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Nakayama Racecourse hosts the 69th running of the G1 Arima Kinen (2500m), the most beloved race of Japan’s racing fans, on Sunday (22 December).
This year's 16-horse field includes a number of three-year-olds and the most senior of the field - eight-year-old Hayayakko, a strikingly beautiful white horse from the stable of veteran trainer Sakae Kunieda.
Hayayakko will be the first pure white horse to participate in the Arima.
The 2024 Arima field is packed with champions, many of them on the receiving end of ballots cast from the fans. The top vote-getter this year is Do Deuce with a record 478,415 votes.
Others making an appearance will be this year's Derby winner Danon Decile , Bellagio Opera , Blow The Horn , Urban Chic, Deep Bond, Stunning Rose and Justin Palace, all in the top 10 vote-getters and all vying for the Arima first-place prize of JPY500 million (approx. HK$25.85 million).
A son of Heart's Cry, Do Deuce is not only the fans' favourite, he's the top earner of the field, weighing in with over HK$88 million amassed from 16 starts, all but two of them graded stakes, all but three of those Group 1s.
He boasts eight wins, five of them at the top level – the 2021 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (1600m), the 2022 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby, 2400m), the 2023 Arima Kinen and, this year, on a wave of dizzying heights, the Tenno Sho Autumn (2000m) and the Japan Cup (2400m).
If the five-year-old bay can win the Arima, which will be the final race of his career, he will become only the fifth horse to win consecutive versions (the first since Symboli Kris S in 2002 and 2003), but also only the third horse ever to capture the autumn racing season's 'Big Three' in the same year, the first since Zenno Rob Roy in 2004.
Trainer Yasuo Tomomichi said he's astonished how quickly the horse has recovered from both his autumn starts.
"He just keeps getting better and he has maintained the condition he had in the Japan Cup. Being born late in the year (7 May) and with Heart's Cry as his sire, he's a late bloomer. I think he's still in his growing stage," Tomomichi said.
"He has improved with each race and I could sense his power to grow. In fact, it was the first time I ever saw a horse grow like he did."
A three-time Derby-winning trainer, Tomomichi has a special place in his heart for Yutaka Take as well.
"I've won the Derby with Makahiki and Wagnerian, but when I won with Do Deuce, Yutaka was up," Tomomichi said.
"I have admired Take ever since I entered the racing world, so that was a very special win for me."
The legendary Take, now 55 years old, has won the Arima Kinen with some of the greatest – Oguri Cap (1990), Deep Impact (2006) and Kitasan Black (2017). He has ridden Do Deuce's in all but two of his starts and says: "Even after turning 50, I've been blessed with some very good horses. It's been fun and it's been very heartening."
Of Do Deuce he says: "We've gone into battle together and we've had some very joyous moments, but we've also had some crushing ones. But then, he would win again. He's an amazing horse and he's given me courage many times over.
"I've been lucky enough to have ridden most of his races and he's been close to my heart, at the very centre of me actually, for a long time. To think that this is the last race with him makes me sad.
"But, it also makes me want so much to see him end his career with a win."
