Centaur Stakes

The Centaur Stakes (セントウルステークス, Sentouru Sutekusu) is a Grade 2 flat horse race in Japan for three-year-old and above thoroughbreds run over a distance of 1,200 metres (approximately 6 furlongs) at Hanshin Racecourse in September.

Centaur Stakes

Grade 2 race
The 25th (2011) Centaur Stakes
Location	Hanshin Racecourse
Inaugurated	1987
Race type	Thoroughbred
Website	japanracing.jp - Centaur Stakes & Sprinters Stakes
Race information
Distance	1200 meters (About 6 furlongs)
Surface	Turf
Track	Right-handed (inner course)
Qualification	3-y-o & Up, Thoroughbreds
Weight	3-y-o 55 kg \ 4-y-o & up 57kg[1]
Purse	¥110,500,000 (as of 2011)

It was first run in 1987 and takes its name from a statue at the racecourse in the form of the mythological creature Centaur.

Prior to 2000 the race was run over a distance of 1,400 metres (7 furlongs), and having originally been classed as a Domestic Grade 3 race, it was promoted to Domestic Grade 2 status in 2006 and it was promoted to International Grade 2 status in 2007.

From 2005 to 2010 it was a leg of the Global Sprint Challenge series. It has now been replaced as a Japanese leg of the series by the Takamatsunomiya Kinen.

Winners

Year	Winner	Age	Jockey	Trainer	Owner	Time
1987	Mr Boy	5	Hiroshi Kawachi	Tadashi Nakao	Iwao Obara	1:22.5
1988	Sankin Hayate	4	Hiroshi Kawachi	Kōjirō Hashiguchi	Sakino Kawahara	1:21.7
1989	Hoei Sovereign	5	Yoshiyuki Muramoto	Tetsuya Meno	Suetsugu Kitagawa	1:20.9
1990	Eiko Caesar	5	Nobuyuki Tajima	Isao Yasuda	Ken'ichi Ikeuchi	1:08.5
1991	Nifty Niece	4	Keiji Takehara	Yasuhisa Matsuyama	Zenya Yoshida	1:07.9
1992	My Superman	6	Katsumi Minai	Yukiharu Shikato	Goichi Sugawara	1:07.6
1993	Elizabeth Rose	4	Hiroshi Kawachi	Sakae Watanabe	Katsumi Yoshida	1:22.1
1994	Eishin Washington	3	Shigefumi Kumazawa	Shigeharu Naitō	Toyomitsu Hirai	1:08.7
1995	Biko Pegasus	4	Yutaka Take	Tsugio Yanagida	Legend	1:21.2
1996	Fujino Makken O	5	Yutaka Take	Yoshio Nakamura	Hirotoshi Nakamura	1:21.0
1997	Osumi Tycoon	6	Kōshirō Take	Kunihiko Take	Hidenori Yamaji	1:21.0
1998	Meiner Love	3	Yutaka Take	Ryūichi Inaba	Thoroughbred Club Ruffian	1:21.3
1999	Eishin Guymon	6	Jun'ichi Serizawa	Tadashi Kayō	Toyomitsu Hirai	1:20.7
2000	Behind the Mask	4	Yūichi Fukunaga	Shūji Kitahashi	Sunday Racing Co; Ltd.	1:07.6
2001	Tennessee Girl	4	Kazuhiro Yamada	Masanao Tsubo	Toyomitsu Hirai	1:08.1
2002	Believe	4	Yasunari Iwata	Shigeki Matsumoto	Kōji Maeda	1:07.1
2003	Tenshino Kiseki	5	Norihiro Yokoyama	Kōjirō Hashiguchi	Masuo Sugitani	1:07.8
2004	Golden Cast	4	Yutaka Take	Kōjirō Hashiguchi	Kōji Maeda	1:08.2
2005	Golden Cast	5	Futoshi Komaki	Kōjirō Hashiguchi	Kōji Maeda	1:08.3
2006	She Is Tosho *	6	Ken'ichi Ikezoe	Akio Tsurudome	Tōshō Sangyō Corporation	1:08.6
2007	Sans Adieu	5	Yuga Kawada	Hidetaka Otonashi	Takao Matuoka	1:07.1
2008	Kanoya Zakura	4	Futoshi Komaki	Kōjirō Hashiguchi	Kaoru Kanda	1:07.3
2009	Ultima Thule	5	Masami Matsuoka	Masashi Okuhira	Shadai Race Horse	1:07.8
2010	Dasher Go Go	3	Yūga Kawada	Takayuki Yasuda	Shin Ashida	1:08.0
2011	A Shin Virgo	4	Hironobu Tanabe	Ken Kozaki	Eishindō Co Ltd	1:08.5
2012	Epice Arome	3	Yutaka Take	Sei Ishizaka	Katsumi Yoshida	1:07.3
2013	Hakusan Moon	3	Manabu Sakai	Masato Nishizono	Goichi Kawasaki	1:07.5
2014	Little Gerda	5	Kyosuke Maruta	Ippo Sameshima	Yoshiko Kuriyama	1:07.4
2015	Active Minoru	3	Kota Fujioka	Yoshihito Kitade	Minoru Yoshioka	1:07.8
2016	Big Arthur	5	Yuichi Fukunaga	Kenichi Fujioka	Akira Nakatsuji	1:07.6
2017	Fine Needle	4	Mirco Demuro	Yoshitada Takahashi	Godolphin	1:07.5
2018	Fine Needle	5	Yuga Kawada	Yoshitada Takahashi	Godolphin	1:08.8
2019	Tower of London	4	Christophe Lemaire	Kazuo Fujisawa	Godolphin	1:06.7
2020	Danon Smash *	5	Kosei Miura	Takayuki Yasuda	Danox Co Ltd	1:07.9

* The 2006 and 2020 race took place at Chukyo Racecourse.

See also

• Horse racing in Japan
• List of Japanese flat horse races

References

1. JRA International Races 2007