Japanese Best Dirt Horse is a title awarded annually by the

Japan Racing Association The Japan Racing Association ( ja, 日本中央競馬会 Nippon Chūō Keiba Kai, or JRA) is a public company established to operate Chūō Keiba (中央競馬 Central horse racing) and to manage racecourses, betting facilities, and horse-training ...

(JRA). Since 1987 the honor has been part of the

JRA Award The is given annually since 1987 by the Japan Racing Association (JRA) to the outstanding horses and people in Japanese Thoroughbred horse racing. The awards originally started as the in 1954 and since 1972 the {{Nihongo, Yūshun Awards, 優駿賞 ...

Records

Most successful horse (2 wins): * Wing Arrow – ''1998, 2000'' * Admire Don – ''2003, 2004'' *

Kane Hekili Kane Hekili (February 26, 2002 -May 25, 2016) was a Thoroughbred racehorse named after "The Thunder God" in Hawaiian mythology. In 2005 and 2006 he won four Grade 1 races on dirt in Japan and finished fourth to Electrocutionist in the 2006 Dubai ...

– ''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 (born 28 March 1964, Kanazawa, Ishikawa) is a Japanese horse trainer. He trained the first and second placing horses in the 2006 Melbourne Cup, Delta Blues and Pop Rock. Other notable horses Sumii has trained include Kane Hekili, Vodka, Victo ...

- ''

(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),

(2005, 2008)''

Winners

References

{{reflist
Horse racing in Japan: JRA Awards
Horse racing awards Horse racing in Japan