Three-year-old favorite Satono Diamond celebrated a Merry Christmas by tipping Kitasan Black at the wire to win Japan's season-ending Arima Kinen on Sunday.

The Christophe Lemaire-ridden colt beat Japan Cup holder and spring Tenno-sho champion Kitasan Black, the leading vote-getter in the fan-chosen field of 16, by a neck to take the tape in 2 minutes, 32.6 seconds over 2,500 meters at Nakayama Racecourse in Chiba Prefecture.

Finishing third another half-length behind second-choice Kitasan Black was the race's defending champion, Gold Actor. Satono Diamond, who won last month's Kikka-sho, the Japanese St. Leger, in dominant fashion, took home the ¥300 million winner's check — tied with the Japan Cup purse for the richest in Japan.