# Challenge Cup (horse race)

The Challenge Cup (Japanese チャレンジカップ (中央競馬)) is a Grade 3 horse race for Thoroughbreds aged three and over, run in late November or early December over a distance of 2000 metres on turf at Hanshin Racecourse.
The Challenge Cup was first run in 1950 and has held Grade 3 status since 1984. The race was run at Kyoto Racecourse in 1966 and 1995 and at Chukyo Racecourse in 1979, 1990, 1991, 1994 and 2006. It was run over 1800 metres from 2012 to 2016.

## Weight

55 kg for three-year-olds, 57 kg for four-year-olds and above.
Allowances:
* 2 kg for fillies / mares
* 2 kg for southern hemisphere bred three-year-olds
Penalties (excluding two-year-old race performance):
* If a graded stakes race has been won within a year:
** 2 kg for a grade 1 win (1 kg for fillies / mares)
** 1 kg for a grade 2 win
* If a graded stakes race has been won for more than a year:
** 1 kg for a grade 1 win

## Winners since 2000

| Year | Winner | Age | Jockey | Trainer | Owner | Time |
| 2000 | Mikki Dance | 4 | Tetsuzo Sato | Toshiyuki Hattori | Hisashi Miki | 1:58.3 |
| 2001 | Ibuki Government | 5 | Hiroshi Kawachi | Kojiro Hashiguchi | Ibuki | 1:59.4 |
| 2002 | Tap Dance City | 5 | Tetsuzo Sato | Shozo Sasaki | Yushun Horse Club | 1:58.1 |
| 2003 | Camphor Best | 4 | Katsumi Ando | Yoshikatsu Sato | Kiyoharu Okumura | 1:58.3 |
| 2004 | Suzuka Mambo | 3 | Yutaka Take | Mitsuru Hashida | Keiji Nagai | 2:01.6 |
| 2005 | One More Chatter | 5 | Yuichi Fukunaga | Yasuo Tomomichi | Ichizo Matsui | 1:59.4 |
| 2006 | Trillion Cut | 6 | Ryuji Wada | Hidetaka Otonashi | Carrot Farm | 1:57.4 |
| 2007 | Inti Raimi | 5 | Tetsuzo Sato | Shozo Sasaki | Sunday Racing | 2:00.0 |
| 2008 | Dream Journey | 4 | Kenichi Ikezoe | Yasutoshi Ikee | Sunday Racing | 1:58.5 |
| 2009 | Captain Thule | 4 | Yuga Kawada | Hideyuki Mori | Shadai Race Horse | 2:00.0 |
| 2010 | Captain Thule | 5 | Futoshi Komaki | Hideyuki Mori | Shadai Race Horse | 1:59.2 |
| 2011 | Mikki Dream | 4 | Ryuji Wada | Hidetaka Otonashi | Mizuki Noda | 1:59.6 |
| 2012 | Shoryu Moon | 5 | Shinichiro Akiyama | Shozo Sasaki | Wataru Ueda | 1:46.6 |
| 2013 | Archimedes | 4 | Mickael Barzalona | Hideaki Fujiwara | Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum | 1:46.5 |
| 2014 | Tosen Stardom | 3 | Yutaka Take | Yasutoshi Ikee | Takaya Shimakawa | 1:45.9 |
| 2015 | Fluky | 5 | Mirco Demuro | Katsuhiko Sumii | Makoto Kaneko | 1:46.1 |
| 2016 | Meiner Honey | 3 | Daichi Shibata | Hironuki Korita | Thoroughbred Club Ruffian | 1:46.5 |
| 2017 | Satono Chronicle | 3 | Mirco Demuro | Yasutoshi Ikee | Satomi Horse Company | 1:58.6 |
| 2018 | Air Windsor | 4 | Mirco Demuro | Kazuya Nakatake | Lucky Field | 1:58.3 |
| 2019 | Lord My Way | 3 | Christophe Lemaire | Haruki Sugiyama | Lord Horse Club | 1:59.1 |
| 2020 | Lei Papale | 3 | Yuga Kawada | Tomokazu Takano | Carrot Farm | 1:59.9 |
| 2021 | So Valiant | 3 | Christophe Lemaire | Masahiro Otake | Shadai Race Horse | 2:01.0 |
| 2022 | So Valiant | 4 | Christophe Lemaire | Masahiro Otake | Shadai Race Horse | 1:57.5 |
| 2023 | Bellagio Opera | 3 | Kazuo Yokoyama | Hiroyuki Uemura | Shorai Hayashida | 1:58.8 |
| 2024 | Ravel | 4 | Yuga Kawada | Yoshito Yahagi | Carrot Farm Co. Ltd. | 1:58.2 |

## Earlier winners

* 1984 - Nihon Pillow Winner
* 1985 - Wakao Raiden
* 1986 - Dokan Yashima
* 1987 - President City
* 1988 - Tanino Suesei
* 1989 - Hatushiba Ace
* 1990 - Foundry Popo
* 1991 - Nuevo Tosho
* 1992 - Let It Be
* 1993 - Wish Dream
* 1994 - Tsurumaru Girl
* 1995 - My Shinzan
* 1996 - Marvelous Sunday
* 1997 - Shin Kaiun
* 1998 - Run For The Dream
* 1999 - Tsurumaru Tsuyoshi