Champions Cup (horse race)

The Champions Cup (JPN G-1, formerly the Japan Cup Dirt until 2013) is a thoroughbred horse race contested in Japan in early December.

[1] With the move to Hanshin, the Japan Cup Dirt was shortened from its original distance of 2,100 meters (about 10+1⁄2 furlongs) to 1,800 meters (about 9 furlongs).

Now run one week after the Japan Cup, the Japan Cup Dirt shares the weekend with the "World Super Jockeys Series" featuring jockeys from around the world.

[2] 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.

2,416,000) Like counterpart Japan Cup, as being one of the 4 GI races in Japan Autumn International Series since 2008, a bonus is added to the top 3 if they are not trained in Japan, and raced in one of the following races and finished likewise in same year.

Kurofune wins the 2001 Japan Cup Dirt
Hokko Tarumae, the winner of the 2014 edition
Le Vent Se Leve wins the 2018 edition as a 3-year-old