The Tennō Shō (天皇賞, "Emperor's Prize") is a horse race held twice a year in Japan, once in the spring and once in the autumn. "Tenno" means "Emperor of Japan". The races are both International Grade I races. Prior to the 2007 races, both Tenno Sho races were Japanese domestic Grade I races.^[1]

Quick Facts Location, Inaugurated ...

Tenno Sho (Spring)

Int'l Grade 1 race
Justin Palace winning the 167th Tenno Sho
Location	Kyoto Racecourse, Kyoto
Inaugurated	1938
Race type	Thoroughbred
Website	japanracing.jp
Race information
Distance	3200 meters (About 16 furlongs / 2 miles)
Surface	Turf
Track	Right-handed
Qualification	4-y-o & Up, Thoroughbreds
Weight	4-y-o & up 58 kg Allowances 2 kg for fillies and mares
Purse	¥ 475,200,000 (as of 2023) 1st: ¥ 220,000,000
Bonuses	Winner of Osaka Hai, Tenno Sho (Spring), Takarazuka Kinen[2] Domestic: ¥ 200,000,000 International: ¥ 100,000,000

Close

The Spring Tenno Sho is held at Kyoto Racecourse, in late April or early May. It is run over a distance of 3,200 metres (10,500 ft), making it the longest Grade I race in Japan.

Deep Impact won the 2006 version of the race setting the world record for a 3200 metre race with a time of 3:13.4. beating the World Record set in the 1988 Wellington Cup by Daria’s Fun, held for almost 20 years of 3:15.59, the closest time run in The Melbourne Cup is 3:16.3. ^[3][4] Deep Impact's record stood until Kitasan Black won in 3:12.5 in 2017. The average time 1990-2018 of the Tenno Sho is 3:16.7, the Melbourne Cup 3:21.1, a difference of 4.4 seconds.

The Autumn Tenno Sho is held at Tokyo Racecourse, in late October. It is run over a distance of 2,000 metres (6,600 ft). It is considered the first leg of the Japanese Autumn Triple Crown (the other two are the Japan Cup and the Arima Kinen).

Originally, the Autumn Tenno Sho was run over a distance of 3,200 metres (10,500 ft), but was shortened to its current distance to promote middle-distance horses and to promote 3-year-old horses as a shorter-distance alternative to the Kikuka Sho, the Japanese St. Leger, which is 3,000 metres (9,800 ft).

Prior to 1980, a horse winning a Tennō Shō races was not allowed to participate in future editions of the race but this ban was lifted in 1981. Only two horses won the prize three times:

• Kitasan Black (2016 Spring, 2017 Spring and Autumn)
• T M Opera O (2000 Spring and Autumn, 2001 Spring)

Apart from Kitasan Black and T M Opera O, four horses to date have won consecutive runnings, either by winning both the Spring and Autumn races in the same year or by winning the Autumn race, and following year's Spring race.

• Tamamo Cross (1988 Spring, Autumn)
• Super Creek (1989 Autumn, 1990 Spring)
• Special Week (1999 Spring, Autumn)
• Meisho Samson (2007 Spring and Autumn)

Five horses have won two non-consecutive runnings.

• Mejiro McQueen (1991, 1992 Spring, finished 1st in 1991 Autumn but demoted to last)
• Rice Shower (1993, 1995 Spring)
• Symboli Kris S (2002, 2003 Autumn)
• Fenomeno (2013, 2014 Spring)
• Fierement (2019, 2020 Spring)
• Almond Eye (2019, 2020 Autumn)
• Equinox (2022, 2023 Autumn)

• Horse racing in Japan
• List of Japanese flat horse races