THE 2012 ARIMA KINEN 
The runners for the Arima Kinen, one of the biggest races on the Japanese turf calendar, have been announced. They are Beat Black, Daiwa Falcon, Dark Shadow, Desperado, Earnestly, Eishin Flash, Gold Ship, Lelouch, Meisho Kampaku, Nakayama Knight (surely one of the best horse names of all time), Never Bouchon, Ocean Blue, Oken Bruce Lee, Rose Kingdom, Rulership, Sky Dignity, Tanino Epaulette, To The Glory, Trailblazer, and Vertex.

Videos from the last few years can be accessed via this English language link on the JRA homepage: http://japanracing.jp/_news2012/121213.html. Some of the footage has English commentary, too.

As it happens, I've just watched the 2011 edition in English, and it's so nice to hear Jaguar Mail actually pronounced 'Jaguar' by the Aussie doing the commentary, rather than 'Jaggar' as the Japanese say, or 'Jagwaar' by the Americans. Notwithstanding, it was a good race - Orfevre was in wonderful form on the day...