The Sprinters Stakes is considered one of the most prestigious short-distance horse races in the world, and the most important sprint race in Japan. Holding international Grade 1 status, the highest level of Thoroughbred horse racing, it is run over 1200 meters in late September or early October every year at Nakayama Racecourse in Japan. It has long produced many memorable finishes since it was first run in 1967. The 59th running took place on Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025, as the highlight race on the program, under excellent track conditions and beautiful weather.
In one of the most dramatic upsets in the history of Japanese horse racing, eight-year-old stallion Win Carnelian won this year’s running by a head, just barely over four-year-old mare June Blair in a very exciting battle down Nakayama’s famous uphill homestretch.
Starting off with unfavorable 50-to-1 longshot odds, Win Carnelian was predicted to finish with a disappointing result of 11th place. He was paired with jockey Kosei Miura in his eighth Grade 1 debut. Win Carnelian came smoothly out of the gate and quickly advanced to the front of the pack, keeping a comfortable pace and tailing June Blair for most of the race. Coming into the last corner and passing the 400-meter post, Miura and Win Carnelian pushed ahead to get neck-in-neck with June Blair and her jockey, legendary veteran Yutaka Take. The two horses had a tense duel down the final straight, with both of them being a fair margin ahead of the rest of the pack. Nonetheless, Miura continued to urge Win Carnelian on, desperately pulling the reins up the steep incline towards the winning post and narrowly prevailing over Take and June Blair. Win Carnelian crossed the line with an impressive time of 1:06.9, despite starting 16th in the widest gate position.
For Miura, this victory was very emotional. Moments after his victory, he performed a celebratory fist pump, overjoyed with his very first Grade 1 victory after attempting 127 times in his career. “I’ve ridden [Win Carnelian] for a long time. During the dead-heat to the wire, the history between us and the strong desire to give one more big victory to my eight-year-old partner ran through my mind,” he said. The historic win also had special significance for Win Carnelian’s trainer Yuichi Shikato, who is also Miura’s longtime mentor. Shikato secured his fifth Grade 1 career victory as a trainer that day.
Win Carnelian’s new success in the sprint category was the result of careful career decisions. He formerly competed in longer middle-distance races, usually 2000 to 2500 meters long, but transitioned to sprinting later in his career. He failed to achieve wins in last year’s Takamatsunomiya Kinen, also a major Grade 1 sprint held over 1200 meters in late March at Chukyo Racecourse, and the Yasuda Kinen, an esteemed mile-long race run each June at Japan’s biggest and most famous racetrack, Tokyo Racecourse. He finished 4th in the former and 14th in the latter, but subsequently won the Grade 3 Keihin Hai run over 1200 meters at Kyoto Racecourse and was sent to Dubai last April for competition in this year’s Al Quoz Sprint, another Grade 1 1200 meter race, finishing second there and showing signs of good sprinting potential.
His latest win continues a trend of recent surprise upsets in the Sprinters Stakes, with winners like Gendarme, who won the 2022 running as a seven-year-old against 20.3-to-1 odds, and Lugal, who won last year’s running as a four-year-old with 28.5-to-1 odds. With this incredible result, Win Carnelian is now eyeing the annual Japan Racing Association Award for Best Sprinter as the top candidate.
Sources: netkeiba.com, japanracing.jp, thoroughbreddailynews.com, bloodhorse.com
