The National Association of Racing, which oversees local horse racing, and the JRA = Japan Racing Association have announced that they will hold a three-crown dirt race for 3-year-old horses from 2024 next year.
Dirt races for 2-year-old horses and 3-year-old horses in Japan are not maintained nationwide, although there are races that determine the top of each district in local horse racing.
For this reason, the target race is inadequate, and the people concerned have been considering it.
On the 20th, the National Association of Racing and the JRA held a press conference at a hotel in Tokyo and announced that they would hold a dirt triple crown race with a 3-year-old horse from 2024 next year.
The target races are the three races, "Haneda Hai," "Tokyo Derby," and "Japan Dirt Derby," which are still held at Oi Racecourse in Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo.
Until now, Haneda Hai and Tokyo Derby have been limited to horses belonging to the four regional horse races in the South Kanto region, but horses belonging to the JRA and other regional horse races will also be able to run.
The prize money will be increased in each race, and the prize money for the first place will be 100 million yen at Tokyo Derby, which is double the previous prize money.
Currently, the race is limited to domestic training horses, but we are aiming to become an international race in the future.
In central horse racing, turf races are the main race, so in regional horse racing, we want to differentiate ourselves by focusing on dirt.