【The Controversy Behind the Arima Kinen Entry List】
For the Arima Kinen, entry priority is granted to the top 10 horses in the fan vote—provided they have been officially pre-entered.
That’s where the controversy begins.
Redentor had already been announced as sidelined until next year, yet for reasons unexplained, he was still pre-entered for the Arima Kinen. This decision had real consequences.
Had Redentor not been pre-entered, Lilac would have moved up to 10th place among the fan-vote qualifiers and secured a spot in the Arima Kinen field.
In other words, a horse that was never going to run may have effectively blocked another from racing.