Satsuki Shō

The Satsuki Shō (皐月賞) is a Grade 1 flat horse race in Japan for three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies run over a distance of 2,000 metres (approximately 1+1⁄4 mile) at the Nakayama Racecourse, Funabashi, Chiba, in April.

Satsuki Shō
Japanese 2,000 Guineas
皐月賞

2021 Satsuki Shō winner Efforia
Class	Grade 1
Location	Nakayama Racecourse, Funabashi, Chiba
Inaugurated	April 29, 1939
Race type	Thoroughbred Flat racing
Race information
Distance	2000 meters
Surface	Turf
Track	Right-handed
Qualification	3-y-o, Colts & Fillies
Weight	57 kg Allowance: Fillies 2 kg
Purse	¥ 432,000,000 (as of 2025) 1st: ¥ 200,000,000 2nd: ¥ 80,000,000 3rd: ¥ 50,000,000
Bonuses	Classic Triple Crown Winner of Satsuki Shō, Tokyo Yūshun, Kikuka Shō[1] ¥ 300,000,000

It was first run in 1939 and is the Japanese equivalent of the English 2,000 Guineas. (Note that the original 2,000 Guineas is currently run at 1,609 metres, or one mile, about two furlongs shorter than the Satsuki Shō.)

Trial races

Trial races provide automatic berths to the winning horses or placed horses as specified.^[2]

Race	Grade	Racecourse	Distance	Condition
Yayoi Sho	II	Nakayama	2,000 meters	Top 3 horses
Wakaba Stakes	Listed	Hanshin	2,000 meters	Top 2 horses
Spring Stakes	II	Nakayama	1,800 meters	Top 3 horses

Winners since 1983

Year	Winner	Jockey	Trainer	Owner	Time
1983	Mr C B	Masato Yoshinaga	Yasuhisa Matsuyama	Marunuma Onsen Hotel	2:08.3
1984	Symboli Rudolf	Yukio Okabe	Yuji Nohira	Symboli Bokujo	2:01.1
1985	Miho Shinzan	Masato Shibata	Tomojiro Tanaka	K.Tsutsumi	2:02.1
1986	Dyna Cosmos	Yukio Okabe	Minetsugu Sawa	Shadai Race Horse	2:02.1
1987	Sakura Star O	Shinji Azuma	Yuji Hirai	Sakura Commerce	2:01.9
1988	Yaeno Muteki	Katsuichi Nishiura	Mitsuo Ogino	Fuji	2:01.3
1989	Doctor Spurt	Hitoshi Matoba	Takashi Tsukazaki	Satoru Matsuoka	2:05.2
1990	Haku Taisei	Katsumi Minai	Tadashi Fuse	Shigeo Watanabe	2:02.2
1991	Tokai Teio	Takayuki Yasuda	Shouichi Matsumoto	Masanori Uchimura	2:01.8
1992	Mihono Bourbon	Sadahiro Kojima	Tameo Toyama	Mihono International	2:01.4
1993	Narita Taishin	Yutaka Take	Masaaki Okubo	Hidenori Yamaji	2:00.2
1994	Narita Brian	Katsumi Minai	Masaaki Okubo	Hidenori Yamaji	1:59.0
1995	Genuine	Yukio Okabe	Yasuhisa Matsuyama	Sunday Racing Co. Ltd.	2:02.5
1996	Ishino Sunday	Hirofumi Shii	Kenji Yamauchi	Ishino Co Ltd	2:00.7
1997	Sunny Brian	Naohiro Onishi	Senji Nakao	Moriyasu Miyazaki	2:02.0
1998	Seiun Sky	Norihiro Yokoyama	Kazutaka Yasuda	Masayuki Nishiyama	2:01.3
1999	T M Opera O	Ryuji Wada	Ichizo Iwamoto	Masatsugu Takezono	2:00.7
2000	Air Shakur	Yutaka Take	Hideyuki Mori	Lucky Field Co Ltd	2:01.8
2001	Agnes Tachyon	Hiroshi Kawachi	Hiroyuki Nagahama	Takao Watanebe	2:00.3
2002	No Reason	Brett Doyle	Yasuo Ikee	Shinji Maeda	1:58.5
2003	Neo Universe	Mirco Demuro	Tsutomu Setoguchi	Shadai Race Horse	2:01.2
2004	Daiwa Major	Mirco Demuro	Hiroyuki Uehara	Daiwa Shoji Co.	1:58.6
2005	Deep Impact	Yutaka Take	Yasuo Ikee	Makoto Kaneko	1:59.2
2006	Meisho Samson	Mamoru Ishibashi	Tsutomu Setoguchi	Yoshio Matsumoto	1:59.9
2007	Victory	Katsuharu Tanaka	Hidetaka Otonashi	Hideko Kondo	1:59.9
2008	Captain Thule	Yuga Kawada	Hideyuki Mori	Shadai Race Horse	2:01.7
2009	Unrivaled	Yasunari Iwata	Yasuo Tomomichi	Sunday Racing Co. Ltd.	1:58:7
2010	Victoire Pisa	Yasunari Iwata	Katsuhiko Sumii	Yoshimi Ichikawa	2:00.8
2011[a]	Orfevre	Kenichi Ikezoe	Yasutoshi Ikee	Sunday Racing Co. Ltd.	2:00.6
2012	Gold Ship	Hirouki Uchida	Naosuke Sugai	Hidekazu Kobayashi	2:01.3
2013	Logotype	Mirco Demuro	Tsuyoshi Tanaka	Teruya Yoshida	1:58.0
2014	Isla Bonita	Masayoshi Ebina	Hironori Kurita	Shadai Race Horse	1:59.6
2015	Duramente	Mirco Demuro	Noriyuki Hori	Sunday Racing Co. Ltd.	1:58.2
2016	Dee Majesty	Masayoshi Ebina	Yoshitaka Ninomiya	Masaru Shimada	1:57.9
2017	Al Ain	Kohei Matsuyama	Yasutoshi Ikee	Sunday Racing Co. Ltd.	1:57.8
2018	Epoca d'Oro	Keita Tosaki	Hideaki Fujiwara	K Hidaka Breeders Union	2:00.8
2019	Saturnalia	Christophe Lemaire	Katsuhiko Sumii	U Carrot Farm	1:58.1
2020	Contrail	Yuichi Fukunaga	Yoshito Yahagi	Shinji Maeda	2:00.7
2021	Efforia	Takeshi Yokoyama	Yuichi Shikato	U.Carrot Farm	2:00.6
2022	Geoglyph	Yuichi Fukunaga	Tetsuya Kimura	Sunday Racing Co. Ltd.	1:59.7
2023	Sol Oriens	Takeshi Yokoyama	Takahisa Tezuka	Shadai Race Horse	2:00.6
2024	Justin Milano	Keita Tosaki	Yasuo Tomomichi	Masahiro Miki	1:57.1[b]
2025	Museum Mile	João Moreira	Daisuke Takayanagi	Sunday Racing Co. Ltd.	1:57.0[c]

1. The 2011 race took place at Tokyo Racecourse due to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami
2. Set the current course & race record
3. Set the current race record

Earlier winners

• 1939 - Rock Park
• 1940 - World Mine
• 1941 - St Lite
• 1942 - Arbeit
• 1943 - Dielec
• 1944 - Kuri Yamato
• 1945 - no race
• 1946 - no race
• 1947 - Tokitsukaze
• 1948 - Hide Hikari
• 1949 - Tosa Midori
• 1950 - Kumono Hana
• 1951 - Tokino Minoru
• 1952 - Kurino Hana
• 1953 - Bostonian
• 1954 - Dainana Hoshu
• 1955 - Kegon
• 1956 - Hekiraku
• 1957 - Kazuyoshi
• 1958 - Taisei Hope
• 1959 - Wildeal
• 1960 - Kodama
• 1961 - Shin Tsubame
• 1962 - Yamano O
• 1963 - Meizui
• 1964 - Shinzan
• 1965 - Chitose O
• 1966 - Nihon Pillow Ace
• 1967 - Ryuzuki
• 1968 - Martis
• 1969 - Wild More
• 1970 - Tanino Moutiers
• 1971 - Hikaru Imai
• 1972 - Land Prince
• 1973 - Haiseiko
• 1974 - Kitano Kachidoki
• 1975 - Kaburaya O
• 1976 - Tosho Boy
• 1977 - Hard Berge
• 1978 - Fantast
• 1979 - Bingo Garoo
• 1980 - Hawaiian Image
• 1981 - Katsu Top Ace
• 1982 - Azuma Hunter

See also

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