The 56th Arima Kinen will bring down the curtain on another tremendous year of Japanese thoroughbred racing, with 8 of the top 10 vote-getters including Buena Vista and Triple Crown winner Orfevre set to run in the 2,500-meter race on Christmas Day at Nakayama Racecourse.

With a purse of 416 million yen, the Japan Racing Association's season finale has one of the highest turnovers in the world, on par only with the Grand National.

The Arima Kinen generated 38.8 billion yen in 2010 and at its all-time high 15 years ago, it raked in more than 87.5 billion yen. It is a national event in Japan that reaches outside the usual fan base to the general public, much like the Grand National does in Britain, the Kentucky Derby in the United States, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in France and the Melbourne Cup in Australia.

The Arima Kinen was originally known as the Nakayama Grand Prix, founded in 1956 at the behest of then JRA president Yoriyasu Arima. Arima felt compelled to organize a race at Nakayama that could match the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) at Fuchu (Tokyo racecourse) in terms of prestige and popularity. Arima also decided to let the fans pick the field, which back in the times was a truly novel concept.

The inaugural race was held at 2,600 meters and after Arima passed away the following January, it was renamed after the late president. The Arima Kinen has been held at the current distance of 2,500 meters since 1966, and began accepting foreign-bred entries from 1971. The race received international Grade 1 status in 2007, opening up the door to as many as six horses from overseas.

The Arima Kinen starts near the end of the back stretch, circling Nakayama's inner oval clockwise for a lap and a half before hitting the final straight. The home stretch at Nakayama remains relatively short at 310 meters, but rises sharply over the last 200 meters, testing the power and stamina of the runners. Compared to the Sprinters Stakes or the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes held on Nakayama's outside course, the turns are tighter in the Arima Kinen, making positioning absolutely crucial during the trip.

The winner will receive 200 million yen, and the race record is 2 minutes, 29.5 seconds set by Zenno Rob Roy in 2004. The Arima Kinen is the 10th race on the card, with post time set at 3:25 p.m.

The following are the early favorites among a full field of 16:

BUENA VISTA: The Arima Kinen will not only bid farewell to the year 2011, but also to one of the JRA's best thoroughbreds of all time in 5-year-old Buena Vista, whose retirement was announced after she won the Japan Cup last month. "She's won a Grade 1 race the last four years and you can only be grateful for what she's achieved," trainer Hiroyoshi Matsuda. "She's such an amazing horse because she knows how to get herself into shape. Just like always, she'll do what she's got to do here as well." The career of Buena Vista, the two-time defending horse of the year, speaks for itself. The daughter of Special Week out of Biwa Heidi by Caerleon has won almost 1.4 billion yen in earnings. In 22 starts, she has nine victories, having finished outside the top three just twice -- in this year's Dubai World Cup (eighth) and Tenno Sho (Autumn) (fourth). In her 20 races on Japanese soil, Buena Vista has been the betting favorite every time except for this year's Japan Cup, in which she was the second choice to Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Danedream. The Japan Cup victory was sweet redemption for Buena Vista, who lost the title to Rose Kingdom last year after being demoted on grounds for interference. This year, there was no questioning her win over Tosen Jordan, who won the Tenno Sho in October in record time. "I was reminded once again what a great racehorse she is," said jockey Yasunari Iwata, who has ridden the mare in her last four races and will take the reins in the Arima Kinen. "She's easy to ride, does what you tell her to. You can appreciate how quality she is. The trainer and the folks at the stable were apologetic (about the Tenno Sho), saying the horse wasn't fit. But I still think it was a race she should have won. She's that good, and I feel sorry I let her down. I couldn't produce in the three races I rode her before that, and it was tough to accept. But I think it must have been even tougher on her, though. A horse as intelligent as Buena must have known what was happening; it had to have felt so long for her." With six Grade 1 wins, Buena Vista is just one victory away from matching the JRA record of seven, a mark shared exclusively by hall-of-fame inductees Deep Impact, T.M.Opera O, Symboli Rudolf and Vodka. Iwata says Buena Vista will be in even better form for the race this weekend, when all eyes will be on her duel with this season's Triple Crown winner Orfevre. "She ran a strong race in the Japan Cup, but I think she'll be even better for the Arima Kinen," said Iwata. If Buena can run the way she knows how to run, we don't have a single thing to worry about. I hope she can finish her career on a high note."

EARNESTLY: After crashing to 14th in the Tenno Sho (Autumn), 6-year-old Earnestly has all but fallen under the radar going into the Arima Kinen. The Shozo Sasaki-trained horse was the fifth choice in the Tenno Sho, but drew the dreaded outside barrier in what turned out to be a record race by more than a full second, hence the result. Yet what his critics are forgetting is that Earnestly - by former Arima Kinen champion Grass Wonder out of Lettre d'Amour - beat Buena Vista by almost two lengths in the Takarazuka Kinen in June, which he won in a Hanshin record of 2 minutes, 10.1 seconds over 2,200 meters. The Tenno Sho was the worst finish of Earnestly's career, during which he has come in under fifth only once - in the Epsom Cup in June 2009. "Earnestly, in the shape that he's in right now, should be able to cut a fast enough pace without tiring," said jockey Tetsuzo Sato, who has ridden Earnestly in all but three of his 22 starts. "It's not difficult to sit back and follow another horse. What's really tough is to ride up front and set a pace fast enough that will keep the others behind. In the Takarazuka Kinen, Earnestly was absolutely flawless; his performance was perfect." More than the Takarazuka Kinen, groom Shizuo Tajuta believes Earnestly's victory in the 2,200-meter Sankei Sho All Comers on Sept. 25 at Nakayama foretells a bounce-back performance from the horse in the Arima Kinen. "He wasn't 100 percent because it was after a break, but he was carrying a heavy load and it was good just to get him out there," Tajuta said. "He dominated but what I liked about the race even more was that Tetsuzo rode with the Arima Kinen in mind. Watching him run that race, I got a pretty good feeling he'd do well here.

HIRUNO D'AMOUR: This season's Tenno Sho (Spring) champion will race for the first time since finishing 10th as the third choice in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on Oct. 2. The 4-year-old Hiruno d'Amour, trained by Mitsugu Kon and ridden by Shinji Fujita, had been considered for the Japan Cup but saw it fit to focus the colt on the Arima Kinen, giving him the time to completely recuperate from his trip to France. Hiruno d'Amour, by Manhattan Cafe out of Share Elegance by Lammtarra, was runnerup in the Prix Foy, the Grade 2 prep race for the Arc. Yet be it the heat in Paris at the time, the huge crowd at Longchamp or the assigned weight of 59.5 kg, Hiruno d'Amour was just never in it at the Arc. Kon sees the Arc as an aberration in the colt's career, which has been consistent over a span of 16 races. "The result was disappointing, but I couldn't have been happier that a no-name horse like him become the third favorite overall, which says a lot about the support he had over there," the trainer said, adding that Hiruno d'Amour is improving with each workout ahead of first race at Nakayama since the Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) last year, when he took second to Victoire Pisa. "He could have raced (in the Japan Cup) if we really wanted him to, but we wanted to get him completely rested. He was still in the process of recovering at the time. We didn't want to take any risks."

ORFEVRE: If the great Buena Vista weren't ending her career, this year's Arima Kinen could have been all about Orfevre, the seventh Triple Crown winner in JRA history and the first to accomplish the feat since Deep Impact in 2005. Since winning the Spring Stakes on March 26, Orfevre -- the full-blooded brother of former Arima Kinen champion Dream Journey -- has been nothing short of unstoppable, sweeping the Satsuki Sho, the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) and Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) as well as the Grade 2 Kobe Shimbun Hai in dominant fashion. The option was there for the colt, by Stay Gold out of Oriental Art by Mejiro McQueen, to race in the Japan Cup but trainer Yasutoshi Ikee wanted to give his horse ample time to recover from running in the 3,000-meter Kikuka Sho. "It's just less taxing on the body if we space out his races more," Ikee said. "And like we had hoped, he has started to fill out while he was away from the track. He raced really well in his two starts this fall, and he shouldn't have a problem with Nakayama. He's gotten even bigger, to a point where it's almost intimidating. He'll definitely weigh in more." The Arima Kinen will be Orfevre's first race against older horses; even Deep Impact came in second to Heart's Cry in the Arima Kinen of the year he won the Triple Crown. However, Win Variation, who finished a distant second to Orfevre in the Kikuka Sho, was fifth in the Japan Cup which offers a lot of hope for jockey Kenichi Ikezoe. "He grew a lot," Ikee said, after seeing Orfevre last month for the first time since the Oct. 23 Kikuka Sho. "He has a relatively late birthday compared to the other horses in his generation, and I think he's in his growth spurt right now. Win (Variation) took the race to them and came in fifth (in the Japan Cup). Judging by that, I think he's more than equipped to run well. We've got a pretty strong field but I'm looking forward to it. He just needs to stay steady."

PELUSA: The 4-year-old son of Arima Kinen record holder Zenno Rob Roy went off as the third choice in the Japan Cup after glowing reviews from trainer Kazuo Fujisawa and jockey Norihiro Yokoyama during the buildup, but Pelusa ended up dead last in a field of 16. Pelusa, out of Argentine Star by Candy Stripes, came in fourth in the Arima Kinen a year ago when he was struggling with his temperament, an issue that was supposed to be of the past according to Fujisawa. Yet the jockey said the horse lost his concentration in the Japan Cup, never responding and finishing way out of contention in the nation's richest race. "The horse was in much better physical condition having raced once, but he just wasn't in the mood to run," said Fujisawa, who trained Zenno Rob Roy as well as the race's 2002-03 champion Symboli Kris S. Yokoyama will be suspended for the weekend, and veteran Katsumi Ando - who rode Pelusa during the fall last season - will be back in the saddle. The folks at the stable hope the colt will finally come full circle and win his first race since May last year. "He's full of energy because he barely raced last time," Fujisawa said. "He's definitely a much better racehorse compared to the spring, and we're counting on him to bounce back in the Arima Kinen. He's coming along fine. The result wasn't what we hoped for (in the Japan Cup), but we're doing everything we can so that he does run his heart out this time."

RULERSHIP: The lesser known 4-year-old from the Katsuhiko Sumii stable could just be the most intriguing pick of the pack, with his ultra-rich bloodlines - by King Kamehameha out of Air Groove by Tony Bin - and a world-class jockey in Ioritz Mendizabal set to sit in the saddle. Rulership had been set to kick off his fall season with the Tenno Sho, but a hoof injury forced him out not only of that race, but also of the Japan Cup. The Arima Kinen, in which he finished sixth last year, will be Rulership's first start since the Takarazuka Kinen on June 26 when he took fifth as the second choice. The six-month absence will be a tough one to make up even for a colt as talented as this one, but Sumii and assistant trainer Hiroaki Kiyoyama like the way Rulership is shaping up for this weekend. "Everything is going according to plan," Kiyoyama said. "He's managed to come back to the stable earlier than we expected, and he's already put in some fast work. Time has been on our side and we've been doing a lot of good preparation work." Added Sumii, "He's really started to pick it up. It would be nice if we can somehow be among the contenders."

TOSEN JORDAN: The 5-year-old Tosen Jordan has clearly come into his own since the summer, first winning the Sapporo Kinen on Aug. 21 followed by the Tenno Sho (Autumn) and then taking a narrow second to Buena Vista in the Japan Cup. By Jungle Pocket out of Every Whisper by Northern Taste, Tosen Jordan's record-breaking victory in the 2,000-meter Tenno Sho was particularly awesome, shattering the old mark by 1.1 seconds to cross the line in 1 minute, 56.1 seconds. Despite the remarkable feat, Tosen Jordan went off as only the sixth choice in the Japan Cup and defied the critics by almost beating Buena Vista. With three wins out of four at Nakayama - he came in fifth in last year's Arima Kinen - Tosen Jordan should have no issues with the course nor the distance. And with his continued partnership with Australian rider Craig Williams, Tosen Jordan - trained by this season's Triple Crown winner Yasutoshi Ikee - must be considered as the pick to stun Buena Vista and his stablemate Orfevre. "He's had a string of tough races recently so we thought he might need some time to recharge his batteries," Ikee said. "But he's recovering just as fast as he did after the Tenno Sho. We've been really impressed. He shouldn't have a problem at all with the course at Nakayama. And he can adjust to any pace."

VICTOIRE PISA: Even the holder of the Dubai World Cup couldn't overcome a layoff of eight months. Only weeks after the eastern coast line of Japan was struck by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami, the Katsuhiko Sumii-trained Victoire Pisa won the world's richest race, a first for a Japanese-trained horse. The 4-year-old son of Neo Universe turned his sites toward the Arc for the fall campaign, but a training injury felled those plans. In his first start since capturing the Dubai World Cup on March 26, Victoire Pisa came in 13th in the Japan Cup as the fourth overall favorite, and his partner Mirco Demuro - who rode him to victory in the Dubai World Cup as well as last year's Arima Kinen - was quick to point out the defeat, which was a career worst for the horse, had everything to do with a lack of races. "There was a lot of traffic during the journey which was a huge part of the problem," Demuro said. "But it would've been nice had he made a start before the race." Sumii guarantees Victoire Pisa will bounce back in the Arima Kinen, which the 2010 Satsuki Sho champion won by a slim margin over Buena Vista. Victoire Pisa is also a perfect 4-for-4 at Nakayama. "He's shown no signs of stress, and he pretty much went right back to work after the race," Sumii said. "Without a doubt, he's far more ready to run than last time. It was disappointing, the race he had and the performance he had. Yet still, he drew the third most number of votes from the fans for (the Arima Kinen) and we have to be thankful for that. We hope he can run a race good enough to satisfy all the support. Buena Vista was so strong in the Japan Cup, and it made us appreciate just how meaningful last year's Arima Kinen was and still is. I hope we can do it again."