Wikipedia

Victoria Mile

The Victoria Mile (ヴィクトリアマイル (Vikutoria Mairu)) is a Grade 1 flat horse race in Japan for four-year-old and above thoroughbred fillies and mares. Organized by Japan Racing Association, it is run over a distance of 1,600 metres (approximately 1 mile) on the turf at Tokyo Racecourse in May.

Victoria Mile
Songline winning the 2023 race. Sodashi (left) was the winner of the 2022 race.
ClassGrade 1
LocationTokyo Racecourse, Fuchu, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
InauguratedMay 14, 2006
Race typeThoroughbred
Websitejapanracing.jp/
Race information
Distance1600 meters
(About 8 furlongs / 1 mile)
SurfaceTurf
TrackLeft-handed
Qualification4-y-o & Up, Fillies & Mares only, Thoroughbreds
Weight56 kg
Purse¥ 281,300,000 (as of 2025)
  • 1st: ¥ 130,000,000
  • 2nd: ¥ 52,000,000
  • 3rd: ¥ 33,000,000

The race's name, "Victoria", comes from the Roman goddess of victory.[1]

History

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Traditionally, mares, the foundation of racehorse breeding, were thought to be retired early and returned to the breeding industry, and for a long time, there were no races designated as targets for older mares.[2][3]

Subsequently, in 1996, the conditions for the Queen Elizabeth II Cup were changed, and it became a Grade 1 race for three-year-old and up fillies and mares. Since then, efforts have been made to improve the racing program, including the addition of more graded stakes races for older fillies and mares, and the streamlining of race schedules, resulting in more fillies and mares having long and successful racing careers.[3]

The fact that excellent offspring are now being born from mares that have had long and successful careers has led to a change in thinking within the breeding industry, and there has also been a growing emphasis on the value of mares as racehorses in Europe.[3]

Following this trend, the Victoria Mile was established in 2006 as a spring championship race for four-year-old and up fillies and mares[2][3], and designated as Grade 1.

However, there were opposing opinions within the Japan Racing Association regarding the establishment of this race, such as "In order to improve the level of domestically bred racehorses, strong fillies should retire early and become broodmares. If they participate in races, they will get injured."[4]

Since its establishment, the race has been an international competition, allowing foreign horses to participate, and horses belonging to National Association of Racing (NAR) that have achieved the required results in preparatory races are also eligible to participate.[5]

Since 2017, the top three finishers in this race have been granted priority entry into the Prix Jacques Le Marois (Group 1) held in the same year.[6]

Since 2018, the race has partnered with the Prix Jacques Le Marois under the name "Destination France" alongside the Yasuda Kinen.[7]

Since 2020, it has been designated as a Breeders' Cup Challenge race, and the winning horse is granted priority entry into the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (Grade 1) of that year, as well as the privilege of having a portion of the entry fee and transportation costs covered.

Since 2021, the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (Group 1) was also added as a target race of "Destination France", and the top three finishers are granted priority entry.[8]

Trial races

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Trial races provide automatic berths to the winning horses.[9]

Race Grade Racecourse Distance Condition
Hanshin Himba Stakes GII Hanshin 1,600 metres Winner
Fukushima Himba Stakes GIII Fukushima 1,800 metres Winner

Winners

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Year
 Winner
 Age
 Jockey
 Trainer
 Owner
 Time
2006 Dance in the Mood 5 Hiroshi Kitamura Kazuo Fujisawa Shadai Race Horse 1:34.0
2007 Koiuta 4 Masami Matsuoka Masashi Okuhira Maekawa Kikaku 1:32.5
2008 Asian Winds 4 Shinji Fujita Hideaki Fujiwara Yoshimi Ota 1:33.7
2009 Vodka 5 Yutaka Take Katsuhiko Sumii Yuzo Tanimizu 1:32.4
2010 Buena Vista 4 Norihiro Yokoyama Hiroyoshi Matsuda Sunday Racing 1:32.4
2011 Apapane 4 Masayoshi Ebina Sakae Kunieda Kaneko Makoto Holdings 1:31.9
2012 Whale Capture 4 Norihiro Yokoyama Kiyotaka Tanaka Ken Shimada 1:32.4
2013 Verxina 4 Hiroyuki Uchida Yasuo Tomomichi Kazuhiro Sasaki 1:32.4
2014 Verxina 5 Hiroyuki Uchida Yasuo Tomomichi Kazuhiro Sasaki 1:32.3
2015 Straight Girl 6 Keita Tosaki Hideaki Fujiwara Toshihiro Hirosaki 1:31.9
2016 Straight Girl 7 Keita Tosaki Hideaki Fujiwara Toshihiro Hirosaki 1:31.5
2017 Admire Lead 4 Christophe Lemaire Naosuke Sugai Riichi Kondo 1:33.9
2018 Jour Polaire 5 Hideaki Miyuki Masato Nishizono G1 Racing 1:32.3
2019 Normcore 4 Damian Lane Kiyoshi Hagiwara Seiichi Iketani 1:30.5
2020 Almond Eye 5 Christophe Lemaire Sakae Kunieda Silk Racing 1:30.6
2021 Gran Alegria 5 Christophe Lemaire Kazuo Fujisawa Sunday Racing 1:31.0
2022 Sodashi 4 Hayato Yoshida Naosuke Sugai Kaneko Makoto Holdings 1:32.2
2023 Songline 5 Keita Tosaki Toru Hayashi Sunday Racing 1:32.2
2024 Ten Happy Rose 6 Akihide Tsumura Daisuke Takayanagi Yasushi Tenpaku 1:31.8
2025 Ascoli Piceno 4 Christophe Lemaire Yoichi Kuroiwa Sunday Racing 1:32.1
2026 Embroidery 4 Christophe Lemaire Kazutomo Mori Silk Racing 1:30.9

Speed Record

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "２０２４年度第２回東京競馬特別レース名解説" [2024 2nd Tokyo Racecourse Special Race Name Explanation] (PDF) (in Japanese). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-04-29.
  2. 1 2 "2026年ヴィクトリアマイル(GI)" (in Japanese). 日本中央競馬会. Retrieved 2026-05-06.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "2026年度第2回東京競馬特別レース名解説" (PDF) (in Japanese). 日本中央競馬会. p. 5. Retrieved 2026-05-06.
  4. ↑ "平成18年度(2006年)競馬番組発表". 優駿 (in Japanese). No. 2006年1月号. 中央競馬ピーアール・センター.
  5. ↑ "第2回 東京競馬成績集計表" (PDF) (in Japanese). 日本中央競馬会. 2006. pp. 1317–1318. Retrieved 2016-05-12.（索引番号：12095）
  6. ↑ "ヴィクトリアマイル（GI）及び安田記念（GI）優勝馬等に対するジャック・ル・マロワ賞（G1）への優先出走権付与について" (in Japanese). 日本中央競馬会. Retrieved 2017-05-30.
  7. ↑ "優駿牝馬（GⅠ）優勝馬等の仏・ヴェルメイユ賞（G1）への優先出走権付与および「デスティナシオンフランス」について" (in Japanese). 日本中央競馬会. Archived from the original on 2019-07-24. Retrieved 2026-05-25.
  8. ↑ "ヴィクトリアマイルと安田記念の上位3頭に新たにムーランドロンシャン賞の優先出走権". Sponichi Annex (in Japanese). スポーツニッポン新聞社. 2021-04-27. Retrieved 2021-04-27.
  9. ↑ "競馬番組一般事項(Horseracing Program General Information) - Page 22" (PDF). JRA. Retrieved June 17, 2026.
  10. ↑ "Fifth Favorite Normcore Stormed to Victory with Record Time in This Year's Victoria Mile". japanracing.jp. Japan Association for International Racing and Stud Book. 12 May 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2025.
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