Top-level action in Japan continues with the Grade 1 Mile Championship at Kyoto Racecourse on Sunday, November 23. It's the 42nd running of autumn's top mile event and 22 horses have been nominated.
Their ages range from 3 to 7 years, with four 4-year-old fillies and one gelding amid the mix. Eighteen of the nominees will go to the gate, including one contender from overseas ― the UK-based-and-bred Docklands.
The winner of the Mile Championship will be awarded ¥180 million JPY (about $1.15 million USD) and the race's total purse tops ¥390 million (roughly $2.5 million).
Japan's mile-distance specialists have always posed a strong defense. And though the race has been open to overseas-based entrants from 1998, the winner's share has yet to leave Japan. Among Sunday's contestants, the 4-year-old colt Jantar Mantar, the 4-year-old filly Ascoli Piceno and the 2024 champion, the 7-year-old Soul Rush, are expected to be the favorite choices in the wagering.
The 5-year-old Docklands, trained by Harry Eustace, scooped the Grade 1 Queen Anne Stakes in June, a victory that also secured his eligibility for bonuses to be added to his Mile Championship earnings should he win. Docklands' most recent three runs, all over 1,600 meters of turf, have seen him make the top five, but not the money. In August, he beat Japan's two runners (including Ascoli Piceno) with his fourth place in the Grade 1 Prix Jacques le Marois in France. Sired by Massaat, Docklands returns from a fourth-place finish in October 18's Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot in England over 1,600 meters.
Info on the Mile Championship
The Mile Championship is run to the right over the Kyoto outer course. This course is considered to be straightforward, but there's a downward slope around the bend out of the backstretch. The outside runners can get pushed out, but those on the inside with steely nerves and patience also know "the inside at Kyoto opens up" as the field straightens for home.
Horses will carry 58 kg, 3-year-old colts 57 kg. Fillies and mares are given a 2-kg allowance. The Mile Championship is the 11th race of 12 on the Sunday card at Kyoto. Post time is 3:40 PM.
Jantar Mantar Chases More Glory in the Mile Championship
The Shadai Farm-bred Jantar Mantar is by the Curlin stallion Palace Malice and the rather unusual pedigree has indeed proven troublesome for the competition.
Jantar Mantar has five wins from nine starts, two of them at the top level, in addition to two seconds and a third, and only one (in Hong Kong) where he finished out of the money. All his wins, except in his debut, have been secured over 1,600 meters of turf, three on a right-handed track and two at Kyoto. He returned from his win of the Grade 1 Yasuda Kinen in the spring and prepped perfectly with a second place in the October 18 Fuji Stakes (G2, 1,600, Tokyo). Saddled in that race with 59 kg, 58 kg this time out will be welcome.
"We'd gotten him ready for the Fuji Stakes with an eye to this Grade 1," trainer Tomokazu Takano said. "Even so, from around the final bend and down the straight, and when he lined up with the others out in front, it felt like he was back at his best. I think he really ran well, chasing down the strong winner while carrying 59 kg."
He has triumphed in three of the four top mile events open to male horses in Japan ― the Asahi Futurity Stakes, the NHK Mile Cup and the Yasuda Kinen.
Expected up is Yuga Kawada, with 29 JRA Grade 1 wins and 14 of those claimed over 1,600 meters. Kawada, however, is still gunning for a win of the Mile Championship.
Ascoli Piceno Has Lots of Experience at 1,600 Meters
From her 10 career starts thus far, Ascoli Piceno has competed at the top level in five of them, all over 1,600 meters. She scored 1-2-2-1 in the four at home and a sixth in her most recent race, the Prix Jacques le Marois in Deauville, France, in August. In that race, her result could be attributed to being held up in traffic and also not taking well to the heavier ground. Her only other race that saw her finish out of the top two was her other overseas bid, in the 2024 Golden Eagle at Sydney's Rosehill Gardens.
Ascoli Piceno's G1 victories in Japan are the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies and the 2025 Victoria Mile. Last year's NHK Mile (after incurring interference in the straight) saw her finish in second place, 0.4 seconds behind winner Jantar Mantar.
Ascoli Piceno's sire Daiwa Major scored back-to-back wins of the Mile Championship in 2006 and 2007 under Katsumi Ando. She returned to Miho, Ibaraki Prefecture, on October 29, and was shipped to Ritto, Shiga Prefecture, the following day.
"We started her back in work immediately," said trainer Yoichi Kuroiwa, who is based in Miho. "Now that she has matured, her physique is more solid and we've upped her workouts, training her on the hill course even on days when we're not giving her fast work. She has gotten a lot of work."
Fast ground will be welcome.
Soul Rush Aims to Defend Mile Championship Title
In 2024, Soul Rush topped the field as the fourth pick in this race as he put a full 2½ lengths ahead of runner-up and seventh choice Elton Barows, followed by longshot Win Marvel. It was his third Mile Championship and brought his overall record to 4-2-1.
Since then, the now 7-year-old son of Rulership (who competed largely at distances of 2,000 meters and up) has been given only G1 and G2 tests and he has proven consistent with a not-too-shabby post record of 2-3-1-3-3. Those five events were all in the range of 1,600-1,800 meters and included two overseas jaunts, to Hong Kong and Dubai.
Following his third-place finish in the Yasuda Kinen, Soul Rush was found to have suffered a splint bone fracture. He returned some four months later in the Fuji Stakes, where he finished third and now looks to be all the sharper for it.
Six horses in the past have won back-to-back Mile Championships. Three different riders have ridden Soul Rush's previous three runs in the race, and up on Sunday will be another new rider, Cristian Demuro.
Demuro rode Soul Rush once before, teaming up with the Rulership offspring for a victory in April's Grade 1 Dubai Turf (1,800 meters).
Read the rest of this article about the Mile Championship and the Japanese horses in contention on JRA News.
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- Soul Rush Romps to Victory in the Mile Championship
Author: JRA News
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