Gentildonna brought a fitting close to her illustrious racing career Dec. 28 in scoring an impressive win in the $3.45 million Arima Kinen (Jpn-I), Japan's season-ending all-star race at Nakayama Racecourse.
Sunday Racing Co.'s 5-year-old mare dueled Japan Cup (Jpn-I) winnerEpiphaneia just past the 200-meter mark and edged ahead in the final 100 meters to secure the win. Three-year-old To the World came flying between those two to take second while denying 7-2 favoriteGold Ship the runner-up spot by a nose. Just a Way finished a neck back in fourth and Epiphaneia was fifth.
Gentildonna, the 8-1 fourth choice, was timed in 2:35.30 for 2,500 meters (about 1 9/16 miles) on firm turf.
The race's 16-horse field was set by fan voting to select the 10 most popular runners. The rest of the field is determined in order of earnings. This year's top favorite was 2012 Arima Kinen victor Gold Ship, who came in off a 10th-place finish in the Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Fr-I). Gentildonna, the only two-time winner of the prestigous Japan Cup (Jpn-I), was voted second fan favorite.
Gentildonna's retirement ceremony at the conclusion of Sunday's racing saw more than 40,000 of the reported on-track crowd of 115,878 staying on in the chilly evening to pay tribute to the outstanding mare.
In earning her seventh victory at the group I level, Gentildonna equaled a record only four other horses in Japan Racing Association history have accomplished, including her sire Deep Impact. Her career earnings of ¥1,726,030,400 (about $14.3 million in U.S. funds) rank as the second highest in JRA history behind T.M.Opera O, and is the highest among females.
Gentildonna made a clean start from post 4 and settled in third, just off the pace set by Victoria Mile (Jpn-I) winner Verxina and Epiphaneia. Racing three to four lengths behind the two front-runners through the backstretch and advancing thereafter, she entered the lane in second, right behind Epiphaneia, who took charge from the tiring Verxina. She gradually wore down Epiphaneia and pulled clear late.
"I'm really glad she was able to show her best performance in the last race of her career," said Keita Tosaki, who was riding for trainer Sei Ishizaka. "When I rode her the last time (Tenno Sho Autumn), she was easy to ride and very clever, so I felt very comfortable riding her this time. I was able to race her just as I had imagined, settling her towards the front and making use of her persistent late charge. She responded well until the end."
Gentildonna retires with a 10-4-1 career line from 19 starts that include group I wins in Japan in the 2012 Oka Sho (Japanese Two Thousand Guineas), Yunshun Himba (Japanese Oaks), and Shuka Sho to sweep the Triple Crown for fillies; and unprecedented back-to-back Japan Cup victories in 2012 and 2013. She was crowned Japan's Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old filly in 2012 and champion older mare in 2013. Her record includes a group I win in the Dubai Sheema Classic in March on the Dubai World Cup card at Meydan.
She posted three consecutive losses following her Meydan victory, and was fourth in this year's Japan Cup in her most recent start Nov. 30.
Northern Racing bred Gentildonna from English group I winner Donna Blini, by Bertolini. She is a full sister to Japanese group III winner Donau Blue, who is group I-placed.
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