Japan Horse Racing Tips-Umanity.jp|AMERICAN JOCKEY CC(G2) is held this weekend

Voted first pick by a record number of 214,742 ballots, race favorite Chrono Genesisdisplayed a determined performance in capturing this year’s Arima Kinen (the Grand Prix), her third G1 victory following the 2019 Shuka Sho (G1, 2,000m) and this year’s Takarazuka Kinen (the Grand Prix, G1, 2,200m). The Bago filly has become the 15th horse and the second mare to dominate both Grand Prix races following Lys Gracieux last year (11th horse to win both races in the same year). Not only is it the first time in 60 years for a filly/mare to claim the Arima Kinen title two years in a row, but also the record set by fillies/mares to claim G1 races open to both male and female runners in a single season has now been extended to nine. For the owner, Sunday Racing Co., Ltd., this is their fifth Arima Kinen title, the most in history, as they celebrate their ninth JRA-G1 victory this year alone (three with Gran Alegria, two each with Lucky Lilac and Chrono Genesis, one with Fierement and one with Grenadier Guards) which is also the most claimed in a single season. For both trainer Takashi Saito and jockey Yuichi Kitamura, this is the first JRA-G1 title since their Takarazuka Kinen win with the filly, and fourth and fifth overall, respectively.

The 16-horse field got underway with Babbitt taking the early lead, Authority and Blast Onepiece stalking the pace while Chrono Genesis camped way behind, around fifth from the rear. The gray filly made an early move gradually making headway in the middle of the backstretch and moved up on the field, entering the straight in third. After immediately picking off the tired pacesetter, Chrono Genesis tagged Fierement 100 meters out and battled stride for stride through the lane until the filly finally wore down the second favorite while holding off the strong-closing Salacia to prevail by a neck.

“All I wanted was her to be relaxed and her break wasn’t that bad, she was in hand and ran in the same rhythm as before. Yesterday and today, I was in 2,500 meter-races here at Nakayama which enabled me to get warmed up with a good idea of how I wanted her to run. We haven’t faced the two Triple Crown winners yet, but I hope she performs well and stays in the spotlight next season,” commented Yuichi Kitamura. “She was in good form and gave us a great impression before the race. I was worried that Yuichi might have made a too early bid, but he was confident and rode her beautifully, holding off the others. This is a dream come true and I have a feeling there will be many more,” added trainer Takashi Saito.

Sent off 11th favorite, Salacia broke from a wide stall before sitting in fourth from the rear right behind the eventual winner and was still trailing near the back when hitting the top of the stretch with a wide move. However, with a monstrous closing kick that was timed the fastest of the field, the five-year-old mare came looming up on the outside to challenge the dueling front runners and while a neck late to pin the winner, caught Fierement right before the wire to steal the runner-up trophy by a neck. Chrono Genesis and Salacia have become the first female runners to notch the top two places in the history of the race.

Moving up from mid-pack to second before hitting the backstretch and turning the final corners in good striking position, second pick Fierement entered the straight first but could not repel the determined challenge from the winner and was also caught right before the wire by the fast-closing Salacia to finish third.

Other Horses:
4th: (7) Lucky Lilac—sat 3-wide around 9th, gradually advanced, showed effort, no match for top 3 finishers
5th: (5) World Premiere—hugged rails around 5th, fell back turning final corners, quickened between horses
5th: (10) Curren Bouquetd'or—ran 3-wide around 8th, advanced to 3rd by final corner, lacked needed kick
7th: (8) Persian Knight—saved ground around 9th, angled out, showed belated charge
8th: (3) Crescendo Love—settled around 5th, dropped back rounding final corners, even paced
9th: (15) Ocea Great—sat 3-wide around 5th, showed brief effort until 100m marker
10th: (4) Loves Only You—raced around 9th, angled out but met traffic at early stretch, never a threat
11th: (16) You Can Smile—took economic trip near rear, showed little at stretch
12th: (6) Kiseki—was off slow, traveled 3-wide around 14th, advanced in backstretch, nothing left at stretch
13th: (1) Babbitt—set slow pace, faded after surrendering lead at top of stretch
14th: (12) Authority—tracked leader around 2nd, ridden after 3rd corner but outrun
15th: (11) Mozu Bello—broke poorly, trailed in rear, no factor
FF: (2) Blast Onepiece—stalked leader, fell back in backstretch, pulled up due to atrial fibrillation

Race favorite Danon the Kid claimed this year’s Hopeful Stakes giving his sire Just a Way (JPN, by Heart’s Cry) his first G1 title. The bay colt has emulated this year’s Triple Crown victor Contrail in capping off his debut campaign undefeated with three consecutive wins—after claiming his debut start over 1,800 meters in June, he scored a graded win in the Tokyo Sports Hai Nisai Stakes (G3, 1,800m) on November 23. Trainer Takayuki Yasuda captured his 12th JRA-G1 title, his first since the 2013 Sprinters Stakes with Lord Kanaloa, while jockey Yuga Kawada claimed his 15th, celebrating his latest victory just a week earlier with Grenadier Guards in the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes.

The 15 runners broke smoothly with Land of Liberty grabbing the lead, pressed by Titleholder in second and Orthoclase in third by the first turn. Danon the Kid, along with Vanishing Point on his outside, advanced to third and fourth, respectively, as the field cruised down the backstretch. As the pacesetter swerved way off course and tossed his rider while the field approached the final corner, Danon the Kid made a wide move entering the straight first and turned up an extra gear in the last 100 meters to cross the wire by a good 1-1/4 length margin.

“I’m just so happy that I have at last been able to win on one of my mentor and teacher Mr. Yasuda’s runners. The stable staff did a great job in tuning up the colt and he ran much better than he did in his previous start but still, he couldn’t find a good rhythm and was not steady in the last two corners today. There is still a lot of room for improvement and we intend to work hard so he can kick off a good three-year-old campaign,” commented Yuga Kawada after the race.

Breaking from the most inner stall, third favorite Orthoclase steadily saved ground in third to fourth up to the last corner, advanced smoothly to second by the furlong pole and threatened the eventual winner briefly but lacked the final kick, while holding off Yoho Lake by 1/2 length to finish second.

Sent off fourth favorite, Yoho Lake was unhurried traveling in mid-field and three-wide before making rapid headway rounding the last turn and chased the eventual winner in the straight with the tied fastest late drive but succumbed to third.

Other Horses:

4th: (11) Titleholder—broke sharply, pressed pace, fought briefly with winner in early stretch, gave up 3rd in last 50m
5th: (13) Chevalier Rose—wide trip in 10th to 11th, advanced while chasing Yoho Lake in straight, no match
6th: (5) Tenkaharu—settled in 10th to 11th, rounded last corner economically, showed effort
7th: (9) Aoi Sho—4th from rear, shifted out wide for bid, tied with fastest last 3-furlong drive, unable to threaten
8th: (7) Machaon d'Or—saved ground around 13th, made headway along the rails and rallied for the lead, weakened in last 50m
9th: (4) Vigore—took economic trip around 6th, met traffic at early stretch, lacked needed kick
10th: (12) Admire Sage—settled around 7th, took wide route to enter lane, unable to reach contention
11th: (6) Whole Shebang—sat around 6th, dropped position in last corners, showed little at stretch
12th: (8) Vanishing Point—traveled wide in midfield, advanced to 2nd in backstretch, fell back turning last corner
13th: (15) Say Hello to You—traveled 2nd from last, no factor
14th: (14) Moriden Arrow—trailed in very rear, never a threat
Fail to Finish: (3) Land of Liberty—set pace, drifted outside at 4th corner and lost rider

The 65th running of the Grade 1 Arima Kinen (The Grand Prix) is set for Sunday, Dec. 27. With the 2-year-old Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes scheduled for the previous day, the Arima Kinen, for the first time in four years, is once again back in its traditional spot as the year’s final hurrah.

Twenty-three horses, with eight Grade 1 champions among them, have been signed up for the race and 16 of those will find a berth in the 2,500-meter turf event that boasts a winner’s prize of JPY300 million, an amount that ties the Japan Cup for the highest prize money of JRA races.

As with the Takarazuka Kinen in late June, racing fans vote for which horse they would most like to see race in the Arima Kinen. And their hopes will be largely met, with six of fans’ top ten favorite picks set to appear. The 4-year-old filly Chrono Genesis was the fan-ballot favorite with a total 214,742 votes, a number that rewrote the record held by Oguri Cap from 1989. Five more of the fans’ top 10 picks will compete in the “dream race” running -- No. 2 pick Lucky Lilac, No. 4 Fierement, No. 6 Kiseki, No. 9 World Premiere and No. 10 Blast Onepiece.

The race is run over the Nakayama inner course, but starts just off the third turn on part of the outer course. The field passes before the grandstand and circles again. The stretch hill begins 200 meters before the finish line and rises 2 meters in less than 150 meters. Skill, not strength alone, is crucial for winning at Nakayama.

The Arima Kinen is the 11th race on the Sunday card of 12 at Nakayama and it should be noted that its post time is at 3:25 p.m. Horses over 3 years of age will carry 57 kg. Females and 3-year-olds are assigned 55 kg.

Here’s a look at the expected top picks.

Chrono Genesis: Looking to become the second female in a row to scoop both the Takarazuka Kinen and the Arima Kinen in the same year is Chrono Genesis. If she can win, she’ll do it a year younger than last year’s champ Lys Gracieux. Though in the Top 3 for all the classics and winner of the 2019 Grade 1 Shuka Sho, it was from this year that the Bago-sired Chrono Genesis stepped decidedly into the spotlight. From four starts, three of them top-level, she has managed a formidable 1-2-1-3, putting her right in step for the winner’s circle this Sunday. Her win by 6 lengths in the Takarazuka Kinen saw her beat five Arima hopefuls. And she shone bright in her last start, the Nov. 1 2,000-meter Grade 1 Tenno Sho (Autumn), when she met superstar Almond Eye for the first time and finished just over half a length behind her and a neck off Fierement in third place. Though it will be her first time running over 2,500 meters, if her stamina in the Takaruzuka Kinen is any indication, Chrono Genesis should do just fine.

Fierement: Last year, Fierement, a 5-year-old son of Deep Impact, returned to Japan from a 12th-place showing in the Prix de l’Arc Triomphe. He was hurried into the Arima Kinen and finished in fourth place a good 6 1/2 lengths of the winner in what was a commendable effort given the rush and travel miles logged. Since then, he has had only two starts. He captured the Tenno Sho (Spring) for the second year in a row and was second to Almond Eye in the Tenno Sho (Autumn) in November. Jockey Kenichi Ikezoe rode Fierement in the last year’s Arima Kinen, but 2020’s run is expected to go to jockey Christophe Lemaire who, in winning eight Grade 1 JRA competitions over the span of the year. If he can win this time, stands to top not only his own record for annual Grade 1 wins but also his record for money earned.

World Premiere: Beating Fierement to the finish line in the Arima Kinen last year was World Premiere, another son of Deep Impact and now 4 years old. World Premiere followed winner Lys Gracieux and runnerup Saturnalia, and with both the latter absent, World Premiere could well be set for the Arima winner’s circle and his second Grade 1 victory following the 2019 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger). Last out, he returned after 11 months off and scored a sixth-place finish in the Japan Cup only 0.8 seconds behind Almond Eye. Set for the ride is Yutaka Take who is gunning for his fourth win of the Arima Kinen since his debut in 1987 and his first since winning aboard Kitasan Black in 2017.

Curren Bouquetd'or: The same age as Chrono Genesis, the Deep Impact-sired Curren Bouquetd’or followed the former over the finish line in the Queen Cup, the Shuka Sho and the Kyoto Kinen, but beat her rival in the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks), the longest of the four races and an indication that distance suits her. Although she last visited the winner’s circle in February 2019, Curren Bouquetd’or has missed the Top 3 only once in the seven starts since. That was last out in the Japan Cup, where she finished fourth, behind Almond Eye, 2020 Triple Crown winner Contrail and by a nose behind 2020 filly triple crown winner Daring Tact. She is 2-2-4 in her three starts of the year and will go to the gate relatively fresh. Jockey Kenichi Ikezoe, who has the most Arima Kinen wins (four wins) among jockeys currently riding, will be in the saddle.

Authority: A son of Triple Crown winner Orfevre, the 3-year-old colt Authority has won four of his six starts thus far. Sidelined with a fracture suffered while winning the Grade 2 TV Tokyo Hai Aoba Sho in May, he returned to win by a length and a half the 2,500-meter Grade 2 Copa Republica Argentina at Tokyo in early November. Further improvement is expected and his 1-5-3 record at Nakayama and wins at both 2,400 and 2,500 meters bode well for this race. As a 3-year-old, he will also have the advantage of being saddled with only 55 kg, which is also, however, the weight Chrono Genesis will carry.

Lucky Lilac: Another Orfevre progeny is Lucky Lilac, now 5 years old, winner of four Grade 1 races, including back-to-back runs in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup, last year at Kyoto, this year at Hanshin. She has had a full year at home following her second place in the Hong Kong Vase last year. Three of her five starts in 2020 were at Grade 1 and saw her post 1-6-1. Those include a first in the Osaka Hai, a neck ahead of Chrono Genesis. Lucky Lilac is also getting a new partner, jockey Yuichi Fukunaga, who surprisingly has yet to win the Arima Kinen.

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Others to keep an eye on are:

Mikki Swallow sat out the top-level competitions in 2019 but returned for two this year, a third in the Tenno Sho (Spring) and a seventh in the Japan Cup. Primed, happy over distance, and with three wins and two seconds from nine starts at Nakayama, he should not be underrated.
Kiseki was fifth here both last year and in 2018 and though he has remained winless this year, he has two seconds in Graded races, including the Takarazuka Kinen.
Loves Only You hasn’t won since the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) six races back but she hasn’t been far off the mark and has missed the Top 3 only twice. She has topped both Chrono Genesis and Curren Bouquetd’or in Grade 1 company. Only 0.1 seconds off the winner in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup last out, she’s not one to ignore.

The year 2020 goes out with a bang this coming weekend, which will be a ‘double’ Grade 1 weekend at Nakayama Racecourse, kicking off with the Hopeful Stakes on Saturday (December 26). The race for 2-year-olds (excluding geldings) was made a Grade 1 contest in 2017, and gives the young colts a chance to test their ability over 2,000 meters, with a view to running in next year’s Classics, the first of which for colts is run over the same course and distance as the Hopeful Stakes, on the inner turf track at Nakayama. It will be the 37th running of the race all told, bearing in mind that it has had different names and categories, as well as venues, since the first race was run in 1984. It became an international race in 2010, and was formerly known as the Radio Nikkei Hai Nisai Stakes, but got its current name and Grade 2 status in 2014, since when it has been run at Nakayama. This will be its fourth year as a Grade 1.

There have been 18 nominations for a maximum 18 runner field, as the competition heats up to follow in the footsteps of some big-name winners of the race that have included the likes of Victoire Pisa (2009), Japan Cup winner Epiphaneia (2012), Rey de Oro (2016), and just last year Contrail, to name but a few.

Some races leading into this year’s Hopeful Stakes have included the Listed Ivy Stakes over 1,800 meters at Tokyo in October, as well as the Fuyo Stakes at Nakayama over 2,000 meters in the same month, and just last month the Grade 3 Tokyo Sports Hai Nisai Stakes run at Tokyo over 1,800 meters. Record time for the race since it’s been a Grade 1 and held at Nakayama is 2 minutes 1.4 seconds, jointly held by Time Flyer in 2017 and Contrail in 2019. First favorites have set a strong trend recently by winning every time in the past four years. This year’s winner’s check is JPY 70 million. The Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes will be Race 11 on the Saturday card at Nakayama, with a post time here in Japan of 15:25.

Here’s a look at some of the colts expected to make the starting line-up:

Danon the Kid: The unbeaten colt by Just a Way ran out a good winner of the Grade 3 Tokyo Sports Hai Nisai Stakes last time, when he was sent off favorite. He won his only other race on his debut at Hanshin in June over 1,800 meters. Trainer Takayuki Yasuda, who made headlines in Hong Kong recently with Danon Smash, might have another big race success here. He was pleased with Danon the Kid’s recent work at Ritto Training Center. “The jockey said the horse was relaxed, and I thought he was moving well during that piece of training,” said the trainer.

Yoho Lake: Another colt who lays his unbeaten record on the line here is the Northern Farm bred Yoho Lake. By Deep Impact, he’s been favorite in both his races so far, and his latest win came in the Shigiku Sho over 2,000 meters at Kyoto in October, when the soft ground wasn’t an issue for him. Jockey Yutaka Take will ride him in this next race. Trainer Yasuo Tomomichi commented: “He worked well recently on the woodchip course at Ritto, and picked up well from the third and fourth corners. I think he’ll be well suited by the 2,000 meters at Nakayama.”

Orthoclase: The well bred colt by Epiphaneia out of Marialite would certainly please trainer Takashi Kubota if he can continue winning in the style of his dam, who has provided the trainer with his two Grade 1 victories to date. Coming off a win in the Listed Ivy Stakes over 1,800 meters at Tokyo in October, Orthoclase will be ridden by the jockey that won on him in his debut race at Sapporo in August, this year’s champion rider Christophe Lemaire.

Land of Liberty: An easy winner last time in the Fuyo Stakes over the Hopeful Stakes course and distance in October, the Deep Impact colt bred at Shadai Farm will endeavor to give jockey Kosei Miura a well deserved first JRA Grade 1 victory. He’s ridden the horse in his two career wins from the same number of starts, and connections will be hoping the winning streak can continue.

Admire Sage: Trainer Yasuo Tomomichi could well have two runners in the race, with Admire Sage by no means looking like his second string here. The Duramente colt posted a strong final three-furlong time (33.4 seconds) in his last race, the Kigiku Sho over 2,000 meters at Hansin in November, which he won to make it two wins from two starts.

Titleholder: Another colt by Duramente, his earnings are already about equal to his sale price at the 2018 Select Sale. Jockey Keita Tosaki has ridden him in both his races so far, winning on the horse’s debut over 1,800 meters at Nakayama in October, and finishing second to Danon the Kid in the Grade 3 Tokyo Sports Hai Nisai Stakes.

Chevalier Rose: It’s three starts two wins for Chevalier Rose, a colt by Deep Impact. He won his last race, the Listed Hagi Stakes over 1,800 meters at Kyoto in October, as well as winning on his debut at Hanshin in June. He’s trained by Hisashi Shimizu, who enjoyed seven Grade 1 successes with Kitasan Black. Chevalier Rose worked under jockey Yuichi Kitamura at Ritto on the 16th, and posted a six-furlong time of 81.2 seconds, finishing off the final furlong in 12.0 seconds. “He moved well in that piece of work and his times were good. The jockey also reported him to be in good condition,” said the trainer.