The Victoria Mile () is a Grade 1 flat horse race in Japan for four-year-old and above thoroughbred fillies and mares. Organized by Japan Racing Association, it is run over a distance of 1,600 metres (approximately 1 mile) on the turf at Tokyo Racecourse in May.
The race's name, "Victoria", comes from the Roman goddess of victory.
History Traditionally, mares, the foundation of racehorse breeding, were thought to be retired early and returned to the breeding industry, and for a long time, there were no races designated as targets for older mares.
Subsequently, in 1996, the conditions for the Queen Elizabeth II Cup were changed, and it became a Grade 1 race for three-year-old and up fillies and mares. Since then, efforts have been made to improve the racing program, including the addition of more graded stakes races for older fillies and mares, and the streamlining of race schedules, resulting in more fillies and mares having long and successful racing careers.
The fact that excellent offspring are now being born from mares that have had long and successful careers has led to a change in thinking within the breeding industry, and there has also been a growing emphasis on the value of mares as racehorses in Europe.
Following this trend, the Victoria Mile was established in 2006 as a spring championship race for four-year-old and up fillies and mares, and designated as Grade 1.
However, there were opposing opinions within the Japan Racing Association regarding the establishment of this race, such as "In order to improve the level of domestically bred racehorses, strong fillies should retire early and become broodmares. If they participate in races, they will get injured."
Since its establishment, the race has been an international competition, allowing foreign horses to participate, and horses belonging to National Association of Racing (NAR) that have achieved the required results in preparatory races are also eligible to participate.
Since 2017, the top three finishers in this race have been granted priority entry into the Prix Jacques Le Marois (Group 1) held in the same year.
Since 2018, the race has partnered with the Prix Jacques Le Marois under the name "Destination France" alongside the Yasuda Kinen.
Since 2020, it has been designated as a Breeders' Cup Challenge race, and the winning horse is granted priority entry into the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (Grade 1) of that year, as well as the privilege of having a portion of the entry fee and transportation costs covered.
Since 2021, the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (Group 1) was also added as a target race of "Destination France", and the top three finishers are granted priority entry.
Trial races Trial races provide automatic berths to the winning horses. RaceGradeRacecourseDistanceConditionHanshin Himba StakesGIIHanshin1,600 metresWinnerFukushima Himba StakesGIIIFukushima1,800 metresWinner
Winners Year Winner Age Jockey Trainer Owner Time 2006 Dance in the Mood 5 Hiroshi Kitamura Kazuo Fujisawa Shadai Race Horse 1:34.0 2007 Koiuta 4 Masami Matsuoka Masashi Okuhira Maekawa Kikaku 1:32.5 2008 Asian Winds 4 Shinji Fujita Hideaki Fujiwara Yoshimi Ota 1:33.7 2009 Vodka 5 Yutaka Take Katsuhiko Sumii Yuzo Tanimizu 1:32.4 2010 Buena Vista 4 Norihiro Yokoyama Hiroyoshi Matsuda Sunday Racing 1:32.4 2011 Apapane 4 Masayoshi Ebina Sakae Kunieda Kaneko Makoto Holdings 1:31.9 2012 Whale Capture 4 Norihiro Yokoyama Kiyotaka Tanaka Ken Shimada 1:32.4 2013 Verxina 4 Hiroyuki Uchida Yasuo Tomomichi Kazuhiro Sasaki 1:32.4 2014 Verxina 5 Hiroyuki Uchida Yasuo Tomomichi Kazuhiro Sasaki 1:32.3 2015 Straight Girl 6 Keita Tosaki Hideaki Fujiwara Toshihiro Hirosaki 1:31.9 2016 Straight Girl 7 Keita Tosaki Hideaki Fujiwara Toshihiro Hirosaki 1:31.5 2017 Admire Lead 4 Christophe Lemaire Naosuke Sugai Riichi Kondo 1:33.9 2018 Jour Polaire 5 Hideaki Miyuki Masato Nishizono G1 Racing 1:32.3 2019 Normcore 4 Damian Lane Kiyoshi Hagiwara Seiichi Iketani 1:30.5 2020 Almond Eye 5 Christophe Lemaire Sakae Kunieda Silk Racing 1:30.6 2021 Gran Alegria 5 Christophe Lemaire Kazuo Fujisawa Sunday Racing 1:31.0 2022 Sodashi 4 Hayato Yoshida Naosuke Sugai Kaneko Makoto Holdings 1:32.2 2023 Songline 5 Keita Tosaki Toru Hayashi Sunday Racing 1:32.22024Ten Happy Rose6Akihide TsumuraDaisuke TakayanagiYasushi Tenpaku1:31.82025Ascoli Piceno4Christophe LemaireYoichi KuroiwaSunday Racing1:32.12026Embroidery4Christophe LemaireKazutomo MoriSilk Racing1:30.9
Speed Record Normcore (2019) = 1:30.5
See also Horse racing in Japan List of Japanese flat horse races
References
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