Nikkei Shinshun Hai

The Nikkei Shinshun Hai (Japanese 日経新春杯) is a Grade 2 flat horse race in Japan for Thoroughbreds of at least four years of age. It is a handicap race run over a distance of 2,400 metres at Kyoto Racecourse in January.^[1]

Nikkei Shinshun Hai
日経新春杯

2012 Nikkei Shinshun Hai
Class	Grade 2
Location	Kyoto Racecourse, Fushimi-ku, Kyoto
Race type	Thoroughbred Flat racing
Race information
Distance	2400 metres
Surface	Turf
Track	Right-handed
Qualification	4-y-o+
Weight	Handicap
Purse	¥ 123,120,000 (as of 2025) 1st: ¥ 57,000,000 2nd: ¥ 23,000,000 3rd: ¥ 14,000,000

The Nikkei Shinshun Hai was first run in 1954 and was elevated to Grade 2 status in 1984. The race was run over 2200 metres at Chukyo Racecourse in 2021.

Among the winners of the race have been Stay Gold, Glory Vase, Rulership, Mejiro Bright and Mikki Rocket.

Winners since 1984

Year	Winner	Age	Jockey	Trainer	Owner	Time
1984	Erimo Roller[a]	5	Shigetoshi Saruhashi	Ishimatsu Okubo	Shinichi Yamamoto	2:43.3
1985	Masahiko Boy	6	Seiki Tabara	Michio Kubo	Sadao Miyamoto	2:29.0
1986	Fleet Hope	4	Shigetoshi Saruhashi	Keizo Umeuchi	Kiichi Kanemura	2:28.9
1987	Fresh Voice	4	Seiki Tabara	Naoyuki Sakai	Kazuo Enjo	2:16.1
1988	Speed Hero	6	Hiroshi Kawachi	Hiroki Sakiyama	Kosuke Ichikawa	2:15.3
1989	Land Hiryu	7	Hiroshi Kawachi	Minoru Kobayashi	Zenichi Kimura	2:14.4
1990	Towa Triple	4	Hitoshi Matoba	Takashi Tsukazaki	Kenichi Iyama	2:15.0
1991	Merci Atla	4	Hiroshi Kawachi	Yukiharu Ono	Yasuo Nagai	2:13.6
1992	Kamino Cresse	5	Katsumi Minai	Ryōhei Tanaka	Masaji Nogami	2:15.2
1993	El Casa River	4	Taisei Yamada	Ryohei Tanaka	Crear	2:14.0
1994	Monsieur Siecle	6	Shinji Fujita	Minoru Kobayashi	Keiichi Fujitate	2:35.5
1995	Go Go Z	4	Yoshiyuki Muramoto	Hitoshi Arai	Yoshinobu Hayashi	2:24.8
1996	Hagino Real King	6	Shinji Fujita	Minoru Kobayashi	Kokuchi Hikuma	2:26.7
1997	Mejiro Lambada	4	Yutaka Take	Yasuo Ikee	Mejiro Farm	2:27.6
1998	Erimo Dandy	4	Yutaka Take	Masaaki Okubo	Shinichi Yamamoto	2:26.3
1999	Mejiro Bright	5	Hiroshi Kawachi	Hidekazu Asami	Mejiro Farm	2:31.4
2000	Marvelous Timer	6	Yutaka Take	Terumasa Yano	Sadao Sasahara	2:24.3
2001	Stay Gold	7	Shinji Fujita	Yasuo Ikee	Shadai Race Horse	2:25.8
2002	Top Commander	5	Hirofumi Shii	Hiroki Sakiyama	Lion Race Horse	2:26.4
2003	Bamboo Juventus	4	Hirofumi Shii	Yoshiyasu Tajima	Bamboo Farm	2:25.8
2004	Silk Famous	5	Hirofumi Shii	Ippo Sameshina	Silk	2:24.5
2005	Sakura Century	5	Tetsuzō Satō	Shozo Sasaki	Sakura Commerce	2:29.0
2006	Admire Fuji	4	Yuichi Fukunaga	Mitsuru Hashida	Riichi Kondo	2:26.3
2007	Tokai Wild	5	Katsumi Andō	Hitoshi Nakamura	Masanori Uchimura	2:27.4
2008	Admire Monarch	7	Katsumi Andō	Hiroyoshi Matsuda	Riichi Kondo	2:27.4
2009	T M Precure	6	Takuma Ogino	Tadao Igarashi	Masatsugu Takezono	2:26.6
2010	Meisho Beluga	5	Kenichi Ikezoe	Kaneo Ikezoe	Yoshio Matsumoto	2:24.4
2011	Rulership	4	Umberto Rispoli	Katsuhiko Sumii	Sunday Racing	2:24.6
2012	To The Glory	5	Yuichi Fukunaga	Yasutoshi Ikee	Carrot Farm	2:23.7
2013	Capote Star	4	Ryō Takakura	Yoshito Yahagi	Toshiko Bizenjima	2:25.0
2014	Satono Noblesse	4	Christophe Lemaire	Yasutoshi Ikee	Hajime Satomi	2:24.4
2015	Admire Deus	4	Yasunari Iwata	Mitsuru Hashida	Riichi Kondo	2:24.8
2016	Reve Mistral	4	Yuga Kawada	Hiroyoshi Matsuda	Sunday Racing	2:25.9
2017	Mikki Rocket	4	Ryuji Wada	Hidetaka Otonashi	Mizuki Noda	2:25.7[2]
2018	Perform A Promise	6	Mirco Demuro	Hideaki Fujiwara	Sunday Racing	2:26.3[3]
2019	Glory Vase	4	Mirco Demuro	Tomohito Ozeki	Silk Racing	2:26.2[4]
2020	Mozu Bello	4	Kenichi Ikezoe	Naoyuki Morita	Capital System	2:26.9
2021	Shoryu Ikuzo[b]	5	Taisei Danno	Shozo Sasaki	Yoshie Ueda	2:11.8
2022	Yoho Lake[b]	4	Yuga Kawada	Yasuo Tomomichi	Kaneko Makoto Holdings	2:11.7
2023	Weltreisende[b]	6	David Egan	Yasutoshi Ikee	Sunday Racing	2:14.2
2024	Blow the Horn	5	Akira Sugawara	Eiji Nakano	Makio Okada	2:23.7
2025	Lord del Rey[c]	5	Atsuya Nishimura	Mitsumasa Nakauchida	Lord Horse Club	2:09.8

^a The 1984 running was run on Dirt at the distance of 2,600m
^b The 2021, 2022 and 2023 runnings took place at Chukyo while Kyoto was closed for redevelopment.
^c The 2025 running took place at Chukyo while Hanshin was closed for redevelopment.

See also

• Horse racing in Japan
• List of Japanese flat horse races