Winning Horses

Horse of the Year for 2011 went to Furioso, who boldly captured the Kawasaki Kinen as well as the Kashiwa Kinen, both top-class titles, then fought to a second-place finish in the JRA's February Stakes (G1). Furioso (7-year-old horse, trained by Masayuki Kawashima, Funabashi) was awarded the title of Horse of the Year for the fourth time, following recognition in 2007, 2008 and 2010. In addition to the Horse of the Year award, Furioso was also named Best Thoroughbred Older Colt or Horse.

Best Thoroughbred 2-Year-Old Colt went to Gold Medal (2-year-old colt, trained by Junji Tanaka, Hokkaido). Gold Medal was a formidable presence, including his run in the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun, which saw him across the finish line in fourth place, ahead of all other NAR-registered runners.

Best Thoroughbred 2-Year-Old Filly was won by Angel Tweet (2-year-old filly, trained by Junpei Morishita, Ohi). Angel Tweet turned in shining displays of strength in holding off the pursuit to take both NAR dirt principal races, the Tokyo Nisai Yushun Himba and the Heiwa Sho.

Best Thoroughbred 3-Year-Old Colt went to Oe Raijin (3-year-old colt, trained by Tadao Hashimoto, Hyogo), who went unbeaten from his debut to win the Hyogo Derby, Kuroshio Hai and other top-level races, and finished in the money in the Hyogo Gold Trophy.

Best Thoroughbred 3-Year-Old Filly went to Clave Secreta (3-year-old filly, trained by Masayuki Kawashima, Funabashi). In addition to winning the Queen Sho and other top-level races, Clave Secreta became the first filly in 20 years to win the Tokyo Derby.

Best Thoroughbred Older Filly or Mare was awarded to Love Michan (4-year-old filly, trained by Hitoshi Yanae, Kasamatsu). Love Michan, in addition to winning three races competing alongside JRA horses, held her ground for an impressive second-place finish in the Tokyo Hai.

Best Ban-Ei (Draft) Horse was Kanesa Black (9-year-old horse, trained by Hirofumi Matsui, Ban-ei), who not only won the pinnacle of the draft horse events including the Ban-ei Kinen, but was a powerful and unbeatable presence in a number of other major heavyweight contests.

Best Thoroughbred Sprinter or Miler went to Nike Madrid (5-year-old horse, trained by Masayuki Kawashima, Funabashi), who clinched the award for the second year in a row after his impressive fleet-footedness easily laid low the competition in the Sakitama Hai (1,400 meters).

Unfortunately, 2011 saw no winner in the Best Thoroughbred Turf Horse category.

The Dirt Grade (Principal Dirt) Race Special Prize was won for the second year in a row by the JRA horse Smart Falcon (6-year-old horse, trained by Ken Kozaki, JRA Ritto Training Center). Smart Falcon was again an unrivaled presence this season and swept to proud victories in the Teio Sho, JBC Classic and Tokyo Daishoten (G1).

The Special Award was not given this year.

Winning Persons

Best Trainer (races won) was awarded to Masamitsu Saika (Kochi). Saika rewrote the record books for most NAR wins in a year with his total tally of 265 first-place finishes in 2011.

Best Trainer (money earned) was given to Mitsuhiro Okabayashi (Funabashi), who amassed some 180 million yen in earnings.

Best Trainer (winning average) was won by Masamichi Kashihara (Hyogo), who finished the year with a 34.6 percent winning average.

There was no recipient in the Grand Prize Trainer category.

Best Jockey (races won) and Best Jockey (money earned) were both won by the Ohi-based Keita Tosaki, who won a total of 336 races and accumulated earnings of over 1.3 billion yen (both including JRA races). Tosaki won both awards for his third year in a row.

Best Jockey (winning average) went to Shuji Akaoka (Kochi) with an astounding average of 35.2 percent. Akaoka also won the award for the third year straight.

Grand Prize Jockey awards were bestowed upon both Keita Tosaki (Ohi), and Hiroto Yoshihara (Kanazawa). Tosaki, who won the JRA's Yasuda Kinen (G1) aboard Real Impact, became the second NAR jockey after Fuyuki Igarashi's victory in the Singapore Airlines International Cup in 2006, to win an International G1 race. Yoshihara was recognized for his second-place overall finish after two wins in the four-race, JRA's World Super Jockeys Series.

Best Apprentice Jockey was Arata Shimazu (Ban-ei), who won 86 races, including one top-level win, following his debut in January of last year.

Best Fair Play Jockey went to Shuji Akaoka (Kochi), who was recognized for a year of sportsmanlike riding with his first fair play recognition.

There was no recipient of the Best Female Jockey award.

The Special Award went to Hitomi Miyashita (Aichi), upon her retirement 2011. Miyashita was recognized for her distinguished career, which included such achievements as most races won by a female jockey and success overseas with a win of the International Lady Jockey Invitation Race in Korea in 2009.