The Hankyu Hai (Japanese 阪急杯) is a Grade 3 horse race for Thoroughbreds aged four and over, run in February over a distance of 1400 metres on turf at Hanshin Racecourse. The race serves as a trial for the Takamatsunomiya Kinen, which is run in late March. Since 2014, the winner of the race is given a slot of entry for the Takamatsunomiya Kinen.
The Hankyu Hai was first run in 1957 and has held Grade 3 status since 1984. The race was run at Kyoto Racecourse in 1959, 1966, 1969, 1991 and 1995. It was run over a variety of distances before being run over 1400 metres for the first time in 1981: it was run over 1200 metres from 1996 to 2005.
Weight 57 kg for four-year-olds and above.
Allowances:
2 kg for fillies / mares 1 kg for southern hemisphere bred three-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
Winners since 2000 Year Winner Age Jockey TrainerOwner Time 2000 Black Hawk 6 Norihiro Yokoyama Sakae KuniedaMakoto Kaneko 1:08.7 2001 Daitaku Yamato 7 Mirco Demuro Sei IshizakaTaiyo Farm 1:08.7 2002 Admire Cozzene 6 Hiroki Goto Mitsuru HashidaRiichi Kondo 1:07.9 2003 Shonan Kampf 5 Shinji Fujita Yokichi OkuboTetsuhide Kunimoto 1:08.5 2004 Sunningdale 5 Minoru Yoshida Tsutomu SetoguchiShigeki Goto 1:08.5 2005 Keeneland Swan 6 Hirofumi Shii Hideyuki MoriToyomitsu Hirai 1:08.5 2006 Blue Shotgun 7 Mikio Matsunaga Kohei TakeOgifushi Racing Club 1:22.52007 Precise Machine (DH) 8 Katsumi Ando Kiyoshi HagiwaraSeiichi Iketani 1:20.5 Eishin Dover (DH) 5 Hideaki Miyuki Ken KozakiToyomitsu Hirai 2008 Laurel Guerreiro 4 Hirofumi Shii Mitsugu KonLaurel Racing 1:20.7 2009 B B Guldan 5 Katsumi Ando Masazo RyokeBando Farm 1:21.1 2010 A Shin Forward 5 Yasunari Iwata Masato NihizonoEishindo 1:21.4 2011 San Carlo 5 Yutaka Yoshida Yokichi OkuboShadai Race Horse 1:20.1 2012 Majin Prosper 5 Suguru Hamanaka Hidemasa NakaoKazuhiro Sasaki 1:22.0 2013 Lord Kanaloa 5 Yasunari Iwata Takayuki YasudaLord Horse Club 1:21.0 2014 Copano Richard 4 Suguru Hamanaka Toru MiyaSachiaki Kobayashi 1:20.7 2015 Daiwa Maggiore 6 Mirco Demuro Yoshito YahagiKeizo Oshiro 1:23.8 2016 Mikki Isle 5 Kohei Matsuyama Hidetaka OtonashiMizuki Noda 1:19.9 2017 Talking Drum 7 Hideaki Miyuki Makoto SaitoMichiko Shimokobe 1:21.4 2018 Diana Halo 5 Yutaka Take Nobuharu FukushimaKomahide 1:20.1 2019 Smart Odin 6 Yusuke Fujioka Yasutoshi IkeeToru Okawa 1:20.3 2020 Best Actor 6 Suguru Hamanaka Yuichi ShikatoShadai Race Horse 1:20.3 2021 Resistencia 4 Yuichi Kitamura Takeshi MatsushitaCarrot Farm 1:19.2 2022 Diatonic 7 Yasunari Iwata Takayuki YasudaSilk 1:19.9 2023 Aguri 4 Kazuo Yokoyama Takayuki YasudaMasahiro Miki 1:19.52024Win Marvel5Kohei MatsuyamaMasashi FukayamaWin1:21.22025Kangchenjunga5Hideaki MiyukiYasushi ShonoMasanobu Habata1:21.72026Sonshi5Yuga KawadaMitsumasa NakauchidaSusumu Fujita1:18.9
Earlier winners
1957 - Takakura O 1958 - Yamanin 1959 - Homare Ryu 1960 - Minshu 1961 - Caesar 1962 - Miss Keiko 1963 - Gokai 1964 - Passport 1965 - Ballymoss Nisei 1966 - Hatsurai O 1967 - Nihon Pillow Ace 1968 - Apo Onward 1969 - Takano Kinen 1970 - Hirozuki 1971 - Tomei 1972 - Fast Bamboo 1973 - Sakae Kaho 1974 - Keiryu Shingeki 1975 - Silver Nero 1976 - Yamanin Faber 1977 - Center Good 1978 - Three Fire 1979 - Lead Swallow 1980 - Teruno Eight 1981 - Satsuki Rainbow 1982 - Bambton Harley 1983 - Happy Progress 1984 - Gouache Out 1985 - Shadai Sophia 1986 - Long Hayabusa 1987 - St Caesar 1988 - Sankin Hayate 1989 - Horino Raiden 1990 - Senryo Yakusha 1991 - Jo Roaring 1992 - Hokusei Ciboulette 1993 - Legacy Field 1994 - Gold Mountain 1995 - Bodyguard 1996 - Towa Winner 1997 - Shinko Forest 1998 - Masa Lucky 1999 - Kyoei March
See also Horse racing in Japan List of Japanese flat horse races
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