by Myra Lewyn

Five horses finishing behind Japanese Horse of the Year Deep Impact in last year’s Arima Kinen (Jpn-G1) return for this year’s edition of the $3,046,072 race on Sunday at Nakayama racecourse.

Sixteen horses are set for the 2,500-meter (12.43-furlong) race, now Japan’s biggest race and billed as the world’s biggest betting race, including Pop Rock, Daiwa Major, Dream Passport, Meisho Samson, and Delta Blues. That quintet finished in second- through sixth-place, respectively, in 2006 to now-retired Deep Impact en route to his second straight Horse of the Year title.

With the exception of Daiwa Major, who enters off a victory in the Mile Championship (Jpn-G1) on November 18 at Kyoto, those horses finished behind recently retired Admire Moon in the Japan Cup (Jpn-G1) on November 25 at Tokyo.

Meisho Samson has finished on the board in all five starts this year, winning three times, including the spring and autumn editions of Tenno Sho (Jpn-G1) in April and October. Sandwiched between was a close second to Admire Moon in Takarazuka Kinen (Jpn-G1) on June 24 at Hanshin. The four-year-old Opera House (GB) colt, the nation’s champion three-year-old male of 2006, was an unlucky third in the Japan Cup, beaten only a head and neck as the favorite.

Japan Cup runner-up Pop Rock is seeking his first Group 1 victory. He finished second, a nose behind stablemate Delta Blues in last year’s Emirates Melbourne Cup (Aus-G1), and was subsequently second to Deep Impact in the Arima Kinen. The Helissio horse won a stakes at Tokyo in May, his only win in seven starts this season.

Two-time stakes winner Dream Passport is also seeking his first Group 1 triumph. Retuning from an injury that forced an eight-month layoff, the four-year-old Fuji Kiseki colt finished 14th in the Japan Cup.

Delta Blues, a six-year-old Dance in the Dark horse, is winless in six starts since his Melbourne Cup triumph and finished fifth in the Japan Cup.

Champion sprinter Daiwa Major will meet his Group 1-winning half sister Daiwa Scarlet on Sunday. By Agnes Tachyon, Daiwa Scarlet is the nation’s leading three-year-old filly. She won the Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup (Jpn-G1) on November 11 at Kyoto in her most recent start.

One of two other fillies entered is Vodka, who became the first filly to win the Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) in 64 years when she captured the race in May. By Tanino Gimlet, she finished fourth of 18 runners in the Japan Cup.

Myra Lewyn is a Thoroughbred Times daily news editor