The 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.
The forerunner of this race was the . It was started as the 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. At the time, 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 one of the Japanese legs of the Global Sprint Challenge Series. It's the second race of the series, preceded by the Lightning Stakes and 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).
Trial races Trial races provide automatic berths to the winning horses. RaceGradeRacecourseDistanceConditionHankyu HaiGIIIHanshin1,400 metresWinnerOcean StakesGIIINakayama1,200 metresWinner
Records since 1996 Speed record: 1.06.3 – Satono Reve (2026)
Most wins by a horse (2): Kinshasa no Kiseki (2010, 2011) Satono Reve (2025, 2026)
Most wins by a jockey (3): Shinji Fujita (1999, 2002, 2009) Yuichi Fukunaga (2004, 2016, 2019)
Most wins by a trainer (4): Noriyuki Hori (2010, 2011, 2025, 2026)
Most wins by an owner (2): Osamu Yasuda (1997, 1998) Kazumi Yoshida (2010, 2011) Hajime Satomi (2025, 2026)
Winners since 1996 Year Winner Age Jockey Trainer Owner TimeTakamatsunomiya Hai (Grade 1) 1996 Flower Park 4 Seiki Tabara Shouichi Matsumoto Katsumi Yoshida 1:07.4 1997 Shinko King 6 Yukio Okabe Kazuo Fujisawa Osamu Yasuda 1:08.0Takamatsunomiya Kinen (Grade 1) 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 Sunningdale 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 1:11.52024Mad Cool5Ryusei SakaiManabu IkezoeSunday Racing Co. Ltd.1:08.92025Satono Reve6João MoreiraNoriyuki HoriHajime Satomi1:07.92026Satono Reve7Christophe LemaireNoriyuki HoriHajime Satomi1:06.3
* The 2011 race took place at Hanshin Racecourse.
Past winners
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 Horse racing in Japan List of Japanese flat horse races
References Netkeiba: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Racing Post: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
External links Horse Racing in Japan