Ban'ei Kinen


The Ban'ei Kinen is a Grade 1 Ban'ei horse race, held in Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan for four-year-olds and up. The full name is Nōrin Suisan Daijin Shōten Ban'ei Kinen.
The race is the championship race held at the end of the season, with the highest weight and prize money among all ban'ei races. The race was initially held in Kitami, Asahikawa, Iwamizawa and Obihiro on a rotating basis. In 1988 the Ban'ei Kinen was fixed at Obihiro.
The winning time is rarely less than three minutes and it many cases it can take 3–4 minutes. In some cases, the winning time can be 5 minutes or more. The Ban'ei Kinen has one of the longest average finishing times of Japan's public competitions. Since 1977, there have only been six times that the winning time was less than 3 minutes. Due to this, the Ban'ei Kinen is sometimes called "the world's longest 1 furlong race".

Winners since 2001

Year
Winner
Jockey
Trainer
Time
2001Sakano TaisonKazuo OkawaraHaruo Nishimura3:42.3
2002Sakano TaisonTakumi FujimotoHaruo Nishimura4:16.4
2003Super PegasusToshiharu IwamotoEito Otomo4:19.8
2004Super PegasusToshiharu IwamotoEito Otomo3:07.8
2005Super PegasusShunichi FujinoEito Otomo3:15.3
2006Super PegasusShunichi FujinoEito Otomo4:36.1
2007Tomoe PowerToichi SakamotoHirofumi Matsui4:50.6
2008Tomoe PowerHiromi NishiHirofumi Matsui5:35.8
2009Tomoe PowerHiromi NishiHirofumi Matsui4:50.8
2010Nishiki DaijinShunichi FujinoIsamu Kaneta4:24.8
2011Kanesa BlackMichiaki MatsudaHirofumi Matsui4:07.7
2012Nishiki DaijinKeisuke SuzukiShinichi Murakami2:34.0
2013Kanesa BlackMichiaki MatsudaHirofumi Matsui3:43.1
2014InfinityTatsuya AsadaIsamu Kaneda4:13.2
2015Kitano TaishoKazuo OkawaraYoshiyuki Hattori3:49.9
2016Fuji Dai VictoryMichiaki MatsudaAkihiko Kanayama3:41.5
2017Oreno KokoroKeisuke SuzukiShigeto Tsukitate4:07.6
2018Oreno KokoroKeisuke SuzukiShigeto Tsukitate3:59.3
2019Sengo QuaceAtsushi KudoShigeto Tsukitate3:35.0
2020Oreno KokoroKeisuke SuzukiShigeto Tsukitate4:16.0
2021Hokusho MasaruTakeomi AbeToichi Sakamoto2:43.4
2022Mejiro GorikiKenichi NishiHirofumi Matsui2:47.2
2023MemrobosapTakeomi AbeToichi Sakamoto3:34.4
2024Mejiro GorikiKeisuke SuzukiHirofumi Matsui2:55.0
2025MemrobosapWatarai ShinroToichi Sakamoto2:17.5