama 1:08.7
2018 Fine Needle 5 Yuga Kawada Yoshitada Takahashi Godolphin 1:08.5
2019 Mr Melody 4 Yuichi Fukunaga Hideaki Fujiwara Green Fields Co. Ltd. 1:07.3
2020 Mozu Superflare 5 Fuma Matsuwaka Hidetaka Otonashi Capital System Co. Ltd. 1:08.7
2021 Danon Smash 6 Yuga Kawada Takayuki Yasuda Danox Co. Ltd. 1:09.2
2022 Naran Huleg 6 Kyosuke Maruta Yoshitada Munakata Katsushige Muraki 1:08.3
2023 First Force 7 Taisei Danno Masayuki Nishimura Koji Yasuhara 1:11.5
2024 Mad Cool 5 Ryusei Sakai Manabu Ikezoe Sunday Racing Co. Ltd. 1:08.9
* The 2011 race took place at Hanshin Racecourse.

Past winners

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  • 1971: Shunsakuo
  • 1972: Josetsu
  • 1973: Takeden Bird
  • 1974: Haiseiko
  • 1975: Itto
  • 1976: Fujino Parthia
  • 1977: Tosho Boy
  • 1978: Yamanin Goro
  • 1979: Nehai Jet
  • 1980: Lindo Pleben
  • 1981: Hagino Top Lady
  • 1982: Kazushige
  • 1983: Hagino Kamui O
  • 1984: Kyoei Rare
  • 1985: Mejiro Mont Cenis
  • 1986: Rugby Ball
  • 1987: Land Hiryu
  • 1988: Oguri Cap
  • 1989: Mejiro Ardan
  • 1990: Bamboo Memory
  • 1991: Daitaku Helios
  • 1992: Mr. Spain
  • 1993: Longchamp Boy
  • 1994: Nice Nature
  • 1995: Matikanetannhauser

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "List of JRA Graded Races 2022 Takamatsunomiya Kinen|List of JRA Graded Races|Horse Racing in Japan". Horse Racing in Japan.
  2. ^ "高松宮記念". Netkeiba.
  3. ^ "Takamatsunomiya Kinen". Netkeiba.
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