JRA announces review of runner selection method for Takarazuka Kinen and Arima Kinen

The Japan Racing Association (JRA) has revised the method for deciding which horses run in its two grand prix races, the Takarazuka Kinen and the Arima Kinen, from 2026¹. The change follows a dispute over priority entry places at the 70th Arima Kinen, run on December 28, 2025 at Nakayama Racecourse³.

Under the previous rule, the top 10 in the fan vote among horses entered at the first special registration, published on the Sunday two weeks before the race, were given priority entry¹. From 2026, priority goes to the top 10 in the fan vote among central racing horses that have completed the second special registration, the final declaration of runners, and only if they rank within the top 50 of the fan vote¹. The JRA made the change on March 9, before the summer racing program was announced, saying it wanted to re-emphasize the founding idea that grand prix runners are decided by fan vote³.

The dispute arose at the 2025 Arima Kinen when Hedentor, 10th in the fan vote, was specially registered but then withdrawn before the final declaration³. Under the old rule the priority place was not passed to the next horse, so one priority slot was lost³. Fifteen of the fan vote's top 20 horses were withdrawn from that race³. The JRA later imposed "expulsion and membership suspension" penalties on several people³.

The 67th Takarazuka Kinen, run on June 14, 2026 at Hanshin Racecourse over 2,200m, was the first grand prix under the new method⁴. Meisho Tabaru, second in the fan vote with 348,698 votes, won under jockey Yutaka Take for trainer Mamoru Ishibashi, becoming the third horse to win the race in consecutive years⁴. Croix du Nord, first in the fan vote with 366,039 votes, also ran⁴. The race carried the following prize money¹:

The Arima Kinen, run at Nakayama over 2,500m, carries a first prize of 500 million yen and total prize money of 955 million yen in 2026, with 200 million yen for second, 130 million yen for third, 75 million yen for fourth and 50 million yen for fifth². The Takarazuka Kinen is run at Hanshin over 2,200m and is open to up to 18 runners, with up to eight foreign-trained horses given priority entry¹. The Arima Kinen is open to a maximum of 16 runners, with up to six foreign-trained horses given priority entry².

What it means for players

The fan vote now matters later in the process than before. A horse can only claim a priority place if its connections complete the final declaration of runners, so a high fan-vote position alone no longer guarantees a place in the field¹. For anyone studying the likely field before betting, the final declaration, not the earlier registration, is now the point at which priority places are settled¹.

The rule also caps priority at horses ranked within the top 50 of the fan vote, so a horse outside that group cannot take a priority place even if it is among the top 10 declared runners¹. Both races remain open to locally trained and foreign-trained horses, and the Takarazuka Kinen and Arima Kinen are run under weight-for-age conditions with a 2kg allowance for fillies and mares¹.

What happens next

The next grand prix under the revised method is the Arima Kinen, scheduled for December 2026 at Nakayama Racecourse². Fan voting dates for that race have not been reported.