Arima Kinen

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Grade 1 race
Arima Kinen 有馬記念

Location	Nakayama Racecourse
Inaugurated	1956
Race type	Thoroughbred
Website	japanracing.jp/
Race information
Distance	2500 meters (About 12.5 furlongs)
Track	Turf, Right-handed
Qualification	3-y-o & Up, Thoroughbreds
Weight	3-y-o 55 kg \ 4-y-o & up 57kg
Purse	¥383,400,000 (as of 2006)

The Arima Kinen (有馬記念) is a Grade I flat horse race in Japan for three-year-old and above thoroughbreds run over a distance of 2,500 metres (approximately 1 mile 4½ furlongs) at Nakayama Racecourse in late December. It is one of the two "All-Star" races in Japanese horse racing; the other is the Takarazuka Kinen in late June.

It was first run in 1956 as the Nakayama Grand Prix (中山グランプリ), and was re-named the following year to honour Yoriyasu Arima, who founded the race.

The race is run on turf, and initially the distance was set at 2,600 metres, which was shortened to the present distance in 1966.

The majority of the runners in the field are selected by a vote from racing fans, while the remainder are determined by the amount of prizemoney won.

The Arima Kinen held on December 25, 2005

The Arima Kinen has traditionally been open to Japanese trained horses only, but in 2000 a new condition was introduced by the Japan Racing Association which allows a foreign trained winner of the Japan Cup to participate, although the victory must have been in the same year. The Arima Kinen was given Domestic Grade I until 2006, when, starting from the 2007 race, JRA elevated the Arima Kinen to an International Grade I, which is possible to have foreign entrants in the race (maximum for 2007 running was four; [1]).

[edit] Winners since 1998

Year	Winner	Age	Jockey	Trainer	Owner	Time
1998	Grass Wonder	3	Hitoshi Matoba	Mitsuhiro Ogata	Y. Hanzawa	2:32.1
1999	Grass Wonder	4	Hitoshi Matoba	Mitsuhiro Ogata	Y. Hanzawa	2:37.2
2000	T M Opera O	4	Ryuji Wada	Ichizo Iwamoto	Masatsugu Takezono	2:34.1
2001	Manhattan Café	3	Masayoshi Ebina	Futoshi Kojima	Ken Nishikawa	2:33.1
2002	Symboli Kris S	3	Olivier Peslier	Kazuo Fujisawa	Symboli Stud	2:32.6
2003	Symboli Kris S	4	Olivier Peslier	Kazuo Fujisawa	Symboli Stud	2:30.5
2004	Zenno Rob Roy	4	Olivier Peslier	Kazuo Fujisawa	Shinobu Oosako	2:29.5
2005	Heart's Cry	4	Christophe Lemaire	Kojiro Hashiguchi	Shadai Racehorse Co Ltd	2:31.9
2006	Deep Impact	4	Yutaka Take	Yasuo Ikee	Kaneko Makoto Holdings Co.	2:31.9
2007	Matsurida Gogh	4	Masayoshi Ebina	Sakae Kunieda	Fumie Takahashi	2:33.6