In a scene that could surely happen only in Japan, some 60,000 racing fans braved freezing temperatures and icy winds late on Christmas Day, as they remained standing before the racetrack grandstand long after the last race had finished and the sun had slowly gone down behind thick clouds in a blaze of orange. They stood shoulder to shoulder the entire length of the homestretch at Nakayama Racecourse, as they waited to bid farewell to a horse that had embodied their struggles and hopes and dreams like only a few can – Buena Vista.

That afternoon, the 5-year-old daughter of Special Week had gone to the gate the second pick in the 56th running of the Arima Kinen (The Grand Prix) and, in her last run, turned in what was perhaps her worst run, one that saw her boxed in on the rail unable to show, even if she could have, any indication of the champion that she was and had been – 2008 Champion 2-Year-Old, 2009 Champion 3-Year-Old Filly, 2010 Horse of the Year. Buena Vista ended her career a far seventh, only the second time in Japan in 21 races that she had finished out of the money.

But, in the end, it seemed to matter little. The achingly slow Arima Kinen ended in an odd hush as Triple Crown champion Orfevre picked up in the final meters to claim the race and moments later, an unexpected mix of sleet and snow began falling softly from the skies. It was perhaps the quietest end to an Arima Kinen ever, and it was, with its inexpressible mix of emotions, in a way, the perfect ending.

"She went out and ran and came back safely," said the unusually jolly-looking 65-year-old Hiroyoshi Matsuda. "That's the most important thing," the former jump jockey turned trainer would say later from the podium in front of the darkened stands. It was a sentiment expressed all around, especially from the crowd that had swarmed onto the turf for one final photo with their mare. The official 40 co-owners and at least an additional double that number people, many with children in tow, milled about in quiet celebration of a star-studded career. Photographers were kept to the inside rail so as not to block the view from the stands, which came festively alight with gold and orange flashes as Buena Vista appeared on the track before two white lead horses shortly before 5 p.m.

The dark bay Buena Vista wore her familiar yellow bridle and the No. 2 saddle cloth from this year's Japan Cup. And, though she had carried six jockeys on her back, four of them to Grade 1 wins, in the stirrups was Yasunari Iwata, in the Sunday Racing colors and wearing the white helmet of not only her last run, but her winning run of the Japan Cup. The huge turf vision screen replayed scenes from her six Grade 1 wins and simultaneously tracked her image down the floodlight-lit track as groom Keiji Yamaguchi and trainer's son and assistant Tsuyoshi Matsuda led her slowly past the stands. Shouts of "Buena!" "Thank you!" Good-bye, Buena!" rang out in the cold night air from the crowd as she walked the length of the grandstand and back.

On the podium later, the men who had cared most closely for Buena Vista for the past three years and two months bid the champion mare farewell. In those three years, Buena Vista had won nine races, six of them top-level. Her 21 JRA runs made her the top-earning female ever, with winnings of nearly 1.39 billion yen. She had gone to the gate the favorite in all but two of her races at home, those two times she had been second pick.

By name, Buena Vista's six big titles were the 2008 Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, the Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas) and the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks) in 2009, in 2010 the Victoria Mile and autumn Tenno Sho, and the 2011 Japan Cup. In others, she had come so close -- runnerup by half a length in last year's Takarazuka Kinen and runnerup by a mere nose in last year's Arima Kinen. This year saw two more seconds, in the Victoria Mile by a neck and again in the Takarazuka Kinen by a length and a half. The Tenno Sho (Autumn) saw her fall to fourth place, at the time her worst finish at home ever.

Buena Vista, out of the Caerleon mare Biwa Heidi, had traveled to Dubai twice without success, but she had suffered what may have been her biggest emotional blow on home ground in last year's Japan Cup. After crossing the line in first place in Japan's biggest race, she had the win snatched away from her. That demotion to second under Christophe Soumillon had made this year's win in the same race an extremely emotional one for trainer Matsuda. Though she had been winless for a year, Buena had not given up and none knew that better than Matsuda. His choked sob in the post-race interview following this year's Japan Cup victory will be remembered forever by many. But, the memory of one bad ride did not stop him, during Buena Vista's retirement ceremony, from expressing his appreciation for another job well done. "My strongest memory is her win of the Tenno Sho under Soumillon," Matsuda said of what is recognized as the smoothest run of her career. "I hope in the future to be able to train her children as well," he said.

From Buena Vista's assistant trainer: "It was a shame about her last run, but she is able to retire safely and I want to express my appreciation to her. I can't really put it into words well, but I just want to say that she was unlike any other horse. She taught me so much and I hope I can put that to good use in doing my best from here on."

Groom Yamaguchi said, "Thank you everyone for staying here in the cold. Every race she ran, she ran her heart out. I want to thank her. She was like a daughter to me. And I hope that she will now become a good mother."

Jockey Iwata apologized deeply for not having been able to help Buena Vista to a career-capping victory, then composed himself to say, "Thank you everyone for your encouragement. It's too bad we couldn't have given her one last win. Her win of the Japan Cup will always be a fond memory for me. She is a very honest horse and it was an honor to have ridden her."

And, in the final moments of the ceremony, over 30 minutes after she had first come onto the track, Buena Vista, her handlers running alongside, trotted up the turf to meet trainer Matsuda just before the Nakayama finish line. Matsuda took the lead and, accompanied by the strains of Elvis Costello's "She," he and Buena Vista walked toward the exit at the far end of the track. The words of the song filled the air and, for those who understood them, were heart-wrenching.

"…She
May be the beauty or the beast
May be the famine or the feast
May turn each day into a heaven or a hell
She may be the mirror of my dreams…

"She
May be the love that cannot hope to last
May come to me from shadows of the past
That I'll remember till the day I die..."

The leading lady of many fans' dreams indeed paused at the top of the ramp before the weighing room and, as if on perfect cue, turned to look back toward the crowd. From that point, whether from the cold or otherwise, there was surely not a dry eye that watched her exit.

Buena Vista returned to her birthplace of Northern Farm in Hokkaido on Dec. 26. She is set to be matched with King Kamehameha and, if all goes well, to give birth to her first foal early in 2013. Come 2015, her fans will be looking to cheer her children on.