# Nikkei Sho

The Nikkei Sho (Japanese 日経賞) is an annual Grade 2 flat horse race in Japan for Thoroughbreds of at least four years of age. It is run over a distance of 2,500 metres at Nakayama Racecourse in March.
The Nikkei Sho was first run in 1953 and was elevated to Grade 2 status in 1984.
Among the winners of the race have been Symboli Rudolf, Rice Shower, Meisho Doto, Matsurida Gogh, Fenomeno and Gold Actor.

## Race details

The race is run at Nakayama Racecourse over a distance of 2,500 meters on turf, using the inner curve.

### Weight

56 kg for four-year-olds, and 57 kg for five-year-olds and above. Allowances: 2 kg for fillies / mares
* 1 kg for southern hemisphere-bred three-year-olds
Penalties:
* 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 (excluding two-year-old race performance), 1 kg for a Grade 1 win

## Winners since 2000

| Year | Winner | Age | Jockey | Trainer | Owner | Time |
| 2000 | Leo Ryuho | 5 | Takanori Kikuzawa | Hiroaki Sugiura | Leo | 2:35.4 |
| 2001 | Meisho Doto | 5 | Yasuhiko Yasuda | Isao Yasuda | Yoshio Matsumoto | 2:33.7 |
| 2002 | Active Bio | 5 | Hiroki Goto | Hiroki Sakiyama | Bio | 2:37.0 |
| 2003 | Ingrandire | 4 | Junichi Kobayashi | Yoshinami Shimizu | Chizu Yoshida | 2:31.3 |
| 2004 | Win Generale | 4 | Masayoshi Ebina | Sakae Kunieda | WIN | 2:32.8 |
| 2005 | Yukina Sun Royal | 8 | Jiro Ono | Sueo Masuzawa | Motoyuki Ito | 2:33.3 |
| 2006 | Lincoln | 6 | Norihiro Yokoyama | Hidetaka Otonashi | Eiko Kondo | 2:33.0 |
| 2007 | Never Bouchon | 4 | Hiroshi Kitamura | Masanori Ito | T H | 2:31.8 |
| 2008 | Matsurida Gogh | 5 | Masayoshi Ebina | Sakae Kunieda | Fumie Takahashi | 2:32.7 |
| 2009 | Al Nasrain | 5 | Masayoshi Ebina | Shigeki Matsumoto | Sunday Racing | 2:31.2 |
| 2010 | Meiner Kitz | 7 | Masami Matsuoka | Sakae Kunieda | Thoroughbred Club Ruffian | 2:34.1 |
| 2011 | To The Glory | 4 | Yuichi Fukunaga | Yasutoshi Ikee | Carrot Farm | 2:25.4 |
| 2012 | Neko Punch | 6 | Teruo Eda | Shinobu Hoshino | Shigeru Kiritani | 2:37.4 |
| 2013 | Fenomeno | 4 | Masayoshi Ebina | Hirofumi Toda | Sunday Racing | 2:32.0 |
| 2014 | Win Variation | 6 | Yasunari Iwata | Masahiro Matsunaga | WIN | 2:34.4 |
| 2015 | Admire Deus | 4 | Yasunari Iwata | Mitsuru Hashida | Riichi Kondo | 2:30.2 |
| 2016 | Gold Actor | 5 | Hayato Yoshida | Tadashige Nakagawa | Kaname Ishiro | 2:36.8 |
| 2017 | Sciacchetra | 4 | Hironobu Tanabe | Katsuhiko Sumii | Makoto Kaneko | 2:32.8 |
| 2018 | Ganko | 5 | Yusuke Fujioka | Shigeki Matsumoto | Mitsuo Sugisawa | 2:33.9 |
| 2019 | Meisho Tekkon | 4 | Yutaka Take | Yoshitada Takahashi | Yoshio Matsumoto | 2:34.2 |
| 2020 | Mikki Swallow | 6 | Norihiro Yokoyama | Takanori Kikuzawa | Mizuki Noda | 2:32.9 |
| 2021 | Win Marilyn | 4 | Takeshi Yokoyama | Takahisa Tezuka | WIN | 2:33.3 |
| 2022 | Titleholder | 4 | Kazuo Yokoyama | Toru Kurita | Hiroshi Yamada | 2:35.4 |
| 2023 | Titleholder | 5 | Kazuo Yokoyama | Toru Kurita | Hiroshi Yamada | 2:36.8 |
| 2024 | Struve | 5 | Katsuma Sameshima | Noriyuki Hori | Katsuko Muraki | 2:31.4 |
$^1$ The 2011 race took place at Hanshin Racecourse over a distance of 2,400 metres.

## Earlier winners

* 1983 - Asahi Teio
* 1984 - Hayate Mig
* 1985 - Symboli Rudolf
* 1986 - Chestnut Valley
* 1987 - Miho Shinzan
* 1988 - Mejiro Fulmar
* 1989 - Running Free
* 1990 - Osumi Shadai
* 1991 - Kiri Sancy
* 1992 - Mejiro Ryan
* 1993 - Rice Shower
* 1994 - Stage Champ
* 1995 - Inter Liner
* 1996 - Hokkai Rousseau
* 1997 - Rosen Kavalier
* 1998 - Tenjin Shogun
* 1999 - Seiun Sky