In front of 162,000 fans who packed into Nakayama racecourse in Tokyo expecting to see the 2005 Triple Crown winner Deep Impact win the 50th running of the Group 1 Arima Kinen, Heart's Cry and jockey Christophe Lemaire spoilt the party by hitting the lead in the straight and holding off the favourite's challenge.
With Heart's Cry's traditional pattern of racing being to start slowly and finish strongly, the fans were expecting to see him out the back of the field with Deep Impact, but after starting well, Lemaire took the 3rd favourite towards to the front to the field, and gave him a perfect transit throughout the race.
As expected, Tap Dance City took the early lead, although the pace was much slower than most had predicted. With other natural leaders such as Osumi Haruka and Big Gold in the field, many had expected that the pace in the race would be hot - similar to that in the Japan Cup held last month, but the high pace did not eventuate, and horses on the pace had every chance. Heart's Cry was perfectly positioned by Lemaire, in contrast to Deep Impact, who jockey Yutaka Take positioned at the rear of the field.
As the field approached the halfway mark of the 2500m race, Take began to make his move on Deep Impact, and the crowd began to roar. Approaching the final turn, Deep Impact was approaching the leaders 6 or 7 wide, and the crowd wound up for his much anticipated victory.
However, in front of Deep Impact, Lemaire was also making his move on Heart's Cry, and as the field entered the straight, Heart's Cry rounded up the leading group. Tap Dance City stopped quickly for a disappointing end to a long, successful career in what was the Group 1 winner's final race start. Cosmo Bulk, the NAR horse who had excited Japanese racing fans in 2004, went past Tap Dance City to hit the lead at the top straight but it was a short-lived lead.
With 250m to go, Heart's Cry had hit the lead, but Deep Impact was out and chasing and was less than a length behind. For the final 250m, it was a two-horse race, and while the crowd prayed as one for a Deep Impact victory, it was not to be. With 100m to go, it was clear that Deep Impact had run out of time, and the roars of the crowd turned to sighs. Although the 3yo champion was still closing at the finish, he had been forced to make up too much ground and Heart's Cry went to the line to win by half a length. Lincoln, who had finished in 4th in the Japan Cup, fought on well to hold down 3rd place ahead of Cosmo Bulk, and the outsider Coin Toss.
It was the first Group 1 win for Heart's Cry, who had always been ridden from well back in the field, and although he had been placed in some of Japan's biggest races, including a close 2nd in November's Japan Cup and the Japanese Derby, he chose Japan's biggest race - the Arima Kinen, to break through for his inaugural Group 1 victory. It was also the first Group 1 win in Japan for French jockey Lemaire. He too had finished close up in several major Japanese Group 1 races, but had never broken through for victory. After the race, Lemaire said "I love racing in Japan, and I am so happy that I could win the biggest race in Japan as my first Group 1 win. It was great to see all the fans here today to watch two champion horses - Heart's Cry and Deep Impact, and I hope you all keep coming to the races!".
The disappointment of the race was 2004 Horse of the Year, Zenno Rob Roy who was having his last race start, but was under hard riding at the 800m and never looked like troubling the leaders.
With the dominant favouritism of Deep Impact, betting turnover was down slightly on last year, with 4.99 billion yen being invested on the race, but interest in the race this year was clearly up on previous years, with crowd numbers up (at Nakayama racecourse alone, the crowd was approximately 40,000 more than last year), and the media coverage was extensive.
With Japanese racing finished for 2005, interest will now turn to where today's victor Heart's Cry, and Triple Crown winner Deep Impact will be aimed next year.
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