NHK Mile Cup


The NHK Mile Cup 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 on the turf at Tokyo Racecourse in May.
The NHK Mile Cup is sponsored by the Japanese public broadcasting organization NHK, and as such, this race is broadcast not only on Fuji TV but on one of the NHK channels that cover horse racing.
Before the year 2001, it was the only colt and fillies G1 race that non-Japanese bred three-year-olds could participate, which led to this race being considered as the "Japanese Derby for non-Japanese bred horse" until foreign-bred horse restrictions were lifted in 2001. Until 2010 it was limited to domestic-trained horses, but these restrictions were removed that year. 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 and the Tokyo Yushun.

Step races

The New Zealand Trophy is the only formal trial race for NHK Mile Cup. The top three finishers of that race will be granted participation right in this race. If a horse from the National Association of Racing finished in top three in the New Zealand Trophy, at most of two extra participation rights will be issued within the other four races.

Winners

Year
Winner
Jockey
Trainer
Owner
Time
1996Taiki FortuneYoshitomi ShibataYoshiyasu TakahashiTaiki Farm1:32.6
1997Seeking the PearlYutaka TakeHideyuki MoriTomoko Uenaka1:33.1
1998El Condor PasaHitoshi MatobaYoshitaka NinomiyaTakashi Watanabe1:33.7
1999Symboli IndyNorihiro YokoyamaKazuo FujisawaSymboli Bokujo1:33.8
2000Eagle CafeYukio OkabeFutoshi KojimaKiyoshi Nishikawa1:33.5
2001KurofuneYutaka TakeKunihide MatsudaMakoto Kaneko1:33.0
2002TelegnosisMasaki KatsuuraHiroaki SugiuraShadai Racehorse co.1:33.1
2003Win KlugerKoshiro TakeShigeki MatsumotoWin Co. Ltd.1:34.2
2004King KamehamehaKatsumi AndoKunihide MatsudaMakoto Kaneko1:32.5
2005Rhein KraftYuichi FukunagaTsutomu SetoguchiShigemasa Ohsawa1:33.6
2006LogicYutaka TakeKojiro HashiguchiKoji Maeda1:33.2
2007Pink KameoHiroyuki UchidaSakae KuniedaKaneko Makoto Holdings Co., Ltd.1:34.3
2008Deep SkyHirofumi ShiiMitsugu KonToshio Fukami1:34.2
2009Jo CappuccinoKota FujiokaKazuya NakatakeKeiko Ueda1:32.4
2010Danon ChantillyKatsumi AndoKunihide MatsudaDanox Co. Ltd.1:31.4
2011Grand Prix BossCraig WilliamsYoshihito YahagiGrand Prix Co. Ltd.1:32.2
2012Curren Black HillShin-ichiro AkiyamaOsamu HirataTakashi Suzuki1:34.5
2013Meiner Ho ODaichi ShibataYoshihiro HatakeyamaK Thoroughbred Club Ruffian1:32.7
2014Mikki IsleSuguru HamanakaHidetaka OtonashiMizuki Noda1:33.2
2015Clarity SkyNorihiro YokoyamaYasuo TomomichiTadakuni Sugiyama1:33.5
2016Major EmblemChristophe LemaireYasuhito TamuraSunday Racing1:32.8
2017AerolitheNorihiro YokoyamaTakanori KikuzawaSunday Racing1:32.3
2018Keiai NautiqueYusuke FujiokaOsamu HirataKazuhiro Kameda1:32.8
2019Admire MarsMirco DemuroYasuo TomomichiRiichi Kondo1:32.4
2020Lauda SionMirco DemuroTakashi SaitoSilk Racing1:32.5