Gold Actor Upsets in Arima Kinen

Favored Gold Ship was upstaged in his career finale Dec. 27 when lightly regarded Gold Actor captured his first group I race and capped a four-race win streak in the Arima Kinen (Jpn-I) at Nakayama Racecourse.

 

The 2,500-meter (about 1 9/16-mile) Arima Kinen is deemed Japan racing's all-star event, with fans voting to determine their top 10 runners for the race. Gold Ship garnered the most votes in his bid to claim his second Arima Kinen victory and seventh group I triumph in his final start before retirement, after winning the 2012 edition of the race.

 

Nearing the home turn, Gold Actor moved to third along the rail with Gold Ship to his outside. Gold Actor was angled out and accelerated clear for his stretch run while the former champion failed to produce an effective rally.Gold Actor lengthened stride in the final furlong when jockey Hayato Yoshida gave the cue, overtook pacesetter Kitasan Black 50 meters out to lead, and then held off a strong charge from Sounds of Earth for a neck win. 

 

Kitasan Black, winner of the Kikuka Sho (Jpn-I, Japanese St. Leger) last time out, held on for third, three-quarters of a length back. Gold Ship, the 4-1 favorite, finished eighth in the full field of 16.

 

Gold Actor, at 17-1, broke sharply from post 7 and led briefly before allowing Kitasan Black and Lia Fail to set the pace in first and second, respectively, while he hugged the rail in fourth or fifth. Kitasan Black towed the field along at a slow pace, but Yoshida made sure his mount was ideally positioned toward the front.

 

"We made a rather early move, so I was praying that he would stay to the finish," Yoshida said. "He's a smart horse and I knew that he had the ability to perform at this (group I) level." 

 

Gold Actor covered the distance in 2:33 on firm turf to stay perfect in four starts this year. Overall, Kaname Ishiro's 4-year-old son of Screen Hero has a 7-2-1 record from 13 career starts, including the Copa Republica Argentina (Jpn-II) Nov. 8 at Tokyo in his previous start. He finished third in last year's Japanese St. Leger for trainer Tadashige Nakagawa, then got an eight-month break before returning in July to ignite an undefeated season. 

 

A crowd of 127,281 was on hand for the Arima Kinen, which carried a purse of ¥521,000,000 (about US$4,342,000), making it Japan's second-richest race next to the Japan Cup (Jpn-I). Many in attendance remained on track for Gold Ship's retirement ceremony.

 

Gold Actor, bred in Japan by Hokusho Farm, is from the winning Kyowa Alysheba mare Heilong Xing and is the first black-type winner through the first four generations of his female family.