The Unicorn Stakes (Japanese ユニコーンステークス) is a Grade 3 horse race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run in Japan in April over a distance of 1,900 metres on dirt at Kyoto Racecourse.
The race was first run in 1996 and has held Grade 3 status ever since. The race was run over 1,800 meters at Nakayama Racecourse in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000 before being moved to Tokyo Racecourse in 2001 until 2023 and was run over 1,600 meters. The race was permanently moved to Kyoto Racecourse in 2024, and the distance was also increased to 1,900 meters. The schedule was also moved from June to late April, positioned as a preparatory race for the Tokyo Derby, which is run in June and for which the Unicorn Stakes winner receives a guaranteed spot.
Past winners of the race have included Taiki Shuttle, Agnes Digital and Kane Hekili.
Records Record time: 1:56.8 - Canal Beagle 2025, at a distance of 1,900 meters 1:34.9 - Cafe Pharoah 2020, at a distance of 1,600 meters
Most wins by a jockey: 2 - Yukio Okabe 1996, 1997 2 - Katsumi Ando 2003, 2008 2 - Yutaka Take 2005, 2007 2 - Yuichi Fukunaga 2012, 2019
Most wins by a trainer: 2 - Sei Ishizaka 2001, 2013 2 - Katsuhiko Sumii 2005, 2019 2 - Noriyuki Hori 2012, 2020
Winners Year Winner Jockey TrainerOwner Time 1996 Shinko Windy Yukio Okabe Kiyotaka TanakaOsamu Yasuda 1:52.8 1997 Taiki Shuttle Yukio Okabe Kazuo FujisawaTaiki Farm 1:36.8 1998 Wing Arrow Katsumi Minai Yoshimi KudoMinoru Ikeda 1:52.0 1999 Gold Tiara Katsuharu Tanaka Kunihide MatsudaKazuko Yoshida 1:52.6 2000 Agnes Digital Hitoshi Matoba Toshiaki ShiraiTakao Watanabe 1:50.7 2001 Nasdaq Power Teruo Eda Sei IshizawaFushio Sukimoto 1:36.4 2002 Himitsu Heiki Seiji Sakai Mitsuhiro OkabayashiHarumi Tanaka 1:36.4 2003 Utopia Katsumi Ando Kojiro HashiguchiMakoto Kaneko 1:35.8 2004 Top of World Hirofumi Shii Kenichi FujiokaIsao Ogawa 1:36.0 2005 Kane Hekili Yutaka Take Katsuhiko SumiiMakoto Kaneko 1:36.5 2006 Nike Earthwork Norihiro Yokoyama Masayuki KawashimaSeiji Ono 1:37.2 2007 Long Pride Yutaka Take Yukiharu OnoToshio Nakai 1:36.9 2008 Ubiquitous Katsumi Ando Nobuhiro SuzukiSeiichi Iketani 1:35.1 2009 Silk Mobius Hiroyasu Tanaka Masazo RyokeSilk 1:35.5 2010 Birdie Birdie Masami Matsuoka Yasutoshi Ikee Koichi Hori 1:36.6 2011 I Am Actress Shinichiro Akiyama Hiroshi NagahamaMihoko Satomi 1:36.2 2012 Straw Hat Yuichi Fukunaga Noriyuki HoriKaneko Makoto Holdings 1:36.5 2013 Best Warrior Keita Tosaki Sei IshizakaYukio Baba 1:36.0 2014 Red Alvis Masayoshi Ebina Takayuki YasudaTokyo Horse Racing 1:36.0 2015 Nonkono Yume Christophe Lemaire Yukihiro KatoKazumasa Yamada 1:35.9 2016 Gold Dream Yuga Kawada Osamu HirataKatsumi Yoshida 1:35.8 2017 Sunrise Nova Keita Tosaki Hidetaka OtonashiTakao Matsuoka 1:35.9 2018 Le Vent Se Leve Mirco Demuro Kiyoshi HagiwaraG1 Racing 1:35.0 2019 Wide Pharaoh Yuichi Fukunaga Katsuhiko SumiiMasanobu Habata 1:35.52020 Cafe Pharoah Damian Lane Noriyuki HoriKoichi Nishikawa 1:34.9 2021 Smasher Ryusei Sakai Tatsuya YoshiokaHidaka Breeders Union 1:34.4 2022 Peisha Es Akira Sugawara Kazuo KonishiNaoto Kitajo 1:35.2 2023 Perriere Christophe Lemaire Mitsumasa NakauchidaYuji Hasegawa 1:35.0 2024 Ramjet Kousei Miura Shozo SasakiKoji Maeda 1:58.62025Canal BeagleSeinosuke YoshimuraYuta SatoU Carrot Farm1:56.82026Silver RatioMirai IwataKenji NonakaSunday Racing1:57.5
Gold Tiara and I Am Actress were fillies
See also Horse racing in Japan List of Japanese flat horse races
References Netkeiba: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,