HISTORICALLY the Group 1 Arima Kinen is the closing spectacle of the racing season. However, the addition of two extra JRA Group 1 races for 2017 has caused the fixture list to be slightly reorganised.

Held at Nakayama Racecourse, the Arima Kinen competes with the Japan Cup and the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) for the biggest race day of the year. This comparison is made in terms of betting turnover and attendance.

With over 100,000 fans in attendance on race day, thousands more had their influence on the starting line-up. The majority of the runners for the 12 and a half-furlong contest are decided by the racing public casting their votes for the horses they want to see compete for the 300 million yen (€2.25 million) winner’s purse.

This was to be Kitasan Black’s final race of his glittering career before retiring to the breeding shed. He unsurprisingly topped the public polls and was subsequently sent off as 10/11 favourite.

Already a six-time Group 1 winner, the Arima Kinen had proved elusive in his two previous attempts to add to his already enviable CV.

With regular race jockey Yutake Take once again on board, the pair broke smartly to assume their familiar front-running style.

Setting a moderate pace throughout, the remaining 15 runners were content to stalk the pace behind the reigning champion horse of the year.

Quickening as the field moved down the back straight, still seemingly in complete command, Kitasan Black began to stretch the pack as he entered the home-stretch. Once Take asked the five-year-old to lay down the gauntlet passing the two furlong marker, a fitting end to Kitasan Black’s racing career was never in doubt.

With an ever heightening decibel level from the frenzied grandstand, Kitasan Black passed the winning line a dominant pillar-to-post, length and a half winner.

Chasing home the winner was the mare Queen’s Ring, with recent Japan Cup winner Cheval Grand a further nose behind in third.

Not seen on the track until January of his three-year-old year, Kitasan Black won the 2015 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St Leger) before progressing to dominate the staying rankings in his four and five-year-old seasons.

He retires with earnings of 1.8 billion yen (€13.9 million) and an incredibly consistent race record of 12 wins from 20 starts, only finishing outside of the placings on two occasions.

With this his seventh JRA Group 1 success, Kitasan Black now joins an incredibly select group of the truly great racehorses of JRA racing history, which include Deep Impact and Vodka.

This victory also saw the son of Black Tide eclipse the long-standing career earnings record of T M Opera O.

Kitasan Black is undoubtedly the flag bearer for the Breeders Stallion Station-resident Black Tide. His only other progeny to compete competitively at JRA Group 1 level to date is Meiner Frost, placed third in the 2014 Tokyo Yushun behind One and Only.

Black Tide was a Group 2 winner as a four-year-old, he is by Sunday Silence and out of Group 1 winner Wind In Her Hair (Alzao). However, his success on the track and in the breeding shed have been categorically overshadowed by the exploits of his peerless younger full-brother, reigning champion sire Deep Impact.

Assured to retain his Horse of the Year title, Kitasan Black will stand at Shadai Stallion Station for 2018. He will command a fee of 5,000,000 Yen (€37,000).