The Takarazuka Kinen, established in 1960 and opened to foreign-trained horses in 1997, became the first international Grade One race, designated by International Cataloguing Standards Committee (ICSC) to be held in western Japan. It is the final G1 race to conclude the spring season and is the Grand Prix (all-star) race where Thoroughbreds -- chosen by votes from fans -- of all distances come together to determine the best horse of the spring campaign.

The top 10 horses chosen by the fans for the Takarazuka Kinen receive an automatic place in a full field of 18, and it is the first opportunity for 3-year-olds to race against older horses. Six of the top 10 in this year's voting are appearing in Sunday's race, which will make this year's lineup an especially popular one.

Since Australian-trained Seto Stayer (by Bellotto) took part as the first foreign contender in 1997 (9th place), the Takarazuka Kinen has not had any runners from overseas and is without a foreign contender again this year.

The Takarazuka Kinen was set up in 1960 as western Japan's equivalent of the Arima Kinen run in the east in December. The field of the Takarazuka is chosen by the fans. This year, the 51st running of the Takarazuka Kinen (G1) should not fall short of those original expectations with another superb group of Thoroughbreds set to fill the gates at Hanshin Racecourse. Named after the Hyogo Prefecture city, the race was run at 1,800 meters upon its creation and changed to the current distance of 2,200 meters in 1966. It starts in the pocket of the home straight with a run of 500 meters before three clockwise turns that lead back into the stretch. The course remains flat for most of the way until the last 800 meters, where it begins descent toward the 200-meter mark before rising two meters over the next 150 meters. The current race record was set in 2004 by Tap Dance City (USA, by Pleasant Tap) who covered the 2,200-meter distance in a time of 2:11.1.

The Takarazuka Kinen has traditionally been kind to the favorites, with the top pick winning 21 of the past 50 races and the second choice winning 15 times. The favorite has won three times in the past decade and placed twice. Over the last three years -- the track reopened in 2006 after being renovated -- the favorite has won once (Deep Impact in 2006); Vodka came in eighth in 2007, Meisho Samson was second in 2008 and the favorite Deep Sky finished in third place last year.

This year's race, the 51st running, is being anticipated as somewhat of a battle of the sexes. Two of Japan's best females, the 4-year-old fillies - Buena Vista and Red Desire - hold top and third spot in the fan balloting, with last year's Takarazuka champ, the 6-year-old Dream Journey, runnerup in voting for the horse fans most want to see. Dream Journey tops this year's ratings in the Takarazuka lineup at 120. Jaguar Mail is next at 118, with Buena Vista at 117, Red Desire at 116, Never Bouchon at 115.

It's also a battle of the sires, with an uncanny top pick lineup of sons and daughters whose sires made up the 1999 top three finishers - Grass Wonder, Special Week and Stay Gold. Two names run for Grass Wonder -- Seiun Wonder and Earnestly - with Special Week's Buena Vista and Stay Gold's Dream Journey looking to match or better their fathers.

The Takarazuka Kinen, with a first-place prize money of ¥132 million and a total purse of nearly ¥280 million, is the 10th race on the 12-race card at Hanshin on Sunday. Post time is 3:40 p.m.

BUENA VISTA: No. 1 in the fan ballots is Buena Vista, hot off another of her characteristic come-from-behind, thrilling wins, this time the Victoria Mile at Tokyo last month on May 16, when she topped Red Desire by about a length. Second in Dubai the time previous in the March 27 Dubai Sheema Classic, Buena Vista is definitely not off her form. Seven wins (four of them G1s) in 13 races, the daughter of Special Week is a consistent winner with two G1 races to her name last year - the Yushun Himba and the Oka Sho - with a second-place finish in the Arima Kinen and a win of the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies the year before as a 2-year-old. Buena Vista is looking for her first win of a G1 race running alongside the boys. If she is successful, it will be only the third time in the Takarazuka's history for a female to win. Eight Crown won in 1966 and Sweep Tosho in 2005. For rider Norihiro Yokoyama it would be his first win in 19 years, following his 1991 victory aboard Mejiro Ryan.

DREAM JOURNEY: Second in popularity with the fans is Dream Journey. Last year's winner in the Takarazuka by nearly a length, the Yasutoshi Ikee-trained son of Stay Gold capped the year with a win of the Arima Kinen and is looking for his third Grand Prix title in a row. A consistent winner, with 9 wins in 26 starts, the 6-year-old Dream Journey has notched graded-level races every year for the past four years and found his way securely into the hearts of racing fans. This year, however, he has only managed a third-place performance in the Kyoto Kinen and a third in the Sankei Osaka Hai. He also was pulled from the Tenno Sho (Spring) due to leg problems. A win of the Takarazuka would make Dream Journey the first horse to win back-to-back versions of the spring racing grand finale.

Buena Vista and Dream Journey will be meeting for only the third time. Dream Journey beat Buena Vista in their first encounter, the 2009 Arima Kinen, where Buena Vista finished second. In their second meeting, the 2,200-meter G2 Kyoto Kinen this year on Feb. 20, Buena Vista not only beat Dream Journey but another popular Takarazuka pick, Jaguar Mail. Jaguar Mail finished in second, Dream Journey in third.

LOGI UNIVERSE: Fourth in the balloting, 2009 Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) winner Logi Universe, son of Neo Universe, is five for seven with two of his wins at 1,800 meters, one at 2,000 and one at 2,400. Coming off a sixth-place in the G2 Nikkei Sho at Nakayama March 27 is Logi Universe, whose usual rider Norihiro Yokoyama is expected to go with Buena Vista.

FORGETTABLE: The Dance in the Dark-sired Forgettable out of Air Groove, is not a colt to take at name value. His blue-blood pedigree alone is enough to make one sit up and take notice. Also from the Yasuo Ikee stables, this 4-year-old loves to go the distance and was second in last year's Kikuka Sho and second in the G2 Stayers Stakes. This year he has won the G3 Diamond Stakes, a 3,400-meter turf race.

JAGUAR MAIL: This globe-trotting 6-year-old by Jungle Pocket gave Australian rider Craig Williams a historic win in the Tenno Sho (Spring) this year. At 6 for 17, Jaguar Mail has not had a race since the May 2 Tenno Sho (Spring), which is a full 1,000 meters longer than the Takarazuka. In the past 10 years, six winners of that year's Tenno Sho (Spring) have run in the Takarazuka. Three of them -- T.M.Opera O in 2000, Hishi Miracle in 2003 and Deep Impact in 2006 -- have won.

SEIUN WONDER: No. 16 in the ballots, Seiun Wonder jumped back into the spotlight with a win of the 1,800-meter G3 Epsom Cup June 13 at Tokyo. It was his first win on over a year and a half and may show him up the up and up. The son of champion miler Grass Wonder, the 4-year-old Seiun Wonder

EARNESTLY: Another Grass Wonder son, the 5-year-old Earnestly bagged the G2 Kinko Sho last month on May 29. Despite having returned to the turf after a 5 1/2-month layoff, the 2008 2-year-old champion went to the Kinko Sho gate the race favorite and did not disappoint as he won by a length-and-a-quarter margin at the Kyoto track. At Kyoto, he has claimed three first-place finishes and one second in his three 2,000-meter turf bids. Hanshin, a right-handed track like Kyoto, with a shorter stretch than Tokyo, could see Earnestly handle the extra 200 meters of the Takarazuka successfully.

NEVER BOUCHON: Never Bouchon's last race out was the Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup in Hong Kong, where he finished fourth. The 7-year-old's last win was the G2 American Jockeys Cup in January at Nakayama. It was his first win since the same race the previous year. Sired by Marvelous Sunday, Never Bouchon is 8 for 34, with all his wins at 2,000 meters or longer.