NHK Mile Cup


The NHK Mile Cup 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 on the turf at Tokyo Racecourse in May.
The NHK Mile Cup is sponsored by the Japanese public broadcasting organization NHK, and as such, it is broadcast not only on Fuji TV but on one of the NHK channels that cover horse racing.
Before the year 2001, this was the only G1 race for colts and fillies that non-Japanese bred three-year-olds could participate in, which led to this race being considered informally as the "Japanese Derby for non-Japanese bred horses" until foreign-bred entry restrictions were lifted in 2001. Until 2010 it was limited to domestic-trained horses, but this restriction was removed that year. 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, run in May, and the Tokyo Yushun, which takes place in late May or early June.

Step races

''Of the above races the New Zealand Trophy is the only formal trial for the NHK Mile Cup. The first three finishers in the former gain the right to participate in the latter. If a horse from the National Association of Racing finishes in the first three in the New Zealand Trophy, at most two extra participation rights will be issued for runners in the other four races.''

Winners

Year
Winner
Jockey
Trainer
Owner
Time
1996Taiki FortuneYoshitomi ShibataYoshiyasu TakahashiTaiki Farm1:32.6
1997Seeking the PearlYutaka TakeHideyuki MoriTomoko Uenaka1:33.1
1998El [Condor Pasa (horse)|El Condor Pasa]Hitoshi MatobaYoshitaka NinomiyaTakashi Watanabe1:33.7
1999Symboli IndyNorihiro YokoyamaKazuo FujisawaSymboli Bokujo1:33.8
2000Eagle CafeYukio OkabeFutoshi KojimaKiyoshi Nishikawa1:33.5
2001KurofuneYutaka TakeKunihide MatsudaMakoto Kaneko1:33.0
2002TelegnosisMasaki KatsuuraHiroaki SugiuraShadai Racehorse co.1:33.1
2003Win KlugerKoshiro TakeShigeki MatsumotoWin Co. Ltd.1:34.2
2004King KamehamehaKatsumi AndoKunihide MatsudaMakoto Kaneko1:32.5
2005Rhein KraftYuichi FukunagaTsutomu SetoguchiShigemasa Ohsawa1:33.6
2006LogicYutaka TakeKojiro HashiguchiKoji Maeda1:33.2
2007Pink KameoHiroyuki UchidaSakae KuniedaKaneko Makoto Holdings Co., Ltd.1:34.3
2008Deep SkyHirofumi ShiiMitsugu KonToshio Fukami1:34.2
2009Jo CappuccinoKota FujiokaKazuya NakatakeKeiko Ueda1:32.4
2010Danon ChantillyKatsumi AndoKunihide MatsudaDanox Co. Ltd.1:31.4
2011Grand Prix BossCraig WilliamsYoshito YahagiGrand Prix Co. Ltd.1:32.2
2012Curren Black HillShin-ichiro AkiyamaOsamu HirataTakashi Suzuki1:34.5
2013Meiner Ho ODaichi ShibataYoshihiro HatakeyamaK Thoroughbred Club Ruffian1:32.7
2014Mikki IsleSuguru HamanakaHidetaka OtonashiMizuki Noda1:33.2
2015Clarity SkyNorihiro YokoyamaYasuo TomomichiTadakuni Sugiyama1:33.5
2016Major EmblemChristophe LemaireYasuhito TamuraSunday Racing1:32.8
2017AerolitheNorihiro YokoyamaTakanori KikuzawaSunday Racing1:32.3
2018Keiai NautiqueYusuke FujiokaOsamu HirataKazuhiro Kameda1:32.8
2019Admire MarsMirco DemuroYasuo TomomichiRiichi Kondo1:32.4
2020Lauda SionMirco DemuroTakashi SaitoSilk Racing1:32.5
2021Schnell MeisterChristophe LemaireTakahisa TezukaSunday Racing1:31.6
2022Danon ScorpionYuga KawadaTakayuki YasudaDanox Co. Ltd.1:32.3
2023Champagne ColorHiroyuki UchidaTsuyoshi TanakaYoichi Aoyama1:33.8
2024Jantar MantarYuga KawadaTomokazu TakanoShadai Race Horse Co. Ltd.1:32.4
2025Panja TowerKohei MatsuyamaShinsuke HashiguchiDeep Creek Co. Ltd.1:31.7

Speed Record
  • Danon Chantilly = 1:31.4