Panja Tower


Panja Tower is an active Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 2025 NHK Mile Cup.
He was named after his sire while bearing his owner's crown name.

Background

Panja Tower was born at Champions Farm in Hokkaido, Japan. His dam, Clarksdale, was an unraced mare purchased for ¥1.5 million at the 2019 Northern Farm Broodmare Sale. Akihito Nakamura, president of Champions Farm, remarked on the colt’s early development: "He wasn’t particularly striking at birth, but his exceptional movement on Champion Hills’ training slopes made people around him say, ‘This horse runs incredibly well."

Racing career

2024: two-year-old season

Panja Tower debuted on September 8, 2024, in a 2-year-old maiden race at Chukyo Racecourse over a distance of 1200 meters on turf. He won the race by a half length victory as the favorite.
On November 2, he contested the Keio Hai Nisai Stakes at Tokyo Racecourse. Racing mid-pack under jockey Kohei Matsuyama, he swung wide into the stretch and unleashed the fastest closing speed in the field to win by a neck. This victory marked the first graded stakes win for a foal sired by Tower of London, a freshman stallion and son of Raven's Pass.
In his next race, he was targeted to Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes on December 15 at Kyoto Racecourse as his first grade one stakes challenge. Starting as the fourth favorite, he finished 12th, unable to reproduce his devastating turn of foot. Two days later, his connections announced that he is targeted to NHK Mile Cup on spring with a warm-up race in between.

2025: three-year-old season

Panja Tower began his classic campaign in the Falcon Stakes on March 22, ridden by Yusuke Fujioka. He broke well and traveled mid-pack, he got a clear lane swinging to the home straight and chased with great speed but was unable to catch the winner. He finished fourth by three-quarters of a length to the winner.
On May 11, he ran his target race, NHK Mile Cup at Tokyo Racecourse over a distance of 1600 meters. Starting as the 9th favorite with Kohei Matsuyama back on his saddle, he settled in the mid-pack as his previous races. Swinging the widest in the final stretch, he unleashed his devastating speed, easily overtaking the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes winner, Admire Zoom. He held off the fast-finishing Magic Sands to win the race by a head, securing his first grade one stakes victory. Notably his sire, Tower of London, ran the same race in 2018 as the favorite and lost the race to 12th place. He is the first grade one stakes winner for Tower of London as a sire.
On August 24, Panja Tower won the Keeneland Cup. He was then sent to contest his first race abroad, the Golden Eagle in Australia, on November 1, where he finished 5th behind the local filly Autumn Glow.

Racing statistics

Below data is based on data available on JBIS Search, and NetKeiba.
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Pedigree