Been researching the best races for betting

[Berri 2,131]

The biggest betting race in the World happens to be the Arima Kinen. 

1.    Run over 2500m furlongs every year at Nakayama Total wagering on the Arima Kinen in 2013 was JPY ¥35,088,387,600 (USD $334 million).

2.    Turnover on the UK’s Grand National, (6907m) the biggest betting race outside Japan, is around GBP £100 million (USD $164 million)

3,    The Melbourne Cup (3200m) last year turnover in most populated states of New South Wales and Victoria was AUD $90.1 million (USD $80 million) although that does not include bets from

        the other states.

But this is what is interesting. You may have recently read that the VRC has introduced a new race worth 1600m for $6m where the public chose 10 of the 16 runners with the other 6 chosen by the VRC. Well check this out...

The Arima Kinen is a Grade I flat horse race in Japan open to Thoroughbreds which are three-years-old or above. It is run over a distance of 2,500 metres (approximately 1 mile and 4 ¹⁄₂ furlongs) at Nakayama Racecourse, and it takes place annually in late December. It is one of the two "All-Star" races in Japanese horse racing; the other is the Takarazuka Kinen in late June.

The event was first run in 1956, and it was initially titled the Nakayama Grand Prix . The following year it was renamed in memory of Yoriyasu Arima (1884–1957), the founder of the race. The distance was originally set at 2,600 metres, and it was shortened to the present length, 2,500 metres, in 1966.

The majority of the runners (10 out of 16) in the field are selected by a vote from racing fans, which must be a Japan Racing Association(JRA) horse. If at least one horse in top 10 decided not participating the race, the void will be filled with next available horse until 10 available runners are filled. The remainder of 6 (including National Association of Racing (NAR) and foreign-based horses) are determined by the amount of prize money won.

Until 1999 the Arima Kinen was open to Japanese trained horses only. However, the Japan Racing Association introduced a new condition in 2000 which allowed for the participation of a foreign trained horse, if it had won that year's Japan Cup (though, no horse eligible has ended up participating this race). The Arima Kinen was classed as a Domestic Grade I until 2006, and it was then promoted to an International Grade I in 2007. Consequently, it is now possible for more foreign trained horses to compete in the race. The maximum number of these was set at four in 2007, and this increased to six for the 2008 running.

There is another interesting piece of information to throw into the can. The VRC has also scheduled a race worth $400,000 over 4000m.