The Aoi Stakes (Japanese 葵ステークス) is a Grade 3 horse race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds organized by Japan Racing Association. It is run in late May over a distance of 1200 metres on turf at Kyoto Racecourse. Famous horses who have won the race include Calstone Light O and Lord Kanaloa.
The race was first ran as Aoi Sho from 1985 until 1988 before it was renamed to Aoi Stakes. The distance was run at 1,400 meters from 1985 until 1995, then it was shortened to 1,200 meters from 1996 until 2001. The distance was once again increased to 1,400 meters from 2002 until 2009 then it was shortened back to its current distance at 1,200 meters. In 2018, the race was promoted to Grade status but was unable to obtain the current Grade 3 status until 2022.
Winners since 2000 Year Winner Jockey TrainerOwner Time 2000 Breaktime Mamoru Ishibashi Shoji YamamotoNorth Hills Management 1:08.0 2001 Calstone Light O Shigefumi Kumazawa Hiroyuki OnedaSadamitsu Shimizu 1:07.4 2002 Dantsu Judge Shinji Fujita Kenji YamauchiTetsuji Yamamoto 1:21.2 2003 Montparnasse Mikio Matsunaga Noriaki TsuboTetsuo Tsunoda 1:21.5 2004 Meiner Zest Hirofumi Shii Yutaka TakahashiThoroughbred Club Ruffian 1:20.9 2005 Symboli Gran Shigefumi Kumazawa Yoshihiro HatakeyamaSymboli Stud 1:20.9 2006 Win Legend Yuga Kawada Tsutomu SetoguchiWin 1:23.0 2007 Kanoya Zakura Hiroyuki Uemura Kojiro HashiguchiKaoru Kanda 1:22.6 2008 Million Wave Koichi Tsunoda Hiroshi MiyamotoKenji Mannami 1:21.7 2009 Eishin Tiger Yuga Kawada Masato NishizonoToyomitsu Hirai 1:20.4 2010 Keiai Daisy Hideaki Miyuki Kenji YamauchiKeiai Orthopedic Appliance 1:07.6 2011 Lord Kanaloa Yuichi Kitamura Takayuki YasudaLord Horse Club 1:09.3 2012 Makoto Nawaratana Kota Fujioka Ippo SameshimaSachiko Oda 1:08.0 2013 Teehaff Yutaka Take Katsuichi NishiuraMohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum 1:08.7 2014 Real Venus Kota Fujioka Akio AdachiHoichi Yamauchi 1:07.5 2015 Just Doing Tsubasa Wada Kazuya NakatakeShinji Maeda 1:08.0 2016 Nac Venus Manabu Sakai Hiroaki SugiuraKinya Komatsu 1:07.9 2017 Arinna Yusuke Fujioka Shigeki MatsumotoNormandy Thoroughbred Club 1:10.5 2018 Gold Queen Yoshihiro Furukawa Masanori SakaguchiMitsuhiko Kato 1:08.0 2019 Dirndl Yusuke Fujioka Yutaka OkumuraSilk Racing 1:08.0 2020 Bien Fait Yusuke Fujioka Kazuya NakatakeKoki Maeda 1:08.1 2021 Lei Halia Heart Kameda Toshiaki TajimaHidaka Breeders Union 1:08.1 2022 Win Marvel Kohei Matsuyama Masashi FukayamaWin 1:08.2 2023 Mozu Meimei Yutaka Take Hidetaka OtonashiCapital System 1:07.1 2024 Puro Magic Kazuo Yokoyama Shogo Yasuda3H Racing 1:07.12025Abu Qir BayMirai IwataTomoyasu SakaguchiGodolphin1:08.32026Dea VeloceYuichi KitamuraHiroyuki UemuraTO Racing LLC.1:07.6 The 2021 and 2022 editions were contested at Chukyo Racecourse, due to ongoing renovation at the Kyoto Racecourse.
Earlier winners
1985 - Long Quick 1986 - Lead Triple 1987 - Marubutsu Lonely 1988 - Great Monte 1989 - Osaichi George 1990 - Daitaku Helios 1991 - Tenzan Hagoromo 1992 - Elizabeth Rose 1993 - Fuji One Man Cross 1994 - Maruka Okan 1995 - Isami Sakura 1996 - The Gold 1997 - Star Programmer 1998 - Meisho Ayame 1999 - Kool Neige
See also Horse racing in Japan List of Japanese flat horse races
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