Hanshin Juvenile Fillies Grade 1

The Hanshin Juvenile Fillies (G1) is the de facto year-end championship race for two-year-old fillies in Japan, with a rich history dating back to the late 1940s. It has served as a key stepping stone for many future Japanese G1 champions and Horse of the Year winners.

Key Historical Milestones

Origin (1946-1949): Races for two-year-olds in Japan began in 1946 in Tokyo. As participation grew, championship races were established in eastern and western Japan in 1949: the Asahi Hai Sansai Stakes (east) and the Hanshin Sansai Stakes (west).
G1 Status (1984): Both races were officially designated as Grade 1 (G1) events when the grading system was implemented in 1984.
Gender Division and Renaming (1991-2001):
- In 1991, the races were divided by gender: the Hanshin Sansai Himba Stakes for fillies and the Asahi Hai Sansai Stakes for colts and geldings.
- They were later renamed the “Hanshin Juvenile Fillies” and “Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes” in 2001.
Distance Changes: The Hanshin Juvenile Fillies originally started as a 1,200-meter sprint race, was extended to 1,400 meters in 1960, and finally to its current 1,600 meters (one mile) in 1962.
Venue: The race is typically held at the Hanshin Racecourse, a right-handed course. However, due to renovations, the event was temporarily shifted to Kyoto Racecourse in 2024.
International Participation: The race opened its doors to foreign contenders in 2010.

Notable Winners:

Many winners of the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies have gone on to achieve major success in their three-year-old careers, including winning the fillies’ Triple Crown races (Oka Sho, Yushun Himba, and Shuka Sho).

Vodka (2006): Won the Japanese Derby (Tokyo Yushun) the following year, a rare feat for a filly, and was named Horse of the Year in 2008 and 2009.
Buena Vista (2008): Secured two of the fillies’ Classics and later became Horse of the Year in 2010.
Apapane (2009): Achieved the fillies’ Triple Crown after her victory here.
Sodashi (2020): A pure white filly who won this race and then resumed to win the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) in 2021.
Liberty Island (2022): Became the seventh filly in history to sweep all three legs of the Japanese fillies’ Triple Crown races.

Here are the winners from the G1 era (1984 onward):

Year	Winner	Jockey	Trainer	Time	Notes
1984	Daigo Totsugeki	N/A	N/A	N/A
1985	Katsuragi Heiden	N/A	N/A	N/A
1986	Gold City	N/A	N/A	N/A
1987	Soccer Boy	N/A	N/A	N/A
1988	Lucky Guerlain	N/A	N/A	N/A
1989	Kogane Taifu	N/A	N/A	N/A
1990	Ibuki Maikagura	N/A	N/A	N/A
1991	Nishino Flower	Masao Sato	Masahiro Matsuda	1:36.2	Opened to national field
1992	Suehiro Jo O	Hiromasa Tamogi	Takeshi Yoshinaga	1:37.9
1993	Hishi Amazon	Eiji Nakadate	Takayoshi Nakano	1:35.9
1994	Yamanin Paradise	Yutaka Take	Kunikazu Asami	1:34.7
1995	Biwa Heidi	Koichi Tsunoda	Mitsumasa Hamada	1:35.3
1996	Mejiro Dober	Yutaka Yoshida	Yokichi Okubo	1:34.6
1997	Ein Bride	Yoshihiro Furukawa	Toru Miya	1:35.8
1998	Stinger	Norihiro Yokoyama	Kazuo Fujisawa	1:37.0
1999	Yamakatsu Suzuran	Michael Kinane	Kaneo Ikezoe	1:35.6
2000	T M Ocean	Masaru Honda	Katsuichi Nishuira	1:34.6
2001	Tamuro Cherry	Olivier Peslier	Masato Nishizono	1:35.1
2002	Peace of World	Yuichi Fukunaga	Masahiro Sakaguchi	1:34.7
2003	Yamanin Sucre	Hirofumi Shii	Hidekazu Asami	1:35.9
2004	Shonan Peintre	Yutaka Yoshida	Yokichi Okubo	1:35.2
2005	T M Precure	Shigefumi Kumazawa	Tadao Igarashi	1:37.3
2006	Vodka	Hirofumi Shii	Katsuhiko Sumii	1:33.1	Future multiple G1 winner
2007	Tall Poppy	Kenichi Ikezoe	Katsuhiko Sumii	1:33.8
2008	Buena Vista	Katsumi Ando	Hiroyoshi Matsuda	1:35.2	Future Horse of the Year
2009	Apapane	Masayoshi Ebina	Sakae Kunieda	1:34.9	Triple Crown filly
2010	Reve d’Essor	Yuichi Fukunaga	Hiroyoshi Matsuda	1:35.7
2011	Joie de Vivre	Yuichi Fukunaga	Hiroyoshi Matsuda	1:34.9
2012	Robe Tissage	Shinichiro Akiyama	Naosuke Sugai	1:34.2
2013	Red Reveur	Keita Tosaki	Naosuke Sugai	1:33.9
2014	Shonan Adela	Masayoshi Ebina	Yoshitaka Ninomiya	1:34.4
2015	Major Emblem	Christophe Lemaire	Yasuhito Tamura	1:34.5
2016	Soul Stirring	Christophe Lemaire	Kazuo Fujisawa	1:34.0
2017	Lucky Lilac	Shu Ishibashi	Mikio Matsunaga	1:34.3
2018	Danon Fantasy	Cristian Demuro	Mitsumasa Nakauchida	1:34.1
2019	Resistencia	Yuichi Kitamura	Takeshi Matsushita	1:32.7
2020	Sodashi	Hayato Yoshida	Naosuke Sugai	1:33.1	Undefeated white filly
2021	Circle of Life	Mirco Demuro	Sakae Kunieda	1:33.8
2022	Liberty Island	Yuga Kawada	Mitsumasa Nakauchida	1:33.1	Future Triple Crown contender
2023	Ascoli Piceno	Hiroshi Kitamura	Yoichi Kuroiwa	1:32.6	Set race record
2024	Arma Veloce	Mirai Iwata	Hiroyuki Uemura	1:33.4	Held at Kyoto due to Hanshin renovation
2025	Star Anise	Kohei Matsuyama	Tomokazu Takano	1:32.6	Tied race record

Record holders and notes:

Fastest time: 1:32.6 (Ascoli Piceno in 2023 and Star Anise in 2025)
The race has produced numerous champions, including Vodka (2006), Buena Vista (2008), Apapane (2009), and Sodashi (2020). Trainers like Katsuhiko Sumii, Hiroyoshi Matsuda, and Mitsumasa Nakauchida have multiple wins.
Earlier winners (pre-1984, when it was lower graded) include notable horses like Tamino Moutier (1969) and others, but full details are limited.