The last big event on the 2020 Japanese racing calendar, the Dec. 27 Arima Kinen (The Grand Prix, G1), is a scramble involving the nation's top older horses.
This could have been a finale for the recently retired super mare Almond Eye and a chance for redemption for the only really poor showing of her stellar career—a ninth-place finish a year ago. Instead, her connections called it a career after Almond Eye won the Japan Cup (G1) for the second time Nov. 29.
Filling the void, at least for Japanese fans, is Chrono Genesis.
The Arima Kinen is one of two races that offer fans a chance to vote on which horses they'd like to see run. With Almond Eye having her eye on other matters now, the voters delivered a record 214,742 ballots for Chrono Genesis, a 4-year-old filly by Bago.
Altogether, six of the top vote-getters are in the race, pending finalization of the field. The others set to face the starter are Fierement (JPN), second to Almond Eye in the Tenno Sho (Autumn, G1) Nov. 1, Lucky Lilac, Kiseki, World Premiere, and Blast Onepiece.
Chrono Genesis won the other "fan voting" event this year, the Takarazuka Kinen (G1) in June, and with a victory in the Arima Kinen would match the accomplishment of Lys Gracieux, who won both races—and Australia's Ladbrokes Cox Plate (G1)—last season. Lys Gracieux was retired after that feat and named Japan's 2019 Horse of the Year.
Although she has won half her starts, including two grade 1 events, Chrono Genesis has not raced beyond 2,200 meters (about 1 3/8 miles), 300 meters short of the Arima Kinen distance. More recently, she finished a solid third behind Almond Eye and Fierement in the Tenno Sho.
There's plenty of competition in the remainder of the field.
Lucky Lilac, a 5-year-old daughter of Orfevre, was No. 2 in the fan balloting. She exits a victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Cup (G1) at Hanshin, a race she has won twice. She also was a solid second in the 2019 Longines Hong Kong Vase (G1) going 2,400 meters.
Kiseki, a 6-year-old by Rulership, hasn't won in 18 starts since taking the 2017 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger, G1). He finished second in the Takarazuka Kinen both this year and last but most recently reported fifth in the Tenno Sho and eighth in the Japan Cup.
World Premiere looks for improvement. The 4-year-old Deep Impact colt showed promise with a victory in the 2019 Kikuka Sho and a third in that year's Arima Kinen. Then he was away from the track for nearly 11 months and finished sixth in his comeback in the Japan Cup.
Blast Onepiece, a 5-year-old son of Harbinger, won the 2018 Arima Kinen but has been way off form in recent efforts.
The Arima Kinen starts on the outer loop of the Nakayama Racecourse turf, circles one bend before passing the stands the first time, then continues around the inner loop into the stretch for a second time. The stretch run features a stamina-sapping rise to the finish.
The purse of about US$6 million is equaled in Japan only by that of the Japan Cup itself. The winner's cut is about $2.78 million.
