This year's Arima Kinen, the grand finale to a year of Japanese thoroughbred racing, is on Christmas Day, and what a merry day it should be.
Deep Impact in 2005 Japanese Derby G1
Deep Impact, the unbeaten triple crown winner, will measure himself against the older horses for the first time in what is said to be the world's highest grossing race at Nakayama Racecourse come Sunday.
Yutaka Take's 3-year-old superstar will take on 15 others who will attempt to hand him his first black mark, among them 2004 horse of the year Zenno Rob Roy, with Kent Desormeaux up.
A track record crowd could be on hand at the Chiba Prefecture track to witness the first--and last--head-to-head competition between the nation's two most popular horses.
All 190,000 advance-sale tickets to the 2,500-meter race, set to feature six Grade 1 champions, have been sold out. The record crowd at Nakayama is 177,779, set in 1990 when the legendary Oguri Cap won the Arima Kinen.
The Arima Kinen, whose first 10 entries are decided by fan balloting (the remainder of the field is determined by prize money), is the one race on the calendar which draws the attention of even non-racing fans, and is never short of hype.
Last year, the race took in more than a staggering 51 billion yen. In comparison, this year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, the most prestigious race in Europe, pulled in around 31 million euro, or 4.4 billion yen, and the Hong Kong Cup reaped approximately 13 billion yen.
The Arima Kinen is, in short, a national event, a function that supercedes the realm of sports.
But the 50th running of the race has generated unusual hype, even by Arima Kinen standards, because of Deep Impact, perhaps the finest son sired by the late Sunday Silence.
The buzz had started back in October, when Deep Impact won the 3,000-meter Kikka Sho to become the Japan Racing Association's second triple crown winner with a perfect record.
Fans, critics and organizers alike could not wait for the showdown between Deep Impact and Zenno Rob Roy, trained by the leading trainer for the last decade, Kazuo Fujisawa.
Many of the sports dailies have featured Deep Impact on their front page since last week, and the coverage has only intensified. When trainer Yasuo Ikee said on Tuesday that he was pushing back the colt's workout by a day to Thursday, it became national news (he later decided to stick to his original schedule on Wednesday).
Will Deep Impact, the only 3-year-old running in the race, make it 8-for-8? Will he become the first unbeaten Arima Kinen champion? Or will he finally be defeated? One can just imagine the frenzy when the gates fly open at 3:25 p.m. on Sunday.
This year's Arima Kinen will also hold special meaning for those not in the Deep Impact camp. Two G1 winners, defending champion Zenno Rob Roy and Tap Dance City, will retire following the race, and jockey Olivier Peslier will try to win his fourth consecutive Arima Kinen.
Five-year-old Zenno Rob Roy has not had the results from last year that made him the top thoroughbred in the country, but he has not been shocking, either.
After taking second in the Juddmonte International in England in August, Zenno Rob Roy placed second in the autumn Emperor's Cup in October and third in the Japan Cup last month.
And there is little doubt that Fujisawa will have Zenno Rob Roy, who won the race last year in a record time of 2 minutes 29.5 seconds, fit and ready for the last run of his career. Should Deep Impact fall, odds are, Zenno Rob Roy will be the one to cross the finish line first.
Tap Dance City, the 8-year-old wonder set to run in his fourth Arima Kinen, has been a disappointment this fall, finishing ninth and 10th in the Emperor's Cup and the Japan Cup, respectively.
However, this two-time Arima Kinen silver medalist has been known to throw a few surprises here and there over his career. The Shozo Akira-trained Tap Dance City is expected to set the pace, and fast or slow, is certain to make the race exciting.
Peslier rode Zenno Rob Roy to victory last year, and the Frenchman won it the two years before that with another horse from the Fujisawa stable, Symboli Kris S. On Sunday, Peslier will be aboard Delta Blues, the 2004 Kikka Sho champion.
After rising on to the scene last autumn, Delta Blues spent most of this year nursing a bad hip, unable to take to the track until November. But after a couple of races under his belt, trainer Katsuhiko Sumii, who has a pair of overseas G1 medals this year with Cesario and Hat Trick, appears to have Delta Blues back in form.
The Dance in the Dark prodigy is fast emerging as a favorite with Peslier in the saddle, alongside another 4-year-old colt ridden by a Frenchman in Heart's Cry and Christophe Lemaire.
The duo was only second to Alkaased in the Japan Cup by a nose, running the 2,400-meter race in a record 2 minutes, 22.1 seconds, and Trainer Kojiro Hashiguchi says Heart's Cry has enough left in his tank to run another big race.
The one thing against the hard-finishing Heart's Cry is the short stretch at Nakayama--shorter by 200 meters compared to Tokyo Racecourse, where the Japan Cup is held.
Rounding out the field are 4-year-olds Suzuka Mambo, the spring Emperor's Cup winner, Opera City and Cosmo Bulk; 5-year-olds Heavenly Romance, the autumn Emperor's Cup champion, Lincoln, Osumi Haruka and Grass Bomber; 6-year-old My Sole Sound and 7-year-olds Coin Toss, Sunrise Pegasus and Big Gold.
© Japan Association for International Racing and Stud Book (JAIRS). All Rights Reserved.
