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LEGENDSOF JAPANESE RACING
JAEN
Almond Eye racing in the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) at Tokyo

REAL RACING ARCHIVE(documented racing history)

GREAT RACE · Hanshin Racecourse

Oka Sho

桜花賞 — Japanese 1,000 Guineas

1600MRight-handed (outer course)GI

The first leg of the fillies’ Triple Tiara, run at Hanshin in spring.

Almond Eye — Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks), Tokyo Racecourse, 2018 — Photo: Nadaraikon / CC BY-SA 3.0

02

Current conditions

These are today’s conditions; past runnings may have differed.
Distance
1600m
Grade (current)
GI
Racecourse
Hanshin Racecourse
Direction
Right-handed (outer course)
Eligibility
Three-year-old fillies
Surface
Turf
First run
9 Apr 1939

03

Historical context

  • First contested in 1939 as the Nakayama Yonsai Himba Tokubetsu, over 1,800 metres at Nakayama.

04

Runnings in the archive

Race records are taken from the “Racing record” tables of each horse’s Japanese Wikipedia article (which cite netkeiba.com and JBIS-Search) and cross-checked against the career start count. Grades are shown as printed for that year’s running — current grades are never applied retroactively.

2007

  • 1stDaiwa ScarletKatsumi Ando2nd: ウオッカGI · 1600m · 1:33.7
  • 2ndVodkaHirofumi ShiiJpnI · 1600m · 1:33.9

2018

05

The venue

A view of Hanshin Racecourse

Hanshin Racecourse

阪神競馬場

Stage of the Takarazuka Kinen and the Oka Sho, also called “Nigawa” after its station.

SOURCES & REFERENCES

Sources & References

  1. 01
    桜花賞 — Wikipedia（日本語版）

    Wikipedia · Reference · Accessed 2026-09-26

  2. 02
    Oka Shō — Wikipedia (English)

    Wikipedia · Reference · Accessed 2026-09-26

IMAGE CREDITS

Image credits

Each photograph was checked on its individual Wikimedia Commons file page for author and licence.