# Takamatsunomiya Kinen

The Takamatsunomiya Kinen (高松宮記念) is a Grade 1 flat horse race in Japan for four-year-old and above thoroughbreds. It is run over a distance of 1,200 metres (approximately 6 furlongs) at Chukyo Racecourse in late March.
The forerunner of this race was the Chukyo Daishoten (中京大賞典). It was started as the Takamatsunomiya Hai (高松宮杯) when the victory cup was designed by Prince Takamatsu in 1971, and was given Domestic Grade 2 status when race grading was introduced to Japan in 1984. It was run over a distance of 2,000 metres. This was shortened to 1,200 metres and elevated to Domestic Grade 1 in 1996, and to its present level in 2006. Horses trained outside Japan have been eligible to run in the race since 2001. It was renamed the Takamatsunomiya Kinen in 1998 because the family of Prince Takamatsu stopped designing the victory cup.
From 2011 The Takamatsunomiya Kinen has taken over from the Centaur Stakes as a Japanese leg of the Global Sprint Challenge Series it is the second leg of the series preceded by the Lightning Stakes and from 2012 followed by the Dubai Golden Shaheen.
It is also the only JRA Grade 1 turf race not held at one of the 4 major racecourses: (Hanshin, Kyoto, Nakayama, Tokyo).

## Winners since 1996

| Year | Winner | Age | Jockey | Trainer | Owner | Time |
| 1996 | Flower Park | 4 | Seiki Tabara | Shouichi Matsumoto | Katsumi Yoshida | 1:07.4 |
| 1997 | Shinko King | 6 | Yukio Okabe | Kazuo Fujisawa | Osamu Yasuda | 1:08.0 |
| 1998 | Shinko Forest | 5 | Hirofumi Shii | Hironori Kurita | Osamu Yasuda | 1:09.1 |
| 1999 | Masa Lucky | 6 | Shinji Fujita | Yutaka Masumoto | Masataka Marui | 1:08.0 |
| 2000 | King Halo | 5 | Yoshitomi Shibata | Masahiro Sakaguchi | Yoshio Asagawa | 1:08.6 |
| 2001 | Trot Star | 5 | Masayoshi Ebina | Eiji Nakano | Minoru Takano | 1:08.4 |
| 2002 | Shounan Kamp | 4 | Shinji Fujita | Hiroyoshi Okubo | Tetsuo Kunimoto | 1:08.4 |
| 2003 | Believe | 5 | Katsumi Ando | Shigeki Matsumoto | Koji Maeda | 1:08.1 |
| 2004 | Sunnung Dale | 5 | Yuichi Fukunaga | Tsutomu Setoguchi | Shigeki Goto | 1:07.9 |
| 2005 | Admire Max | 6 | Yutaka Take | Mitsuru Hashida | Toshikazu Kondou | 1:08.4 |
| 2006 | Oreha Matteruze | 6 | Yoshitomi Shibata | Hidetaka Otonashi | Yuuichi Odagiri | 1:08.0 |
| 2007 | Suzuka Phoenix | 5 | Yutaka Take | Mitsuru Hashida | Keiji Nagai | 1:08.9 |
| 2008 | Fine Grain | 5 | Hideaki Miyuki | Hiroyuki Nagahama | Shadai Race Horse | 1:08.9 |
| 2009 | Laurel Guerreiro | 5 | Shinji Fujita | Mitsugu Kon | Laurel Racing | 1:08.0 |
| 2010 | Kinshasa no Kiseki | 7 | Hirofumi Shii | Noriyuki Hori | Kazumi Yoshida | 1:08.6 |
| 2011 | Kinshasa no Kiseki* | 8 | Umberto Rispoli | Noriyuki Hori | Kazumi Yoshida | 1:07.9 |
| 2012 | Curren Chan | 5 | Kenichi Ikezoe | Takayuki Yasuda | Takashi Suzuki | 1:10.3 |
| 2013 | Lord Kanaloa | 5 | Yasunari Iwata | Takayuki Yasuda | Lord Horse Club | 1:08.1 |
| 2014 | Copano Richard | 4 | Mirco Demuro | Toru Miya | Sachiaki Kobayashi | 1:12.2 |
| 2015 | Aerovelocity | 7 | Zac Purton | Paul O'Sullivan | Daniel Yeung Ngai | 1:08.5 |
| 2016 | Big Arthur | 5 | Yuichi Fukanaga | Kenichi Fujioka | Akira Nakatsuji | 1:06.7 |
| 2017 | Seiun Kosei | 4 | Hideaki Miyuki | Hiroyuki Uehara | Shigeyuki Nishiyama | 1:08.7 |
| 2018 | Fine Needle | 5 | Yuga Kawada | Yoshitada Takahashi | Godolphin | 1:08.5 |
| 2019 | Mr Melody | 4 | Yuichi Fukunaga | Hideaki Fujiwara | Green Fields Co. Ltd. | 1:07.3 |
| 2020 | Mozu Superflare | 5 | Fuma Matsuwaka | Hidetaka Otonashi | Capital System Co. Ltd. | 1:08.7 |
| 2021 | Danon Smash | 6 | Yuga Kawada | Takayuki Yasuda | Danox Co. Ltd. | 1:09.2 |
| 2022 | Naran Huleg | 6 | Kyosuke Maruta | Yoshitada Munakata | Katsushige Muraki | 1:08.3 |
| 2023 | First Force | 7 | Taisei Danno | Masayuki Nishimura | Koji Yasuhara | 1:11.5 |
| 2024 | Mad Cool | 5 | Ryusei Sakai | Manabu Ikezoe | Sunday Racing Co. Ltd. | 1:08.9 |

## Past winners

* 1971: Shunsakuo
* 1972: Josetsu
* 1973: Takeden Bird
* 1974: Haiseiko
* 1975: Itto
* 1976: Fujino Parthia
* 1977: Tosho Boy
* 1978: Yamanin Goro
* 1979: Nehai Jet
* 1980: Lindo Pleben
* 1981: Hagino Top Lady
* 1982: Kazushige
* 1983: Hagino Kamui O
* 1984: Kyoei Rare
* 1985: Mejiro Mont Cenis
* 1986: Rugby Ball
* 1987: Land Hiryu
* 1988: Oguri Cap
* 1989: Mejiro Ardan
* 1990: Bamboo Memory
* 1991: Daitaku Helios
* 1992: Mr. Spain
* 1993: Longchamp Boy
* 1994: Nice Nature
* 1995: Matikanetannhauser