Arima Kinen

Arima Kinen
Nakayama Grand Prix
有馬記念
中山グランプリ

Grade I race
2019 Arima Kinen winner Lys Gracieux
Location	Nakayama Racecourse
Inaugurated	1956
Race type	Thoroughbred - Flat race
Website	japanracing.jp
Race information
Distance	2,500 metres (1m 4+1⁄2f)
Surface	Turf
Track	Right-handed
Qualification	Three-years-old and up
Weight	55 kg (3yo); 57 kg (4yo+) Allowances 2 kg for fillies and mares 2 kg for S. Hemisphere 3yos
Purse	¥ 864,000,000 (as of 2022) 1st: ¥ 400,000,000
Bonuses	Winner of Tenno Sho (Autumn), Japan Cup, Arima Kinen Domestic: ¥ 200,000,000 International: ¥ 100,000,000

The Arima Kinen (有馬記念) is a Grade I flat horse race in Japan open to Thoroughbreds which are three-years-old or above and the world's largest betting horserace. It is run over a distance of 2,500 metres (approximately 1 mile and 4+1⁄2 furlongs) at Nakayama Racecourse, and it takes place annually in late December. It is one of the two "All-Star" races in Japanese horse racing; the other is the Takarazuka Kinen in late June.

The event was first run in 1956, and it was initially titled the Nakayama Grand Prix (中山グランプリ). The following year it was renamed in memory of Yoriyasu Arima (1884–1957), the founder of the race. The distance was originally set at 2,600 metres, and it was shortened to the present length, 2,500 metres, in 1966.

The majority of the runners (10 out of 16) in the field are selected by a vote from racing fans, which must be a Japan Racing Association horse. If at least one horse in top 10 decided not to participate in the race, the void will be filled with next available horse until 10 available runners are filled. The remainder of 6 (including National Association of Racing (NAR) and foreign-based horses) are determined by the amount of prize money won.

Until 1999 the Arima Kinen was open to Japanese trained horses only. However, the Japan Racing Association introduced a new condition in 2000 which allowed for the participation of a foreign trained horse, if it had won that year's Japan Cup (though, no horse eligible has ended up participating this race). The Arima Kinen was classed as a Domestic Grade I until 2006, and it was then promoted to an International Grade I in 2007. Consequently, it is now possible for more foreign trained horses to compete in the race. The maximum number of these was set at four in 2007, and this increased to six for the 2008 running.

Records

Speed record:

• 2:29.5 – Zenno Rob Roy (2004)

Most wins:

• 2 – Speed Symboli (1969, 1970)
• 2 – Symboli Rudolf (1984, 1985)
• 2 – Oguri Cap (1988, 1990)
• 2 – Grass Wonder (1998, 1999)
• 2 – Symboli Kris S (2002, 2003)
• 2 - Orfevre (2011, 2013)

Most wins by a jockey:

• 4 - Kenichi Ikezoe (2009,2011,2013,2018)

Winners since 1988

Year	Winner	Age	Jockey	Trainer	Owner	Time
1988	Oguri Cap	3	Yukio Okabe	Tsutomu Setoguchi	Isao Sahashi	2:33.9
1989	Inari One	5	Masato Shibata	Kiyoshi Suzuki	Hiroki Hotehama	2:31.7
1990	Oguri Cap	5	Yutaka Take	Tsutomu Setoguchi	Shunsuke Kondo	2:34.2
1991	Daiyusaku	6	Shigefumi Kumazawa	Shigeharu Naito	Kohei Hashimoto	2:30.6
1992	Mejiro Palmer	5	Taisei Yamada	Masaaki Okubo	Mejiro Farm	2:33.5
1993	Tokai Teio	5	Seiki Tabara	Shouichi Matsumoto	Masanori Uchimura	2:30.9
1994	Narita Brian	3	Katsumi Minai	Masaaki Okubo	Hidenori Yamaji	2:32.2
1995	Mayano Top Gun	3	Seiki Tabara	Masahiro Sakaguchi	Yu Tadokoro	2:33.6
1996	Sakura Laurel	5	Norihiro Yokoyama	Katsutaro Sakai	Sakura Commerce	2:33.8
1997	Silk Justice	3	Shinji Fujita	Masaaki Okubo	Silk Co Ltd	2:34.8
1998	Grass Wonder	3	Hitoshi Matoba	Mitsuhiro Ogata	Y. Hanzawa	2:32.1
1999	Grass Wonder	4	Hitoshi Matoba	Mitsuhiro Ogata	Y. Hanzawa	2:37.2
2000	T M Opera O	4	Ryuji Wada	Ichizo Iwamoto	Masatsugu Takezono	2:34.1
2001	Manhattan Cafe	3	Masayoshi Ebina	Futoshi Kojima	Ken Nishikawa	2:33.1
2002	Symboli Kris S	3	Olivier Peslier	Kazuo Fujisawa	Symboli Stud	2:32.6
2003	Symboli Kris S	4	Olivier Peslier	Kazuo Fujisawa	Symboli Stud	2:30.5
2004	Zenno Rob Roy	4	Olivier Peslier	Kazuo Fujisawa	Shinobu Oosako	2:29.5
2005	Heart's Cry	4	Christophe Lemaire	Kojiro Hashiguchi	Shadai Racehorse	2:31.9
2006	Deep Impact	4	Yutaka Take	Yasuo Ikee	Kaneko Makoto Holdings	2:31.9
2007	Matsurida Gogh	4	Masayoshi Ebina	Sakae Kunieda	Fumie Takahashi	2:33.6
2008	Daiwa Scarlet	4	Katsumi Ando	Kunihide Matsuda	Keizo Oshiro	2:31.5
2009	Dream Journey	5	Kenichi Ikezoe	Yasutoshi Ikee	Sunday Racing	2:30.0
2010	Victoire Pisa	3	Mirco Demuro	Katsuhiko Sumii	Yoshimi Ichikawa	2:32.6
2011	Orfevre	3	Kenichi Ikezoe	Yasutoshi Ikee	Sunday Racing	2:36.0
2012	Gold Ship	3	Hiroyuki Uchida	Naosuke Sugai	Eiichi Kobayashi	2:31.9
2013	Orfevre	5	Ken'ichi Ikezoe	Yasutoshi Ikee	Sunday Racing Co. Ltd.	2:32.3
2014	Gentildonna	5	Keita Tosaki	Sei Ishizaka	Sunday Racing Co. Ltd.	2:35.3
2015	Gold Actor	4	Hayato Yoshida	Tadashige Nakagawa	Kaname Ishiro	2:33.0
2016	Satono Diamond	3	Christophe Lemaire	Yasutoshi Ikee	Hajime Satomi	2:32.6
2017	Kitasan Black	5	Yutaka Take	Hisashi Shimizu	Ono Shoji	2:33.6
2018	Blast Onepiece	3	Kenichi Ikezoe	Masahiro Otake	Silk Racing Co Ltd	2:32.2
2019	Lys Gracieux	5	Damian Lane	Yoshito Yahagi	Carrot Farm	2:30.5
2020	Chrono Genesis	4	Yuichi Kitamura	Takashi Saito	Sunday Racing	2:35.0
2021	Efforia	3	Takeshi Yokoyama	Yuichi Shikato	Carrot Farm	2:32.0
2022	Equinox	3	Christophe Lemaire	Tetsuya Kimura	Silk Racing Co Ltd	2:32.4

Vote Leaders since 1998

Year	Leader	Age	Votes Received	Race Result
1998	Air Groove	4	165,357	5th
1999	Special Week	4	165,734	2nd
2000	T M Opera O	4	109,140	Winner
2001	T M Opera O	5	93,217	5th
2002	Narita Top Road	6	91,122	4th
2003	Symboli Kris S	4	125,116	Winner
2004	Zenno Rob Roy[1]	4	100,052	Winner
2005	Deep Impact	3	160,297	2nd
2006	Deep Impact	4	119,940	Winner
2007	Vodka	3	105,441	11th
2008	Vodka	4	136,619	Not in race
2009	Vodka	5	105,059	Not in race[2]
2010	Buena Vista	4	111,323	2nd
2011	Buena Vista	5	109,247	7th
2012	Orfevre	4	90,474	Not in race
2013	Orfevre	5	81,198	Winner
2014	Gold Ship	5	66,796	Third
2015	Gold Ship	6	120,981	8th
2016	Kitasan Black	4	137,353	2nd
2017	Kitasan Black	5	124,641	Winner
2018	Rey de Oro	4	110,293	2nd
2019	Almond Eye	4	109,885	9th
2020	Chrono Genesis	4	214,472	Winner
2021	Efforia	3	260,742	Winner
2022	Titleholder	4	368,304	9th

¹ In 2004 vote, Zenno Rob Roy was estimated to have received fewer votes than Cosmo Bulk (Deduced from the official result of Internet vote). However, as Cosmo Bulk was not a Japan Racing Association horse (but belonged to Hokkaido Keiba from NAR) all votes cast for him were invalid.
² Vodka was not allowed to participate in the 2009 race, as she was on a 1-month suspension due to nose bleeding in the Japan Cup.

Earlier winners

• 1956 - Meiji Hikari
• 1957 - Hakuchikara
• 1958 - Onward There
• 1959 - Garnet
• 1960 - Star Roch
• 1961 - Homareboshi
• 1962 - Onslaught
• 1963 - Ryu Forel
• 1964 - Yamato Kyodai
• 1965 - Shinzan
• 1966 - Korehide
• 1967 - Kabuto Ciro
• 1968 - Ryuzuki
• 1969 - Speed Symboli
• 1970 - Speed Symboli
• 1971 - Tomei
• 1972 - Ishino Hikaru
• 1973 - Strong Eight
• 1974 - Tanino Chikara
• 1975 - Ishino Arashi
• 1976 - Tosho Boy
• 1977 - Ten Point
• 1978 - Kane Minobu
• 1979 - Green Grass
• 1980 - Hoyo Boy
• 1981 - Amber Shadai
• 1982 - Hikari Duel
• 1983 - Lead Hoyu
• 1984 - Symboli Rudolf
• 1985 - Symboli Rudolf
• 1986 - Dyna Gulliver
• 1987 - Mejiro Durren

See also

• Horse racing in Japan
• List of Japanese flat horse races

References

• Racing Post:
  • 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
  • 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
  • 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022

• japanracing.jp – "The 53rd Arima Kinen" (2008)
• pedigreequery.com