Arima Kinen (Grand Prix) preview - Final showdown of '08 will have plenty of drama

No Vodka, no Deep Sky, no Oken Bruce Lee, no matter. The field for the 53rd Arima Kinen will still be more than fitting for the Japan Racing Association's final Grade 1 race of the year.

The biggest race in Japan has the highest turnover of any race in the world, and like the Kentucky Derby, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, the Grand National and the Melbourne Cup, it's the one race on the calendar that reaches beyond the usual fan base, the one that turns into a national event.

Nakayama Racecourse

The Arima Kinen stems from the Nakayama Grand Prix, which was created in 1956 at the urging of Yoriyasu Arima, then the chief of the JRA. Arima felt Nakayama needed a race to match the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) held at Tokyo Racecourse and got his wish with a 2,600-meter race which fans voted in the entries, a novel concept at the time. Arima, however, passed away two weeks after the race's first running, which then was renamed in honor of the president's contributions.

The Arima Kinen was readjusted to its current distance of 2,500 meters in 1966, and was opened up to foreign bred runners in 1971. In 1996, it took on its present format - the top 10 fan-chosen horses earning automatic entry, with the remainder of the field picked based on results. In 2007, the Arima Kinen earned international Grade 1 status, which allows up to six overseas entries.

The 2,500 meters at Nakayama runs for a lap and a half along the inner course, starting with a short run to the first turn, which bends for 500 meters before leading into a straight of 350 meters. Another turn to the right sets up a back stretch of 400 meters, followed by the final bend which ushers in the home stretch of 310 meters. The Nakayama straight rises over the last 200 meters, the hill well known to test stretch runners.

While Vodka, this year's top votegetter and winner of the Yasuda Kinen and Tenno Sho (Autumn), withdrew after the 4-year-old filly ran herself to the limit in the Japan Cup, fans can still look forward to their second favorite - Daiwa Scarlet - as well as defending champion and Nakayama "specialist" Matsurida Gogh among a stellar cast. The race will also be the last for Meisho Samson, who will draw the drapes on a marvelous career that includes both Tenno Sho titles and the first two legs of the Japanese triple crown.

The following are the early picks for the grand finale of this year's racing:

DAIWA SCARLET: Her narrow defeat to Vodka in the Tenno Sho (Autumn) only validated her quality. In her first race since April when she won the Grade 2 Sankei Osaka Hai, the Kunihide Matsuda-trained filly ran the 2,000-meter Tenno Sho at Tokyo in record time, but came in second after a photo finish that had Daiwa Scarlet trailing Vodka by all of two centimeters. Katsumi Ando's mount passed on the Japan Cup to focus on the Arima Kinen, in which she took second to Matsurida Gogh in last year's race as a 3-year-old. After 11 career starts, Daiwa Scarlet has never finished below second, and while no female horse has won the Arima Kinen since Toumei in 1971, the daughter of Agnes Tachyon is making a strong case that she can end the drought this coming weekend. Daiwa Scarlet is guaranteed to be in better form than she was for the Tenno Sho, and it will take a very good race from a very good horse to beat this expected favorite.		Daiwa Scarlet
MATSURIDA GOGH: The defending champ returns after winning last year's race as the ninth choice by a length and a quarter ahead of Daiwa Scarlet. The Sakae Kunieda-trained 5-year-old has a phenomenal track record at Nakayama, having won 7 of 10 with a second- and third-place finish each. The knock on the Sunday Silence son has always been that he cannot run lefthanded, but Matsurida Gogh proved otherwise last month in the Japan Cup, taking fourth only behind winner Screen Hero, Deep Sky and Vodka. Matsurida Gogh has clearly come into his own, and returning to Nakayama will only boost his chances in becoming the first repeat winner of the Arima Kinen since Symboli Kris S in 2002.		Matsurida Gogh
MEISHO SAMSON: Trainer Shigetada Takahashi must be hoping third time will be the charm for the 5-year-old son of Opera House who will begin his stud career after the race. Despite winning the Satsuki Sho and the Japanese Derby in 2006, and sweeping the Tenno Sho races in 2007, Meisho Samson has swung and missed in the Arima Kinen, finishing fifth and then eighth the previous two years. He has yet to win a race this year, although he was runnerup in the spring version of the Tenno Sho and Takarazuka Kinen. Meisho Samson was sixth in the Japan Cup, his first race back from the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe where he never had a moment in finishing 10th. Takahashi has said the journey back from France, as well as training in the unfamiliar confines of Tokyo Racecourse, affected his performance in the Japan Cup. The trainer is convinced Meisho Samson will be on the up for the Arima Kinen, and with Yutaka Take set to be back in the saddle after making a speedy recovery from a broken arm, he could be a different story this year - and walk off into the sunset with the coveted title that has eluded him in 2006 and 2007.		Meisho Samson
SCREEN HERO: The surprise winner of this year's Japan Cup will be out to prove his victory last month before a world audience was no fluke, and it wouldn't be so shocking if the 4-year-old colt does pull it off this time. It takes a lot more than luck to win a 2,400-meter race at Tokyo, especially against a field as talented as the one for the Japan Cup, this year's in particular. Screen Hero knocked off three Japanese Derby champions on his way to the winner's circle - Deep Sky (2008), Vodka (2007) and Meisho Samson (2006) - as well as last year's Arima Kinen winner Matsurida Gogh and this year's Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) winner Oken Bruce Lee. Screen Hero only returned to the track in August, after being sidelined for 11 months due to injury. The Teruya Yoshida-owned horse had been inconsistent before getting hurt, but the layoff may have been the break he needed to fill out his frame. Screen Hero also has it in his blood to win this race; his sire Grass Wonder was a two-time champion of the Arima Kinen in 1997 and 1998. Italian jockey Mirco Demuro is as reliable as they come on the big stage, and back-to-back Grade 1 victories are definitely not out of order for the JRA's newest hero.		Screen Hero
EISHIN DEPUTY: The 6-year-old French Deputy son comes back from ligament damage in his right foreleg, an injury that has shelved him for the last six months. Eishin Deputy has not raced since winning the 2,200-meter Takarazuka Kinen at Hanshin, where he held off Meisho Samson at the wire for the first Grade 1 victory of his career. The absence cannot be a plus for the Akira Nomoto-trained frontrunner, but racing at Nakayama will. The tight course should prevent the pace from becoming too punishing, and jockey Hiroyuki Uchida knows full well Eishin Deputy is at his best when he is on the lead. Katsumi Ando's Daiwa Scarlet may have something to say about that, but there's no question Eishin Deputy will be in the game early on. If he's fit, Uchida could make things very interesting when the field turns for home.		Eishin Deputy
KAWAKAMI PRINCESS: A series of injuries have stripped more than two years off 5-year-old Kawakami Princess' career, which once was among the JRA's brightest. She won the 2006 Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) and Shuka Sho with a perfect record before the forgettable Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup, in which she was demoted to 12th despite crossing the finish line first, the start of a long, frustrating period for the daughter of King Halo. Yet the end of the tunnel could be nearing for Kawakami Princess, who is showing signs of her old dominant form. She finished second in both the Fuchu Himba Stakes in October and the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup last month, in what is looking like a fruitful new partnership with veteran rider Norihiro Yokoyama. The only question mark is the Arima Kinen's trip of 2,500 meters, which seems slightly long for Kawakami Princess but Yokoyama surely has something in mind. And when the jockey does, it tends to work more often than not.		Kawakami Princess