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Tennō Shō (Spring)
The Tennō Shō (Spring) (天皇賞（春）; lit. 'Emperor Prize (Spring)') is an International Grade I horse race held at Kyoto Racecourse, Japan in late April or early May. It is run over a distance of 3,200 metres (10,500 ft) on turf, and is the longest Grade 1 race in Japan.
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| Justin Palace winning the 167th Tennō Shō |
| Int'l Grade 1 |
| Kyoto Racecourse, Kyoto |
| May 15, 1938 |
| Thoroughbred |
| japanracing.jp |
| 3200 meters(About 16 furlongs / 2 miles) |
| Turf |
| Right-handed |
| 4-y-o & Up, Thoroughbreds |
| 58 kgAllowances: 2 kg for fillies and mares |
| ¥ 648,000,000 (as of 2025).mw-parser-output .plainlist ol,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul{line-height:inherit;list-style:none;margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .plainlist ol li,.mw-parser-output .plainlist ul li{margin-bottom:0} |
| 1st: ¥ 300,000,000 |
| 2nd: ¥ 120,000,000 |
| 3rd: ¥ 75,000,000 |
| Winner of the following in the same year:Ōsaka Hai, Tennō Shō (Spring), Takarazuka KinenDomestic: ¥ 300,000,000International: ¥ 150,000,000Winner of any three of the following in the same year:Ōsaka Hai, Tennō Shō (Spring/Autumn), Japan Cup, Takarazuka Kinen, Arima KinenDomestic: ¥ 200,000,000International: ¥ 100,000,000 |
The Tennō Shō (Spring) (天皇賞（春）; lit. 'Emperor Prize (Spring)') is an International Grade I horse race held at Kyoto Racecourse, Japan in late April or early May. It is run over a distance of 3,200 metres (10,500 ft) on turf, and is the longest Grade 1 race in Japan.
Deep Impact won the 2006 version of the race setting the world record for a 3,200-metre race with a time of 3:13.4, beating the World Record set in the 1988 Wellington Cup by Daria's Fun, held for almost 20 years of 3:15.59, the closest time run in the Melbourne Cup is 3:16.3. Deep Impact's record stood until Kitasan Black won in 3:12.5 in 2017. The average time for the Tennō Shō from 1990 to 2018 is 3:16.7, while the same for the Melbourne Cup is 3:21.1, a difference of 4.4 seconds. In the race's history only one mare has won; Leda, in 1953.
Speed record:
- 3:12.5 — Kitasan Black (2017/Yutaka Take)
Multiple winners:
- 2 — Mejiro McQueen (1991, 1992)
- 2 — Rice Shower (1993, 1995)
- 2 — T. M. Opera O (2000, 2001)
- 2 — Fenomeno (2013, 2014)
- 2 — Kitasan Black (2016, 2017)
- 2 — Fierement (2019, 2020)
Most wins by jockey:
- 8 — Yutaka Take (1989 / Inari One)(1990 / Super Creek)(1991,1992 / Mejiro McQueen)(1999 / Special Week)(2006 / Deep Impact)(2016,2017 / Kitasan Black)
The youngest winning jockey:
- Yutaka Take (1989 Inari One, 20 Years old 1 Month 15 Days)
The oldest winning jockey
- Yutaka Take (2017 Kitasan Black, 48 Years old 1 Month 16 Days)
| Year | Winner | Age | Jockey | Trainer | Owner | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Super Creek | 5 | Yutaka Take | Syuuji Itou | Makoto Kikura | 3:21.9 |
| 1991 | Mejiro McQueen | 4 | Yutaka Take | Yasuo Ikee | Mejiro Stud | 3:18.8 |
| 1992 | Mejiro McQueen | 5 | Yutaka Take | Yasuo Ikee | Mejiro Stud | 3:20.0 |
| 1993 | Rice Shower | 4 | Hitoshi Matoba | Yoshitsugu Iizuka | Hideo Kurabayashi | 3:17.1 |
| 1994 | Biwa Hayahide.mw-parser-output .citation{word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}[a] | 4 | Yukio Okabe | Mitsumasa Hamada | Biwa Co Ltd | 3:22.6 |
| 1995 | Rice Shower | 6 | Hitoshi Matoba | Yoshitsugu Iizuka | Hideo Kurabayashi | 3:19.9 |
| 1996 | Sakura Laurel | 5 | Norihiro Yokoyama | Katsutarou Sakai | Sakura Commerce | 3:17.8 |
| 1997 | Mayano Top Gun | 5 | Seiki Tabara | Masahiro Sakaguchi | Yuu Tadokoro | 3:14.4 |
| 1998 | Mejiro Bright | 4 | Hiroshi Kawachi | Hidekazu Asami | Mejiro Stud | 3:15.3 |
| 1999 | Special Week | 4 | Yutaka Take | Toshiaki Shirai | Hiroyoshi Usuda | 3:17.1 |
| 2000 | T. M. Opera O | 4 | Ryuji Wada | Ichizo Iwamoto | Masatsugu Takezono | 3:17.6 |
| 2001 | T. M. Opera O | 5 | Ryuji Wada | Ichizo Iwamoto | Masatsugu Takezono | 3:16.2 |
| 2002 | Manhattan Cafe | 4 | Masayoshi Ebina | Futoshi Kojima | Ken Nishikawa | 3:19.5 |
| 2003 | Hishi Miracle | 4 | Koichi Tsunoda | Masaru Sayama | Masaichiro Abe | 3:17.0 |
| 2004 | Ingrandire | 5 | Norihiro Yokoyama | Yoshinami Shimizu | Chizu Yoshida | 3:18.4 |
| 2005 | Suzuka Mambo | 4 | Katsumi Ando | Mitsuru Hashida | Keiji Nagai | 3:16.5 |
| 2006 | Deep Impact | 4 | Yutaka Take | Yasuo Ikee | Makoto Kaneko | 3:13.4 |
| 2007 | Meisho Samson | 4 | Mamoru Ishibashi | Shigetada Takahashi | Yoshio Matsumoto | 3:14.1 |
| 2008 | Admire Jupiter | 5 | Yasunari Iwata | Yasuo Tomomichi | Riichi Kondo | 3:15.1 |
| 2009 | Meiner Kitz | 6 | Masami Matsuoka | Sakae Kunieda | Thoroughbred Club Ruffian | 3:14.4 |
| 2010 | Jaguar Mail | 6 | Craig Williams | Noriyuki Hori | Kazumi Yoshida | 3:15.7 |
| 2011 | Hiruno d'Amour | 4 | Shinji Fujita | Mitsugu Kon | Hashimoto Bokujo | 3:20.6 |
| 2012 | Beat Black | 5 | Syu Ishibashi | Hitoshi Nakamura | Koji Maeda | 3:13.8 |
| 2013 | Fenomeno | 4 | Masayoshi Ebina | Hirofumi Toda | Sunday Racing | 3:14.2 |
| 2014 | Fenomeno | 5 | Masayoshi Ebina | Hirofumi Toda | Sunday Racing | 3:15.1 |
| 2015 | Gold Ship | 6 | Norihiro Yokoyama | Naosuke Sugai | Kobayashi Eiichi Holdings | 3:14.7 |
| 2016 | Kitasan Black | 4 | Yutaka Take | Hisashi Shimizu | Ono Shoji | 3:15.3 |
| 2017 | Kitasan Black | 5 | Yutaka Take | Hisashi Shimizu | Ono Shoji | 3:12.5 |
| 2018 | Rainbow Line | 5 | Yasunari Iwata | Hidekazu Asami | Masahiro Mita | 3:16.2 |
| 2019 | Fierement | 4 | Christophe Lemaire | Takahisa Tezuka | Sunday Racing | 3:15.0 |
| 2020 | Fierement | 5 | Christophe Lemaire | Takahisa Tezuka | Sunday Racing | 3:16.5 |
| 2021 | World Premiere[b] | 5 | Yuichi Fukunaga | Yasuo Tomomichi | Ryoichi Otsuka | 3:14.7 |
| 2022 | Titleholder[b] | 4 | Kazuo Yokoyama | Toru Kurita | Hiroshi Yamada | 3:16.2 |
| 2023 | Justin Palace | 4 | Christophe Lemaire | Haruki Sugiyama | Masahiro Miki | 3:16.1 |
| 2024 | T O Royal | 6 | Yuji Hishida | Inao Okada | Tomoya Ozasa | 3:14.2 |
| 2025 | Redentor | 4 | Damian Lane | Tetsuya Kimura | U Carrot Farm | 3:14.0 |
| 2026 | Croix du Nord | 4 | Yuichi Kitamura | Takashi Saito | Sunday Racing | 3:13.7 |
a The 1994 race was contested at Hanshin Racecourse.
b The 2021 and 2022 races were contested at Hanshin Racecourse, due to construction at Kyoto Racecourse.
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Tennō Shō
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Tennō Shō (Autumn)
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Horse racing in Japan
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List of Japanese flat horse races
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Netkeiba:
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Racing Post:
- 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005
- 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
- 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
- 2026
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