Unicorn Stakes

The Unicorn Stakes (Japanese ユニコーンステークス) is a Grade 3 horse race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run in April over a distance of 1,900 metres on dirt at Kyoto Racecourse.^[1]

Unicorn Stakes
ユニコーンステークス

Grade 3 race
I Am Actress wins the 2011 Unicorn Stakes
Location	Kyoto Racecourse
Inaugurated	1996
Race type	Thoroughbred Flat racing
Race information
Distance	1,900 meters
Surface	Dirt
Track	Right-handed
Qualification	3-y-o
Weight	57 kg Allowance: Fillies 2 kg
Purse	¥ 79,920,000 (as of 2024) 1st: ¥ 37,000,000 2nd: ¥ 15,000,000 3rd: ¥ 9,000,000

The race was first run in 1996 and has held Grade 3 status ever since. The race was run over 1,800 meters at Nakayama Racecourse in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000 before being moved to Tokyo Racecourse in 2001 until 2023 and was run over 1,600 meters. The race was permanently moved to Kyoto Racecourse in 2024, and the distance was also increased to 1,900 meters.^[2] The schedule was also moved from June to late April, positioned as a preparatory race for the Tokyo Derby in which the winner receives a guaranteed spot for the said race.^[3]

Past winners of the race have included Taiki Shuttle, Agnes Digital and Kane Hekili.

Records

Record time:

• 1:58.6 - Ramjet 2024, at a distance of 1,900 meters
• 1:34.9 - Cafe Pharoah 2020, at a distance of 1,600 meters

Most wins by a jockey:

• 2 - Yukio Okabe 1996, 1997
• 2 - Katsumi Ando 2003, 2008
• 2 - Yutaka Take 2005, 2007
• 2 - Yuichi Fukunaga 2012, 2019

Most wins by a trainer:

• 2 - Sei Ishizaka 2001, 2013
• 2 - Katsuhiko Sumii 2005, 2019
• 2 - Noriyuki Hori 2012, 2020

Winners

Year	Winner	Jockey	Trainer	Time
1996	Shinko Windy	Yukio Okabe	Kiyotaka Tanaka	1:52.8
1997	Taiki Shuttle	Yukio Okabe	Kazuo Fujisawa	1:36.8
1998	Wing Arrow	Katsumi Minai	Yoshimi Kudo	1:52.0
1999	Gold Tiara[a]	Katsuharu Tanaka	Kunihide Matsuda	1:52.6
2000	Agnes Digital	Hitoshi Matoba	Toshiaki Shirai	1:50.7
2001	Nasdaq Power	Teruo Eda	Sei Ishizawa	1:36.4
2002	Himitsu Heiki	Seiji Sakai	Mitsuhiro Okabayashi	1:36.4
2003	Utopia	Katsumi Ando	Kojiro Hashiguchi	1:35.8
2004	Top of World	Hirofumi Shii	Kenichi Fujioka	1:36.0
2005	Kane Hekili	Yutaka Take	Katsuhiko Sumii	1:36.5
2006	Nike Earthwork	Norihiro Yokoyama	Masayuki Kawashima	1:37.2
2007	Long Pride	Yutaka Take	Yukiharu Ono	1:36.9
2008	Ubiquitous	Katsumi Ando	Nobuhiro Suzuki	1:35.1
2009	Silk Mobius	Hiroyasu Tanaka	Masazo Ryoke	1:35.5
2010	Birdie Birdie	Masami Matsuoka	Yasutoshi Ikee	1:36.6
2011	I Am Actress[a]	Shinichiro Akiyama	Hiroshi Nagahama	1:36.2
2012	Straw Hat	Yuichi Fukunaga	Noriyuki Hori	1:36.5
2013	Best Warrior	Keita Tosaki	Sei Ishizaka	1:36.0
2014	Red Alvis	Masayoshi Ebina	Takayuki Yasuda	1:36.0
2015	Nonkono Yume	Christophe Lemaire	Yukihiro Kato	1:35.9
2016	Gold Dream	Yuga Kawada	Osamu Hirata	1:35.8[4]
2017	Sunrise Nova	Keita Tosaki	Hidetaka Otonashi	1:35.9[5]
2018	Le Vent Se Leve	Mirco Demuro	Kiyoshi Hagiwara	1:35.0[6]
2019	Wide Pharaoh	Yuichi Fukunaga	Katsuhiko Sumii	1:35.5
2020	Cafe Pharoah	Damian Lane	Noriyuki Hori	1:34.9
2021	Smasher	Ryusei Sakai	Tatsuya Yoshioka	1:34.4
2022	Peisha Es	Akira Sugawara	Kazuo Konishi	1:35.2
2023	Perriere	Christophe Lemaire	Mitsumasa Nakauchida	1:35.0
2024	Ramjet	Kousei Miura	Shozo Sasaki	1:58.6

^a Gold Tiara and I Am Actress were fillies

See also

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

References

• Netkeiba:^[7][8]
  • 1996 en, 1997 en, 1998 en, 1999 en, 2000 en, 2001 en, 2002 en, 2003 en, 2004 en, 2005 en, 2006 en, 2007 en, 2008 en, 2009 en, 2010 en, 2011 en, 2012 en, 2013 en, 2014 en, 2015 en, 2016 en, 2017 en, 2018 en, 2019 en, 2020 en, 2021 en, 2022 en, 2023 en, 2024 en

1. "Unicorn Stakes". Horse Racing in Japan.
2. "2024 JRA Racing Calendar changes" (PDF). JRA.
3. "３歳ダート３冠レース体系発表　24年からスタート　すべてにトライアルレースを設定". Nikkan Sports.
4. "2016 result". Racing Post. 19 June 2016.
5. "2017 result". Racing Post. 18 June 2017.
6. "2018 result". Racing Post. 17 June 2018.
7. "ユニコーンS". Netkeiba.
8. "Unicorn Stakes". Netkeiba.