2025 Japan Cup: everything you need to know about the Tokyo showpiece

The 2025 Japan Cup – which will be shown exclusively in the UK and Ireland on Racing TV - will be the 45th running of one of the most prestigious horse races in Japan. With Tokyo being nine hours ahead of London, this means the Japan Cup will be broadcast at around 6:40am on Sunday, November 30 - join us for live coverage of the event. 

The mile and a half (2400m) Grade 1 contest takes place on turf at the left-handed Tokyo racecourse and is one of the most valuable races in the world, with up to 18 horses invited to take part by the Japan Racing Association (JRA) with nominations closing on October 7. Each invitee will bid to win a first prize of roughly £2.5 million from a total prize pool of nearly £5.4 million. 

There are also a range of lucrative prizes on offer to any horse that wins the Japan Cup after landing a high-profile bonus race in Europe, with this year’s list including both the English and Irish Derby, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the International Stakes, and both the English and Irish Champion Stakes. 

This year’s leading European contenders could include last year’s sixth Goliath, who won the Grosser Preis von Baden – one of the bonus races – in September, along with the fellow Francis-Henri Graffard-trained Calandagan who won the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes in July. Prince of Wales’s Stakes and International Stakes winner Ombudsman could also have the race as a long-term target for John and Thady Gosden. 

The Japanese-trained Danon Decile was well beaten in the International at York but had previously beaten Calandagan in the Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan and could help spearhead a strong older-horse challenge for Japan. Meisho Taburu, who impressed at Hanshin in June, and the Carrot Farm-owned trio of Tastiera, Redentor and last year’s joint runner-up Durezza could also feature. 

Amongst Japan’s top three-year-old contenders are the Japanese Derby winner Croix du Nord, who was a winner in France in September en-route to the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, and the fellow Sunday Racing-owned Museum Mile who has won at Nakayama since finishing sixth behind Croix du Nord in the Japanese Derby. 

The Japan Cup was first run in 1981 and, following three overseas winners and its elevation to Grade 1 level, Japan first claimed the prize in 1984 with Katsuragi Ace. 

Although runners trained in the USA (4 winners), Ireland (1), Britain (4), France (1), New Zealand (1), Australia (1) and Germany (1) enjoyed success over the next two decades, the race has been won exclusively by Japanese-trained horses since Luca Cumani’s Alkaased triumphed in 2005 under Frankie Dettori. 

However, there has been glory in the intervening years for European jockeys, with Mirco Demuro, Christophe Lemaire, Ryan Moore, Christophe Soumillon and Oisin Murphy all successful, while Australian rider Hugh Bowman landed the 2017 renewal. 

Christophe Lemaire is the winning-most European jockey, with four victories, while local hero Yutaka Take is the most successful rider in the race, as last year’s winner Do Deuce provided him with a record fifth victory. 

Although the Japan Cup – which has only had two multiple winners in Gentildonna (2012 and 2013) and Almond Eye (2018 and 2020) - has a shorter history than some of the other leading Grade 1 contests around the world, it is often a thrilling spectacle that pits experienced champions and rising stars against each other. 

A cultural event, reflecting Japan's deep appreciation for the sport of horse racing, the Japan Cup brings together the best of international horse racing in the heart of Tokyo. 

The 2024 Japan Cup – which you can re-watch here - was won in thrilling style by the Yasuo Tomomichi-trained Do Deuce who coped best with a slow pace to secure a neck success over Shin Emperor and Durezza who dead-heated for second place. 

Do Deuce had been fourth in the previous year’s renewal and though the winning time here was the slowest since 2019, he produced a massive performance under Yutaka Take considering he'd been held up at the back and pulled hard in a modestly run event. 

European representation was unusually thin on the ground, with the Francis-Henri Graffard-trained Goliath – who had won the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes earlier in the season – faring better in sixth than the Aidan O’Brien-trained Auguste Rodin who failed to land a blow in eighth. Grosser Preis von Baden winner Fantastic Moon was 11th. 

Do Deuce, a son of Heart’s Cry – who himself was beaten a nose in the 2005 Japan Cup won by Alkaased – has now retired to stand alongside his sire at Shadai Stallion Station. 

The Japan Cup will be shown exclusively in the UK and Ireland on Racing TV. With Tokyo being nine hours ahead of London, this means the Japan Cup will be broadcast at around 6:40am on Sunday November 30 - join us for live coverage of the event. Click here to start your FREE trial of Racing TV!

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