FROM: Media & Publicity Department, THE JAPAN RACING ASSOCIATION (JRA)DATE: December 23, 2023

SUBJECT: RESULTS OF THE 146TH NAKAYAMA DAISHOGAI (J-G1)
The history of the Nakayama Daishogai dates back to 1934 when the biggest jump race in Japan wasestablished in the aim of providing equal excitement to the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), which was
the most popular race in flat racing. The highest level of steeplechase racing was originally held as abiannual event held in April and December until the spring version was renamed the Nakayama Grand
Jump (J-G1, 4,250m) in 1999. The two jump races continue to be the only two J-G1-level obstacle racesof equal standard with their results serving as decisive factors in the selection of the seasonal JRA Award
for Best Steeplechase Horse. In addition to the Nakayama Grand Jump, which was designated aninternational race in 2000, the Nakayama Daishogai became an international steeplechase event open toforeign contenders in 2011.
The Nakayama Daishogai features 11 jumps over the figure-of-eight-shaped course which includes six
up-and-downs over the banks. The first half resembles that of the Nakayama Grand Jump while the
Nakayama Daishogai does not include the movable hurdles along the outside turf track and the total
distance is 150 meters shorter. The uphill stretch before the wire also is quite a test for many of therunners especially after running at a solid pace throughout the race.
Defending champion Nishino Daisy began his autumn campaign with an 11th in the Tokyo High-Jump(J-G2, 3,110m, Oct.15) held on yielding going, in which Meiner Grand extended his winning streak tothree by marking his first graded title, and was followed by the Tokyo Jump Stakes (J-G3, 3,110m,
Jun.24) and the Hanshin Jump Stakes (J-G3, 3,140m, Sep.16) victor June Velocity in fourth. Ecoro Duelwon his first jump graded title in the Kyoto Jump Stakes (J-G3, 3,170m, Nov.11) where Daishin Clover,winner of the Kyoto High-Jump (J-G2, 3,930m, May.13), and Meiner Leone, last year’s third-placefinisher, finished fourth and sixth, respectively. The field also included Village Eagle, back-to-backwinner of the Pegasus Jump Stakes (Open Class, 3,350m).
THE 146TH NAKAYAMA DAISHOGAI (J-G1)3-year-olds & up, 4,100 meters (about 2.56 miles), turf
Saturday, December 23, 2023
Nakayama Racecourse
10th Race
Post time: 15:05
Total prize money: ¥ 142,660,000 (about US$ 1,089,008 <US$1=¥131>)3-y-o: 61kg (about 134-135 lbs), 4-y-o & up: 63kg (about 139 lbs), 2kg allowance for Fillies & Mares
Course Record: 4:36.1
Race Record: 4:36.1 [Oju Chosan (JPN, by Stay Gold), 2017]
Safety factor: 16 runners
Going: Good to Firm
Weather: Fine
FP

BK

PP

Horse
Jockey

S&A
Color
Wgt

Odds
(Fav)

H5
br.
63.0

1

3

3

Meiner Grand (JPN)
Shinichi Ishigami

2

7

9

Nishino Daisy (JPN)
Yusuke Igarashi

3

1

1

Ecoro Duel (JPN)
Taro Kusano

4

2

2

Village Eagle (JPN)Kei Oehara

5

4

4

June Velocity (JPN)
Makoto Nishitani

6

5

5

Daishin Clover (JPN)
Jun Takada

H7
b.
63.0
C4
br.
63.0
H6
d.b.
63.0
H5
br.
63.0
G7
d.b.
63.0

MarginSire
Dam(Dam’s Sire)

2.0
(1)

4:37.9Gold Ship
Meine Nouvelle(Brian's Time)

6.6
(3)

10

9.6
(4)

6

13.9
(6)

5

4.1
(2)

3

12.5
(5)

2-1/2

Harbinger
Nishino Hinagiku(Agnes Tachyon)
Kitasan Black
Clarinet(Giant's Causeway)
BehkabadTokino Nastia(New England)
Lord Kanaloa
Admire Sabrina(Symboli Kris S)
Kinshasa no Kiseki
Hishi Diva
(Fusaichi Pegasus)

Owner
BreederTrainer

Thoroughbred Club
Ruffian Co., Ltd.
Big Red Farm
Takafumi Aoki
Shigeyuki Nishiyama
Nishiyama Stud
Noboru Takagi
Masatoshi Haramura
Shimokobe Farm
Takaki Iwato
Teruo Murayama
Kawashima Bokujo
Masahiro Takeuchi
Jun Yoshikawa
Yoshikawa Holdings
Hidenori Take
Nobuyuki Oyagi
Kamii StudTakayuki Yasuda

H11
d.b.
63.0

19.2
(7)

2-1/2

Stay Gold
Wembley(Soccer Boy)
KizunaVelvet Queen(Singspiel)

7

8

11

Meiner Leone (JPN)
Kenji Hirasawa

8

6

7

Neviim (JPN)
Kayata Komaki

H5
d.b.
63.0

27.1
(8)

1-1/2

9

5

6
B

Giga Bakken (JPN)
Sho Ueno

G8
b.
63.0

188.9
(12)

6

10

6

8

Yep Yep Yep (JPN)
Yusuke Eda

131.3
(9)

4

11

8

12
B

Heart's Symphony (JPN)
Yasunori Minoshima

167.5
(11)

3-1/2

12

7

10

Meiner Wasser (JPN)
Yuta Onodera

142.9
(10)

3-1/2

H7
ch.
63.0
G6
br.
63.0
H10
b.
63.0

I'll Have Another
Windy Hill
(Manhattan Cafe)
King Kamehameha
Mejiro Marian(Mejiro Bailey)
Heart's Cry
Clarinet(Giant's Causeway)
Stay Gold
Cosmo Splash(Mejiro Bright)

Thoroughbred Club
Ruffian Co., Ltd.
Takashi Watanabe
Hisashi Shimizu
Koki Maeda
Hidenori Kimura
Shozo Sasaki
Normandy Thoroughbred
Racing Co., Ltd.
Okada Stud
Takaki Iwato
Hiroyuki Sonobe
Lake Villa Farm
Yoshitada Munakata
DMM Dream Club Co., Ltd.
Shimokobe Farm
Tetsuhide Tsuji
Thoroughbred Club
Ruffian Co., Ltd.
Big Red Farm
Minoru Tsuchida

FP: Final Position / BK: Bracket Number / PP: Post Position / B: Blinker / S&A: Sex & Age / Wgt: Weight (kg) / DS=Distance / FF=Fail to Finish
Color: b.=bay / bl.=black / br.=brown / ch.=chestnut / d.b.=dark bay / d.ch.=dark chestnut / g.=gray / w.=white
NOTE 1: No Foreign Contenders
NOTE 2: Figures quoted under Odds are shown in form of decimal odds (single unit is ¥100), and Fav indicates the order of favorites.

Turnover for the Race alone: ¥ 2,005,062,300

Turnover for the Day: ¥ 12,109,458,700

Attendance: 26,569

Pay-off (for ¥100)
Win
Place

No.3

¥ 200

No.3

¥ 120

No.9

¥ 200

No.1

¥ 230

Bracket Quinella
Quinella Place

3-7

¥ 790

Quinella

3-9

¥ 780

3-9

¥ 370

Exacta3-9¥ 1,090

1-3

¥ 390

Trio

1-3-9

¥ 2,160

1-9

¥ 970

Trifecta

3-9-1¥ 5,590

Winner= 21 starts: 5 wins, 6 seconds & 2 thirds (10 starts: 5 wins, 2 seconds & 1 third *steeplechases only)
Added & stakes money: ¥ 66,427,000 / Career earnings: ¥ 168,071,000 (¥ 157,231,000 *steeplechases only)

Race favorite Meiner Grand Dominates Nakayama Daishogai
Heavily favored Meiner Grand claimed this year’s Nakayama Daishogai by an emphatic ten-length
margin, stretching his winning streak to four. The son of Gold Ship was winless in all 11 flat-race starts
from his debut in September as a two-year-old and was then switched to steeplechase races in Decemberof his three-year-old campaign. His first win came in his third steeplechase start, his second win wasnotched in March this year and, after adding another win the following month, Meiner Grand, who wassent off eighth pick, claimed his first graded victory in the Tokyo High-Jump (J-G2, 3,110m) on October
15. The five-year-old gave his trainer Takafumi Aoki his second grade-race title, his first J-G1, whilejockey Shinichi Ishigami pocketed his 11th J-G1 trophy and fifth Nakayama Daishogai title—2016, 2017and 2021 with Oju Chosan, and 2018 with Nihonpiro Baron.
The field of 12 broke with June Velocity taking a brief lead soon to be overtaken by Village Eagle by thesecond fence (water jump, no.1) while Meiner Grand saved ground in mid-pack. As Village Eagle andNishino Daisy rallied for the lead five to six lengths up front, the son of Gold Ship advanced to third on
the rails after the fifth fence (grand brush fence, no.6), made headway in the backstretch to catch Village
Eagle at the 10th obstacle (no.4), and easily pinned the leader Nishino Daisy before the last dip. Showing
no signs of fatigue, Meiner Grand entered the straight three to four lengths up front and easily stretched
his lead to notch a ten-length victory.

“I had a lot of confidence in my horse—he proved his true strength today. Making bid in the backstretch
might have been a bit early but the horse was so eager to go, he even had a lot left in him in the stretch.
He is still a five-year-old and has so much potential—I hope his incredible stamina and explosive power
he takes after his sire keeps him in the spotlight next year,” commented jockey Shinichi Ishigami after therace.
Third pick Nishino Daisy took a wide trip from a mid-pack position to come out of the first dip a few
lengths from the pace in second, advanced to rally with Village Eagle while clearing the sixth obstacle(no.5) and took command before the seventh jump (grand hedge, no.7). Soon after the tenth obstacle(no.4), the defending champion was caught by the eventual winner and although unable to threaten fromthere, showed tenacity to draw away for second.
Fourth choice Ecoro Duel settled in around fifth early, briefly dropped position to seventh but steadily
advanced to fourth by the tenth obstacle (no.4) and overtook the tiring Village Eagle in the final furlong
but had too much ground to make up and finished 16 lengths from the winner and six lengths from therunner-up in third.
Other Horses:
4th: (2) Village Eagle—broke poorly, took command before 2nd jump (no.1), joined by eventual winner
at 5th jump (no.6) and surrendered lead, passed by winner at 10th jump (no.4), failed to secure 3rd placein last 200m
5th: (4) June Velocity—led early, eased back to 3rd, overtaken by winner after 5th jump (no.6) then by
third-place finisher before 10th jump (no.4)
6th: (5) Daishin Clover—traveled around 8th, passed rivals after 9th jump (no.3), failed to keep up withfrontrunners
7th: (11) Meiner Leone—sat in 10-11th, gradually improved position while never threaten
8th: (7) Neviim—ran around 8th, unable to reach contention
9th: (6) Giga Bakken—positioned around 7th, weakened after 10th jump (no.4)
10th: (8) Yep Yep Yep—raced in 10th, showed little
11th: (12) Heart’s Symphony—trailed in rear throughout trip, no factor
12th: (10) Meiner Wasser—traveled around 9th, advanced to 6th after 6th jump (no.5), faded at stretch
Fractional time:

Last 1 mile: 1:48.0

Positions at each corner (2nd lap): 1st corner
2nd corner
3rd corner
4th corner

Last 4 furlongs: 53.1

Last 3 furlongs: 39.8

9-2-3=4-1-10-6-5-7,8,11-12
9-2-3=4,1=10-6,5-7-11,8-12
3-(9,2)=1=4-(5,10)=(6,7)11,8=12
3=9-2=1=4-5=10-11,7-8,6=12

NOTE 1: Underlined bold number indicates the winning horse.
NOTE 2: Horse numbers are indicated in the order of their positions at each corner, with the first position listed first. Two or more horses inside
the same parentheses indicate that they were positioned side by side. Hyphens between the horse numbers indicate that there isdistance between the former and the latter. The asterisk indicates a slight lead.