'A dream come true' - watch fan favourite Chrono Genesis land Arima Kinen

Chrono Genesis joined similarly Sunday Racing-owned stars Orfevre and Gentildonna on the Arima Kinen honour roll after landing the Grade 1 event at Nakayama on Sunday.

The Takashi Saito-trained filly held the late challenge of Salacia to justify favouritism by a neck in the prestigious and unique event under Yuichi Kitamura.

A limited crowd of 2,542 people witnessed the race on course, compared to 90,374 last year, but betting on the showpiece contest was down just one per cent at at a mammoth JPY46,425,894,400 (£335,221,114/€365,172,297).

The 16-runner field was largely decided by the public, with racing fans casting votes online for their most popular horse and the top ten made the cut for the Grade 1 event, with the remainder of the field decided by order of prize-money earnings.

Chrono Genesis – the number one pick in the pre-race poll with 214,742 votes – is a leading filly in Japan, winning the Shuka Sho (final leg of the Japanese fillies’ triple crown) last year and landing the Takarazuka Kinen in June before finishing third to Almond Eye in the Autumn Tenno Sho last month.

It was a 1-2-4 for Sunday Racing in the Grade 1 with Fierement fading late on into a half-length third and Lucky Lilac finishing two and a half lengths back in fourth.

Saito said: "This is a dream come true and I have a feeling there will be many more in the years to come.

Chrono Genesis (near): powers home to head the similarly-owned FierementCredit: Masakazu Takahashi

"She was in good form and gave us great belief before the race. I was worried that Yuichi might have made his move too early, but he was confident and rode her beautifully.”

Kitamura added: “"All I wanted was for her to be relaxed. Her break wasn’t that bad and she was in a good rhythm. We haven’t faced the two Triple Crown winners yet but I hope she performs well and stays in the spotlight next season.”

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