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.
2026 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 Tokyo.
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.
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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 2026 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 -1.30. Remember you can get daily racing predictions from the expert tipsters on the racing predictions page.
When looking over the past 10 renewals, a time of 2:22.80 was set by Loves Only You in 2019, which is the quickest time over that period. The runner was trained by Yoshito Yahagi and ridden by Mirco Demuro. The slowest winning time was set in 2025 when Kamunyak won in a time of 2:25.70, booked to ride was Andrasch Starke by the trainer Yasuo Tomomichi.
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 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 (1.68m) 2:25.70 | Kamunyak (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (15 of 18) 133/10 | Andrasch Starke Yasuo Tomomichi (JPN) |
| 2024 (1.81m) 2:24.00 | Cervinia (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (12 of 18) 18/5 | Christophe-Patrice Lemaire Tetsuya Kimura (JPN) |
| 2023 (2.05m) 2:23.10 | Liberty Island (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (5 of 18) 2/5F | Yuga Kawada Mitsumasa Nakauchida (JPN) |
| 2022 (1.97m) 2:23.90 | Stars On Earth (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (18 of 17) 11/2 | Christophe-Patrice Lemaire Mizuki Takayanagi (JPN) |
| 2021 (1.78m) 2:24.50 | Uberleben (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (9 of 18) 79/10 | Mirco Demuro Takahisa Tezuka (JPN) |
| 2020 (1.72m) 2:24.40 | Daring Tact (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (4 of 18) 3/5F | Kohei Matsuyama Haruki Sugiyama (JPN) |
| 2019 (1.76m) 2:22.80 | Loves Only You (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (13 of 18) 3/1F | Mirco Demuro Yoshito Yahagi (JPN) |
| 2018 (1.64m) 2:23.80 | Almond Eye (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (13 of 17) 7/10F | Christophe-Patrice Lemaire Sakae Kunieda (JPN) |
| 2017 (1.57m) 2:24.10 | Soul Stirring (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (2 of 18) 7/5F | Christophe-Patrice Lemaire Kazuo Fujisawa (JPN) |
| 2016 (1.29m) 2:25.00 | Sinhalite (JPN) 3yo 8-9 (3 of 18) 1/1F | Kenichi Ikezoe Sei Ishizaka (JPN) |
2025 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sakae Kunieda | 8-1-4 | -6.30 | -5.15 |
| Takahisa Tezuka | 7-1-2 | +1.90 | -1.55 |
| 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 |
| Kazuo Fujisawa | 5-1-2 | -2.60 | -2.80 |
| Yoshito Yahagi | 4-1-1 | +0.00 | -1.50 |
| Haruki Sugiyama | 2-1-1 | -0.40 | -0.70 |
| Mizuki Takayanagi | 1-1-1 | +5.50 | +2.75 |
| Sei Ishizaka | 1-1-1 | +1.00 | +0.50 |
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 | 8-1-2 | -6.60 | -6.30 |
| Kenichi Ikezoe | 4-1-1 | -2.00 | -2.50 |
| Kohei Matsuyama | 4-1-1 | -2.40 | -2.70 |
| Andrasch Starke | 1-1-1 | +13.30 | +6.65 |
| Keita Tosaki | 9-0-2 | -9.00 | -8.00 |
| Yutaka Take | 8-0-0 | -8.00 | -8.00 |
| Hironobu Tanabe | 7-0-0 | -7.00 | -7.00 |
| Yuichi Fukunaga | 6-0-0 | -6.00 | -6.00 |
2026 Yushun Himba Trends
Favourites finishing positions (oldest to latest): 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 8, 12, 1, 2, 9
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 Oost in terms of previous runs, etc.
- 10 / 10 (22%) - Within the first 4 of the market
- 10 / 10 (26%) - No bigger than 133/10
- 10 / 10 (51%) - No bigger than 137/10 (LTO)
- 10 / 10 (57%) - No bigger than 29/1 (Career)
- 10 / 10 (60%) - Beaten no more -1¾l (Debut)
- 10 / 10 (61%) - No bigger than 48/5 (Debut)
- 10 / 10 (67%) - Break of 28 - 204 days (Last Place)
- 10 / 10 (69%) - Ran over 1m - 1m1f (Debut)
- 10 / 10 (72%) - Highest Placed is not LST
- 10 / 10 (74%) - Had 1 - 4 placings (Career)
- 10 / 10 (76%) - Not BL/BR/CH/GR/WH in colour
- 10 / 10 (78%) - Beaten no more -7½l (LTO)
- 10 / 10 (80%) - Highest Run is not G3/LST
- 10 / 10 (89%) - Ran in 1 - 5 races (Career)
- 10 / 10 (89%) - Won within last 2 starts
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Yushun Himba Trend Analysis
✅ The trend factor, which has produced 5+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +5.10, is when runners carried 121lbs when last winning.
❌ 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 0-46.
Here are the most recent winning draws, along with the further placings in brackets:
- 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]
- 2021: Winner in 9 (7,8) [18 Runners]
The course which has produced the most winners of the Yushun Himba is Hanshin; there have been a total 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 (2 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 17 runners)
- Kizuna (0 Wins from 15 runners)
- King Kamehameha (0 Wins from 9 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 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 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.
Route to the Yushun Himba
Many trainers will target races to use as prep races before coming to the Yushun Himba, these are the races which the recent winners ran in before coming here:
| Info | Last Race |
|---|---|
| 2025 - Kamunyak Tokyo - 1st of 18 (147/10) | Sankei Sports Sho Flora Stakes |
| 2024 - Cervinia Hanshin - 13th of 18 (61/10) | Oka Sho |
| 2023 - Liberty Island Hanshin - 1st of 18 (8/5) | Oka Sho |
| 2022 - Stars On Earth Hanshin - 1st of 18 (29/2) | Oka Sho |
| 2021 - Uberleben Tokyo - 3rd of 17 (5/2) | Sankei Sports Sho Flora Stakes |
| 2020 - Daring Tact Hanshin - 1st of 18 (16/5) | Oka Sho |
| 2019 - Loves Only You Kyoto - 1st of 9 (23/10) | Shiragiku Sho |
| 2018 - Almond Eye Hanshin - 1st of 17 (39/10) | Oka Sho |
| 2017 - Soul Stirring Hanshin - 3rd of 17 (2/5) | Oka Sho |
| 2016 - Sinhalite Hanshin - 2nd of 18 (49/10) | Oka Sho |
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
