The Mystique of Chukyo Racecourse

The Mystique of Chukyo Racecourse

By Hearst Schlitz III
The Ponyville Express
November 24, 2021

Chukyo Racecourse (中京競馬場 Chūkyō-keibajō) is located in Toyoake, Aichi, Japan. It is used for horse racing. It was built in 1994. It has a capacity of 58,400. It has 8,795 seats.

Chukyo Racecourse has a grass courses, a dirt course, and a jump course. The turf's measures 1600m (7/8 mile + 629 feet). Races can be run on the "A Course" rail setting (on the hedge), the "B Course" setting (rail out 3 meters), or the "C Course" setting (rail out 7 meters). 1000m, 1200m, 1700m, 1800m, 2000m, 2500m and 2800m races run on the oval. The dirt course measures 1418 meters (7/8 mile + 278 feet). 1000m, 1600m, 1700m, 2300m races run on the oval.

The Champions Cup (JPN G-1, formerly the Japan Cup Dirt until 2013) is a thoroughbred horse race contested in Japan in early December. It is run for three-year-olds and older at a distance of 1,800 meters. In recent years, the race has followed the Japan Cup on the Japanese racing calendar.

The Japan Cup Dirt was moved to Chukyo Racecourse in 2014 and be renamed the Champions Cup. According to the Japan Racing Association, the decision to make changes to the race was because of a lack of international participation. The new Champions Cup race will be run left-handed, as opposed to the right turns run since the race moved from Tokyo to Hanshin in 2008. The purse of the race will be reduced to ¥94 million - compared to ¥130 million for the 2013 running - and it will no longer be an invitational race.

The Takamatsunomiya Kinen (高松宮記念) is a Grade 1 flat horse race in Japan for four-year-old and above thoroughbreds. It is run over a distance of 1,200 metres (approximately 6 furlongs) at Chukyo Racecourse in late March.

The forerunner of this race was the Chukyo Daishoten (中京大賞典). It was started as the Takamatsunomiya Hai (高松宮杯) when the victory cup was designed by Prince Takamatsu in 1971, and was given Domestic Grade 2 status when race grading was introduced to Japan in 1984. It was run over a distance of 2,000 metres. This was shortened to 1,200 metres and elevated to Domestic Grade 1 in 1996, and to its present level in 2006. Horses trained outside Japan have been eligible to run in the race since 2001. It was renamed the Takamatsumiya Kinen in 1998 because the family of Prince Takamatsu stopped deigning the victory cup.

From 2011 The Takamatsunomiya Kinen has taken over from the Centaur Stakes as a Japanese leg of the Global Sprint Challenge Series it is the second leg of the series preceded by the Lightning Stakes and from 2012 followed by the Dubai Golden Shaheen. It is also the only JRA Grade 1 race not venued in their 4 major racecourses (Hanshin, Kyoto, Nakayama, Tokyo).