JRA Award for Best Dirt Horse explained

Japanese Best Dirt Horse is a title awarded annually by the Japan Racing Association (JRA).Since 1987 the honor has been part of the JRA Awards.

Records

Most successful horse (2 wins):

• Wing Arrow – 1998, 2000
• Admire Don – 2003, 2004
• Kane Hekili – 2005, 2008
• Espoir City – 2009, 2010

----Leading trainer (2 wins):

• Katsumi Minai – Wing Arrow (1998, 2000)
• Hiroyoshi Matsuda – Admire Don (2003, 2004)
• Sei Ishizaka – Alondite (2006), Vermilion (2007)
• Katsuhiko Sumii - Kane Hekili (2005, 2008)
• Akio Adachi – Espoir City (2009, 2010)
• Kunihide Matsuda – Kurofune (2001), Belshazzar (2013)

----Leading owner (4 wins):

• Makoto Kaneko – Wing Arrow (2000), Kurofune (2001), Kane Hekili (2005, 2008)

Winners

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Year	Horse	Trainer	Owner	Age
1987	No Award
1988	No Award
1989	Dyna Letter	Toshio Nihon'yanagi	Shadai Racing	5
1990	Caribbean Song	Osamu Kato Hajime	Ogifuji Ranch	4
1991	Narita Falcon	Kentaro Nakao	Hidenori Yamaji	4
1992	No Award
1993	Meisho Homura	Takahashi Shigetada	Yoshio Matsumoto	5
1994	Fujino Makken O	Yoshio Nakamura	Hiroshi Nakamura	3
1995	Lively Mount	Fujio Shibata	Tetsuro Kato	4
1996	Hokuto Vega	Takao Nakano	Kanamori Shoji Mori	6
1997	No Award
1998	Wing Arrow	Katsumi Minai	Minoru Ikeda	3
1999	No Award
2000	Wing Arrow	Katsumi Minai	Makoto Kaneko	5
2001	Kurofune	Kunihide Matsuda	Makoto Kaneko	5
2002	Gold Allure	Yasutoshi Ikee	Shadai Racing	4
2003	Admire Don	Hiroyoshi Matsuda	Riichi Kondo	4
2004	Admire Don	Hiroyoshi Matsuda	Riichi Kondo	5
2005	Kane Hekili	Katsuhiko Sumii	Makoto Kaneko	3
2006	Alondite	Sei Ishizaka	Carrot Farm Co.	3
2007	Vermilion	Sei Ishizaka	Sunday Racing	5
2008	Kane Hekili	Katsuhiko Sumii	Makoto Kaneko	6
2009	Espoir City	Akio Adachi	Yushun Horse	4
2010	Espoir City	Akio Adachi	Yushun Horse	5
2011	Transcend	Yasuda Takayuki	Koji Maeda	5
2012	Nihonpiro Ours	Yuki Ohashi	Hyakutaro Kobayashi	5
2013	Belshazzar	Kunihide Matsuda	Shadai Race Horse	5
2014	Hokko Tarumae	Katsuichi Nishiura	Michiaki Yabe	5
2015	Copano Rickey	Akira Murayama	Sachiaki Kobayashi	5
2016	Sound True	Noboru Takagi	Hiroshi Yamada	6
2017	Gold Dream	Osamu Hirata	Katsumi Yoshida	4^[1]
2018	Le Vent Se Leve	Kiyoshi Hagiwara	G1 Racing	3
2019	Chrysoberyl	Hidetaka Otonashi	Carrot Farm	3^[2]
2020	Chuwa Wizard	Ryuji Okubo	Shinobu Nakanishi	5^[3]
2021	T O Keynes	Daisuke Takayanagi	Tomoya Ozasa	4^[4]
2022	Cafe Pharoah	Noriyuki Hori	Koichi NIshikawa	5^[5]
2023	Lemon Pop	Hiroyasu Tanaka	Godolphin	5^[6]

References

• Horse racing in Japan: JRA Awards

Notes and References

1. Web site: Winners of the 2017 JRA Awards announced. 10 January 2018. Horse Racing in Japan.
2. Web site: Winners of the 2019 JRA Awards announced. 8 January 2020. Horse Racing in Japan.
3. Web site: Winners of the 2020 JRA Awards announced. 7 January 2021. Horse Racing in Japan.
4. Web site: Winners of the 2021 JRA Awards announced. 11 January 2022. Horse Racing in Japan.
5. Web site: 2023-01-10 . Winners of the 2022 JRA Awards announced . 2023-04-03 . Horse Racing in Japan.
6. Web site: 「2023年度JRA賞」決定！年度代表馬はイクイノックス！ JRA . 2024-01-09 . jra.jp . ja.