February Stakes
Horse race
| 2026 | ||
| Costa Nova | Wilson Tesoro | W Heart Bond |
The February Stakes (フェブラリーステークス) is a Grade 1 flat horse race in Japan.
01Background
The February Stakes is a Grade 1 flat race run over a distance of 1,600 metres (approximately 8 furlongs) at Tokyo Racecourse in late February.
02History
Originally inaugurated in 1984 as the February Handicap, it began as a Domestic Grade 3 race. Its status steadily rose over the years: it was promoted to Domestic Grade 2 in 1994, the same year it was renamed the February Stakes. In 1995, the race was opened to horses registered with Japan’s National Association of Racing (NAR), broadening the competitive field. It was further elevated to Domestic Grade 1 in 1997.
In 1999, Meisei Opera, made history by becoming the first horse from trained in the NAR to claim victory in a JRA Grade 1 race.
In 2007, the race achieved international Grade 1 status and was opened to horses trained outside Japan, significantly enhancing its global profile.
Today, alongside the Champions Cup, the February Stakes is one of only two Grade 1 dirt races organized by JRA.
Many top contenders at this race make expeditions to Dubai World Cup Night, particularly to the Dubai World Cup, one of the world's richest horse race. In 2011, Transcend, the winner of this race finished second at the 2011 Dubai World Cup, making a close finish with the winner Victoire Pisa, another Japanese contender.
In February 2025, Australian jockey Rachel King made history by becoming the first female rider to win a flat Grade 1 race in Japan.
03Trial races
Trial races provide automatic berths to the winning horses.
| Race | Grade | Racecourse | Distance | Condition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Procyon Stakes | GII | Kyoto | Dirt 1,800 metres | Winner |
| Negishi Stakes | GIII | Tokyo | Dirt 1,400 metres | Winner |
04Records
Speed record:
- 1.33.8, Cafe Pharoah (2022)
Most wins by a horse (2):
- Copano Rickey (2014, 2015)
- Cafe Pharoah (2021, 2022)
- Costa Nova (2025, 2026)
Most wins by a jockey (5):
- Yutaka Take (2003, 2006, 2008, 2015, 2019)
Most wins by a trainer (3):
- Akira Murayama (2012, 2014, 2015)
Most wins by an owner (4):
- Katsumi Yoshida (2012, 2017, 2025, 2026)
05Winners
| Year |
Winner |
Age |
Jockey |
Trainer |
Owner |
Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G3 - February Handicap | ||||||
| 1984 | Robaria Amon | 5 | Masato Yoshinaga | Kichisaburo Matsuyama | Uraichi Suga | 1:40.1 |
| 1985 | Andre Amon | 6 | Hiroyuki Nakajima | Yasuhisa Matsuyama | Amon Inc. | 1:36.9 |
| 1986 | Hatsuno Amoy | 5 | Eizaburo Otsuka | Yoshio Nakazumi | Hatsutaro Nakagawa | 1:36.7 |
| 1987 | Rikisan Power | 6 | Masato Shibata | Kunio Takamatsu | Saburo Iwai | 1:36.5 |
| 1988 | Roman Prince | 7 | Sueo Masuzawa | Seizuke Sato | Long Shoji co. | 1:37.7 |
| 1989 | Velvet Glove | 6 | Hiroyuki Gohara | Fusamatsu Okubo | Hideo Kuribayashi | 1:37.2 |
| 1990 | Carib Song | 4 | Masato Shibata | Shuho Kato | Ogifushi Bokujo RC co. | 1:36.7 |
| 1991 | Narita Hayabusa | 4 | Norihiro Yokoyama | Kentaro Nakao | Hidenori Yamaji | 1:34.9 |
| 1992 | Russian Gold | 4 | Masayoshi Ebina | Yokichi Okubo | Akihiro Ohara | 1:35.4 |
| 1993 | Meisho Homura | 5 | Masato Shibata | Shigetada Takahashi | Yoshio Matsumoto | 1:35.7 |
| G2 - February Stakes | ||||||
| 1994 | Cheers Atom | 5 | Masaru Honda | Kaoru Hoshikawa | Kiyoko Kitamura | 1:37.8 |
| 1995 | Lively Mount | 4 | Mamoru Ishibashi | Fujio Shibata | Tetsuo Kato | 1:36.4 |
| 1996 | Hokuto Vega | 6 | Norihiro Yokoyama | Takayoshi Nakano | Kanamorimori Shoji | 1:36.5 |
| G1 - February Stakes | ||||||
| 1997 | Shinko Windy | 4 | Yukio Okabe | Kiyotaka Tanaka | Osamu Yasuda | 1:36.0 |
| 1998 | Gourmet Frontier | 6 | Yukio Okabe | Kiyotaka Tanaka | Masayoshi Ishii | 1:37.5 |
| 1999 | Meisei Opera # | 5 | Isao Sugawara | Shuichi Sasaki | Meisei Shoji co. | 1:36.5 |
| 2000 | Wing Arrow | 5 | Olivier Peslier | Yoshimi Kudo | Minoru Ikeda | 1:35.6 |
| 2001 | Nobo True | 5 | Olivier Peslier | Hideyuki Mori | Ikebata | 1:35.6 |
| 2002 | Agnes Digital | 5 | Hirofumi Shii | Toshiaki Shirai | Takao Watanabe | 1:35.1 |
| 2003 | Gold Allure * | 4 | Yutaka Take | Yasuo Ikee | Shadai Race Horse co. | 1:50.9 |
| 2004 | Admire Don | 5 | Katsumi Ando | Hiroyoshi Matsuda | Riichi Kondo | 1:36.8 |
| 2005 | Meisho Bowler | 4 | Yuichi Fukunaga | Toshiaki Shirai | Yoshio Matsumoto | 1:34.7 |
| 2006 | Kane Hekili | 4 | Yutaka Take | Katsuhiko Sumii | Makoto Kaneko | 1:34.9 |
| 2007 | Sunrise Bacchus | 5 | Katsumi Ando | Hidetaka Otonashi | Takao Matsuoka | 1:34.8 |
| 2008 | Vermilion | 6 | Yutaka Take | Sei Ishizaka | Sunday Racing | 1:35.3 |
| 2009 | Success Brocken | 4 | Hiroyuki Uchida | Hideaki Fujiwara | Tetsu Takashima | 1:34.6 |
| 2010 | Espoir City | 5 | Tetsuzo Sato | Akio Adachi | Yushun Horse Club | 1:34.9 |
| 2011 | Transcend | 5 | Shinji Fujita | Takayuki Yasuda | Koji Maeda | 1.36.4 |
| 2012 | Testa Matta | 6 | Yasunari Iwata | Akira Murayama | Katsumi Yoshida | 1.35.4 |
| 2013 | Grape Brandy | 5 | Suguru Hamanaka | Takayuki Yasuda | Shadai Race Horse co. | 1.35.1 |
| 2014 | Copano Rickey | 4 | Hironobu Tanabe | Akira Murayama | Sachiaki Kobayashi | 1.36.0 |
| 2015 | 5 | Yutaka Take | 1.36.3 | |||
| 2016 | Moanin | 4 | Mirco Demuro | Sei Ishizaka | Yukio Baba | 1.34.0 |
| 2017 | Gold Dream | 4 | Mirco Demuro | Osamu Hirata | Katsumi Yoshida | 1.35.1 |
| 2018 | Nonkono Yume | 6 | Hiroyuki Uchida | Yukihiro Kato | Kazumasa Yamada | 1.36.0 |
| 2019 | Inti | 5 | Yutaka Take | Kenji Nonaka | Shigeo Takeda | 1.35.6 |
| 2020 | Mozu Ascot | 6 | Christophe Lemaire | Yoshito Yahagi | Capital System | 1.35.2 |
| 2021 | Cafe Pharoah | 4 | Christophe Lemaire | Noriyuki Hori | Koichi Nishikawa | 1.34.4 |
| 2022 | 5 | Yuichi Fukunaga | 1.33.8 | |||
| 2023 | Lemon Pop | 5 | Ryusei Sakai | Hiroyasu Tanaka | Godolphin | 1.35.6 |
| 2024 | Peptide Nile | 6 | Yusuke Fujioka | Hidenori Take | Kazuhiko Numakawa | 1:35.7 |
| 2025 | Costa Nova | 5 | Rachel King | Tetsuya Kimura | Katsumi Yoshida | 1:35.5 |
| 2026 | 6 | Christophe Lemaire | 1:35.4 | |||
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “February Stakes”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Lemon Pop February Stakes 2023(IMG1).jpg by Nadaraikon, CC BY-SA 3.0
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