Kyōto Kinen

Kyōto Kinen
京都記念
Grade 2 race
African Gold winning the Kyoto Kinen in 2022
LocationKyoto Racecourse, Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan
InauguratedMay 17, 1942
Race typeThoroughbred Flat racing
Websitejapanracing.jp/
Race information
Distance2200 meters
SurfaceTurf
TrackRight-handed
Qualification4-y-o & Up, Thoroughbreds
Weight4-y-o 56kg, 5-y-o & up 57kg
filly allowance -2kg
Purse¥ 134,620,000 (as of 2024)
1st: ¥ 62,000,000
2nd: ¥ 25,000,000
3rd: ¥ 16,000,000

The Kyōto Kinen (京都記念, Kyōto Kinen) is a Grade II race in Japan that is open to international horses. It is held mid February at Kyoto Racecourse in Kyoto, Japan.

The race was first run in 1942. It was not run from 1944 to 1947 due to World War II. Initially the race was run over 3,500 metres (about 2 miles or 1.5 furlongs) and the present race is run over 2,200 metres (about 11 furlongs).

Kyōto Kinen has been rated as a Grade II race since 1984 and was opened for foreign trained horses at that time, although foreign horses have never run the race until recently.

It is a popular prep race for Tenno Sho (spring). Takeshiba O, Ten Point, Biwa Hayahide and T M Opera O are horses that won both the Kyōto Kinen and the Tenno Sho. Some horses run this race before going to Dubai. In 2007, Admire Moon won this race and the Dubai Duty Free.

Autumn part

Initially Kyōto Kinen was held twice a year in spring and autumn. The autumn race was abolished 1984 when Japanese domestic race grading was started.

Before the autumn part was abolished, some horses ran both races and five horses won both. Notably, Final Score (1954) and Sky Leader (1974) won both races in the same year.

Results and records

Most wins by a horse

Most wins by a jockey

Most wins by a trainer

  • 5 – Hiroyoshi Matsuda (2001, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010)

Most wins by an owner

  • 2 – Riichi Kondō (2007, 2008)
  • 2 – Katsumi Yoshida (2002, 2007)
  • 2 – Hajime Satomi (2016, 2017)

Record winning time

List of recent winners

Year
 Winner
 Age
 Jockey
 Trainer
 Owner
 Time
2000 T M Opera O 4 Ryuji Wada Ichizō Iwamoto Masatsugu Takezono 2:13.8
2001 Maquereau 4 Yasuhiko Yasuda Hiroyoshi Matsuda Katsumi Yoshida 2:12.3
2002 Narita Top Road 6 Kunihiko Watanabe Yoshio Oki Hidenori Yamaji 2:11.8
2003 My Sole Sound 4 Masaru Honda Katsuichi Nishiura Kiyoshi Sano 2:16.5
2004 Silk Famous 5 Hirofumi Shii Ippo Sameshima Silk Co. Ltd. 2:12.8
2005 Narita Century 6 Hirokazu Tajima Norio Fujisawa Hidenori Yamaji 2:15.7
2006 Six Sense 4 Yutaka Take Hiroyuki Nagahama Shadai Race Horse 2:13.5
2007 Admire Moon 4 Yutaka Take Hiroyoshi Matsuda Riichi Kondō & Katsumi Yoshida 2:17.2
2008 Admire Aura 4 Katsumi Andō Hiroyoshi Matsuda Riichi Kondō 2:13.6
2009 Asakusa Kings 5 Hirofumi Shii Ryūji Ōkubo Keiko Tahara 2:14.6
2010 Buena Vista 4 Norihiro Yokoyama Hiroyoshi Matsuda Sunday Racing Co. Ltd. 2:14.4
2011 To the Glory 4 Umberto Rispoli Yasuo Ikee Carrot Farm 2:13.9
2012 Trailblazer 5 Yutaka Take Yasuo Ikee Yoko Maeda 2:12.4
2013 Tosen Ra 5 Yutaka Take Hideaki Fujiwara Takaya Shimakawa 2:12.5
2014 Desperado 6 Norihiro Yokoyama Akio Adachi Hiroyuki Tanaka 2:16.0
2015 Lovely Day 5 Keita Tosaki Yasutoshi Ikee Makoto Kaneko 2:11.5
2016 Satono Crown 4 Mirco Demuro Noriyuki Hori Hajime Satomi 2:17.7
2017 Satono Crown 5 Mirco Demuro Noriyuki Hori Hajime Satomi 2:14.1
2018 Clincher 4 Yusuke Fujioka Hiroshi Miyamoto Koji Maeda 2:16.3
2019 Danburite 5 Fuma Matsuwaka Hidetaka Otonashi Sunday Racing 2:14.8
2020 Chrono Genesis 4 Yuichi Kitamura Takashi Saito Sunday Racing 2:16.4
2021 Loves Only You[a] 5 Yuga Kawada Yoshito Yahagi DMM Dream Club 2:10.4
2022 African Gold[a] 7 Kyosuke Kokubun Masato Nishizono Godolphin 2:11.9
2023 Do Deuce[a] 4 Yutaka Take Yasuo Tomomichi Kieffers Co. Ltd. 2:10.9
2024 Pradaria 5 Kenichi Ikezoe Manabu Ikezoe Nagoya Yuho Co. Ltd. 2:12.1

a The 2021, 2022 and 2023 runnings took place at Hanshin while Kyoto was closed for renovation.

See also

References

  1. ^ "京都記念". Netkeiba.
  2. ^ "Kyoto Kinen". Netkeiba.


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