The is a Grade 1 horse race in Japan for Thoroughbred colts and fillies aged four and over run over a distance of 2,000 metres at Hanshin Racecourse. The race is also known as the (until 2016) and the Ōsaka Cup. The race is run in early April.
It was first run in 1957 over 1800 metres. The distance was increased to 1900 metres in 1966 before the race was run over its current distance for the first time in 1972.
Among the winners of the race have been Katsuragi Ace, Tokai Teio, Mejiro McQueen, Air Groove, Neo Universe, Meisho Samson, Daiwa Scarlet, Orfevre and Kizuna.
The Ōsaka Hai was promoted from Grade 2 status (as it has been since 1984) to Grade 1 in 2017. Prior to 2017, the race was known as the Sankei Ōsaka Hai and served as a trial race for the spring edition of the Tenno Sho. From 2017 the winner will have a guaranteed and complimentary entry to that season's Irish Champion Stakes.
Trial races Trial races provide automatic berths to the winning horses. RaceGradeRacecourseDistanceConditionNakayama KinenGIINakayama1,800 metresWinnerKinko ShoGIIChukyo2,000 metresWinner
Records Speed record: Fastest: Bellagio Opera (2025): 1:56.2 Slowest: Tokai Teio (1992): 2:06.3
Most wins by horse: 2 — Sunrise Pegasus: (2002, 2005) 2 — Bellagio Opera: (2024, 2025)
Most wins by jockey: 6 — Yutaka Take: Mejiro McQueen (1993), Marvelous Sunday (1997), Air Groove (1998), Kizuna (2014), Kitasan Black (2017), Jack d'Or (2023)
Most wins by trainer: 3 — Yasutoshi Ikee: Dream Journey (2009), Orfevre (2013), Al Ain (2019)
Most wins by owner: 5 — Sunday Racing: Dream Journey (2009), Orfevre (2013), Al Ain (2019), Lucky Lilac (2020), Croix Du Nord (2026)
Winners since 1992 Year Winner Age Jockey TrainerOwner TimeSankei Ōsaka Hai (Grade 2) 1992 Tokai Teio 4 Yukio Okabe Shoichi MatsumotoMasanori Uchimura 2:06.3 1993 Mejiro McQueen 6 Yutaka Take Yasuo IkeeMejiro Shoji 2:03.3 1994 Nehai Caesar 4 Katsumi Shiomura Tadashi FuseDaimaru Kigyo 2:01.2 1995 Inter My Way 5 Mikio Matsunaga Hitoshi NakamuraTomee Matsuoka 1:59.3 1996 Taiki Blizzard 5 Yukio Okabe Kazuo FujisawaTaiki Farm 2:00.7 1997 Marvelous Sunday 5 Yutaka Take Makoto OsawaSadao Sasahara 2:02.0 1998 Air Groove 5 Yutaka Take Yuji ItoLucky Field 2:01.3 1999 Silent Hunter 6 Yutaka Yoshida Yokichi OkuboHiroyoshi Usuda 1:59.9 2000 Meisho Odo 5 Yuji Iida Ahihiro IidaYoshio Matsumoto 2:00.8 2001 Toho Dream 4 Katsumi Ando Yoshiyasu TajimaToho Bussan 1:58.4 2002 Sunrise Pegasus 4 Katsumi Ando Sei Ishizaka Takao Matsuoka 1:59.1 2003 Tagano My Bach 4 Katsumi Ando Hiroyoshi MatsudaRyoji Yagi 1:59.1 2004 Neo Universe 4 Mirco Demuro Tsutomo SetoguchiShadai Race Horse 1:59.6 2005 Sunrise Pegasus 7 Hideaki Miyuki Sei Ishizaka Takao Matsuoka 1:59.0 2006 Company 5 Yuichi Fukunaga Hidetaki OtonashiEiko Kondo 2:04.5 2007 Meisho Samson 4 Mamoru Ishibashi Shigetada TakahashiYoshio Matsumoto 2:01.4 2008 Daiwa Scarlet 4 Katsumi Ando Kunihide MatsudaKeizo Oshiro 1:58.7 2009 Dream Journey 5 Kenichi Ikezoe Yasutoshi IkeeSunday Racing 1:59.7 2010 T M Encore 6 Suguru Hamanaka Masami ShibataMasatsugu Takezono 1:59.5 2011 Hiruno d'Amour 4 Shinji Fujita Mitsugu KonMasafumi Hirukawa 1:57.8 2012 Shonan Mighty 4 Suguru Hamanaka Tomoyuki UmedaTetsuhide Kunimoto 2:05.5 2013 Orfevre 5 Kenichi Ikezoe Yasutoshi IkeeSunday Racing 1:59.0 2014 Kizuna 4 Yutaka Take Shozo SasakiShinji Maeda 2:00.3 2015 Lachesis 5 Christophe Lemaire Katsuhiko SumiiMasaya Oshima 2:02.9 2016 Ambitious 4 Norihiro Yokoyama Hidetaka Otonashi Eiko Kondo 1:59.3Ōsaka Hai (Grade 1) 2017 Kitasan Black 5 Yutaka Take Hisashi Shimizu Ono Shoji 1:58.9 2018 Suave Richard 4 Mirco Demuro Yasushi ShonoNICKS 1:58.2 2019 Al Ain 5 Yuichi Kitamura Yasutoshi IkeeSunday Racing 2:01.0 2020 Lucky Lilac 5 Mirco Demuro Mikio MatsunagaSunday Racing 1:58.4 2021 Lei Papale 4 Yuga Kawada Tomokazu TakanoCarrot Farm 2:01.6 2022 Potager 5 Hayato Yoshida Yasuo TomomichiMakoto Kaneko 1:58.4 2023 Jack d'Or 5 Yutaka Take Kenichi FujiokaToshiyuki Maehara 1:57.42024Bellagio Opera4Kazuo YokoyamaHiroyuki UemuraShorai Hayashida1:58.22025Bellagio Opera5Kazuo YokoyamaHiroyuki UemuraShorai Hayashida1:56.22026Croix Du Nord4Yuichi KitamuraTakashi SaitoSunday Racing1:57.6
Earlier winners
1957 – Homare Ichi 1958 – Katsura Homare 1959 – Kiyo Sugata 1960 – Wildeal 1961 – Kodame 1962 – Sugihime 1963 – Ryu Z 1964 – Tetsuno O 1965 – Young Hero 1966 – Ballymoss Nisei 1967 – Ryu Pharos 1968 – Yama Pit 1969 – Date Horai 1970 – Shunsaku O 1971 – Tokino Shin O 1972 – Kei Takashi 1973 – Takuma O 1974 – Nihon Pillow Moutiers 1975 – Sky Leader 1976 – Long Hawk 1977 – Gold Eagle 1978 – King Lanark 1979 – Metro Jumbo 1980 – Hashi Kranz 1981 – Sancy Doll 1982 – Sanei Tholon 1983 – Hikari Duel 1984 – Katsuragi Ace 1985 – State Jaguar 1986 – Sakura Yutaka O 1987 – Nishino Raiden 1988 – Fresh Voice 1989 – Yaeno Muteki 1990 – Super Creek 1991 – White Stone
See also Horse racing in Japan List of Japanese flat horse races
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