The Takarazuka Kinen was set up in 1960 as the West’s answer to the Arima Kinen of the East, a field chosen by the fans made up of the best horses of the spring. This weekend’s race, the 50th running of the Takarazuka Kinen (G1), should not fall short of those original expectations with another superb group of thoroughbreds set to fill the gates at Hanshin Racecourse.

The top 10 vote-getters of the Takarazuka Kinen receive an automatic place in a full field of 18, and it is the first opportunity for 3-year-olds to race against the older horses. But 2008 Horse of the Year Vodka – who had the most votes after winning the Victoria Mile (G1) and Yasuda Kinen (G1) back-to-back in becoming the first female horse to win more than 1 billion yen in a career – has been pulled out of the race on Sunday afternoon after owner Yuzo Tanimizu balked at his mare running on a potentially sloppy surface; no 3-year-olds have been nominated, again.

The Takarazuka Kinen has been an international Grade 1 race since 1997, although there will be no participants from overseas this yea r. Named after the Hyogo Prefecture city, the race was run at 1,800 meters upon its creation and changed to the current distance of 2,200 meters in 1966. It starts on the home straight with a run of 500 meters before three clockwise turns that lead back into the stretch. The course remains flat for most of the way until the last 800 meters, where it begins descent toward the 200-meter mark before rising two meters over the next 150 meters.

The Takarazuka Kinen has traditionally been kind to the favorites, with the top pick winning 21 of the past 49 races and the second choice winning 16 times. Over the last three years – the track reopened in 2006 after being renovated – the favorite has won once (Deep Impact in 2006); Vodka came in eighth in 2007 and Meisho Samson took second last year.

Even without Vodka, this year’s field still remains mouth-watering with Deep Sky, last year’s winner of the NHK Mile Cup and Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby) who is expected to be the No. 1 choice at the morning line; Screen Hero, holder of the Japan Cup; Meiner Kitz, this year’s Tenno Sho (Spring) champion; and 2006 Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes winner Dream Journey.

The 50th running of the Takarazuka Kinen is shaping up to be a punter’s dream. Post time is at 15:40:

DEEP SKY (pictured): The Takarazuka Kinen was supposed to be the perfect stage for Deep Sky to exact payback at Vodka, the Katsuhiko Sumii-trained superstar who he had been beaten by in last year’s Tenno Sho (Autumn) and the Yasuda Kinen on June 7. The rematch Japanese racing fans were eagerly anticipating will have to be put off until the autumn, after Vodka’s ownership decided to withdraw the mare citing Hanshin’s poor turf conditions at this time of the year as well as the fact that the Takarazuka Kinen would be her fifth race of the spring, two of them being in Dubai.

But Deep Sky, who was second in the voting to Vodka, will still need to run his best race to beat the remainder of this year’s field, which looks as close as it’s even been in recent years. Trainer Mitsugu Kon’s 4-year-old has not won since the 2,400-meter Kobe Shimbun Hai at Hanshin back in late September, finishing second in the Japan Cup, the Sankei Osaka Hai and the Yasuda Kinen, and taking third in the Tenno Sho (Autumn) – which is widely being regarded as one of the best races of all time. Vodka, nevertheless, needed to turn in another phenomenal performance – and a two-kilogram handicap – to defeat her former partner Hirofumi Shii and Deep Sky in the Yasuda Kinen at her best distance of 1,600 meters by three-quarters of a length. Vodka or no Vodka, the added 600 meters in the Takarazuka Kinen will be a definite plus for Deep Sky whose entry for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in the fall is being considered by Kon and owner Toshio Fukami. But they will need a convincing race – hence, a victory – from their colt to greenlight the trip to France. With Vodka out of the picture and the shocking news of Deep Sky’s sire, Agnes Tachyon (the 2008 leading sire), passing away on Monday night, Deep Sky is all but set to be the morning-line – and sentimental – favorite come Sunday afternoon.

MEINER KITZ: There haven’t been too many Tenno Sho (Spring) winners who have entered the Takarazuka Kinen with as little hype as this 6-year-old horse. The Sakae Kunieda-trained Meiner Kitz lifted the Emperor’s Cup at Kyoto Racecourse on May 3 as the 12th choice among 18 runners for the first graded title of his career, and just his sixth victory in 29 starts. Under Masami Matsuoka, the son of Chief Bearhart never let go of the rail during the 3,200-meter journey after leaving from the No. 2 post, slipping past runnerup Al Nasrain along the inside to win one of Japanese racing’s most coveted honors by a neck. Given the lack of publicity so far surrounding Meiner Kitz, clearly, many critics and fans believe he was just a flash in the pan in the Tenno Sho, and that he has no chance of reproducing last month’s performance in the ancient capital. But the numbers suggest otherwise: 26 champions of the Tenno Sho (Spring) have gone on to race in the Takarazuka Kinen of the same calendar year, and 10 have won; nine have come in second, leaving them with more than a 69 percent chance to at least place. The odds bode well for Meiner Kitz to run another big race, but the punters evidently don’t think so, which suits Kunieda just fine. The trainer won the Arima Kinen two years ago with Matsurida Gogh, who then was a long-shot as the ninth choice. It’s much too early to write off Matsuoka’s mount as a one-hit wonder.

SCREEN HERO: The holder of the Japan Cup is back to racing at middle distance, which will hopefully turn around the fortunes of Screen Hero. The 5-year-old son of Grass Wonder hugely disappointed in the Tenno Sho (Spring) by finishing 14th out of 18 as the second favorite, after a fourth-place finish in the 3,000-meter Hanshin Daishoten on March 22. The Yuichi Shikato-trained horse had a bit of a break on the farm since the Tenno Sho (Spring), returning to his stable in late May. Shikato believes Screen Hero has fully recuperated from a pair of tough races, and the reduction to 2,200 meters in the Takarazuka Kinen will clearly benefit him. Reunited partner and former Takarazuka Kinen winner Norihiro Yokoyama, hot off capturing last month’s Japanese Derby aboard Logi Universe, must have something up his sleeve for this race. Screen Hero needs a good performance here to continue being mentioned as one of the best horses in the country, and he should deliver this time around.

DREAM JOURNEY: Racing outside of his range at 3,200 meters, the 5-year-old son of Stay Gold still came in third in the Tenno Sho (Spring) last month, two lengths behind winner Meiner Kitz. Third in the voting after Vodka and Deep Sky, Dream Journey appears poised to win his second Grade 1 title, following the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes which he won three years ago to propel his name in the game. Since becoming the top 2-year-old colt, it has been a series of near misses for trainer Yasutoshi Ikee’s star in seven Grade 1 races. But Dream Journey heads into the Takarazuka Kinen perhaps in the finest form of his career, jockey Kenichi Ikezoe – who won the race in 2005 aboard Sweep Tosho – raving about the improved toughness of the horse. The terms of the Takarazuka Kinen clearly favor Dream Journey, who has posted three of his seven career victories at Hanshin. The one point of concern here is that the Tenno Sho (Spring) was not originally in the plans for Dream Journey; only because of a resounding win against Deep Sky in the Sankei Osaka Hai did Ikee enter Dream Journey in the Tenno Sho (Spring), largely at Ikezoe’s behest. The target for the spring, initially, was the Takarazuka Kinen and it remains to be seen how much Dream Journey has left in the tank. But if there’s enough fuel left, then look out, Deep Sky.

AL NASRAIN: Since coming in second in the 2007 Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger), so much has been said about the potential of Al Nasrain, the mammoth son of Admire Vega weighing in at around 550 kilograms. Yet the Shigeki Matsumoto-trained 5-year-old won just once in six starts last year; he was the third choice in the 2008 Takarazuka Kinen, only to perish to 10th place. Coming off his first graded victory in the 2,500-meter Nikkei Sho at Nakayama, Al Nasrain nearly shed his nearly man tag in the Tenno Sho (Spring) but succumbed to Meiner Kitz by a neck, after losing one of his shoes on the final bend. Al Nasrain, nevertheless, does look ready to win his first Grade 1 race this weekend; he can run in rain or shine, and his partnership with Masayoshi Ebina since the Nikkei Sho appears to be working. It would not be a surprise if he turned out as the second pick behind Deep Sky on race day – that’s how close Al Nasrain is to becoming a Grade 1 champion.

COMPANY: Trainer Hidetaka Otonashi’s horse is still going strong at 8 years old, but with father time catching up to everyone sooner or later, this Takarazuka Kinen could be Company’s last best shot at a Grade 1 title. The Miracle Admire son is coming off a fourth-place finish in the Yasuda Kinen under Norihiro Yokoyama, gaining within two lengths of winner Vodka on the far outside. With Yokoyama opting to ride Japan Cup winner Screen Hero, Otonashi has handed the reins to an equally adept jockey in Yasunari Iwata. Iwata has been quiet since a shock defeat in the Japanese Derby with favorite Unrivaled, but his ability to rise in big races should not be questioned. Company has run in the Takarazuka Kinen twice previously, finishing fifth in 2005 and eighth last year, but he goes into Sunday’s race a much better horse than he ever has been. The only concern for Company seems to be the extra 200-or-so meters from his best distance, but with the field looking relatively level this year – and with a new reliable partner in hand – perhaps Company’s time has finally arrived.

SAKURA MEGA WONDER: Last year's Grade 2 Kinko Sho champion, Eishin Deputy, went on to win the Takarazuka Kinen for his first Grade 1 victory. The folks at Yasuo Tomomichi's stable are hoping their 6-year-old son of Grass Wonder will follow suit. Sakura Mega Wonder took the same route to the spring finale last year, finishing fourth in the Kinko Sho before taking fourth again in the Takarazuka Kinen. But with wins in the 2,000-meter Kinko Sho and the 1,800-meter Naruo Kinen at Hanshin in December, jockey Yuichi Fukunaga is convinced his horse is duly ready for the big time. Sakura Mega Wonder will probably not be among the top three picks at the morning line, but that should not make him any less of a contender. His sire, after all, was a winner of the Takarazuka Kinen, and it would not be a stretch to see Sakura Mega Wonder follow in his father's footsteps.