Nikkei Shinshun Hai

Nikkei Shinshun Hai
日経新春杯
2012 Nikkei Shinshun Hai
ClassGrade 2
LocationKyoto Racecourse, Fushimi-ku
InauguratedJanuary 17, 1954
Race typeThoroughbred Flat racing
Race information
Distance2400 metres
SurfaceTurf
TrackRight-handed
Qualification4-y-o+
WeightHandicap
Purse¥ 123,120,000 (as of 2026)
  • 1st: ¥ 57,000,000
  • 2nd: ¥ 23,000,000
  • 3rd: ¥ 14,000,000

The Nikkei Shinshun Hai (日経新春杯) is a Grade 2 (GII) flat horse race in Japan.[1]

Background

The Nikkei Shinshun Hai is a Grade II Thoroughbred handicap race in Japan, open to horses aged four years and older.[2] It is held annually in mid-January at Kyoto Racecourse over a distance of 2,400 meters on turf (outer course).[2] Eligible entrants must have raced at least once, and include JRA-trained horses, up to two certified NAR (local) horses, and foreign-trained horses with priority entry.[2]

As a handicap race, weights are assigned based on each horse’s past performance to ensure competitive balance.[2] The first-place prize in 2026 was ¥57 million.[2] The race is officially titled the “Nikkei Shinshun Hai”, named after its sponsor, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) newspaper, and the winner receives the Nikkei Newspaper Prize.[3] Notably, the winner also earns priority entry into Australia’s Group 1 Caulfield Cup.[4]

History

The Nikkei Shinshun Hai was first run on January 17, 1954, as the “Nihon Keizai Shinshun Hai” (日本経済新春杯) for horses aged five and older 5.[2] It was renamed “Nikkei Shinshun Hai” in 1979.[2] Originally contested over 2,400 meters on turf at Kyoto, the race briefly shifted to Hanshin Racecourse in 1980 and 1994.[2] From 1987 to 1993, the distance was shortened to 2,200 meters.[2] Weight conditions also varied: it began as a handicap, switched to weight-for-age (別定) from 1981 to 1993, then reverted to handicap thereafter.[2] The race was elevated to Grade II status in 1984 with the introduction of JRA’s official grading system.[2] International participation expanded gradually: foreign-bred horses were allowed from 1990, foreign-trained horses from 2006 (initially 4 runners), increasing to 8 in 2007 and 9 in 2015 following Japan’s IFHA Part I status.[4] NAR horses gained eligibility in 2020.[2]

Recent years saw temporary relocations due to infrastructure projects: it was held at Chukyo Racecourse over 2,200m from 2021 to 2023 and again in 2025.[2]

Past winners

Year Winner Age Length (in m) Jockey Trainer Owner Time
1954 Daisan Hoshiu 4 T2400 Michio Ueda Takeshi Ueda Seijiro Ueda 2:34.4
1955 Fujimitsuru 4 T2400 Masaru Kurita Takeshi Ueda Seijiro Ueda 2:30.0
1956 Hiya Kiohgan 5 T2400 Masaru Kurita Fumio Takeda Chube Sakagami 2:33.4
1957 Nanba Ichiban 4 T2400 Makoto Osawa Keiji Tamaya Naoko Hamada 2:30.2
1958 Totsu Plan 4 T2400 Masaru Kurita Fumio Takeda Toyoji Sakaya 2:32.0
1959 Takaharu 4 T2400 Takeo Kondo Katsuyoshi Ito Koho 2:30.2
1960 Fusaryuu 4 T2400 Zenji Matsumoto Fumio Takeda Masayuki Atarashi 2:34.6
1961(dh) Taikan 4 T2400 Masaru Kurita Katsuyoshi Ito Kumazo Hayashi 2:30.5
Kiohgan Hikari Yoshito Matsumoto Fumio Takeda Chube Sakagami
1962 Homare Taikou 4 T2400 Shuji Kitahashi Masao Matsumoto Toshio Ando 2:32.6
1963 Ryuforel 4 T2400 Noriyuki Miyamoto Seisaku Hashimoto Emiko Miyoshi 2:36.9
1964 Korai O 4 T2400 Kunichi Asami Saburo Yoshida Masatsugu Takada 2:35.8
1965 Ohime 4 T2400 Minoru Tashiro Sosuke Ogawa Masao Horiguchi 2:31.7
1966 Power Lassle 4 T2400 Yoshito Matsumoto Tadashi Fuse Chuji Hozumi 2:33.1
1967 Taikurana 5 T2400 Kunihiko Take Heizo Take Yoshio Akiyama 2:29.0
1968 Ryufaros 5 T2400 Noriyuki Miyamoto Seisaku Hashimoto Teizo Miyoshi 2:29.9
1969 Date Horai 4 T2400 Akihiko Uda Izushi Hoshikawa Date Bokujo 2:35.6
1970 Kinsen O 4 T2400 Isami Kohara Shoichi Sakaguchi Josaburo Nakano 2:27.6
1971 Continental 5 T2400 Akira Tsuda Tomihisa Nohira Asahi Bokujo 2:35.1
1972 Keishu 5 T2400 Yoshitaka Matsumoto Kunichi Asami Keiji Yoshi 2:37.0
1973 Yumond 4 T2400 Yoichi Fukunaga Bungo Takeda Masayuki Atarashi 2:33.1
1974 Hoshu Eito 4 T2400 Kunihiko Take Kiyoshi Hirasako Seijiro Ueda 2:29.4
1975 East River 5 T2400 Shuji Kitahashi Masao Matsumoto Katsutoshi Kawato 2:30.7
1976 Long Hawk 4 T2400 Yukiharu Matsuda Yutaro Matsuda Choichi Nakai 2:29.3
1977 Horsemen Hope 4 T2400 Yukiji Ono Minoru Kobayashi Tadashi Nakaji 2:27.7
1978 Zinkeight 4 T2400 Eiji Shimizu Masaru Fukushima Hoyishinobu Hayashi 2:28.6
1979 Suzuka Shimpū 4 T2400 Toshifumi Nakajima Takeshi Ueda Eiichi Nagai 2:28.5
1980 Mejiro Tranzam 4 T2400 Kunihiko Take Kunichi Asami Mejiro Shoji Co. Ltd. 2:27.3
1981 Kensei Good 4 T2400 Katsuichi Nishiura Kenji Tomodashi Kenzo Sugiyasu 2:29.0
1982 Ajishiba O 4 T2400 Ichizo Iwamoto Megumu Niwa Yasuharu Sato 2:29.8
1983 Over Rainbow 6 T2400 Yoshifumi Tanaka Kumimi Tsuchikado Shigezo Torii 2:28.9
1984[a] Erimo Laura 5 D2600 Shigetoshi Saruwatari Keizo Umeuchi Shinichi Yamamoto 2:43.3
1985 Masahiko Boy 6 T2400 Shigeaki Tanahara Takeo Kubo Sadao Miyamoto 2:29.0
1986 Fleet Hope 4 T2400 Shigetoshi Saruwatari Keizo Umeuchi Kiichi Kanemura 2:28.9
1987 Fresh Voice 4 T2200 Shigeaki Tanahara Naoyuki Sakai Kazuo Enjo 2:16.1
1988 Speed Hero 6 T2200 Hiroshi Kawachi Hiroki Sakaki Kosuke Ichikawa 2:15.3
1989 Land Hiryu 7 T2200 Hiroshi Kawachi Minoru Kobayashi Zenichi Kimura 2:14.4
1990 Towa Triple 4 T2200 Hitoshi Mato Takashi Karasaki Kenichi Iyama 2:15.0
1991 Mercy Attra 4 T2200 Hiroshi Kawachi Koji Ono Yasuo Nagai 2:13.6
1992 Kamino Cresse 5 T2200 Katsumi Minai Yoshimi Kudo Masaji Nogami 2:15.2
1993 El Casa River 4 T2200 Yasunari Yamada Ryohei Tanaka Clear Co. Ltd. 2:14.0
1994 Monsieur Chequeur 6 T2500 Shinji Fujita Minoru Kobayashi Keiichi Fujitate 2:35.5
1995 Go Go Zetto 4 T2400 Yoshinori Muramoto Hitoshi Arai Yoshinobu Hayashi 2:24.8
1996 Hagino Real King 6 T2400 Shinji Fujita Minoru Kobayashi Kokuchi Hikuma 2:26.7
1997 Mejiro Lambada 4 T2400 Yutaka Take Yasuo Ikee Mejiro Farm Ltd. 2:27.6
1998 Erimo Dandy 4 T2400 Yutaka Take Masaaki Okubo Shinichi Yamamoto 2:26.3
1999 Mejiro Bright 5 T2400 Hiroshi Kawachi Hidekazu Asami Mejiro Farm Ltd. 2:31.4
2000 Marvelous Timer 6 T2400 Yutaka Take Terumasa Yano Sadao Sasahara 2:24.3
2001 Stay Gold 7 T2400 Shinji Fujita Yasuo Ikee Shadai Race Horse Ltd. 2:25.8
2002 Top Commander 5 T2400 Hirofumi Shii Hiroki Sakiyama Joy Racehorse Co. Ltd. 2:26.4
2003 Bamboo Juventus 4 T2400 Hirofumi Shii Yoshiyasu Tajima Bamboo Farm Ltd. 2:25.8
2004 Silk Famous 5 T2400 Hirofumi Shii Ippo Sameshina Silk Ltd. 2:24.5
2005 Sakura Century 5 T2400 Tetsuzō Satō Shozo Sasaki Sakura Commerce Co. Ltd. 2:29.0
2006 Admire Fuji 4 T2400 Yuichi Fukunaga Mitsuru Hashida Riichi Kondo 2:26.3
2007 Tokai Wild 5 T2400 Katsumi Andō Hitoshi Nakamura Masanori Uchimura 2:27.4
2008 Admire Monarch 7 T2400 Katsumi Andō Hiroyoshi Matsuda Riichi Kondo 2:27.4
2009 T M Precure 6 T2400 Takuma Ogino Tadao Igarashi Masatsugu Takezono 2:26.6
2010 Meisho Beluga 5 T2400 Kenichi Ikezoe Kaneo Ikezoe Yoshio Matsumoto 2:24.4
2011 Rulership 4 T2400 Umberto Rispoli Katsuhiko Sumii Sunday Racing Ltd. 2:24.6
2012 To The Glory 5 T2400 Yuichi Fukunaga Yasutoshi Ikee Carrot Farm Ltd. 2:23.7
2013 Capote Star 4 T2400 Ryō Takakura Yoshito Yahagi Toshiko Bizenjima 2:25.0
2014 Satono Noblesse 4 T2400 Christophe Lemaire Yasutoshi Ikee Hajime Satomi 2:24.4
2015 Admire Deus 4 T2400 Yasunari Iwata Mitsuru Hashida Riichi Kondo 2:24.8
2016 Reve Mistral 4 T2400 Yuga Kawada Hiroyoshi Matsuda Sunday Racing Ltd. 2:25.9
2017 Mikki Rocket 4 T2400 Ryuji Wada Hidetaka Otonashi Mizuki Noda 2:25.7
2018 Perform A Promise 6 T2400 Mirco Demuro Hideaki Fujiwara Sunday Racing Ltd. 2:26.3
2019 Glory Vase 4 T2400 Mirco Demuro Tomohito Ozeki Silk Racing Ltd. 2:26.2
2020 Mozu Bello 4 T2400 Kenichi Ikezoe Naoyuki Morita Capital System Co. Ltd. 2:26.9
2021[b] Shoryu Ikuzo 5 T2200 Taisei Danno Shozo Sasaki Yoshie Ueda 2:11.8
2022[b] Yoho Lake 4 T2200 Yuga Kawada Yasuo Tomomichi Kaneko Masato Holdings Co. Ltd. 2:11.7
2023[b] Weltreisende 6 T2200 David Egan Yasutoshi Ikee Sunday Racing Ltd. 2:14.2
2024 Blow the Horn 5 T2400 Akira Sugawara Eiji Nakano Makio Okada 2:23.7
2025[c] Lord del Rey 5 T2200 Atsuya Nishimura Mitsumasa Nakauchida Road Horse Club Co. Ltd. 2:09.8
2026 Goltzschtal 4 T2400 Ryusei Sakai Haruki Sugiyama Sunday Racing Ltd. 2:25.7

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

Netkeiba

Source:[5][6]

References

  1. ↑ "List of JRA Graded Races 2026｜List of JRA Graded Races｜Horse Racing in Japan". Horse Racing in Japan. Retrieved 2026-01-13.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "日経新春杯". ahonoora.com. Retrieved 2026-01-24.
  3. ↑ "Nikkei Shinshun Hai". Horse Racing in Japan.
  4. 1 2 "歴史・コース：日経新春杯　今週の注目レース　JRA". jra.jp. Retrieved 2026-01-13.
  5. ↑ "日経新春杯". Netkeiba.
  6. ↑ "Nikkei Shinshun Hai". Netkeiba.
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