Venue: Tokyo
Distance: 1600m
Value: ¥283,100,000 (about US$1,827,000)
With Japan’s first colt’s classic, the Satsuki Sho, being over a distance of 2000m, the NHK Mile Cup is the spring season’s championship mile contest for three–year-olds.
The race was once the only Group 1 option for three-year-old colts and fillies bred outside of Japan, but that changed when the classics opened up early this century. It has been used in the past as a stepping-stone to the Tokyo Yushun (Derby) and Yushun Himba (Oaks), but in recent times it has established its position as an alternative option for speedier colts who sidestepped the Satsuki Sho.
Past winners include Seeking The Pearl, El Condor Pasa, King Kamehameha, Deep Sky (the last NHK Mile Cup winner to also win the Tokyo Yushun), Admire Mars and Jantar Mantar.
Cavallerizzo Wants Satsuki Sho Redemption
Cavallerizzo won Japan’s top juvenile race last season, the G1 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes at a mile and was a leading candidate for Satsuki Sho honours when he stepped up to 2000m last time. But the son of Saturnalia faded out to finish 13th after racing prominently. Back to the mile this time, he is looking to reboot his season and regain his mantle as the best of his generation at the distance.
He’s not the only one attempting to reignite his campaign, though. Admire Quads was only 15th in the Satsuki Sho after racing alongside Cavallerizzo for much of the way, and his fade-out also suggested a drop back in distance might be the key to him. Admire Quads won the G2 Daily Hai Nisai Stakes at 1600m last term before running third to Cavallerizzo in the Futurity.
A Step Towards The World
This race has produced some top class runners in its time and some of those have made notable impacts on the world stage. That includes the famous pathfinder Seeking The Pearl who won this race in 1997 and the following year gained immortality as the first Japanese horse to win a Group 1 race on foreign soil.
The following year El Condor Pasa won the NHK Mile and went on to win in France and then was caught close to home to finish second in the 1999 G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Then there was Grand Prix Boss, the horse that first took Yoshito Yahagi to compete overseas, albeit without a win, and Admire Mars went on to win the G1 Hong Kong Mile two years after his NHK Mile Cup victory.
The last two winners, Jantar Mantar and Panja Tower, have continued that trend, though neither has won overseas despite two offshore races apiece. While the winners haven’t triumphed overseas, some beaten NHK Mile Cup runners have won overseas features. Obamburumai was third in the 2023 NHK Mile Cup and at his next start, nearly six months later, won the $10 million Golden Eagle at Rosehill. 2024 runner-up Ascoli Piceno also contested the Golden Eagle and though unplaced there went on to win the G2 1351 Turf Sprint at her next start. Given Japan’s calendar has limited Group 1 options over a mile, and only two open-age, it stands to reason that this year’s NHK Mile Cup is more likely than not to produce another miler with offshore travel plans in their futures.
An Eye On The Trials
As mentioned, the NHK Mile Cup offers a shot at redemption for colts that flopped in the Satsuki Sho, but there is also a lead-up programme for the three-year-old milers, and the key contest is the G2 New Zealand Trophy. Two unexposed colts fought out the finish of that race, with Reservation defeating Rodeo Drive by a neck.
Reservation had won his maiden at the fifth attempt, at Hanshin, in early March and followed up in the New Zealand Trophy as a 43.5 longshot, while Rodeo Drive was two from two going into that race and was the 1.7 favourite.
Seeking The Pearl and El Condor Pasa won both races but the last to complete the double was Curren Black Hill in 2012. Meanwhile, Ask Ikigomi will bid to emulate Danon Scorpion who in 2022 won the NHK Mile Cup after taking out the G3 Churchill Downs Cup (then known as the Arlington Cup).
You have to go back to 2009 and Jo Cappuccino to find a winner of the G3 Falcon Stakes following up with victory in the NHK Mile Cup, but this year’s race is worth paying attention to. Diamond Knot won the Falcon Stakes smartly, building on a good juvenile campaign that brought victory in the G2 Keio Hai Nisai Stakes and second to Cavallerizzo in the Asahi Hai Futurity.
Ghillies’ For The Fillies?
Fillies have won the NHK Mile Cup five times since Seeking The Pearl in 1997 and two years ago Ascoli Piceno was second to the top class colt Jantar Mantar. This time around the filly with the most likely chance is Ghillies’ Ball, a newcomer winner last September who bounced back from a heavy defeat first-up this year to win the G2 Fillies’ Revue with a late, weaving dash. She won that 1400m contest by a length and a half and was fully in command at the line, suggesting there’s more to come.
Jockeys On A Streak
Kohei Matsuyama has won the first two Group 1 races for three-year-olds so far this year, the Oka Sho on Star Anise and the Satsuki Sho on Lovcen. He will try to make it three out of three when he rides the Mainchi Hai runner-up Lorbeerkranz.
Meanwhile, Akihide Tsumura has had a good start to 2026 with 24 wins on the board already, including last weekend’s G2 Keio Hai Spring Cup. The 40-year-old will partner the thrice-raced Hornero, winner of the Listed Crocus Stakes at Tokyo last time. ∎
