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HKJC simulcasting six races from Nakayama, meaning a detailed racecard and video replays for the Japanese racing season finale of the Arima Kinen (G1 2500m for 3yo+), of which HKJC says:
“Since its inaugural running in 1956, the Arima Kinen has assumed status as the most important race in Japan, where the top older horses, male and female, cross swords with the best of the three-year-old generation. With a huge attendance and overwhelming interest guaranteed, the winter showpiece has the highest betting turnover among major races worldwide.
“Final declarations with barrier draws for the six Arima Kinen Day races will be available on the evening [HK time, so mid-morning GB time] of Saturday, 23 December at the HKJC website.”
http://racing.hkjc.com/racing/overseas/english/20171224/S1/1/index.aspx?para=/20171224/S1/1
Prize money for the Arima Kinen equals that for the Japan Cup.
All the horses are Japanese, but Ryan Moore, Hugh Bowman, Christophe Lemaire and Mirco Demuro are among the non-Japanese jockeys.
JRA preview:
Nakayama Racecourse east of Tokyo hosts the year’s grand finale this Sunday on Christmas Eve. No longer the last day of racing, the day of the Grade 1 Arima Kinen (The Grand Prix) is still the yearend’s biggest event, with much of its field chosen by fan ballot and a first-place prize that matches the Japan Cup’s – 300 million yen.
The 2,500-meter turf event has drawn only 16 nominees this year but three of the fans’ top 10 favorites have made the lineup, including Kitasan Black. For the second time straight, the six-time Grade 1 winner was the overwhelming favorite for the horse that fans most want to see run. Kitasan Black won nearly 125,000 votes that placed him far out in front of second-place favorite Satono Diamond, who won last year’s Arima Kinen and pulled just over 82,000 votes. Unfortunately, the latter will not be in the lineup, but the No. 3 favorite Satono Crown will be, as will Japan Cup champion Cheval Grand and Mikki Queen.
In all honesty, if this year the race were only run by one horse, the fans would still come out in droves, as long as that one horse was Kitasan Black….
….The 62nd running of the Arima Kinen will be Kitasan Black’s last run before retirement and the big question is whether he can scoop the race and place a final feather in his cap, an extremely coveted feather for owner Ono Shoji, Saburo Kitajima who has yet to win one of the most beloved races in Japan.
……Kitasan Black – It’s Kitasan Black’s last chance at the title he has yet to win. He has six Grade 1 victories — the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger), the Japan Cup, the Osaka Hai, the Tenno Sho (Autumn) and two Tenno Sho (Spring). And though he has tried it twice before, the Arima Kinen has eluded him. Third as a 3-year-old, second as a 4-year-old, he missed the Arima Kinen prize by a neck last year. Both previous bids saw him coming off a win. This year, however he finished third in the Japan Cup just 0.2 seconds behind the winner and 4 lengths ahead of the fourth-place Makahiki. This may be the year Kitasan Black has what it takes to hold the competition at bay all the way to the finish line. His usual morning work on the woodchip flat looks serious, certainly sufficient…….The pressure is incredible, but if anyone can ride out the pressure successfully it’s Mr. Cool himself — Yutaka Take. And, Take has ridden two other giants to Arima Kinen glory on their last run – Oguri Cap in 1990 and Deep Impact in 2006. Winning the Arima Kinen would also Kitasan Black’s earnings over the current recordholder — T.M.Opera O at over 1.83 billion yen.
………..Satono Crown – Tenth in the Japan Cup under Mirco Demuro was Satono Crown, who is expected to be paired with Ryan Moore this time out. Satono Crown finished behind Kitasan Black in the Satsuki Sho, but beat him over the line in the Japanese Derby. Last year, Satono Crown went from his double-digit Tenno Sho (Autumn) run to a winning run in the 2,400-meter Grade 1 Hong Kong Vase, then sat out the Arima Kinen. This year, he won top honors at home with victory in the Takarazuka Kinen and followed that with a close second over the sloppy going in the Tenno Sho (Autumn). He has had only two runs at Nakayama, a win of the Grade 2 Yayoi Sho over 2,000 meters and a sixth in the Satsuki Sho. On Dec. 14, he was given a hard workout on the artificial surface at Miho, a change from his normal routine. The horse is known for his difficult nature and perhaps a partnership with Moore will make for a successful connection……
+++++++barrier draw and basic details of runners:
http://japanracing.jp/_news2017/171222.html
the hyperlink for each horse goes to its racing record on the Japan Bloodstock Information System:
JRA Tote at 23:53 Friday:
1.5 Kitasan Black (Yutaka Take)
5.4 Suave Richard (Mirco Demuro)
9.6 Cheval Grand (Hugh Bowman)
10.4 Satono Crown (Ryan Moore)
23 barWit, I’m going to chance Rainbow Line again here, 33’s each way looks fair to my very untrained eye.
VtC, traditionally it is a race for upsets at the end of a long season, so nothing wrong in going for a price where the odds-on fav is being determined perhaps more by the heart than the head.
HKJC racecard should be up in a few hours, but this is what the HKJC Japan expert Naohiro Goda (who did well predicting the Japan Cup) has to say:
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There are two important factors to consider when we try to forecast who is going to win the G1 Arima Kinen, year-end championship race in Japan on 24th December at Nakayama.
The first is that this race is scheduled at the end of a long season and some of runners could have been squeezed after having some tough races, such as the G1 Tenno Sho and the G1 Japan Cup. This is one reason why the Arima Kinen has created some big upsets in its history, and we need to pay attention to fresh horses, even if their rating is inferior to others.
The second important factor is the suitability to Nakayama Racecourse. It is a clock-wise track, which is opposite to Tokyo Racecourse, and the length of homestretch is 310m, which is 216m shorter than Tokyo Racecourse, which has 526m long homestretch. It is the theory at Nakayama that the horses who can take closer position to front runner have advantage.
My first choice is MIKKI QUEEN, winner of two G1s including the Japanese Oaks, trained by Yasutoshi Ikee, current leader of 2017 trainers’ table. She is fresh horse as the mare by DEEP IMPACT had four and half months break between the G1 Takarazuka Kinen on 25th June, where she finished third, and the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup on 12th November, where she finished third as well, which I believe is very good effort as the first start in autumn campaign. And she ran well in the Arima Kinen twelve months ago, finishing two lengths behind the winner, SATONO DIAMOND. Her dam MUSICAL WAY was late bloomer, who won two Graded Stakes and placed in two Graded Stakes when she was 5YO. MIKKI QUEEN is now five and I am sure she is still keeping her top form.
Another fresh horse in the field of Arima Kinen is SUAVE RICHARD, who was runner-up to REY DE ORO in the G1 Japanese Derby on 28th May. The colt by HEART’S CRY had series of minor training setback and missed the G1 Kikuka Sho, final leg of Triple Crown on 22nd October. SUAVE RICHARD reappeared at racecourse on 5th November when he won the G2 Copa Republica Argentina at Tokyo, beating older horses. It is said the quality of current 3YO crop in Japan is the highest in recent years and he is one of 3YOs who demonstrates the view.
The performance of CHEVAL GRAND in the G1 Japan Cup was very impressive and he should be relatively fresh, as he did not run the G1 Tenno Sho Autumn. And it is encouraging to have Hugh Bowman, who was recently awarded the Longines World’s Best Jockey, on the saddle again. On the other hand, the 5YO horse by HEART’S CRY failed to hit the board in the Arima Kinen in 2016 and I am slightly worried about his suitability to the course at Nakayama.
SAKURA EMPEREUR, winner of the G2 Sapporo Kinen in August and finished second to NEOREALISM in the G2 Nakayama Kinen in February, has run at Nakayama five times so far. He won three of them, finished second and third once respectively. This record shows the 6YO horse by KING KAMEHAMEHA loves Nakayama.
The Arima Kinen is the swan-song for the mighty KITASAN BLACK and, like many racing fans, I would like to see a beautiful and emotional finale to his racing career. However, I am afraid the gas is running out and his tank may be nearly empty now.
SELECTIONS: 13. MIKKI QUEEN, 14. SUAVE RICHARD, 10. CHEVAL GRAND, 9. SAKURA EMPEREUR & 2. KITASAN BLACK
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I do not know if the arrangements for GB punters to bet into HKJC pools extends also to HKJC pools on simulcast racing, but if so then here are Naohiro’s views on the other five simulcast races:
http://racing.hkjc.com/racing/overseas/english/20171224/S1/5/expert-column.aspx?para=/20171224/S1/5
52 page pdf racecard for HKJC simulcast now available (click Download Race Form (All Races) above the silks):
http://racing.hkjc.com/racing/overseas/english/racecard.aspx?para=/20171224/S1/5
fairytale ending as Kitasan Black and Take win all-the-way-from-the-front, from Lemaire outsider then Bowman on the Japan Cup winner, with Mirco Demuro fourth:
1 – Kitasan Black
2 – Queens Ring
3 – Cheval Grand
4 – Suave RichardRyan (finished 13th) was upsides the eventual third / fourth for much of the race, but nothing to finish – though truth to tell nothing was catching the fav despite the late closers.
video link here (if error message, hover bottom right of video screen and click the grey Standard box that pops up):
http://racing.hkjc.com/racing/overseas/english/results.aspx?para=/20171224/S1/5
and full JRA result here:
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