Horse, Dog & Sports A Black Christmas?

RacingHorse

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December 25 is not only Christmas Day, this year it is also G1 Arima Kinen Day at Nakayama, Japan when a field of 16 go to post for what is traditionally one of the strongest contests of the season. It is a unique race whereby racing fans vote for their favourite horses to line up and it appears they have assembled a top class field for this year’s edition headed by recent G1 Japan Cup hero Kitasan Black (Jpn) (Black Tide {Jpn}). The 4-year-old is aiming for his fourth Group 1 victory on Sunday and he arrives at the top of his game if his recent two and a half length defeat of Sounds Of Earth (Jpn) (Neo Universe {Jpn}) at Tokyo Nov. 27 is anything to go by. He also has two wins over the course to his credit and his trainer Hisashi Shimizu is confident ahead of Sunday. “Even before his debut, the stride this horse has on him had us thinking he was a Grade 1 performer,” said Shimizu. “The horse has developed very well since last year, he’s bigger and stronger. He’s had the same training routine, and we hope for a result here too. With an incident free run, I think he can confirm his performance last time.”
Kitasan Black finished third in the Arima Kinen last year when Gold Actor (Jpn) (Screen Hero {Jpn}) beat Sounds Of Earth by a neck with Marialite (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) close behind in fourth and all four will renew rivalry on Sunday. Mirco Demuro maintains his partnership with Sounds Of Earth and assessing his chances he commented, “He’s stronger in the winter, more than the spring. He ran well enough in the Japan Cup, and a horse came out from the inside to just take a little of our momentum close to home. I’m not worried about the course or distance this time. The important things are the pace and the draw. It’s a strong field, but in the last Grade 1 of the year, I want to do my best.”
On Japan Cup form Gold Actor has over three lengths to make up on Kitasan Black, however trainer Tadashige Nakagawa has reason to believe that deficit can be reduced on Sunday. “He was just a little heavy for his race in the Japan Cup, so in recent training we’ve worked him accordingly, and hopefully he’ll go into this race at just under 500 kgs,” he said. “His last piece of work was fine. The jockey knows all about the horse, so there are no worries there, and the horse is in similar condition to when he won last year.”
Satono Diamond (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) is the only 3-year-old taking part and this Classic winner showed his quality when beating Rainbow Line (Jpn) (Stay Gold {Jpn}) in the G1 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St Leger) at Kyoto Oct. 23. Christophe Lemaire knows the colt well and has high hopes that he can rise to the stiff challenge head. “I’ve ridden him in all his races since his debut through to Grade 1 races. The horse gave me my first Classic win here in Japan. He’s a great horse, easy to ride, and with so much potential. I want to win the Arima Kinen. Obviously, Kitasan Black is strong, but I want to make it a match race with him and my horse,” declared the Frenchman.

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