Race Grades Explained: Group 1, Group 2, Group 3 and Jpn Grades in Asia

The grade ladder at a glance

What race grades mean: Group 1, Group 2, Group 3 and listed races

A race grade is a quality label. It tells you, before you look at a single horse, roughly how strong the field is likely to be and how much prize money is on the table. The top of the ladder is Group 1, then Group 2, then Group 3, and below that sit listed races. Anything graded is a step above an ordinary race.

The grades are awarded internationally, which is what makes them useful across borders. A Group 1 in Hong Kong, Japan or Australia is meant to be comparable in status, so a horse that wins one can be described as a Group 1 winner anywhere in the world. That shared language is the whole point of the system.

In practice, when you open a racecard and see "G1" or "Group 1" next to a race name, you are looking at the best the jurisdiction has to offer that day. Group 2 and Group 3 races are still strong, often used as stepping stones or as targets for horses just below the very top. Listed races are the entry point to graded company.

Japan's central racing body, the Japan Racing Association, runs a nationwide network of 10 racecourses and 38 off-course betting facilities called WINS¹. Its races are divided into classes by horse age and prize money earned, with GI at the top, followed by GII, GIII, Listed, open handicap, and then the lower win classes². So on a JRA racecard, the grade is the quickest signal of what kind of race you are watching.

How the grading system works in Japan: JRA rules and Jpn grades

Japan has two racing worlds. Central racing is run by the JRA. Local racing, known as NAR, is run by regional bodies at their own tracks. Both use grades, but they do not use the same labels.

On the JRA side, the top races are graded GI, GII and GIII, matching the international pattern. A typical JRA race day has 12 races, though there may be fewer on a major Grade 1 day such as the Japan Cup⁶. Races are held at two, or sometimes three, racecourses on a given day, with at least one from the eastern region (Tokyo, Nakayama, Fukushima, Niigata) and one from the western region (Kyoto, Hanshin, Chukyo, Kokura)⁶. The main race of the day, usually a graded race with the top-ranked runners, is normally held around 15:30⁷.

Local racing is different. NAR tracks run their own graded races under the Jpn label: JpnI, JpnII and JpnIII. These are domestic grades, not international ones. A JpnIII race is not the same as an international Group 3, even though the names look similar on a racecard. If you are reading a Japanese local race program and see JpnIII, you are looking at one of the better races on that circuit, but it does not carry international Group status.

Hong Kong's graded calendar: from the Chief Executive's Cup to the Hong Kong International Races

Hong Kong runs a compact but high-quality graded calendar, and the season has a clear shape. The Chief Executive's Cup opens the Group 2 and Group 3 season. It was run on September 6, 2026, as the 2026/27 opener, upgraded to Group 3 with prize money raised to HK$4.2 million. It is a 1200m race.

Prize money at the graded levels is set by grade. Hong Kong Group 3 races offer HK$4.2 million, while Group 2 races are worth HK$5.35 million⁴. That gap is worth remembering when you are comparing races on a card: a Group 2 is not just a stronger field, it is a bigger pot.

Hong Kong also stages international Group 2 races, including the Longines Jockey Club Cup, the BOCHK Jockey Club Mile and the BOCHK Jockey Club Sprint, alongside four Hong Kong Group 2 races and twelve Hong Kong Group 3 races⁸. The naming matters: an "international" Group 2 is open to overseas runners, while a "Hong Kong" Group 2 is a domestic race at the same grade level.

Where Asian races sit in the international grading picture

Asia has a real presence in international grading, but it is concentrated. Japan and Hong Kong carry most of the internationally recognized graded races in the region. Japan's biggest races, such as the Japan Cup, are Group 1 international invitationals. Hong Kong's December meeting is built around four Group 1 races.

The Japan Cup is scheduled for November 29, 2026, at Tokyo Racecourse. It is one of the richest races anywhere, with a first prize of JPY 500 million, a figure it shares with the Arima Kinen¹. At the other end of the JRA scale, the smallest first-place purse is JPY 5.8 million, for races for winless three-year-olds and two-year-olds¹. That range tells you how much the grade matters to the connections of a horse.

Japan's racing calendar is mainly built around Saturdays and Sundays, with several public holidays each year as exceptions⁹. A race day runs 12 races, from around 10:00 to around 16:30⁹. If you are visiting and want to catch a graded race, check the calendar for the specific meeting rather than assuming every weekend has one.

Elsewhere in Asia, graded racing is thinner. Korea runs its own racing program with detailed racecards, including speed indexes where the higher the index above 100, the faster the speed¹⁰. But the international Group system is not applied there in the same way. When you see a race described as Group 1 in Asia, it is most likely in Japan or Hong Kong.

Dirt grades: what is being phased out and when

Japan's local racing has been reworking its dirt grades. Under a 2022 dirt system overhaul, dirt grades will be abolished in stages from 2028, with international grades targeted by 2033. That is a planned change, not something that has happened yet. For now, Jpn grades on dirt remain in place.

This matters if you follow local racing, because much of it is dirt. All NAR racecourses have only dirt tracks, except Morioka, which also has turf¹. So the phase-out touches a large share of the local calendar.

If you are betting on these races, the practical details are worth knowing. Betting information for dirt grade races is announced roughly two weeks before each race day³. Tickets are sold at all listed venues marked with a circle, including soku-PAT, SPAT4, Rakuten Keiba and Odds Park; A-PAT is available for only two races, and JRA net voting is not offered³. Sales plans can change, so check the organizer's website for the latest information³.

Graded races and prize money: what the top tiers pay

Prize money is the clearest way to see the grade ladder in numbers. At the top, the Japan Cup and the Arima Kinen each pay a first prize of JPY 500 million¹. At the bottom of the JRA scale, races for winless two and three-year-olds pay JPY 5.8 million for first¹.

In between, the grades step down. The Breeders Gold Cup JpnIII pays a first prize of JPY 31,000,000⁵. That figure has held steady across recent runnings, including 2020 and 2023¹¹. The Edelweiss Prize JpnIII pays JPY 20,000,000 for first⁵. Both are part of the Grandom Japan series.

For a sense of how prize money can move, Hokkaido Horse Racing raised the first prize of two graded races for three-year-olds and up to JPY 5,000,000 in fiscal 2017¹². Smaller jurisdictions adjust their purses as their programs develop.

How to read a race entry: grade, distance and date

When you look at a race entry, three things tell you most of what you need: the grade, the distance and the date. The grade tells you the quality. The distance tells you what kind of horse will be suited. The date tells you when to watch.

Take the Breeders Gold Cup as a worked example. It is a JpnIII race run over 2,000 meters. Recent editions have been held in mid-August: August 17 in 2023, August 16 in 2018, and August 13 in 2020⁵. So if you see it on a calendar, you know it is a summer dirt race at 2,000 meters, and you know roughly what to expect from the field.

For Hong Kong, the pattern is similar. The Prince Jewellery & Watch Premier Cup is an HKG3 race run over 1,400 meters on turf¹⁴. The grade, the distance and the surface are all on the racecard, and together they tell you whether a front-runner or a closer is likely to be favored.

A few practical notes for reading entries:

• On a JRA racecard, the main race of the day is usually the graded one, held around 15:30⁷.
• On a JRA race day, races are held at two or sometimes three racecourses, so make sure you are looking at the right track⁶.
• If you are following local racing, remember that most NAR tracks are dirt only, so the surface is usually not a question¹.

If you want to go deeper into how to read the form lines and figures on a racecard, there is a full guide to how to read a racecard. For the difference between the two Japanese racing worlds, see JRA vs NAR local racing. And if you are planning around the biggest meetings, the horse racing seasons guide covers when each jurisdiction races.