| Surface | Turf |
|---|---|
| Class | Grade 1 |
| Horse race | Mile Championship マイルチャンピオンシップ |
| Location | Kyoto Racecourse, Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, Kyoto Prefecture |
| Inaugurated | November 18, 1984 |
| Race type | Thoroughbred |
| Website | japanracing.jp/ |
| Distance | 1600 meters (About 8 furlongs / 1 mile) |
| Track | Right-handed |
| Qualification | 3-y-o & Up, Thoroughbreds |
| Weight | 3-y-o 57 kg / 4-y-o & up 58 kg Allowance: Fillies & Mares 2 kg |
The Mile Championship is an International Grade I flat horse race in Japan for thoroughbreds three-year-old and above, run over a distance of 1,600 metres (approximately 1 mile) on the turf at Kyoto Racecourse in November. It was first run in 1984.
It is traditionally considered as a step race of Hong Kong Mile in Japan Racing. Particularly before the introduction of Hanshin Cup (Grade 2, 1400m) in 2006, as being the last graded event in mile distance in the Japan racing season and most of the winners or runners-up will travel to Hong Kong pursuing extra prize money. Including the only Japanese winner by then Hat Trick.
Records
Speed record:
- 1.31.3 – Jantar Mantar (2025)[1]
Most wins by a horse (2):
- Daitaku Helios (1991, 1992)
- Daiwa Major (2006, 2007)
- Durandal (2003, 2004)
- Gran Alegria (2020, 2021)
- Nihon Pillow Winner (1984, 1985)
- Taiki Shuttle (1997, 1998)
Most wins by a jockey (4):
- Kenichi Ikezoe (2003, 2004, 2011, 2019)
Most wins by a trainer (6):
- Kazuo Fujisawa (1993, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2020, 2021)
Most wins by an owner (3):
- Sunday Racing (2018, 2020, 2021)
- Carrot Farm (2005, 2008, 2023)
Winners
| Year | Winner | Age | Jockey | Trainer | Owner | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Nihon Pillow Winner | 4 | Hiroshi Kawachi | Masatoshi Hattori | Hyakutaro Kobayashi | 1:35.3 |
| 1985 | Nihon Pillow Winner | 5 | Hiroshi Kawachi | Masatoshi Hattori | Hyakutaro Kobayashi | 1:35.3 |
| 1986 | Takara Steel | 4 | Yoshiyasu Tajima | Eizaburo Sakamoto | Yoshio Murayama | 1:35.3 |
| 1987 | Nippo Teio | 4 | Hiroyuki Gohara | Kinzo Kubota | Yuichi Yamaishi | 1:34.9 |
| 1988 | Soccer Boy | 3 | Hiroshi Kawachi | Yukiharu Ono | Shadai Race Horse | 1:34.6 |
| 1989 | Oguri Cap | 4 | Katsumi Minai | Tsutomu Setoguchi | Toshinori Kondo | 1:34.6 |
| 1990 | Passing Shot | 5 | Takashi Kusunoki | Mitsuru Hashida | Tadaharu Morimoto | 1:33.6 |
| 1991 | Daitaku Helios | 4 | Shigehiko Kishi | Yasuo Umeda | Masaichi Nakamura | 1:34.8 |
| 1992 | Daitaku Helios | 5 | Shigehiko Kishi | Yasuo Umeda | Masaichi Nakamura | 1:33.3 |
| 1993 | Shinko Lovely | 4 | Yukio Okabe | Kazuo Fujisawa | Osamu Yasuda | 1:35.7 |
| 1994 | North Flight | 4 | Koichi Tsunoda | Keiji Kato | Taihoku Bokujo | 1:33.0 |
| 1995 | Trot Thunder | 6 | Norihiro Yokoyama | Katsutoshi Aikawa | Teruo Fujimoto | 1:33.7 |
| 1996 | Genuine | 4 | Yukio Okabe | Yasuhisa Matsuyama | Shadai Race Horse Co., Ltd. | 1:33.8 |
| 1997 | Taiki Shuttle | 3 | Norihiro Yokoyama | Kazuo Fujisawa | Taiki Farm | 1:33.3 |
| 1998 | Taiki Shuttle | 4 | Yukio Okabe | Kazuo Fujisawa | Taiki Farm | 1:33.3 |
| 1999 | Air Jihad | 4 | Masayoshi Ebina | Masanori Ito | Lucky Field Co., Ltd. | 1:32.8 |
| 2000 | Agnes Digital | 3 | Hitoshi Matoba | Toshiaki Shirai | Takao Watanabe | 1:32.6 |
| 2001 | Zenno El Cid | 4 | Olivier Peslier | Kazuo Fujisawa | Shinobu Oosako | 1:33.2 |
| 2002 | Tokai Point | 6 | Masayoshi Ebina | Yoshiyuki Goto | Masanori Uchimura | 1:32.8 |
| 2003 | Durandal | 4 | Kenichi Ikezoe | Masahiro Sakaguchi | Teruya Yoshida | 1:33.3 |
| 2004 | Durandal | 5 | Kenichi Ikezoe | Masahiro Sakaguchi | Teruya Yoshida | 1:33.0 |
| 2005 | Hat Trick | 4 | Olivier Peslier | Katsuhiko Sumii | Carrot Farm Co., Ltd. | 1:32.1 |
| 2006 | Daiwa Major | 5 | Katsumi Ando | Hiroyuki Uehara | Keizo Oshiro | 1:32.7 |
| 2007 | Daiwa Major | 6 | Katsumi Ando | Hiroyuki Uehara | Keizo Oshiro | 1:32.7 |
| 2008 | Blumenblatt | 5 | Yutaka Yoshida | Sei Ishizaka | Carrot Farm | 1:32.6 |
| 2009 | Company | 8 | Norihiro Yokoyama | Hidetaka Otonashi | Hideko Kondo | 1:33.2 |
| 2010 | A Shin Forward | 5 | Yasunari Iwata | Masato Nishizono | Eishindo Co., Ltd.[2] | 1:31.8 |
| 2011 | Eishin Apollon | 4 | Kenichi Ikezoe | Masahiro Matsunaga | Toyomitsu Hirai | 1:33.9 |
| 2012 | Sadamu Patek | 4 | Yutaka Take | Masato Nishizono | Sadamu Onishi | 1:32.9 |
| 2013 | Tosen Ra | 5 | Yutaka Take | Hideaki Fujiwara | Takaya Shimakawa | 1:32.4 |
| 2014 | Danon Shark | 6 | Yasunari Iwata | Ryuji Okubo | Danox Co Ltd | 1:31.5 |
| 2015 | Maurice | 4 | Ryan Moore | Noriyuki Hori | Kazumi Yoshida | 1:32.8 |
| 2016 | Mikki Isle | 5 | Suguru Hamanaka | Hidetaka Otonashi | Mizuki Noda | 1:33.1 |
| 2017 | Persian Knight | 3 | Mirco Demuro | Yasutoshi Ikee | G1 Racing Co Ltd | 1:33.8 |
| 2018 | Stelvio | 3 | William Buick | Tetsuya Kimura | Sunday Racing | 1:33.3 |
| 2019 | Indy Champ | 4 | Kenichi Ikezoe | Hidetaka Otonashi | Silk Racing | 1:33.0 |
| 2020 | Gran Alegria | 4 | Christophe Lemaire | Kazuo Fujisawa | Sunday Racing | 1:32.0 |
| 2021 | Gran Alegria | 5 | Christophe Lemaire | Kazuo Fujisawa | Sunday Racing | 1:32.6 |
| 2022 | Serifos | 3 | Damian Lane | Mitsumasa Nakauchida | G1 Racing | 1:32.5 |
| 2023 | Namur | 4 | Kota Fujioka | Tomokazu Takano | U.Carrot Farm | 1:32.5 |
| 2024 | Soul Rush | 6 | Taisei Danno | Yasutoshi Ikee | Tatsue Ishikawa | 1:32.0 |
| 2025 | Jantar Mantar | 4 | Yuga Kawada | Tomokazu Takano | Shadai Race Horse Co., Ltd. | 1:31.3 |
The 2020, 2021 and 2022 runnings took place at Hanshin while Kyoto was closed for redevelopment.
See also
References
- Racing Post:
- , , , , , , , , ,
- , , , , , , , , ,
- , , , , ,
- ^ "In the Mile Championship, Jantar Mantar Utilizes Record-Breaking Speed | JAPAN Forward". japan-forward.com. Japan Forward Association Inc. 23 November 2025. Retrieved 28 November 2025.
- ^ Eishindo
- ^ "マイルCS". Netkeiba
- ^ "Mile Championship". Netkeiba