Fukuryu Stakes added to "Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby" series

The Churchill Downs and the Japan Racing Association (JRA) announced that the Fukuryu Stakes, scheduled to be held at Nakayama racecourse in mid-March 2019, has been added to the "Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby" series starting this year.

The series, now in its third season, will now be comprised of four races – three under JRA and one with NAR. The series will begin with the JRA's Cattleya Sho on Nov. 24 at Tokyo Racecourse, followed by the Zen-Nippon Nisai Yushun on Dec. 19 at NAR Kawasaki Racecourse and the Hyacinth Stakes at Tokyo Racecourse in mid-February next year. The series will conclude with the Fukuryu Stakes.

These four races will be contested under the following points system.

One spot in the 2019 Kentucky Derby, to be run at Churchill Downs on May 4, will be awarded to the horse that accumulates the most number of points in the four-race series. If two or more horses have the same number of points, the horse with higher lifetime earnings will receive the invite.

Two Japan-based horses in the past have run in the Kentucky Derby: Ski Captain (14th in 1995) and Lani (ninth in 2016).