You know how punters get lost in too much data or bet blindly? I break down the stats and trends so you can feel confident you’re betting with more than just gut instinct.
2027 Yushun Himba Preview
Scheduled for May each year at the Tokyo Racecourse is the Yushun Himba, the Japanese Oaks. The Grade I race is restricted to three-year-old fillies and is run over a distance of 2,400m (Twelve Furlongs).
The race carries a purse of over £1.6m with runners getting entries from the Oka Sho (Top 5) run at Hanshin, the Flora Stakes (Top 2) and the Sweetpea Stakes (Winner), which are all run here at Tokyo.
Winners of this race often go on to run in the final leg of the Japanese Fillies' Triple Crown, with the Oka Sho as the first leg, this race as the second, and the Shuka Sho as the final.
Only eight fillies have gone on to win the Triple Crown, the last of those coming in 2020 when the Yoshito Yahago trained Contrail went on to win all three races.
Yushun Himba 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.
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How competitive is the Yushun Himba market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 10 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2019, when the race had an over-round of 126%. The race in 2020 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 129%, whilst on average over the last 10 renewals of the Yushun Himba, the over-round has been 127%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £127 which is bet.
Below you will find the 2027 Yushun Himba Trends. See which patterns have occurred over the recent renewals that you may be able to use for the next renewal. We also have a section that looks at the Yushun Himba Trend Analysis.
These are the top three quickest-run Yushun Himba races over the last 10 renewals:
- Loves Only You (2:22.80) in 2019
- Liberty Island (2:23.10) in 2023
- Almond Eye (2:23.80) in 2018
Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? Over the past 10 renewals, if you had followed the winner of the Yushun Himba next time out, then you would have backed a total of 5 winners. Backing all 9 runners who have been out since their win at SP next time out would have returned an LSP of +0.00.
When looking over the past 10 renewals, a time of 2:22.80 was set by Loves Only You in 2019, trained by Yoshito Yahagi and ridden by Mirco Demuro, which is the quickest time over that period. The slowest winning time was set in 2025 when Kamunyak won in a time of 2:25.70 for trainer Yasuo Tomomichi, who booked Andrasch Starke in the saddle.
Yushun Himba Past Winners
Here are the Yushun Himba past winners for the last 10 renewals. Each row details the race year, the winning horse, and the horse's age & weight. Also detailed is the stall from which the horse came and the total number of runners in the race. The horse's trainer and the jockey at the time of winning the Yushun Himba are also displayed, along with the starting price at which the horse was sent off.
| Year | Horse (Drawn) | Info |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 2:25.60 | Juryoku Pierrot (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (16 of 18) 99/10 | Seina Imamura Ryo Terashima (JPN) |
| 2025 2:25.70 | Kamunyak (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (15 of 18) 133/10 | Andrasch Starke Yasuo Tomomichi (JPN) |
| 2024 2:24.00 | Cervinia (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (12 of 18) 18/5 | Christophe-Patrice Lemaire Tetsuya Kimura (JPN) |
| 2023 2:23.10 | Liberty Island (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (5 of 18) 2/5F | Yuga Kawada Mitsumasa Nakauchida (JPN) |
| 2022 2:23.90 | Stars On Earth (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (18 of 17) 11/2 | Christophe-Patrice Lemaire Mizuki Takayanagi (JPN) |
| 2021 2:24.50 | Uberleben (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (9 of 18) 79/10 | Mirco Demuro Takahisa Tezuka (JPN) |
| 2020 2:24.40 | Daring Tact (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (4 of 18) 3/5F | Kohei Matsuyama Haruki Sugiyama (JPN) |
| 2019 2:22.80 | Loves Only You (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (13 of 18) 3/1F | Mirco Demuro Yoshito Yahagi (JPN) |
| 2018 2:23.80 | Almond Eye (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (13 of 17) 7/10F | Christophe-Patrice Lemaire Sakae Kunieda (JPN) |
| 2017 2:24.10 | Soul Stirring (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (2 of 18) 7/5F | Christophe-Patrice Lemaire Kazuo Fujisawa (JPN) |
2026 Yushun Himba Replay
Yushun Himba Trainer Statistics
Here are some of the top Yushun Himba trainer statistics over the last 10 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):
| Trainer | R-W-P | Win | EW |
|---|---|---|---|
| Takahisa Tezuka | 7-1-2 | +1.90 | -1.55 |
| Sakae Kunieda | 7-1-4 | -5.30 | -4.15 |
| Mitsumasa Nakauchida | 7-1-1 | -5.60 | -5.80 |
| Yasuo Tomomichi | 6-1-3 | +8.30 | +2.65 |
| Tetsuya Kimura | 5-1-1 | -0.40 | -2.20 |
| Yoshito Yahagi | 4-1-1 | +0.00 | -1.50 |
| Kazuo Fujisawa | 4-1-1 | -1.60 | -2.30 |
| Haruki Sugiyama | 2-1-1 | -0.40 | -0.70 |
| Ryo Terashima | 1-1-1 | +9.90 | +4.95 |
| Mizuki Takayanagi | 1-1-1 | +5.50 | +2.75 |
Yushun Himba Jockey Statistics
The leading jockey in the Yushun Himba over the last 10 renewals is Christophe-Patrice Lemaire, who has won the race four times, with those four winners coming from Soul Stirring (2017), Almond Eye (2018), Stars On Earth (2022) and Cervinia (2024). The only other jockey to have recorded multiple wins in the Yushun Himba is Mirco Demuro (2 wins).
Here are some of the top Yushun Himba jockey statistics over the last 10 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):
| Jockey | R-W-P | Win | EW |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christophe-Patrice Lemaire | 9-4-7 | +6.20 | +2.10 |
| Mirco Demuro | 9-2-3 | +3.90 | -1.05 |
| Yuga Kawada | 7-1-2 | -5.60 | -5.30 |
| Kohei Matsuyama | 5-1-1 | -3.40 | -3.70 |
| Andrasch Starke | 1-1-1 | +13.30 | +6.65 |
| Seina Imamura | 1-1-1 | +9.90 | +4.95 |
| Keita Tosaki | 9-0-1 | -9.00 | -8.50 |
| Yutaka Take | 9-0-0 | -9.00 | -9.00 |
| Damian Lane | 6-0-2 | -6.00 | -5.00 |
| Hironobu Tanabe | 6-0-0 | -6.00 | -6.00 |
2027 Yushun Himba Trends
Favourites finishing positions (oldest to latest): 1, 1, 1, 1, 8, 12, 1, 2, 9, 12
The percentage shown is the proportion of runners who fell under that factor. High percentages are less appealing than lower ones, as you would expect them to do well. The trend information is based on the available information on the Racing Post in terms of previous runs, etc.
- 10 / 10 (28%) - Within the first 5 of the market
- 10 / 10 (28%) - No bigger than 133/10
- 10 / 10 (87%) - Not BK/BL/BR/GR/WH in colour
- 10 / 10 (88%) - Won within last 2 starts
- 10 / 10 (89%) - Dam is not ARG/BRZ/CAN/CHI/GER/IRE bred
- 9 / 10 (53%) - No bigger than 137/10 (LTO)
- 9 / 10 (58%) - No bigger than 29/1 (Career)
- 9 / 10 (62%) - Beaten no more -1¾l (Debut)
- 9 / 10 (62%) - No bigger than 48/5 (Debut)
- 9 / 10 (66%) - Break of 28 - 204 days (Last Place)
- 9 / 10 (69%) - Ran over 1m - 1m1f (Debut)
- 9 / 10 (71%) - Highest Placed is not LST
- 9 / 10 (76%) - Beaten no more -7½l (LTO)
- 9 / 10 (76%) - Not in a G3/LST (LTO)
- 9 / 10 (80%) - Highest Run is not G3/LST
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Yushun Himba Trend Analysis
❌ The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners had a best in three result of 2nd, when backing these, the trend shows a record of 0-30.
Here are the most recent winning draws, along with the further placings in brackets:
- 2026: Winner in 16 (12,18) [18 Runners]
- 2025: Winner in 15 (1,13) [18 Runners]
- 2024: Winner in 12 (7,14) [18 Runners]
- 2023: Winner in 5 (12,13) [18 Runners]
- 2022: Winner in 18 (2,8) [17 Runners]
The course which has produced the most winners of the Yushun Himba is Hanshin; there have been a total of 6 winners of this race who ran at Hanshin last time out.
Looking over the past renewals, there is only one stallion whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Yushun Himba; that stallion, Duramente, has produced 2 winners (2023,2022).
These are the stallions whose offspring have not produced a winner of the Yushun Himba despite multiple attempts:
- Kizuna (0 Wins from 18 runners)
- Hearts Cry (0 Wins from 16 runners)
- Kitasan Black (0 Wins from 9 runners)
- Rulership (0 Wins from 8 runners)
- King Kamehameha (0 Wins from 6 runners)
Looking at the winning odds over the last 10 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Kamunyak in 2025, winning for Yasuo Tomomichi at odds of 133/10 under the guidance of Andrasch Starke. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 10 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 fortunate to have an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to the creation and maintenance of this Yushun Himba Preview are Andy and James. They both work on the Horse Racing Tips team, overseeing the tipsters and managing the tip settlement, while also creating and managing all the horse racing event previews for International racing.
James Banting
Expert Guide
Andy Powell
Expert Guide
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