Ban'ei Kinen
 Goal contest between Kanesa Black (left) and Nishiki Daijin (right) in the 42nd Ban'ei Kinen in 2010 | |
| Class | Ban'ei Grade 1 |
|---|---|
| Location | Obihiro Racecourse |
| Inaugurated | 1968 |
| Race type | Ban'ei |
| Website | www |
| Race information | |
| Distance | 200 meters (About 1 furlongs) |
| Surface | Dirt |
| Track | Ban'ei Track |
| Qualification | 4 years old or upper, Ban'ei |
| Weight | Weight-for-age (4yo or 5yo: 990kg, 6yo or upper: 1,000kg; -20kg for mare) |
| Purse | ¥10,000,000 (as of 2022) |
The Ban'ei Kinen (ばんえい記念) is a Grade 1 Ban'ei horse race, held in Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan for four-year-olds and up. The full name is Nōrin Suisan Daijin Shōten Ban'ei Kinen (農林水産大臣賞典 ばんえい記念) (Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Award, Ban'ei Kinen).
The race is the championship race held at the end of the season (March), with the highest weight and prize money among all ban'ei races. The race was initially held in Kitami, Asahikawa, Iwamizawa and Obihiro on a rotating basis. In 1988 the Ban'ei Kinen was fixed at Obihiro.
The winning time is rarely less than three minutes and it many cases it can take 3-4 minutes. In some cases, the winning time can be 5 minutes or more. The Ban'ei Kinen has one of the longest average finishing times of Japan's public competitions.[a][1] Since 1977, there have only been six times (1979, 1980, 1992, 2012, 2021, and 2022) that the winning time was less than 3 minutes. Due to this, the Ban'ei Kinen is sometimes called "the world's longest 1 furlong race".
Winners since 2001
[edit]| Year |
Winner |
Jockey |
Trainer |
Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Sakano Taison | Kazuo Okawara | Haruo Nishimura | 3:42.3 |
| 2002 | Sakano Taison | Takumi Fujimoto | Haruo Nishimura | 4:16.4 |
| 2003 | Super Pegasus | Toshiharu Iwamoto | Eito Otomo | 4:19.8 |
| 2004 | Super Pegasus | Toshiharu Iwamoto | Eito Otomo | 3:07.8 |
| 2005 | Super Pegasus | Shunichi Fujino | Eito Otomo | 3:15.3 |
| 2006 | Super Pegasus | Shunichi Fujino | Eito Otomo | 4:36.1 |
| 2007 | Tomoe Power | Toichi Sakamoto | Hirofumi Matsui | 4:50.6 |
| 2008 | Tomoe Power | Hiromi Nishi | Hirofumi Matsui | 5:35.8 |
| 2009 | Tomoe Power | Hiromi Nishi | Hirofumi Matsui | 4:50.8 |
| 2010 | Nishiki Daijin | Shunichi Fujino | Isamu Kaneta | 4:24.8 |
| 2011 | Kanesa Black | Michiaki Matsuda | Hirofumi Matsui | 4:07.7 |
| 2012 | Nishiki Daijin | Keisuke Suzuki | Shinichi Murakami | 2:34.0 |
| 2013 | Kanesa Black | Michiaki Matsuda | Hirofumi Matsui | 3:43.1 |
| 2014 | Infinity | Tatsuya Asada | Isamu Kaneda | 4:13.2 |
| 2015 | Kitano Taisho | Kazuo Okawara | Yoshiyuki Hattori | 3:49.9 |
| 2016 | Fuji Dai Victory | Michiaki Matsuda | Akihiko Kanayama | 3:41.5 |
| 2017 | Oreno Kokoro | Keisuke Suzuki | Shigeto Tsukitate | 4:07.6 |
| 2018 | Oreno Kokoro | Keisuke Suzuki | Shigeto Tsukitate | 3:59.3 |
| 2019 | Sengo Quace | Atsushi Kudo | Shigeto Tsukitate | 3:35.0 |
| 2020 | Oreno Kokoro | Keisuke Suzuki | Shigeto Tsukitate | 4:16.0 |
| 2021 | Hokusho Masaru | Takeomi Abe | Toichi Sakamoto | 2:43.4 |
| 2022 | Mejiro Goriki | Kenichi Nishi | Hirofumi Matsui | 2:47.2 |
| 2023 | Memrobosap | Takeomi Abe | Toichi Sakamoto | 3:34.4 |
| 2024 | Mejiro Goriki | Keisuke Suzuki | Hirofumi Matsui | 2:55.0 |
| 2025 | Memrobosap | Watarai Shinro | Toichi Sakamoto | 2:17.5 |
- ^ In Japanese horse racing, excluding Ban'ei, the winning time of the Nakayama Grand Jump is the longest (about 4 minutes 50 seconds - 5 minutes). Excluding Ban'ei and steeplechase, the Stayers Stakes is the longest (about 3 minutes 45 seconds - 50 seconds).
References
[edit]- ^ "The 47th Banei Kinen: History of the race". Banei Tokachi official site. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
