{"id":951771,"date":"2026-05-11T03:21:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T03:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/951771\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T03:21:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T03:21:20","slug":"g1-victoria-mile-2026-what-you-need-to-know-about-tokyo-g1-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/951771\/","title":{"rendered":"G1 Victoria Mile 2026: What you need to know about Tokyo G1 race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Venue:<\/strong> Tokyo<\/p>\n

Distance:<\/strong> 1600m<\/p>\n

Value:<\/strong> \u00a5326,500,000 (about US$2,107,000)<\/p>\n

The Victoria Mile is a chance for Japan\u2019s older fillies and mares to establish the pecking order in the distaff division before the three-year-olds step out of their age restricted comfort zone. It is the only opportunity exclusive to this demographic and it is also a stepping stone to the G1 Yasuda Kinen when the fillies and mares are forced to take on the best of the males.<\/p>\n

The race has been won by some of the great mares of Japanese and world racing this century, including Almond Eye, Gran Alegria, Buena Vista, Apapane, Sodashi, Songline and Vodka.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Round Four For The Classic Queens<\/p>\n

Embroidery and Kamunyak were the two stars of last year\u2019s fillies\u2019 classics, with Embroidery winning the G1 Oka Sho over a mile and Kamunyak the G1 Yushun Himba at 2400m. The Yushun Himba, the Oaks, was the first time they met, and Embroidery was a non-staying ninth. But the rematch in the G1 Shuka Sho over 2000m, the last leg of the Triple Tiara, brought a different result, with Embroidery successful and Kamunyak a disappointing 16th.<\/p>\n

While Embroidery went to Hong Kong in December and failed to fire in the G1 Hong Kong Mile, Kamunyak was put away until the spring. The two fillies reunited in competition first up for the year in the G2 Hanshin Himba over 1600m on April 11: Embroidery was the 2.8 favourite and duly won, but Kamunyak, the 7.8 third pick, was a running-on second, beaten only a neck over a distance deemed well short of her best.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The pair will clash again at the mile on Sunday, and while Embroidery\u2019s natural speed will again see her take favouritism, Kamunyak clearly has the class and the heart to take it to her rival. Will it be 3-1 to Embroidery, or can Kamunyak bring the scores level at two wins each?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ChristopheEMBROIDERY, CHRISTOPHE LEMAIRE \/ G1 Shuka Sho \/\/ Kyoto \/\/\/ 2025 \/\/\/\/ Photo by Shuhei Okada<\/p>\n

\"AndraschANDRASCH STARKE, KAMUNYAK \/ G1 Yushun Himba \/\/ Tokyo \/\/\/ 2025 \/\/\/\/ Photo by Shuhei Okada<\/p>\n

Cervinia\u2019s Test<\/p>\n

Before Kamunyak and Embroidery, there was Cervinia, winner of the Yushun Himba and the Shuka Sho in 2024. She rounded out that three-year-old season with a solid fourth in the G1 Japan Cup behind Do Deuce. But since then, not much has gone right.<\/p>\n

Cervinia\u2019s 2025 campaign was a big disappointment: beaten in the G2 Kyoto Kinen and the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic, then second when favourite for a Group 3 race she should have been winning; her autumn was no better \u2013 seventh in the G2 Mainichi Okan and 10th in the G1 Mile Championship.<\/p>\n

This season started with fifth in the G2 Nakayama Kinen, a fair effort on balance, but this race is the litmus test to show whether or not she will recapture the form of her classic campaign or fade further into the shadows.<\/p>\n

Favourites On A Roll<\/p>\n

The JRA\u2019s spring Group 1 races have rewarded favourite backers, with all six contests going to the market\u2019s top pick, and we can make that seven if we include the Nakayama Grand Jump.<\/p>\n

It all started with Satono Reve in the G1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen at the end of March, winning at odds of 3.5 and continued on Sunday with Rodeo Drive winning the G1 NHK Mile Cup as the 4.6 favourite.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Embroidery is the projected market leader and is likely to be solid, so will the Victoria Mile maintain the streak?<\/p>\n

Lemaire The Main Man<\/p>\n

At the risk of banging the Embroidery drum, her jockey Christophe Lemaire has been the man to follow in recent years when it comes to the Victoria Mile. He won the race last year on Ascoli Piceno, giving him his fourth win in nine editions.<\/p>\n

Next best is Keita Tosaki with three wins, two of those with Straight Girl in 2015 and 2016, and this time he rides the recent Kokura Himba Stakes winner Jocelyn.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another former champion jockey Yuga Kawada has never won the race though, and this time he takes the reins on Kamunyak.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"ASCOLI PICENO, CHRISTOPHE LEMAIRE \/ G1 Victoria Mile \/\/ Tokyo \/\/\/ 2025 \/\/\/\/ Photo by Shuhei Okada<\/p>\n

Goncalves\u2019 Debut<\/p>\n

Francisco Leandro Goncalves had his first taste of Japanese racing at last September\u2019s World All-Star Jockeys contest, but he is back this spring on a short-term licence and the Victoria Mile will be his first time riding in a Japanese Group 1.<\/p>\n

The Brazilian, a multiple champion in Argentina, has had 25 rides during his current spell for three wins. Two of those came at Niigata last Saturday. He will partner the outsider Ma Puce in the Victoria Mile, a Group 3 winner at Chukyo last year who will have to find plenty if she is to deliver a fairytale result. \u220e<\/p>\n

\"Almond<\/p>\n

David Morgan<\/p>\n

Lemaire Still In Awe Of Almond Eye, The Japan Cup’s ‘Final Boss’<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"WTP<\/p>\n

Michael Cox<\/p>\n

Wong Tang-Ping And The Making Of Hong Kong Racing\u2019s First Superstar<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Venue: Tokyo Distance: 1600m Value: \u00a5326,500,000 (about US$2,107,000) The Victoria Mile is a chance for Japan\u2019s older fillies…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":951772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[265590,158591,194213,114326,288,265591,1071,265592,79,16,15,265593],"class_list":{"0":"post-951771","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-cervinia","9":"tag-christophe-lemaire","10":"tag-embroidery","11":"tag-francisco-leandro-fernandes-goncalves","12":"tag-horse-racing","13":"tag-kamunyak","14":"tag-racing","15":"tag-shuka-sho","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-victoria-mile"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116553796282095721","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=951771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/951772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=951771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}