The is a Grade II race in Japan that is open to international horses. It is held in mid-February at Kyoto Racecourse in Kyoto, Japan.

The race was first run in 1942. It was not run from 1944 to 1947 due to World War II. Initially, the race was run over 3,500 metres (about 2 miles or 1.5 furlongs) and the present race is run over 2,200 metres (about 11 furlongs).

Kyōto Kinen has been rated as a Grade II race since 1984 and was opened for foreign-trained horses at that time, although foreign horses did not run the race until recently.

It is a popular prep race for the Spring Tenno Sho. Takeshiba O, Ten Point, Biwa Hayahide and T. M. Opera O are horses that won both the Kyōto Kinen and the Tenno Sho. Some horses run this race before going to Dubai. In 2007, Admire Moon won this race and the Dubai Duty Free.

Weight 56 kg for four-year-olds, 57 kg for five-year-olds and above.

Allowances:

2 kg for fillies / mares 1 kg for southern hemisphere bred four-year-olds

Penalties (excluding two-year-old race performance):

If a graded stakes race has been won within a year: 2 kg for a grade 1 win (1 kg for fillies / mares) 1 kg for a grade 2 win If a graded stakes race has been won for more than a year: 1 kg for a grade1 win

Autumn part Initially, Kyōto Kinen was held twice a year in spring and autumn. The autumn race was abolished 1984 when Japanese domestic race grading was started.

Before the autumn part was abolished, some horses ran both races and five horses won both. Notably, Final Score (1954) and Sky Leader (1974) won both races in the same year.

Results and records

Most wins by a horse Satono Crown (2016, 2017)

Most wins by a jockey 5 – Yutaka Take (2006, 2007, 2012, 2013, 2023)

Most wins by a trainer 5 – Hiroyoshi Matsuda (2001, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010)

Most wins by an owner 3 – Sunday Racing (2010, 2019, 2020)

Record winning time 2:11.5 Lovely Day (2015) (Kyoto) 2:10.4 Loves Only You (2021) (Hanshin)

List of recent winners Year Winner Age Jockey Trainer Owner Time 2000 T. M. Opera O 4 Ryuji Wada Ichizō Iwamoto Masatsugu Takezono 2:13.8 2001 Maquereau 4 Yasuhiko Yasuda Hiroyoshi Matsuda Katsumi Yoshida 2:12.3 2002 Narita Top Road 6 Kunihiko Watanabe Yoshio Oki Hidenori Yamaji 2:11.8 2003 My Sole Sound 4 Masaru Honda Katsuichi Nishiura Kiyoshi Sano 2:16.5 2004 Silk Famous 5 Hirofumi Shii Ippo Sameshima Silk Co. Ltd. 2:12.8 2005 Narita Century 6 Hirokazu Tajima Norio Fujisawa Hidenori Yamaji 2:15.7 2006 Six Sense 4 Yutaka Take Hiroyuki Nagahama Shadai Race Horse 2:13.5 2007 Admire Moon 4 Yutaka Take Hiroyoshi Matsuda Riichi Kondō & Katsumi Yoshida 2:17.2 2008 Admire Aura 4 Katsumi Andō Hiroyoshi Matsuda Riichi Kondō 2:13.6 2009 Asakusa Kings 5 Hirofumi Shii Ryūji Ōkubo Keiko Tahara 2:14.6 2010 Buena Vista 4 Norihiro Yokoyama Hiroyoshi Matsuda Sunday Racing Co. Ltd. 2:14.4 2011 To the Glory 4 Umberto Rispoli Yasuo Ikee Carrot Farm 2:13.9 2012 Trailblazer 5 Yutaka Take Yasuo Ikee Yoko Maeda 2:12.4 2013 Tosen Ra 5 Yutaka Take Hideaki Fujiwara Takaya Shimakawa 2:12.5 2014 Desperado 6 Norihiro Yokoyama Akio Adachi Hiroyuki Tanaka 2:16.0 2015 Lovely Day 5 Keita Tosaki Yasutoshi Ikee Makoto Kaneko 2:11.5 2016 Satono Crown 4 Mirco Demuro Noriyuki Hori Hajime Satomi 2:17.7 2017 Satono Crown 5 Mirco Demuro Noriyuki Hori Hajime Satomi 2:14.1 2018 Clincher 4 Yusuke Fujioka Hiroshi Miyamoto Koji Maeda 2:16.3 2019 Danburite 5 Fuma Matsuwaka Hidetaka Otonashi Sunday Racing 2:14.8 2020 Chrono Genesis 4 Yuichi Kitamura Takashi Saito Sunday Racing 2:16.4 2021 Loves Only You 5 Yuga Kawada Yoshito Yahagi DMM Dream Club 2:10.4 2022 African Gold 7 Kyosuke Kokubun Masato Nishizono Godolphin 2:11.9 2023 Do Deuce 4 Yutaka Take Yasuo Tomomichi Kieffers Co. Ltd. 2:10.92024Pradaria5Kenichi IkezoeManabu IkezoeNagoya Yuho Co. Ltd.2:12.12025Yoho Lake7Mirai IwataYasuo TomomichiKaneko Makoto Holdings Co. Ltd.2:15.72026June Take5Yusuke FujiokaHidenori TakeJun Yoshikawa2:12.7 The 2021, 2022 and 2023 runnings took place at Hanshin while Kyoto was closed for renovation.

Previous Winners

1942 - Marues 1943 - Hayatake 1944 - no race 1945 - no race 1946 - no race 1947 - no race 1948 - Matsu Midori 1949 - Hamakaze 1950 - Nishitatsupu 1951 - Owens 1952 - Sachihomare 1953 - Kiyo Strong 1954 - Final Score 1955 - Sekaiichi 1956 - Sekai O 1957 - Takakura O 1958 - Rising Winner 1959 - Iriyu 1960 - Fusari Yu 1961 - Tygon O 1962 - Marni Roll 1963 - Motoichi 1964 - Ryu Forel 1965 - Young Hero 1966 - Hatsurai O 1967 - Yamaniryu 1968 - Nihon Pillow Homare 1969 - Takeshiba O 1970 - Yokozuna 1971 - Continental 1972 - Shunsaku Ryu 1973 - Hamano Parade 1974 - Skyleader 1975 - Tanino Chikara 1976 - Nara Sanzan 1977 - Ten Point 1978 - Elimo George 1979 - Koichi Saburo 1980 - Agnes Lady 1981 - Robinson City 1982 - Arena O 1983 - Masahiko Boy 1984 - Kyoei Ascent 1985 - Mejiro Thomas 1986 - Suda Hawk 1987 - Shin Chest 1988 - Kashima Wing 1989 - Dyna Carpenter 1990 - Nice Nice Nice 1991 - Prince Shin 1992 - Osumi Roch 1993 - Paris Harley 1994 - Biwa Hayahide 1995 - Wako Chikako 1996 - T.M. Jumbo 1997 - Yutosei 1998 - Midnight Bet 1999 - Emocion

See also Horse racing in Japan List of Japanese flat horse races

References Netkeiba: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

External links Horse Racing in Japan