There is no denying that the Arima Kinen is one of the best thoroughbred races in the world and focus will return to Nakayama on Sunday for another outstanding edition of the Group 1 feature.
Won by some genuine champions in seasons gone by, the 2019 Arima Kinen field can rightly be considered amongst the best that we have seen since the turn of the century, and will be headlined by a showdown between outstanding mare Almond Eye and Cox Plate champion Lys Gracieux.
You can find my 2019 Arima Kinen tips below.
Almond Eye is one of the world’s best horses currently in work and she looms as the one to beat in the Arima Kinen. A four-year-old daughter of prolific sire Lord Kanaloa, Almond Eye has had eight career starts for seven wins (six in Group 1 company) and one placing, with that one defeat coming at the hands of Indy Champ who is a star in his own right. The one thing that is playing against her here is that she was recently scratched from the Hong Kong Cup with a couple of minor health issues, but there is no way that her connections would risk running her in this race underdone. Anything even money or over in Arima Kinen betting looks a nice price for her.
It was an extremely difficult decision not to put Lyc Gracieux on top of my 2019 Arima Kinen tips, but so is my opinion of Almond Eye. Lys introduced herself to the Australian racing fraternity when she spanked some of our best horses and several others from around the world in this year’s Cox Plate, but that performance was merely another in a long line of outstanding performances and results that have been posted all over the globe. This is her racing swansong; she’ll be retired after the Arima Kinen and realistically, she would not look out of place in the winner’s stall.
Scanning further down this Arima Kinen field, it surely becomes blaringly obvious even to the most casual of racing punters that Japan breeds the best horses in the world. Saturnalia has only had five career starts, but he is another genuine star and will relish the conditions of the Arima Kinen. He stamped himself as a colt to follow when a smart winner of the Group 1 Hopeful Stakes on debut and has won two of his four subsequent starts, including the Group 1 2000 Guineas here at Nakayama.
It’s telling that the Arima Kinen field is outstanding when you have a horse as good Cheval Grand going around at an enormous price ($31 at publish). There’s no denying that he is on the wrong side of career-best form, but he is as honest as they come and is still clearly good enough for his connections to take him to the other side of the world, as we saw in two starts in the UK this year. He’ll enjoy good improvement for his resuming run for ninth in the Japan Cup and is up to running a place.