Arima Kinen 2014

December 28, 2014 - 1m 4½f (2,500 meters), Nakayama, Japan

Preview: December 26, 2014

It will be the last big horse race of the year and it will be the one with the highest betting turnover worldwide. The Arima Kinen is an extremely popular event in Japan, 166,000 visitors are expected on the Nakayama racecourse. Ten of the sixteen starters are selected by a fan vote, the remaining six are specified by their amount of prize money. For the two-time Japan Cup winner Gentildonna and for Just A Way, the world's top-ranked horse, it will be the last race.

After his impressive four length victory in the 2014 Japan Cup Epiphaneia will obviously be favourite on December 28, also as he is a son of the two-time Arima Kinen winner Symboli Kris S. It is not easy to keep the four-year-old relaxed during a race, his temperament prevented him several times from success. Christophe Soumillon did a very good job in the Japan Cup, now Yuga Kawada will ride him for the first time.

Gentildonna did not only win the Japan Cup twice, she also captured the Dubai Sheema Classic in March and had won the Japanese filly's Triple Crown as a three-year-old. In the recent Japan Cup the daughter of Deep Impact came only fourth, but this was just her second start after a four month lay off on a rain-affected track. Her trainer Sei Ishizaka declared that she is full of energy since the Japan Cup and that she could not wait to run again.

The 2012 Arima Kinen winner Gold Ship is the most popular horse in Japan, he just won the fan vote ahead of Gentildonna. The grey, who won the Takarazuka Kinen for the second time in June, is quite an inconsistent horse. He was last seen in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe where he finished 14th. Trainer Naosuke Sugai left out the Japan Cup to get him hundred percent fit for the 2500 meters in Nakayama.

The Arima Kinen will also be the last race for the world's highest-rated horse Just A Way. The stablemate of Gold Ship won the Dubai Duty Free with more than six length in March and finished eighth in the Arc. The son of Heart's Cry finally proved that he can stay the longer distances when just came runner-up in the Japan Cup.

This year's Japanese Derby winner One And Only, also a son of Heart's Cry, came seventh in the Japan Cup, but was not far behind Just A Way, why trainer Kojiro Hashiguchi entered him in the Arima Kinen too. The tightness of the Nakayama racecourse could work in favour of his late coming running style.

2013 Arima Kinen runner-up Win Variation, Tenno Sho (Spring) winner Fenomeno, 2000 Guineas second To The World or recent Copa Republica Argentina winner Fame Game are other top horses in the field. Also 2012 Arima Kinen runner-up Ocean Blue will start, as it will Denim And Ruby who got beaten just by a nose in last year's Japan Cup and should not be underestimated.

The turns of the Nakayama racecourse are relatively tight and with only 310 meters the final stretch is very short and rising. Four-year-old horses proved most successful in the Arima Kinen over the past ten years, followed by the three-year-olds.

To watch a video of the race without knowing the result you can go to Japanracing, look for Arima Kinen and click on the video button.