Mile Championship Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends

Explore the upcoming Mile Championship at Kyoto, delving into historical winners, standout trainers, and top jockeys. Discover trends that have shaped this prestigious race, providing insights into what makes a champion in this thrilling event.
Mile Championship Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends
Andy Powell
Andy Powell Content Editor

Horse Racing stats man, Andy has contributed to OLBG for 18 years - An Ipswich fan and F1 fanatic, he also contributes EFL football and Motor Sport opinion.

2025 Mile Championship Preview

Scheduled to take place in November of each year at the Kyoto racecourse is the Mile Championship, a G1 race that is contested over a mile on the turf and is open to runners aged three or older.

The race is considered a prep race for the Hong Kong Mile which is run the following month, this race attracts some top European jockeys with the British flat season being over, Ryan Moore, William Buick and Christophe Lemaire have all won this race in recent years.

Mile Championship Information:

You may also be interested in other preview blogs that we have packed full of information, head down to the Other Principal Races in Japan section for links to these.

How competitive is the Mile Championship market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2005 when the race had an over-round of 122%. The race in 2020 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 128%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the Mile Championship, the over-round has been 126%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £126 which is bet.

Mile Championship Trends:

Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? From the past 20 if you had followed the winner of the Mile Championship next time out then you would have backed a total of 2 winners. Backing all 16 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -5.00.

The runner that holds the record over the past 20 renewals for the slowest time in the race was set in the 2011 renewal when Eishin Apollon from Masahiro Matsunaga under the guidance of Kenichi Ikezoe, won in a time of 1:33.90, whilst at the other end of the spectrum, Danon Shark, trained by Ryuji Okubo and ridden by Yasunari Iwata set the quickest time of 1:31.50 in the 2014 renewal.

These are the top three quickest-run Mile Championship over the last 20 renewals:

  1. Danon Shark (1:31.50) in 2014
  2. A Shin Forward (1:31.80) in 2010
  3. Gran Alegria (1:32.00) in 2020
What the expert says...
The Fuji Stakes has been a good prep race in recent years, the last three winners of this race all came from that race, both Serifos (2022) and Namur (2023) doing the double whilst Soul Rush was 2nd in that race before winning this one.

Andy Powell - Horse Racing Betting Expert - OLBG.com

Mile Championship Past Winners

Here are the Mile Championship past winners for the last 10 renewals. Each row details the year of the race, the horse which won along with the age & weight of the horse. Also detailed is the stall where the horse came from and the total number of runners in the race. The horse's trainer and the jockey at the time of winning the Mile Championship are also displayed, along with the starting price at which the horse was sent off.

YearHorse (Drawn)Info
2024
1:32.00
Soul Rush (JPN)
6yo 9-2 (13 of 17) 43/10
Taisei Danno
Yasutoshi Ikee (JPN)
2023
1:32.50
Namur (JPN)
4yo 8-11 (16 of 16) 163/10
Kota Fujioka
Tomokazu Takano (JPN)
2022
1:32.50
Serifos (JPN)
3yo 8-11 (10 of 17) 41/5
Damian Lane
Mitsumasa Nakauchida (JPN)
2021
1:32.60
Gran Alegria (JPN)
5yo 8-9 (12 of 16) 7/10F
Christophe-Patrice Lemaire
Kazuo Fujisawa (JPN)
2020
1:32.00
Gran Alegria (JPN)
4yo 8-9 (4 of 17) 3/5F
Christophe-Patrice Lemaire
Kazuo Fujisawa (JPN)
2019
1:33.00
Indy Champ (JPN)
4yo 9-0 (5 of 17) 54/10
Kenichi Ikezoe
Hidetaka Otonashi (JPN)
2018
1:33.30
Stelvio (JPN)
3yo 8-11 (1 of 18) 77/10
William Buick
Tetsuya Kimura (JPN)
2017
1:33.80
Persian Knight (JPN)
3yo 8-11 (18 of 18) 78/10
Mirco Demuro
Yasutoshi Ikee (JPN)
2016
1:33.10
Mikki Isle (JPN)
5yo 9-0 (16 of 18) 49/10
Suguru Hamanaka
Hidetaka Otonashi (JPN)
2015
1:32.80
Maurice (JPN)
4yo 9-0 (16 of 18) 47/10
Ryan Moore
Noriyuki Hori (JPN)

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the Mile Championship have been based:

  • JPN: 20 winners with an additional 38 placings from 341 runners
  • FR: 0 winners with an additional 2 placings from 4 runners
  • GB: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 3 runners
  • CAN: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 1 runner
  • USA: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 1 runner

Mile Championship Trainer Statistics

The leading trainer in the Mile Championship over the last 20 renewals is Hidetaka Otonashi who has won the race three times with those three winners coming from Company (2009), Mikki Isle (2016) and Indy Champ (2019). Other trainers who have recorded multiple wins in the Mile Championship are Yasutoshi Ikee (2 wins), Masato Nishizono (2 wins), Kazuo Fujisawa (2 wins) and Hiroyuki Uehara (2 wins). There is one trainer who has not had the best of times in the Mile Championship, Yoshito Yahagi has sent a total of 15 runners to the race without recording any wins.

Here are some of the top Mile Championship trainer statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

TrainerR-W-PWinEW
Hidetaka Otonashi17-3-5-4.70-8.35
Yasutoshi Ikee16-2-6-1.90-5.95
Masato Nishizono11-2-2-0.50-4.75
Kazuo Fujisawa7-2-3-3.70-3.85
Hiroyuki Uehara3-2-3-0.70-0.35
Noriyuki Hori16-1-2-10.30-12.15
Hideaki Fujiwara11-1-3-6.30-7.15
Tomokazu Takano7-1-1+10.30+2.15
Ryuji Okubo6-1-2+12.10+4.05
Mitsumasa Nakauchida5-1-2+4.20+0.60

Mile Championship Jockey Statistics

There are multiple leading jockeys in the Mile Championship over the last 20 renewals with Christophe-Patrice Lemaire, Yutaka Take, Yasunari Iwata, Kenichi Ikezoe and Katsumi Ando having all won the race two times. Christophe-Patrice Lemaire winners have been with Gran Alegria (2020 & 2021). Yutaka Take winners have been with Sadamu Patek (2012) and Tosen Ra (2013). Yasunari Iwata winners have been with A Shin Forward (2010) and Danon Shark (2014). Kenichi Ikezoe winners have been with Eishin Apollon (2011) and Indy Champ (2019). Katsumi Ando winners have been with Daiwa Major (2006 & 2007). Multiple jockeys have not had the best of times over the last 20 renewals in the Mile Championship, Yuga Kawada (0-18), Yuichi Fukunaga (0-16), Ryuji Wada (0-12) and Hideaki Miyuki (0-10) have all failed to produce a single winner despite sending multiple rides to the race.

Here are some of the top Mile Championship jockey statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

JockeyR-W-PWinEW
Christophe-Patrice Lemaire20-2-5-16.70-15.85
Yutaka Take18-2-4-2.80-8.40
Yasunari Iwata15-2-2+3.10-4.95
Kenichi Ikezoe12-2-2+4.20-2.90
Katsumi Ando4-2-2-1.70-1.85
Ryan Moore12-1-3-6.30-7.65
Norihiro Yokoyama12-1-2-12.00-11.00
Mirco Demuro10-1-3-1.20-4.10
Kota Fujioka7-1-1+10.30+2.15
Suguru Hamanaka7-1-1-1.10-3.55

Mile Championship Trend Analysis

❌ The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners had a highest class placed of Class 1 (G2), when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-76.

Here are the most recent winning draws along with the further placings in brackets:

  • 2024: Winner in 13 (17,14) [17 Runners]
  • 2023: Winner in 16 (1,5) [16 Runners]
  • 2022: Winner in 10 (3,6) [17 Runners]
  • 2021: Winner in 12 (3,13) [16 Runners]
  • 2020: Winner in 4 (8,7) [17 Runners]

The course which has produced the most winners of the Mile Championship is Tokyo, there has been a total number of 16 winners of this race who ran at Tokyo last time out.

The race is open to both sexes with the Male runners having produced a total of 16 winners from a total of 291 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 4 winners from a total of 59 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, these are the stallions whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Mile Championship:

  • Deep Impact (5 Wins)
  • Sunday Silence (3 Wins)
  • Harbinger (2 Wins)

These are the stallions whose offspring have not produced a winner of the Mile Championship despite multiple attempts:

  • King Kamehameha (0 Wins from 16 runners)
  • Dance In The Dark (0 Wins from 11 runners)
  • Hearts Cry (0 Wins from 10 runners)
  • Agnes Tachyon (0 Wins from 9 runners)
  • Manhattan Cafe (0 Wins from 7 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was A Shin Forward in 2010, winning for Masato Nishizono at odds of 514/10 under the guidance of Yasunari Iwata. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals there have been 5 winning favourites in the race. All figures and trends above, such as the horse's previous runs are based on the information that is available on the racing post.

Article Contributor Information

We are blessed with an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to creating and maintaining this Mile Championship Preview are at hand, Andy and James. They both work on the Horse racing tips team team looking after the tipsters and managing the tips settlement, whilst also creating and managing all of the horse racing event previews for International racing.

James Banting

James Banting

Tipster Competition Assistant

James Banting, a passionate horse racing enthusiast and aficionado, brings a wealth of experience to OLBG, having attended numerous race meetings over the years. His background working with the Jockey Club provides him with a unique insider's perspective on the industry.
Andy Powell

Andy Powell

Content Editor

Andy, a seasoned horse racing analyst with over 15 years of experience, delves into the intricacies of international horse racing, meticulously analyzing complex statistical data to uncover hidden trends. He spearheads the creation and management of OLBG's international horse racing trend blogs, providing valuable insights for bettors worldwide.

Other Principal Races in Japan

Here are some other notable races throughout Japan which take place during the racing season that we also have blogs for.

Races at Hanshin Racecourse

Races at Kyoto Racecourse

Races at Tokyo Racecourse

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