The Grade 1 Sprinters Stakes is first out of the gate in the Japan Racing Association's lineup for the autumn's big events. Up next: the Sprinters Stakes on Sunday, September 28. It will be held at Nakayama Racecourse in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture.
The 1,200-meter turf competition follows the spring sprint Grade 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen held at Chukyo. Both races are the top showcases for Japan's best short-distance thoroughbreds.
Open to horses 4 years old and up, the 59th running of Sprinters Stakes has attracted 17 nominees ranging in age from 4 to 8, with six fillies/mares, and one gelding going up against four colts and six older males.
Adding to the exciting competition on Sunday will be foreign raider Lucky Sweynesse, in from Hong Kong to compete for a share of the near ¥370 million JPY (roughly $2.5 million USD) purse and the top prize of ¥170 million ($1.1 million). Lucky Sweynesse will also take a shot at becoming the only the fourth foreign raider to scoop the Sprinters Stakes.
Information on the 2025 Sprinters Stakes
In addition to the international touch this year, the field boasts three other Grade 1 champions ― the 2023 Sprinters Stakes winner Mama Cocha, 2024 victor Lugal and this year's Takamatsunomiya Kinen champion, Satono Reve.
And there's an old favorite, the always reliable, perpetually in the shadow with a 5-3-3 Sprinters Stakes record Namura Clair, who will be running the race for the fourth straight year, and hoping for her day of glory at last.
All males carry 58 kg, while fillies and mares carry 56 kg. The race is the 11th on the Tokyo card of 12, with a post time of 3:40 PM on Sunday.
Here's a look at some of the expected popular picks:
Satono Reve Emerges as Huge Favorite
The 6-year-old son of Lord Kanaloa is considered out in front by far as the race favorite. Satono Reve (whose record time of 1 minute, 6.7 seconds set in 2012 still holds) returns from two overseas bids following his Takamatsunomiya Kinen win at the end of March.
Trained by Noriyuki Hori, Satono Reve finished seventh in the 2024 Sprinters Stakes, then competed in the Hong Kong Sprint, placing third. He landed his first big prize with the Takamatsunomiya Kinen before returning to Hong Kong for a second-place finish by two lengths in the Group 1 Chairman's Sprint Prize at the end of April. After that, Satono Reve went to Ascot Racecourse in England for yet another runner-up finish in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes. (All four races are contested over 1,200 meters.)
After returning to Japan, Satono Reve spent the summer training at Hakodate Racecourse before returning to his base in Miho, Ibaraki Prefecture. Back at the training center, Hori has upped the pace and Satono Reve is looking well primed to score his second big win. In 2024, crossing the line in seventh place, he was only 0.4 seconds behind the winner Lugal. Since then, he has proven himself to be highly competitive on the world level.
Mama Cocha Racing at a High Level in 2025
Winner of the 2023 Sprinters Stakes and fourth last year, the now 6-year-old Mama Cocha has never finished out of the top 3 in her four starts in 2025. All at the graded level, those four included a win of the Grade 3 Ocean Stakes, also run over 1,200 meters at Nakayama, and a third place in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen. She followed that up with a second in the Grade 2 Keio Hai Spring Cup over 1,400 meters at Tokyo, then returned in the fall for a second place in the Grade 2 Centaur Stakes over 1,200 meters at Hanshin.
The years look to have treated this girl well. She is still in top shape and jockey Mirai Iwata, who rode the Centaur Stakes, is scheduled to team up with Mama Cocha on Sunday.
Toshin Macau Seeks to Replicate Spring Cup Success
Following Mama Cocha over the line in third place in the Centaur Stakes on September 7 by only a neck margin was another 6-year-old, Toshin Macau.
After starting the year off with a fourth-place finish in his third run in the Takamatsunomiya Kinen (he previously placed 15th and sixth), the son of Big Arthur scored first place in the Keio Hai Spring Cup. Then he returned in the fall with the Centaur Stakes. In the Spring Cup, he rewrote the record with his time of 1 minute, 18.3 seconds and, with a margin of 1½ lengths over Mama Cocha, scored his fifth graded-stakes victory.
Toshin Macau's sire captured only one top event in his career, the Takamatsunomiya Kinen in 2016.
Jockey Takeshi Yokoyama, who has ridden Toshin Macau in four races and won twice, is set to take the reins on Sunday.
Read the rest of this article about the Sprinters Stakes and the Japanese horses in contention on JRA News.
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Author: JRA News
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