Challenge Cup (horse race)

The Challenge Cup (Japanese チャレンジカップ (中央競馬)) is a Grade 3 horse race for Thoroughbreds aged three and over, run in late November or early December over a distance of 2000 metres on turf at Hanshin Racecourse.[1]

Challenge Cup

Grade 3 race
Air Windsor wins the 2018 Challenge Cup
Location	Hanshin Racecourse
Inaugurated	1950
Race type	Thoroughbred Flat racing
Race information
Distance	2000 metres
Surface	Turf
Track	Right-handed
Qualification	3-y-o+
Weight	4-y-o+ 56 kg, 3-y-o 54 kg, fillies allowed 2 kg
Purse	¥87,960,000 (total), ¥41,000,000 (winner)

The Challenge Cup was first run in 1950 and has held Grade 3 status since 1984. The race was run at Kyoto Racecourse in 1966 and 1995 and at Chukyo Racecourse in 1979, 1990, 1991, 1994 and 2006. It was run over 1800 metres from 2012 to 2016.

Winners since 2000

Year	Winner	Age	Jockey	Trainer	Time
2000	Mikki Dance	4	Tetsuzo Sato	Toshiyuki Hattori	1:58.3
2001	Ibuki Government	5	Hiroshi Kawachi	Kojiro Hashiguchi	1:59.4
2002	Tap Dance City	5	Tetsuzo Sato	Shozo Sasaki	1:58.1
2003	Camphor Best	4	Katsumi Ando	Yoshikatsu Sato	1:58.3
2004	Suzuka Mambo	3	Yutaka Take	Mitsuru Hashida	2:01.6
2005	One More Chatter	5	Yuichi Fukunaga	Yasuo Tomomichi	1:59.4
2006	Trillion Cut	6	Ryuji Wada	Hidetaka Otonashi	1:57.4
2007	Inti Raimi	5	Tetsuzo Sato	Shozo Sasaki	2:00.0
2008	Dream Journey	4	Kenichi Ikezoe	Yasutoshi Ikee	1:58.5
2009	Captain Thule	4	Yuga Kawada	Hideyuki Mori	2:00.0
2010	Captain Thule	5	Futoshi Komaki	Hideyuki Mori	1:59.2
2011	Mikki Dream	4	Ryuji Wada	Hidetaka Otonashi	1:59.6
2012	Shoryu Moon	5	Shinichiro Akiyama	Shozo Sasaki	1:46.6
2013	Archimedes	4	Mickael Barzalona	Hideaki Fujiwara	1:46.5
2014	Tosen Stardom	3	Yutaka Take	Yasutoshi Ikee	1:45.9
2015	Fluky	5	Mirco Demuro	Katsuhiko Sumii	1:46.1
2016	Meiner Honey	3	Daichi Shibata	Hironuki Korita	1:46.5[2]
2017	Satono Chronicle	3	Mirco Demuro	Yasutoshi Ikee	1:58.6[3]
2018	Air Windsor	4	Mirco Demuro	Kazuya Nakatake	1:58.3[4]
2019	Lord My Way	3	Christophe Lemaire	Haruki Sugiyama	1:59.1
2020	Lei Papale	3	Yuga Kawada	Tomokazu Takano	1:59.9

Earlier winners

• 1984 - Nihon Pillow Winner
• 1985 - Wakao Raiden
• 1986 - Dokan Yashima
• 1987 - President City
• 1988 - Tanino Suesei
• 1989 - Hatushiba Ace
• 1990 - Foundry Popo
• 1991 - Nuevo Tosho
• 1992 - Let It Be
• 1993 - Wish Dream
• 1994 - Tsurumaru Girl
• 1995 - My Shinzan
• 1996 - Marvelous Sunday
• 1997 - Shin Kaiun
• 1998 - Run For The Dream
• 1999 - Tsurumaru Tsuyoshi

See also

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

References

1. "Challenge Cup". Horse Racing in Japan.
2. "2016 result". Racing Post. 10 December 2016.
3. "2017 result". Racing Post. 2 December 2017.
4. "2018 result". Racing Post. 1 December 2018.