# Takarazuka Kinen

The Takarazuka Kinen (宝塚記念) is a Grade I flat horse race in Japan for three-year-old and above thoroughbreds where they run over a distance of 2,200 metres (approximately 1+3⁄8 miles) at Hanshin Racecourse (阪神競馬場) in late June. It is one of the two "All-Star" races in Japanese horse racing; the other being the Arima Kinen (the Grand Prix) held in late December.
It was first run in 1960 with a distance of 1,800 metres. From 1961 to 1965 the race was run over 2,000 metres and since 1966 it has been run over its present distance.
The race is run on the turf and is named after the city of Takarazuka, Hyōgo, the location of Hanshin Racecourse, which is the venue of the race.
As with the Arima Kinen, the majority of the runners in the field are selected by a vote from racing fans, while the remainder are determined by the amount of prize money won.

## Winners since 1984

| Year | Winner | Age | Jockey | Trainer | Owner | Time |
| 1984 | Katsuragi Ace | 4 | Katsuichi Nishiura | Kazumi Domon | Ichizo Node | 2:12.4 |
| 1985 | Suzuka Koban | 5 | Yoshiyuki Muramoto | Minoru Kobayashi | Eiichi Nagai | 2:15.9 |
| 1986 | Persian Boy | 4 | Masato Shibata | Kunio Takamatsu | Hidekazu Date | 2:14.4 |
| 1987 | Suzu Parade | 6 | Seiji Ebisawa | Rokuro Tomita | Yoshio Koshiki | 2:12.3 |
| 1988 | Tamamo Cross | 4 | Katsumi Minai | Isami Obara | Tamamo Stable | 2:13.2 |
| 1989 | Inari One | 5 | Yutaka Take | Kiyoshi Suzuki | Hiroki Hotehama | 2:14.0 |
| 1990 | Osaichi George | 4 | Katsuhide Maruyama | Kazumi Domon | Choichi Node | 2:14.0 |
| 1991 | Mejiro Ryan | 4 | Norihiro Yokoyama | Shinji Okuhira | Mejiro Farm | 2:13.6 |
| 1992 | Mejiro Palmer | 5 | Taisei Yamada | Masaaki Okubo | Mejiro Farm | 2:18.6 |
| 1993 | Mejiro McQueen | 6 | Yutaka Take | Yasuo Ikee | Mejiro Farm | 2:17.7 |
| 1994 | Biwa Hayahide | 4 | Yukio Okabe | Mitsumasa Hamada | Biwa Co Ltd | 2:11.2 |
| 1995 | Dantsu Seattle | 5 | Yoshiyuki Muramoto | Kenji Yamauchi | Tetsuji Yamamoto | 2:10.2 |
| 1996 | Mayano Top Gun | 4 | Seiki Tabara | Masahiro Sakaguchi | Yuu Tadokoro | 2:12.0 |
| 1997 | Marvelous Sunday | 5 | Yutaka Take | Makoto Osawa | Sadao Sasahara | 2:11.9 |
| 1998 | Silence Suzuka | 4 | Katsumi Minai | Mitsuru Hashida | Keiji Nagai | 2:11.9 |
| 1999 | Grass Wonder | 4 | Hitoshi Matoba | Mitsuhiro Ogata | Y. Hanzawa | 2:12.1 |
| 2000 | T M Opera O | 4 | Ryuji Wada | Ichizo Iwamoto | Masatsugu Takezono | 2:13.8 |
| 2001 | Meisho Doto | 5 | Yasuhiko Yasuda | Isao Yasuda | Yoshio Matsumoto | 2:11.7 |
| 2002 | Dantsu Flame | 4 | Shinji Fujita | Kenji Yamauchi | Tetsuji Yamamoto | 2:12.9 |
| 2003 | Hishi Miracle | 4 | Koichi Tsunoda | Masaru Sayama | Masaichiro Abe | 2:12.0 |
| 2004 | Tap Dance City | 7 | Tetsuzo Sato | Shozo Sasaki | Yushun Horse Club | 2:11.1 |
| 2005 | Sweep Tosho | 4 | Kenichi Ikezoe | Akio Tsurudome | Tosho Sangyo | 2:11.5 |
| 2006 | Deep Impact | 4 | Yutaka Take | Yasuo Ikee | Kaneko Makoto Holdings | 2:13.0 |
| 2007 | Admire Moon | 4 | Yasunari Iwata | Hiroyoshi Matsuda | Riichi Kondo | 2:12.4 |
| 2008 | Eishin Deputy | 6 | Hiroyuki Uchida | Akira Nomoto | Toyomitsu Hirai | 2:15.3 |
| 2009 | Dream Journey | 5 | Kenichi Ikezoe | Yasutoshi Ikee | Sunday Racing | 2:11.3 |
| 2010 | Nakayama Festa | 4 | Yoshitomi Shibata | Yoshitaka Ninomiya | Shinichi Izumi | 2:13.0 |
| 2011 | Earnestly | 6 | Tetsuzo Sato | Shozo Sasaki | Koji Maeda | 2:10.1 |
| 2012 | Orfevre | 4 | Kenichi Ikezoe | Yasutoshi Ikee | Sunday Racing | 2:10.9 |
| 2013 | Gold Ship | 4 | Hiroyuki Uchida | Naosuke Sugai | Eiichi Kobayashi | 2:13.2 |
| 2014 | Gold Ship | 5 | Norihiro Yokoyama | Naosuke Sugai | Eiichi Kobayashi | 2:13.9 |
| 2015 | Lovely Day | 5 | Yuga Kawada | Yasutoshi Ikee | Kaneko Makoto Holdings | 2:14.4 |
| 2016 | Marialite | 5 | Masayoshi Ebina | Takashi Kubota | U.Carrot Farm | 2:12.8 |
| 2017 | Satono Crown | 5 | Mirco Demuro | Noriyuki Hori | Hajime Satomi | 2:11.4 |
| 2018 | Mikki Rocket | 5 | Ryuji Wada | Hidetaka Otonashi | Mizuki Noda | 2:11.6 |
| 2019 | Lys Gracieux | 5 | Damian Lane | Yoshito Yahagi | U Carrot Farm | 2:10.8 |
| 2020 | Chrono Genesis | 4 | Yuichi Kitamura | Takashi Saito | Sunday Racing | 2:13.5 |
| 2021 | Chrono Genesis | 5 | Christophe Lemaire | Takashi Saito | Sunday Racing | 2:10.9 |
| 2022 | Titleholder | 4 | Kazuo Yokoyama | Toru Kurita | Hiroshi Yamada | 2:09.7 |
| 2023 | Equinox | 4 | Christophe Lemaire | Tetsuya Kimura | Silk Racing Co., Ltd. | 2:11.2 |
| 2024 | Blow the Horn | 5 | Akira Sugawara | Tatsuya Yoshioka | Makio Okada | 2:12.0 |
* 1 2 3 4 The race took place at Kyoto Racecourse
* ↑ Set the current stakes record

## Earlier winners

* 1960 - Homare Hiro
* 1961 - Caesar
* 1962 - Kodama
* 1963 - Ryu Forel
* 1964 - Hikaru Pola
* 1965 - Shinzan
* 1966 - Eight Crown
* 1967 - Taiyo
* 1968 - Hikaru Takai
* 1969 - Date Horai
* 1970 - Speed Symboli
* 1971 - Mejiro Musashi
* 1972 - Shofu Midori
* 1973 - Hamano Parade
* 1974 - Haiseiko
* 1975 - Naoki
* 1976 - Fujino Parthia
* 1977 - Tosho Boy
* 1978 - Erimo George
* 1979 - Sakura Shori
* 1980 - Teru Tenryu
* 1981 - Katsu R
* 1982 - Monte Prince
* 1983 - Hagino Kamui O

## Vote leaders since 2004

| Year | Leader | Age | Votes Received | Race Result |
| 2004 | Lincoln | 4 | 60,865 | 3rd |
| 2005 | Zenno Rob Roy | 5 | 67,667 | 3rd |
| 2006 | Deep Impact | 4 | 89,864 | Winner |
| 2007 | Meisho Samson | 4 | 76,932 | 2nd |
| 2008 | Vodka | 4 | 75,594 | Not in race |
| 2009 | Vodka | 5 | 139,507 | Not in race |
| 2010 | Buena Vista | 4 | 92,024 | 2nd |
| 2011 | Buena Vista | 5 | 97,429 | 2nd |
| 2012 | Orfevre | 4 | 72,253 | Winner |
| 2013 | Orfevre | 5 | 70,519 | Not in race |
| 2014 | Gold Ship | 5 | 51,366 | Winner |
| 2015 | Gold Ship | 6 | 66,123 | 15th |
| 2016 | Kitasan Black | 4 | 82,121 | 3rd |
| 2017 | Kitasan Black | 5 | 101,621 | 9th |
| 2018 | Satono Diamond | 5 | 63,599 | 6th |
| 2019 | Almond Eye | 4 | 78,778 | Not in race |
| 2020 | Almond Eye | 5 | 111,842 | Not in race |
| 2021 | Chrono Genesis | 5 | 137,448 | Winner |
| 2022 | Titleholder | 4 | 191,394 | Winner |
| 2023 | Equinox | 4 | 216,379 | Winner |
| 2024 | Do Deuce | 5 | 238,367 | 6th |