Arima Kinen – End of year, end of careers

This became a fun one about more history than I initially intended.

Arima Kinen is one of those races you always hear mentioned and your brain might just glaze over like “yeah that’s a big deal, sure”. But WHY is it a big deal?

The short answer is that it’s the last major race of the calendar year and as such it’s where many horses retire. It’s also a race where participation is determined by both earnings and popularity making it a bit of an all-stars event.

This statement comes with the asterisk that it’s the last central circuit race (so local racecourses might have other events) and even then other notable races in the central circuit might take place later. In fact, for 2026 the Tokyo Daishoten (a Dirt race) will take place after the Arima Kinen, and after being promoted to a G1 race the Hopeful Stakes also takes place at the end of the year. But as far as the big spectacles, the “main races” so to speak, it is the last one of the year.

That was the not-so-short short answer, so let’s get into the long one.

The first thing I wanted to confirm heading into this was if the Arima in Arima Kinen (“Kinen”/記念 means “memorial” so the race is effectively “The Arima Memorial”) was related to the Arima area in Kobe. since they even have the same kanji (有馬).

For those not aware, Arima Onsen is a hot springs resort in the Kobe mountains, by Mt. Rokko to be more specific. That mountain range is actually the same one that has Mt. Maya, the same Mt. Maya that Mayano Top Gun is named after.

Also, funnily enough the Ari in Arima (有) is equivalent to “has” or “yes”, like you’d mark in forms. Like a form would ask if you have a wife and it goes 有/無, though in that context the kanji is pronounced “U/Yuu”. But the point remains that by kanji alone Arima can be read as “has horse” which is a fortuitous thing.

Not as fortuitous, however, as the fact that “Arima” is actually the last name of a person, and not just any person but the then-president of the JRA and someone with one hell of a resume.

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Arima Yoriyasu (有馬 頼寧) was born on December 17th 1884. He became the 15th head of the Arima clan, taking over his father Arima Yoritsumu (有馬 頼萬). Arima Yoriyasu would go on to have an illustrous life of phillantropy but to understand his biggest contribution to Japanese horse racing we have to step back for a moment.

The JRA recognizes the first betting tickets to have been sold as far back as 1888 by the Nihon Race Kurabu (日本レース・倶楽部) in theYokohama Racecourse. However, even back in 1871 (so, long before this milestone) there were aguments about the harmful effects of gambling indicating it was prevalent from a long time ago. Back then the current pari-mutuel system (where similar bets are pooled together and the amount of bets determine the payout rate, the house takes a cut and taxes from that pool, and then the earnings are divided amongst the winners) didn’t exist and instead you justdrew a ticket and whoever was in your ticket was your bet.

Yeah, literally lottery on top of gambling, crazy stuff.

Around 1905 racing was used as a means to improve the pedigree of horses for various other uses so horseracing became an officially sanctioned activity in 1906. However by 1908, concerns about the criminal effects of gambling rose up again and horseracing was prohibited.

However, in the aftermath of World War 1, there was a concern that without horseracing there would be no incentives to create better horses to mobilize troops, so there was a push to create a legal precedent for horseracing and gambling that finally came into effect in 1923. This push towards properly legalizing horseracing was actually helped by Yasuda Izaemon, the same Yasuda the Yasuda Kinen is named after.

Now some of you might be wondering “Throughbreds as military horses? Aren’t throughbreds super duper fragile?” Yes! Cut to the Sino-Japanese War and turns out breeding horses overspecialized for speed in specific conditions wasn’t conducive to making them good for farm work or any practical use, leading to Army Vice-Minister Hideki Tojo to complain that horseracing was making horses worse.

Enter stage left the Nihon Keiba Kai (日本競馬会). This organization had its roots back in 1907, one year after officially-licensed horseracing became a thing. By 1936 it had absorbed all 11 other horseracing organizations in the country becoming the central organization for horseracing and wouldn’t you know it? Mr Yasuda Kinen, Yasuda Izaemon himself was also involved with this, even becoming the organization’s second chairman taking after Matsudaira Yoritsugu (man, what names).

The Nihon Keiba Kai was disbanded in June 1948 during the American occupation because it was a monopoly. But afterwards in July the current Horseracing Act (競馬法) was passed. It made horseracing into an activity backed by the government. And then in 1954 the JRA was formed and the law specified how it (and any other smaller horseracing associations around the country) would pay proceedings from the activities to the Japanese treasury.

Yeah, like with many things around the world, moral concerns stop when they become a source of income for the powers that be.

You might think this so far is just one of my random tangents… and you’d be WRONG. You see, in 1955 Arima Yoriyasu (who you’ll remember I introduced as being the JRA’s president once upon a time) was responsible for the eponymous “Arima Special Act“, an exemption from paying to the Japanese Treasury the proceeds from two special races a year from 1956 to 1960. This money would be used to modernize and renovate many of the racecourses, ESPECIALLY the aging Nakayama Racecourse.

Something worth noting here is that Arima Yoriyasu was an outsider to the general zeitgeist of horseracing which gave him a lot of then-out of left field ideas. He was responsible for the JRA having a PR department, he proposed the races be broadcast in radio, he proposed the racecourses have daycares. And now with renovations to the Nakayama racecourse including new stands set to start by the end of 1955, Arima Yoriyasu had an idea for a big race that would be the Nakayama Racecourse equivalent to an all-star game in baseball, a race where the fans would decide who participates.

The Nakayama Grand Prix.

Fun fact: Apparently the term “Grand Prix” became popular around that time because Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon won the Grand Prix (AKA the Grand Prize) at the Venice International Film Festival in 1951.

And so the first Nakayama Grand Prix was held in 1956. Reception to the race and the idea of the most popular horses being invited to participate was very welcome and a second one was on the works.

But sadly, Arima Yoriyasu would die on January 9th, 1957, at age 72. Not too long after the Nakayama Grand Prix, even.

Due to his contributions, the race he helped create in the racecourse he helped renovate would be renamed Arima Kinen.

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As mentioned, the Arima Kinen is a race held at the end of the year as a means to cap off the year in horseracing.

The way the participation for the event is decided starts with fans voting. In the past the main way was via ballots available in JRA venues like WINS and such, but nowadays there’s online voting too. It can include horses ages 3 and up (no horses fresh off debut, basically), from 1995 onwards it can include regional horses (for those that have seen Cinderella Gray: think Fujimasa March) and from 2007 onwards it can include foreign horses (up to 6).

Apparently starting last year the regional horses have the extra stipulation that they need to have four or more wins to their name.

Sidenote, I just checked and in-game Haru Urara has exactly 4 objectives to end up in the top 5 of a race. She was obviously released long before 2025 but it’s hilarious that if you do win those objectives at minimum she qualifies within the rules.

So the top 10 based on votes will be given priority (keyword being “priority” since they might reject the invitation for any number of reasons and need to readjust), then invitations to those not necessarily voted on will be determined based on lifetime earnings, which is why older horses will end in this race even if they’re not the most popular at the time (since more races means more money).

Determining the starting positions has been a process that’s been adjusted. It was initially a lottery but in 2014 they tried to see what would happen if they let the horse’s staff pick where they start.

The lottery is an event unto itself where someone from the horse’s camp will go up to the stage and draw lots. There’s actors involved, it’s televised, it’s A Whole Thing.

The race takes placein the same racecourse as the Satsuki Sho, but in such a way that the horses are effectively running almost lap and a half in an oval. The race actually changed to an outer course back in 1960 and then to an inner course in 1966. I cannot find a map of the older route and the source on wikipedia leads to a broken link and the internet archive version doesn’t seem to have it either, but I assume the starting point and direction is what changed.

Aside from having less tricks and even allowing a bit of practice for the last turn, the biggest difference is that Arima Kinen takes place in winter rather than spring.

The prize money for the Arima Kinen is 500 million yen for the 1st place, 200 million for 2nd, 130 million for 3rd, 75 million for 4th, and 50 million for 5th. It has the highest first place prize alongside the Japan Cup and it’s the highest overall in a publicly managed race (which includes the other betting sports in Japan).

For those curious, first place jockeys will get 25 million yen since the law requires the money to be divided between owners, trainers, stablehands, and jockeys in a 8:1:0.5:0.5 ratio.

With all of that in mind, you can see why this is the perfect race to retire on. You got in because you were either the most popular or the biggest winner and then you cap off the year with a spectacle.

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Let’s get to numbers:

Here’s a list of all the Arima Kinen winners relevant to the game as of February 16th, 2026:

• Speed Symboli (14th and 15th Arima Kinen, 1969 and 1970)
• Symboli Rudolf (29th and 30th Arima Kinen, 1984 and 1985)
• Oguri Cap (33rd and 35th Arima Kinen, 1988 and 1990)
• Inari One (34th Arima Kinen, 1989)
• Mejiro Palmer (37th Arima Kinen, 1992)
• Toukai Teio (38th Arima Kinen, 1993)
• Narita Brian (39th Arima Kinen, 1994)
• Mayano Top Gun (40th Arima Kinen, 1995)
• Sakura Laurel (41st Arima Kinen, 1996)
• Grass Wonder (43rd and 44th Arima Kinen, 1998 and 1999)
• TM Opera O (45th Arima Kinen, 2000)
• Manhattan Cafe (46th Arima Kinen, 2001)
• Symboli Kris S (47th and 48th Arima Kinen, 2002 and 2003)
• Zenno Rob Roy (49th Arima Kinen, 2004)
• Daiwa Scarlet (53rd Arima Kinen, 2008)
• Dream Journey (54th Arima Kinen, 2009)
• Orfevre (56th and 58th Arima Kinen, 2011 and 2013)
• Gold Ship (57th Arima Kinen, 2012)
• Gentildonna (59th Arima Kinen, 2014)
• Satono Diamond (61st Arima Kinen, 2016)
• Kitasan Black (62nd Arima Kinen, 2017)
• Blast One Piece (63rd Arima Kinen, 2018)
• Chrono Genesis (65th Arima Kinen, 2020)

And here’s a list of those more tangential to the game or posts I’ve made:

• Star Roch (5th Arima Kinen, 1960. First three year old Filly to win. Machikane Tannhauser‘s maternal great grandma on grandma’s side,Sakura Bakushin O‘s Great great grandma on paternal great grandma’s side, Winning Ticket‘s maternal great grandma on grandma’s side)
• Shinzan (10th Arima Kinen, 1965. See: my post on Masato Shibata)
• Toumei (16th Arima Kinen, 1971. First filly to win it and the Autumn Tenno Sho back to back)
• Toushou Boy (21st Arima Kinen, 1976. Daiichi Ruby and Mr. CB’s father, Machikane Fukukitaru‘s Maternal Great-grandpa on Grandpa’s side)
• Ten Point (22nd Arima Kinen, 1977)
• Green Grass (24th Arima Kinen, 1979. The “Grass” in Grass Wonder comes from him, him and the earlier 2 were part of a single power trio)
• Amber Shadai (26th Arima Kinen, 1981. Father of Mejiro Ryan)
• Dai Yusaku (36th Arima Kinen, 1991. Defeated Mejiro McQueen)
• Silk Justice (42nd Arima Kinen, 1997. Defeated Marvelous Sunday)
• Matsurida Van Gogh (52nd Arima Kinen, 2007. Defeated Daiwa Scarlet)
• Victoire Pisa (55th Arima Kinen, 2010. Defeated Buena Vista)
• Gold Actor (60th Arima Kinen, 2015. Defeated Sounds of Earth)
• Lys Gracieux (64th Arima Kinen, 2019. Defeated Almond Eye, but Almond Eye ended up 9th instead of 2nd)
• Efforia (66th Arima Kinen, 2021. Descendant from Cesario and Symboli Kris S via Epiphaneia)
• Equinox (67th Arima Kinen, 2022. Descended from Kitasan Black)
• Museum Mile (70th Arima Kinen, 2025. Descended from Cesario via Leontes)

For those keeping track at home, if you count Arima Kinen related to the game either by winners or losers, it goes uninterrupted from the 33th Arima Kinen with Oguri Cap up until the 49th Arima Kinen with Zenno Rob Roy.

Then it resumes on the 52nd with Matsurida Van Gogh up until the 67th with Equinox and at that point we’re literally in the teritory of the game already having released and the horseracing history the game depicts unfolding in real time.

So what happened in the 50th and 51st?

The 50th (2005) was when Heart’s Cry did the impossible and took a victory away from Deep Impact. Then the 51st (2006) was when Deep Impact took the revenge match home.

In a fun twist, however, more descendants from Heart’s Cry have so far won the Arima Kinen than Deep Impact’s. The score is at 5-2 in Favor of Heart’s Cry and it looks like this:

HOWEVER do note that for Deep Impact it’s all direct descendants.

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The main reason that I had the idea for this post (though I didn’t expect a historical tangent to be relevant) was that last year both Cinderella Gray’s current anime and the manga as a whole ended, aligning with Arima Kinen season (though as of this writing the last volume-long last chapter hasn’t released as a tankobon).

Season 3 also ended in Arima Kinen season. Season 2 ended with an Arima Kinen race, and Season 1 showed the aftermath that the game turned into a whole ass climax as just a throwaway line (it’s this post’s header)

Passing The Reins also ended in december and had Arima Kinen as a plot point.

The Gorushi manga actually made a fake end-of-manga page because of this.

Not since Donbrothers…

My Sweet Umadonna (which keeps coming up somehow) was released around Arima Kinen season and the characters were all named after Arima Kinen winners (with the manga version characters being named after Arima Kinen losers), to the point where the second game introduces the plot of not being able to participate also introduces a character named after Vodka (who famously rejected entering the race).

It’s the high point of the latter part of the horseracing year on all fronts for sure, and I kinda wonder how much the fact people get their christmas bonuses and such plays into it.

I’ve not seen anything official about it but one has to wonder…

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Oh by the way, turns out that Arima Onsen in Kobe was originally written as 有間 instead of 有馬. The Kanji in 有間 being a reference to the fact that it’s an onsen in between mountains (so more like “has hole”).