The Asian Mile Challenge is a series of four one-mile (eight furlongs) Thoroughbred horse races. Created in 2005, the series was launched with two races, one in Hong Kong, the other in Japan. In 2006, the Melbourne Racing Club of Australia and the Dubai Racing Club of the United Arab Emirates joined the series.
Raced approximately four weeks apart between March and June, a US$1 million bonus is given to any horse who wins two legs of the Asian Mile Challenge. In 2006, the Hong Kong–based horse Bullish Luck collected the bonus after winning the Champions Mile and the Yasuda Kinen.
The Asian Mile Challenge now consists of four Grade I races:
Christophe Patrice Lemaire is a French-born jockey. He has enjoyed much of his success on the Japanese flat racing circuit, with the most wins at Japan Racing Association racetracks for five consecutive years since 2017.
The Yasuda Kinen is a Japanese International Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at the Tokyo Racecourse in Tokyo. Raced annually each June, the Yasuda Kinen is run at a distance of eight furlongs on turf and is open to horses three years of age and up. The event was first run in 1951 as the Yasuda Sho in honor of Izaemon Yasuda, the founding chairman of the Japan Racing Association. Following the death of Mr. Yasuda, in 1958 the race name was changed to the Yasuda Kinen.
Bullish Luck is a Hong Kong–based Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred in Kentucky, he is the son of the 1990 Breeders' Cup Mile winner Royal Academy and out of the Alysheba mare Wild Vintage. He was sold by his breeders at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale to Gordon Smyth who named him "Al Moughazel" and sent him to Newmarket for training under Pip Payne.
The Champions Mile is a Group 1 flat horse race in Hong Kong for three-year-old and above thoroughbreds run over a distance of 1,600 metres on the turf at Sha Tin Racecourse with the total purse of HK$14m in 2014/15, approximately US$1.8m.
Horse racing is a popular equestrian sport in Japan, with more than 21,000 horse races held each year. There are three types of racing that take place in Japan - flat racing, jump racing, and Ban'ei Racing.
The Global Sprint Challenge is a Thoroughbred horse racing series inaugurated in 2005 as a series of six sprint races run across three racing jurisdictions in Australia, England and Japan. In 2006 the series expanded to seven races across four racing jurisdictions with the inclusion of a race in Hong Kong. In 2008 the series expanded to eight races when an additional race in England became part of the series and in 2011 the series expands to nine races with the inclusion of a race in Singapore.
Daiwa Major is a retired Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse and active sire. A horse who excelled at distances of one to one and a quarter miles, he won the Satsuki Shō, the first leg of the Japanese Triple Crown in 2004. His greatest success, however, came later in his career when he won several of Japan's most important weight-for-age races including the Tennō Shō, the Yasuda Kinen and two runnings of the Mile Championship. He was twice named Japan's champion miler. Daiwa Major made a successful start to his stud career, siring a Group One winner in his first crop.
Lord Kanaloa is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. A specialist sprinter, he recorded his first important success in 2011 when he won the Grade 3 Keihan Hai at Kyoto Racecourse. In the following year he won once from his first four starts but then emerged as a world-class performer with wins in the Sprinters Stakes and the Hong Kong Sprint, becoming the first Japanese horse to win the latter race. Lord Kanaloa was even better in 2013 winning the Takamatsunomiya Kinen before stepping up in distance to take the Yasuda Kinen. In the autumn he repeated his wins in the Sprinters Stakes and the Hong Kong Sprint and ended the year rated as one of the best racehorses in the world.
Fairy King Prawn was an Australian-bred, Hong Kong-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. After being sold and exported to Hong Kong as a yearling he became one of the most successful and popular horses in his adopted territory. Equally adept as a sprinter or as a miler he won twelve of his twenty-six starts including the Chairman's Sprint Prize (twice) the Hong Kong Sprint, Hong Kong Stewards' Cup and Bauhinia Sprint Trophy. In 2000 he became the first Hong Kong horse to win a Grade One race abroad when he won the Yasuda Kinen in Japan. He won numerous awards including the title of Hong Kong Horse of the Year on two occasions. He was retired from racing in 2002 after undergoing surgery for serious leg injuries. After working for several years at a Hong Kong riding school he was sent into full retirement in New Zealand in 2011.
Maurice, is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse. After showing promise as a two-year-old he disappointed in 2014, being well-beaten in all four of his races. In 2015 he emerged as one of the best milers in the world with an unbeaten record of six wins from six races. After two minor wins early in the year he recorded his first important success in the Lord Derby Challenge Trophy before taking the Grade I Yasuda Kinen. He returned in autumn to win the Mile Championship and then defeated a strong international field in the Hong Kong Mile. His performances in 2015 saw him named Best Japanese Sprinter or Miler and Japanese Horse of the Year. In the following year he won the Champions Mile before moving up i distance in the autumn to win the Tenno Sho and the Hong Kong Cup.
Mikki Isle is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. After winning two of his three starts as a juvenile he emerged as a top-class performer in 2014 when his wins included the Nikkan Sports Sho Shinzan Kinen, Arlington Cup, NHK Mile Cup and Swan Stakes. He failed to win as four-year-old but ran well in defeat in major races such as the Takamatsunomiya Kinen and the Sprinters Stakes. He reached his peak in 2016 when he won the Hankyu Hai and ran second in both the Takamatsunomiya Kinen and the Sprinters Stakes before recording his biggest win in the Mile Championship. At the end of the year he took the JRA Award for Best Sprinter or Miler. He was a front-running racehorse and was often vulnerable to fast-finishing opponents.
Danon Premium, is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse. He was the top-rated juvenile in Japan in 2017 when he was undefeated in three races including the Saudi Arabia Royal Cup and the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes. In the following year he won the Yayoi Sho but finished sixth when favourite for the Tokyo Yushun. As a four-year-old he won the Kinko Sho and Yomiuri Milers Cup as well as finishing second in both the Tenno Sho and the Mile Championship.
Logotype is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. As a juvenile in 2012 he won two minor races in his first four starts before recording an upset victory in the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes, which resulted in his taking the JRA Award for Best Two-Year-Old Colt. In the following spring he maintained his winning form by taking the Spring Stakes and then winning the Satsuki Sho in record time. He failed to win for over three years before taking the Yasuda Kinen as a six-year-old in 2016.
Admire Mars is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse. As a juvenile in 2018 he was undefeated in four races including the Daily Hai Nisai Stakes and the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes and won the JRA Award for Best Two-Year-Old Colt. In his first two races of 2019 he was beaten in the Tokinominoru Kinen and the Satsuki Sho before returning to winning form to take the NHK Mile Cup. In December he won the Hong Kong Mile. He failed to win in 2020 but ran third in both the Mile Championship and the Hong Kong Mile.
Lys Gracieux is a champion Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse. As a two-year-old in 2016 she showed top-class form, winning two of her four starts and finished second in the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies. In the following year she failed to win but was placed in several major races including the Oka Sho and the Shuka Sho. As a four-year-old she won the Tokyo Shimbun Hai and the Queen Elizabeth II Cup as well as running second in the Victoria Mile and the Hong Kong Vase and was awarded the JRA Award for Best Older Filly or Mare. In 2019 she had her most successful season as she took the Takarazuka Kinen in Japan and the Cox Plate in Australia before ending her track career with a victory in the Arima Kinen. She was the 2019 Japanese Horse of the Year and 2019 Best Older Filly or Mare. Lys Gracieux is one of the three highest earning racehorses in the world among the racehorses born in 2014, along with Thunder Snow and Enable.
Indy Champ is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse. After winning his only start as a juvenile in 2017 he showed good form in the following year when he won three races and finished third in the Mainichi Hai. He emerged as a top-class performer in 2019 winning the Tokyo Shimbun Hai in February and going to take both of Japan's open age Grade 1 mile races, the Yasuda Kinen and the Mile Championship. In the following years he won the Yomiuri Milers Cup and was placed in both the Yasuda Kinen and the Mile Championship.
Mozu Ascot is an American-bred Japanese-trained Thoroughbred racehorse who won Grade 1 races on turf and dirt. He did not race as a two-year-old in 2016 but in the following year he won four minor races. As a four-year-old he won the Yasuda Kinen as well as finishing second in the Hankyu Hai, Yomiuri Milers Cup and Swan Stakes. He failed to win in 2019 but returned to winning form when switched to race on dirt in 2020, taking the Negishi Stakes and the February Stakes. He was retired from racing at the end of the season.
Normcore is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse. She showed promising form in her first two seasons, winning both of her races as a juvenile in 2017 and taking the Grade 3 Shion Stakes in the following year. As a four-year-old she recorded a Grade 1 success in the Victoria Mile as well as taking the Fuji Stakes. In 2020 she finished third in the Victoria Mile and won the Sapporo Kinen before claiming the Hong Kong Cup at Sha Tin Racecourse on her final run of the season. She earned over US$5.7 million in prize money.
Danon Smash is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse best known for his performances in sprint races. He won twice as a juvenile in 2017 and took two more races, including the Grade 3 Keihan Hai as a three-year-old in the following year. In 2019 he began to emerge as a top-class sprinter as he recorded further Grade 3 victories in the Silk Road Stakes and the Keeneland Cup as well as running third in the Grade 1 Sprinters Stakes. He improved again as a five-year-old when he won the Ocean Stakes, Keio Hai Spring Cup and Centaur Stakes in Japan and the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint in Hong Kong. On his first run of 2021 he won the Takamatsunomiya Kinen at the third attempt.
Romantic Warrior is a multiple Group 1 winning champion thoroughbred racehorse that was born in Ireland and trained in Hong Kong. After it arrived in Hong Kong in June 2021, he scored a five-winning streak, including a championship of the Hong Kong Classic Mile. He is currently owned by Lau Pak Fai and trained by Danny Shum Chap Shing. he was the Champion Middle-Distance Horse, the Champion Four-Year-Old and the Most Improved Horse in the year 2022. He is notable for winning the Cox Plate in 2023 and the Hong Kong Cup in both 2022 and 2023. He also won the Yasuda Kinen in 2024, being the first foreign-trained horse in 18 years to win at the Tokyo Racecourse since Bullish Luck in 2006, also in the same race.