# Ōsaka Hai

The Ōsaka Hai (大阪杯) is a Grade 1 horse race in for Thoroughbred colts and fillies aged four and over run over a distance of 2,000 metres at Hanshin Racecourse. The race is also known as the Sankei Ōsaka Hai (産経大阪杯) (until 2016) and the Ōsaka Cup. The race is run in early April.
It was first run in 1957 over 1800 metres. The distance was increased to 1900 metres in 1966 before the race was run over its current distance for the first time in 1972.
Among the winners of the race have been Katsuragi Ace, Tokai Teio, Mejiro McQueen, Air Groove, Neo Universe, Meisho Samson, Daiwa Scarlet, Orfevre and Kizuna.
The Ōsaka Hai was promoted from Grade 2 status (as it has been since 1984) to Grade 1 in 2017. Prior to 2017, the race was known as the Sankei Ōsaka Hai and served as a trial race for the spring edition of the Tenno Sho. From 2017 the winner will have a guaranteed and complimentary entry to that season's Irish Champion Stakes.

## Records

Speed record:
* 1:57.4 Jack d'Or 2023
Most successful horse (2 wins):
* Sunrise Pegasus – 2002, 2005

## Winners since 1992

| Year | Winner | Age | Jockey | Trainer | Owner | Time |
| 1992 | Tokai Teio | 4 | Yukio Okabe | Shoichi Matsumoto | Masanori Uchimura | 2:06.3 |
| 1993 | Mejiro McQueen | 6 | Yutaka Take | Yasuo Ikee | Mejiro Shoji | 2:03.3 |
| 1994 | Nehai Caesar | 4 | Katsumi Shiomura | Tadashi Fuse | Daimaru Kigyo | 2:01.2 |
| 1995 | Inter My Way | 5 | Mikio Matsunaga | Hitoshi Nakamura | Tomee Matsuoka | 1:59.3 |
| 1996 | Taiki Blizzard | 5 | Yukio Okabe | Kazuo Fujisawa | Taiki Farm | 2:00.7 |
| 1997 | Marvelous Sunday | 5 | Yutaka Take | Makoto Osawa | Sadao Sasahara | 2:02.0 |
| 1998 | Air Groove | 5 | Yutaka Take | Yuji Ito | Lucky Field | 2:01.3 |
| 1999 | Silent Hunter | 6 | Yutaka Yoshida | Yokichi Okubo | Hiroyoshi Usuda | 1:59.9 |
| 2000 | Meisho Odo | 5 | Yuji Iida | Ahihiro Iida | Yoshio Matsumoto | 2:00.8 |
| 2001 | Toho Dream | 4 | Katsumi Ando | Yoshiyasu Tajima | Toho Bussan | 1:58.4 |
| 2002 | Sunrise Pegasus | 4 | Katsumi Ando | Sei Ishizaka | Takao Matsuoka | 1:59.1 |
| 2003 | Tagano My Bach | 4 | Katsumi Ando | Hiroyoshi Matsuda | Ryoji Yagi | 1:59.1 |
| 2004 | Neo Universe | 4 | Mirco Demuro | Tsutomo Setoguchi | Shadai Race Horse | 1:59.6 |
| 2005 | Sunrise Pegasus | 7 | Hideaki Miyuki | Sei Ishizaka | Takao Matsuoka | 1:59.0 |
| 2006 | Company | 5 | Yuichi Fukunaga | Hidetaki Otonashi | Eiko Kondo | 2:04.5 |
| 2007 | Meisho Samson | 4 | Mamoru Ishibashi | Shigetada Takahashi | Yoshio Matsumoto | 2:01.4 |
| 2008 | Daiwa Scarlet | 4 | Katsumi Ando | Kunihide Matsuda | Keizo Oshiro | 1:58.7 |
| 2009 | Dream Journey | 5 | Kenichi Ikezoe | Yasutoshi Ikee | Sunday Racing | 1:59.7 |
| 2010 | T M Encore | 6 | Suguru Hamanaka | Masami Shibata | Masatsugu Takezono | 1:59.5 |
| 2011 | Hiruno d'Amour | 4 | Shinji Fujita | Mitsugu Kon | Masafumi Hirukawa | 1:57.8 |
| 2012 | Shonan Mighty | 4 | Suguru Hamanaka | Tomoyuki Umeda | Tetsuhide Kunimoto | 2:05.5 |
| 2013 | Orfevre | 5 | Kenichi Ikezoe | Yasutoshi Ikee | Sunday Racing | 1:59.0 |
| 2014 | Kizuna | 4 | Yutaka Take | Shozo Sasaki | Shinji Maeda | 2:00.3 |
| 2015 | Lachesis | 5 | Christophe Lemaire | Katsuhiko Sumii | Masaya Oshima | 2:02.9 |
| 2016 | Ambitious | 4 | Norihiro Yokoyama | Hidetaka Otonashi | Eiko Kondo | 1:59.3 |
| 2017 | Kitasan Black | 5 | Yutaka Take | Hisashi Shimizu | Ono Shoji | 1:58.9 |
| 2018 | Suave Richard | 4 | Mirco Demuro | Yasushi Shono | NICKS | 1:58.2 |
| 2019 | Al Ain | 5 | Yuichi Kitamura | Yasutoshi Ikee | Sunday Racing | 2:01.0 |
| 2020 | Lucky Lilac | 5 | Mirco Demuro | Mikio Matsunaga | Sunday Racing | 1:58.4 |
| 2021 | Lei Papale | 4 | Yuga Kawada | Tomokazu Takano | Carrot Farm | 2:01.6 |
| 2022 | Potager | 5 | Hayato Yoshida | Yasuo Tomomichi | Makoto Kaneko | 1:58.4 |
| 2023 | Jack d'Or | 5 | Yutaka Take | Kenichi Fujioka | Toshiyuki Maehara | 1:57.4 |
| 2024 | Bellagio Opera | 4 | Kazuo Yokoyama | Hiroyuki Uemura | Shorai Hayashida | 1:58.2 |

## Earlier winners

* 1957 – Homare Ichi
* 1958 – Katsura Homare
* 1959 – Kiyo Sugata
* 1960 – Wildeal
* 1961 – Kodame
* 1962 – Sugihime
* 1963 – Ryu Z
* 1964 – Tetsuno O
* 1965 – Young Hero
* 1966 – Ballymoss Nisei
* 1967 – Ryu Pharos
* 1968 – Yama Pit
* 1969 – Date Horai
* 1970 – Shunsaku O
* 1971 – Tokino Shin O
* 1972 – Kei Takashi
* 1973 – Takuma O
* 1974 – Nihon Pillow Moutiers
* 1975 – Sky Leader
* 1976 – Long Hawk
* 1977 – Gold Eagle
* 1978 – King Lanark
* 1979 – Metro Jumbo
* 1980 – Hashi Kranz
* 1981 – Sancy Doll
* 1982 – Sanei Tholon
* 1983 – Hikari Duel
* 1984 – Katsuragi Ace
* 1985 – State Jaguar
* 1986 – Sakura Yutaka O
* 1987 – Nishino Raiden
* 1988 – Fresh Voice
* 1989 – Yaeno Muteki
* 1990 – Super Creek
* 1991 – White Stone