The Mile Championship is an International Grade I flat horse race in Japan for thoroughbreds three-year-old and above, run over a distance of 1,600 metres (approximately 1 mile) on the turf at Kyoto Racecourse in November. It was first run in 1984.
It is traditionally considered as a step race of Hong Kong Mile in Japan Racing. Particularly before the introduction of Hanshin Cup (Grade 2, 1400m) in 2006, as being the last graded event in mile distance in the Japan racing season and most of the winners or runners-up will travel to Hong Kong pursuing extra prize money. Including the only Japanese winner by then Hat Trick.
Trial races Trial races provide automatic berths to the winning horses. RaceGradeRacecourseDistanceConditionSwan StakesGIIKyoto1,400 metresWinnerFuji StakesGIITokyo1,600 metresWinner
Records Speed record: 1.31.3 – Jantar Mantar (2025)
Most wins by a horse (2): Daitaku Helios (1991, 1992) Daiwa Major (2006, 2007) Durandal (2003, 2004) Gran Alegria (2020, 2021) Nihon Pillow Winner (1984, 1985) Taiki Shuttle (1997, 1998)
Most wins by a jockey (4): Kenichi Ikezoe (2003, 2004, 2011, 2019)
Most wins by a trainer (6): Kazuo Fujisawa (1993, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2020, 2021)
Most wins by an owner (3): Sunday Racing (2018, 2020, 2021) Carrot Farm (2005, 2008, 2023)
Winners Year Winner Age Jockey Trainer Owner Time1984 Nihon Pillow Winner 4 Hiroshi Kawachi Masatoshi Hattori Hyakutaro Kobayashi 1:35.3 1985 Nihon Pillow Winner 5 Hiroshi Kawachi Masatoshi Hattori Hyakutaro Kobayashi 1:35.3 1986 Takara Steel 4 Yoshiyasu Tajima Eizaburo Sakamoto Yoshio Murayama 1:35.3 1987 Nippo Teio 4 Hiroyuki Gohara Kinzo Kubota Yuichi Yamaishi 1:34.9 1988 Soccer Boy 3 Hiroshi Kawachi Yukiharu Ono Shadai Race Horse 1:34.6 1989 Oguri Cap 4 Katsumi Minai Tsutomu Setoguchi Toshinori Kondo 1:34.6 1990 Passing Shot 5 Takashi Kusunoki Mitsuru Hashida Tadaharu Morimoto 1:33.6 1991 Daitaku Helios 4 Shigehiko Kishi Yasuo Umeda Masaichi Nakamura 1:34.8 1992 Daitaku Helios 5 Shigehiko Kishi Yasuo Umeda Masaichi Nakamura 1:33.3 1993 Shinko Lovely 4 Yukio Okabe Kazuo Fujisawa Osamu Yasuda 1:35.7 1994 North Flight 4 Koichi Tsunoda Keiji Kato Taihoku Bokujo 1:33.0 1995 Trot Thunder 6 Norihiro Yokoyama Katsutoshi Aikawa Teruo Fujimoto 1:33.7 1996 Genuine 4 Yukio Okabe Yasuhisa Matsuyama Shadai Race Horse Co., Ltd. 1:33.8 1997 Taiki Shuttle 3 Norihiro Yokoyama Kazuo Fujisawa Taiki Farm 1:33.3 1998 Taiki Shuttle 4 Yukio Okabe Kazuo Fujisawa Taiki Farm 1:33.3 1999 Air Jihad 4 Masayoshi Ebina Masanori Ito Lucky Field Co., Ltd. 1:32.8 2000 Agnes Digital 3 Hitoshi Matoba Toshiaki Shirai Takao Watanabe 1:32.6 2001 Zenno El Cid 4 Olivier Peslier Kazuo Fujisawa Shinobu Oosako 1:33.2 2002 Tokai Point 6 Masayoshi Ebina Yoshiyuki Goto Masanori Uchimura 1:32.8 2003 Durandal 4 Kenichi Ikezoe Masahiro Sakaguchi Teruya Yoshida 1:33.3 2004 Durandal 5 Kenichi Ikezoe Masahiro Sakaguchi Teruya Yoshida 1:33.0 2005 Hat Trick 4 Olivier Peslier Katsuhiko Sumii Carrot Farm Co., Ltd. 1:32.1 2006 Daiwa Major 5 Katsumi Ando Hiroyuki Uehara Keizo Oshiro 1:32.7 2007 Daiwa Major 6 Katsumi Ando Hiroyuki Uehara Keizo Oshiro 1:32.7 2008Blumenblatt 5 Yutaka Yoshida Sei Ishizaka Carrot Farm1:32.6 2009 Company 8 Norihiro Yokoyama Hidetaka Otonashi Hideko Kondo1:33.2 2010 A Shin Forward 5 Yasunari Iwata Masato Nishizono Eishindo Co., Ltd.Eishindo1:31.8 2011 Eishin Apollon 4 Kenichi Ikezoe Masahiro Matsunaga Toyomitsu Hirai1:33.9 2012 Sadamu Patek 4 Yutaka Take Masato Nishizono Sadamu Onishi1:32.9 2013 Tosen Ra 5 Yutaka Take Hideaki Fujiwara Takaya Shimakawa1:32.4 2014 Danon Shark 6 Yasunari Iwata Ryuji Okubo Danox Co Ltd1:31.5 2015 Maurice 4 Ryan Moore Noriyuki Hori Kazumi Yoshida1:32.8 2016 Mikki Isle 5 Suguru Hamanaka Hidetaka Otonashi Mizuki Noda1:33.1 2017 Persian Knight 3 Mirco Demuro Yasutoshi Ikee G1 Racing Co Ltd1:33.8 2018 Stelvio 3 William Buick Tetsuya Kimura Sunday Racing1:33.3 2019 Indy Champ 4 Kenichi Ikezoe Hidetaka Otonashi Silk Racing1:33.0 2020 Gran Alegria 4 Christophe Lemaire Kazuo Fujisawa Sunday Racing1:32.0 2021 Gran Alegria 5 Christophe Lemaire Kazuo Fujisawa Sunday Racing1:32.6 2022 Serifos 3 Damian Lane Mitsumasa Nakauchida G1 Racing1:32.5 2023 Namur 4 Kota Fujioka Tomokazu Takano U.Carrot Farm1:32.52024Soul Rush6Taisei DannoYasutoshi IkeeTatsue Ishikawa1:32.02025Jantar Mantar4Yuga KawadaTomokazu TakanoShadai Race Horse Co., Ltd.1:31.3
The 2020, 2021 and 2022 runnings took place at Hanshin while Kyoto was closed for redevelopment.
See also Horse racing in Japan List of Japanese flat horse races
References Netkeiba: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Racing Post: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
External links Horse Racing in Japan