NHK Mile Cup

NHK Mile Cup
2026 NHK Mile Cup winner Rodeo Drive
ClassGrade 1
LocationTokyo Racecourse, Fuchu, Tokyo, Tokyo
InauguratedMay 12, 1996
Race typeThoroughbred
Websitejapanracing.jp/
Race information
Distance1,600 meters
(About 8 furlongs / 1 mile)
SurfaceTurf
TrackLeft-handed
Qualification3-y-o, colts & Fillies only, no Geldings
Weight57 kg
Allowance: Fillies & SH-bred 2 kg
Purse¥ 281,300,000 (as of 2026)
  • 1st: ¥ 130,000,000
  • 2nd: ¥ 52,000,000
  • 3rd: ¥ 33,000,000

The NHK Mile Cup (NHKマイルカップ, NHK Mairu Kappu) is a Grade 1 flat horse race in Japan for three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies, run over a distance of 1,600 metres (approximately one mile) on the turf at Tokyo Racecourse in May.[1][2]

The NHK Mile Cup is sponsored by the Japanese public broadcasting organization NHK, and as such, it is broadcast not only on Fuji TV (one of NHK's competitors) but on one of the NHK channels that cover horse racing (NHK General TV; the other, BS-1, covers certain other races such as the Japan Cup). (In Japanese horseracing, "Sponsor" does not mean that an individual or organization provides prize money. They provide only the prize, cup, trophy etc.)

Before the year 2001, this was the only G1 race for colts and fillies that non-Japanese bred three-year-olds could participate in, which led to this race being considered informally as the "Japanese Derby for non-Japanese bred horses" until foreign-bred entry restrictions were lifted in 2001. Until 2010 it was limited to domestic-trained horses, but this restriction was removed that year (as for the Japanese classics). A maximum of nine foreign horses are allowed entry in the NHK Mile Cup. It is considered one of the prep races for both the Yushun Himba (the Japanese Oaks), run in May, and the Tokyo Yushun (the Japanese Derby), which takes place in late May or early June.[3]

Trial races

Trial races provide automatic berths to the winning horses or placed horses as specified.[4]

Race Grade Racecourse Distance Condition
Churchill Downs Cup GIII Hanshin 1,600 metres Top 3 horses
New Zealand Trophy GII Nakayama 1,600 metres Top 3 horses

Other step races

Races listed below does not provide automatic berths, but still important steps for this race.

Race Grade Racecourse Distance
Junior Cup Listed Nakayama 1,600 metres
Shinzan Kinen GIII Kyoto 1,600 metres
Crocus Stakes Listed Tokyo 1,400 metres
Marguerite Stakes Listed Hanshin 1,200 metres
Falcon Stakes GIII Chukyo 1,400 metres
Mainichi Hai GIII Hanshin 1,800 metres
Oka Sho GI Hanshin 1,600 metres
Satsuki Sho GI Nakayama 2,000 metres

Winners

(Winners in italic are also later winners from either Yushun Himba or Tokyo Yushun that year)

Year
 Winner
 Jockey
 Trainer
 Owner
 Time
1996 Taiki Fortune Yoshitomi Shibata Yoshiyasu Takahashi Taiki Farm 1:32.6
1997 Seeking the Pearl Yutaka Take Hideyuki Mori Tomoko Uenaka 1:33.1
1998 El Condor Pasa Hitoshi Matoba Yoshitaka Ninomiya Takashi Watanabe 1:33.7
1999 Symboli Indy Norihiro Yokoyama Kazuo Fujisawa Symboli Bokujo 1:33.8
2000 Eagle Cafe Yukio Okabe Futoshi Kojima Kiyoshi Nishikawa 1:33.5
2001 Kurofune Yutaka Take Kunihide Matsuda Makoto Kaneko 1:33.0
2002 Telegnosis Masaki Katsuura Hiroaki Sugiura Shadai Racehorse co. 1:33.1
2003 Win Kluger Koshiro Take Shigeki Matsumoto Win Co. Ltd. 1:34.2
2004 King Kamehameha Katsumi Ando Kunihide Matsuda Makoto Kaneko 1:32.5
2005 Rhein Kraft Yuichi Fukunaga Tsutomu Setoguchi Shigemasa Ohsawa 1:33.6
2006 Logic Yutaka Take Kojiro Hashiguchi Koji Maeda 1:33.2
2007 Pink Kameo Hiroyuki Uchida Sakae Kunieda Kaneko Makoto Holdings Co., Ltd. 1:34.3
2008 Deep Sky Hirofumi Shii Mitsugu Kon Toshio Fukami 1:34.2
2009 Jo Cappuccino Kota Fujioka Kazuya Nakatake Keiko Ueda 1:32.4
2010 Danon Chantilly Katsumi Ando Kunihide Matsuda Danox Co. Ltd. 1:31.4
2011 Grand Prix Boss Craig Williams Yoshito Yahagi Grand Prix Co. Ltd. 1:32.2
2012 Curren Black Hill Shinichiro Akiyama Osamu Hirata Takashi Suzuki 1:34.5
2013 Meiner Ho O Daichi Shibata Yoshihiro Hatakeyama K Thoroughbred Club Ruffian 1:32.7
2014 Mikki Isle Suguru Hamanaka Hidetaka Otonashi Mizuki Noda 1:33.2
2015 Clarity Sky Norihiro Yokoyama Yasuo Tomomichi Tadakuni Sugiyama 1:33.5
2016 Major Emblem Christophe Lemaire Yasuhito Tamura Sunday Racing 1:32.8
2017 Aerolithe Norihiro Yokoyama Takanori Kikuzawa Sunday Racing 1:32.3
2018 Keiai Nautique Yusuke Fujioka Osamu Hirata Kazuhiro Kameda 1:32.8
2019 Admire Mars Mirco Demuro Yasuo Tomomichi Riichi Kondo 1:32.4
2020 Lauda Sion Mirco Demuro Takashi Saito Silk Racing 1:32.5
2021 Schnell Meister Christophe Lemaire Takahisa Tezuka Sunday Racing 1:31.6
2022 Danon Scorpion Yuga Kawada Takayuki Yasuda Danox Co. Ltd. 1:32.3
2023 Champagne Color Hiroyuki Uchida Tsuyoshi Tanaka Yoichi Aoyama 1:33.8
2024 Jantar Mantar Yuga Kawada Tomokazu Takano Shadai Race Horse Co. Ltd. 1:32.4
2025 Panja Tower Kohei Matsuyama Shinsuke Hashiguchi Deep Creek Co. Ltd. 1:31.7
2026 Rodeo Drive Damian Lane Tetsuhide Tsuji Katsumi Yoshida 1:31.5

Speed Record

  • Danon Chantilly (2010) = 1:31.4[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ "2011.05.03 2011 NHK Mile Cup (G1) - Preview - News - Horse Racing in Japan". Japanracing.jp. 2011-05-03. Retrieved 2011-12-24.
  2. ^ "NHK Mile Cup". Netkeiba.
  3. ^ "Japanese Derby hopefuls look to cement credentials in NHK Mile Cup". Thoroughbred Times. 2010-05-07. Retrieved 2011-12-24.
  4. ^ "競馬番組一般事項(Horseracing Program General Information) - Page 21" (PDF). JRA. Retrieved June 15, 2026.
  5. ^ "G1 NHK Mile Cup winner Danon Chantilly dies at 18 | Horse Racing News". netkeiba. NET DREAMERS, Co., Ltd. 17 May 2025. Retrieved 28 November 2025.
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