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 Yushun Himba Preview
Scheduled to take place in May of 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 both run here at Toyko.
Winners of this race often go on to run in the final leg of the Japanese Fillies' Triple Crown, with the Oka Sho being the first leg, this race being the second leg and the Shuka Sho being the final leg.
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.
How competitive is the Yushun Himba market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 10 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2015 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.
Yushun Himba Trends:
Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? From the past 10 if you had followed the winner of the Yushun Himba next time out then you would have backed a total of 4 winners. Backing all 9 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -3.60.
The runner that holds the record over the past 10 renewals for the slowest time in the race was set in the 2015 renewal when Mikki Queen from Yasutoshi Ikee under the guidance of Suguru Hamanaka, won in a time of 2:25.00, whilst at the other end of the spectrum, Loves Only You, trained by Yoshito Yahagi and ridden by Mirco Demuro set the quickest time of 2:22.80 in the 2019 renewal.
These are the top three quickest-run Yushun Himba 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
Yushun Himba Past Winners
Here are the Yushun Himba 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 trainer of the horse at the time of winning the Yushun Himba as well as the jockey is also displayed along with the starting price the horse was sent off.
| Year | Horse (Drawn) | Info |
|---|---|---|
| 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) |
| 2016 2:25.00 | Sinhalite (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (3 of 18) 1/1F | Kenichi Ikezoe Sei Ishizaka (JPN) |
| 2015 2:25.00 | Mikki Queen (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (9 of 17) 58/10 | Suguru Hamanaka Yasutoshi Ikee (JPN) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sakae Kunieda | 8-1-4 | -6.30 | -5.15 |
| Mitsumasa Nakauchida | 7-1-1 | -5.60 | -5.80 |
| Takahisa Tezuka | 5-1-2 | +3.90 | +0.45 |
| Tetsuya Kimura | 5-1-1 | -0.40 | -2.20 |
| Yoshito Yahagi | 5-1-1 | -1.00 | -2.50 |
| Kazuo Fujisawa | 5-1-2 | -2.60 | -2.80 |
| Yasutoshi Ikee | 2-1-1 | +4.80 | +1.90 |
| Mizuki Takayanagi | 1-1-1 | +5.50 | +2.75 |
| Sei Ishizaka | 1-1-1 | +1.00 | +0.50 |
| Haruki Sugiyama | 1-1-1 | +0.60 | +0.30 |
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 | 9-4-6 | +6.20 | +1.60 |
| Mirco Demuro | 10-2-4 | +2.90 | -1.55 |
| Yuga Kawada | 9-1-2 | -7.60 | -7.30 |
| Kenichi Ikezoe | 5-1-2 | -3.00 | -3.00 |
| Kohei Matsuyama | 4-1-1 | -2.40 | -2.70 |
| Suguru Hamanaka | 2-1-1 | +4.80 | +1.90 |
| Keita Tosaki | 9-0-3 | -9.00 | -7.50 |
| Yutaka Take | 9-0-0 | -9.00 | -9.00 |
| Yasunari Iwata | 7-0-0 | -7.00 | -7.00 |
| Yuichi Fukunaga | 7-0-0 | -7.00 | -7.00 |
2025 Yushun Himba Trends
Favourites finishing positions (oldest to latest): 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 8, 12, 1, 2
The percentage shown is the percentage of the total number 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 (17%) - Within the first 3 of the market
- 10 / 10 (18%) - No bigger than 79/10
- 10 / 10 (46%) - Beaten no more -¾ (Debut)
- 10 / 10 (50%) - No bigger than 27/2 (LTO)
- 10 / 10 (56%) - No bigger than 29/1 (Career)
- 10 / 10 (57%) - Highest Placed is not G2/LST
- 10 / 10 (62%) - No bigger than 48/5 (Debut)
- 10 / 10 (68%) - Ran over 1m - 1m1f (Debut)
- 10 / 10 (69%) - Highest Run is not G2/LST
- 10 / 10 (70%) - Break of 28 - 204 days (Last Place)
- 10 / 10 (75%) - Had 1 - 4 placings (Career)
- 10 / 10 (76%) - Not BL/BR/CH/GR/WH in colour
- 10 / 10 (79%) - Beaten no more -7½l (LTO)
- 10 / 10 (89%) - Ran in 1 - 5 races (Career)
- 10 / 10 (89%) - Won within last 2 starts
You may want to do your research into the race, there are times when there are several runners who pass the trends so you need to do your research to find a bet, we have a Horse Racing Form Reading Made Easy & What to Look For article to help you do just this in the OLBG Betting School section.
Are you already a member? If not, then why not? With over £6,000 given away each month in the tipster competition, why not get involved? Remember, It is completely FREE! So, head over to the registration page to sign up today! If you are already a member, then share your thoughts here.
Yushun Himba Trend Analysis
The trend factor which had produced 5+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +3.10 is when runners were 1st in the betting market. The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners had 0 career places in Flat (Turf) races, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-43.
Here are the most recent winning draws along with the further placings in brackets:
- 2024: Winner in 12 (7,14) [18 Runners]
- 2023: Winner in 5 (12,13) [18 Runners]
- 2022: Winner in 18 (2,8) [17 Runners]
- 2021: Winner in 9 (7,8) [18 Runners]
- 2020: Winner in 4 (16,7) [18 Runners]
The course which has produced the most winners of the Yushun Himba is Hanshin, there has been a total number of 7 winners of this race who ran at Hanshin last time out.
Looking over the past renewals, these are the stallions whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Yushun Himba:
- Deep Impact (3 Wins)
- Duramente (2 Wins)
These are the stallions whose offspring have not produced a winner of the Yushun Himba despite multiple attempts:
- Hearts Cry (0 Wins from 18 runners)
- King Kamehameha (0 Wins from 11 runners)
- Kizuna (0 Wins from 10 runners)
- Rulership (0 Wins from 8 runners)
- Daiwa Major (0 Wins from 5 runners)
Looking at the winning odds over the last 10 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Uberleben in 2021, winning for Takahisa Tezuka at odds of 79/10 under the guidance of Mirco Demuro. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 10 renewals there have been 6 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.
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
Article Contributor Information
We are blessed with an excellent team of specialists and experts at OLBG. Contributing to creating and maintaining this Yushun Himba Preview are at hand, Andy and Darren. 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.
Darren Brett
Tipster Competition Manager
Andy Powell
Content Editor
