Craig Williams has ended his latest stint in Japan with an unlucky third on Rulership in Sunday's Group One Arima Kinen at Nakayama.

The winner of the Queen Elizabeth Cup in Hong Kong in April, Rulership has yet to win a Group One on home soil and was also third in the Japan Cup.

He made a mess of the start and although he managed to get a trail behind the eventual winner Gold Ship and make up ground over the 2500 metres, he was no match for the striking grey three-year-old.

Gold Ship, ridden by Hiroyuki Uchida, beat Ocean Blue by a decisive 1-1/2 lengths with Rulership another neck away.

Williams, who spends several weeks a year in Japan, returns to Australian racing in the new year.

Among his first feature rides is Sizzling in the Magic Millions Guineas at the Gold Coast on January 12.

Williams replaces Chris Munce on the Kelso Wood-trained three-year-old with Munce to begin a course of radiation treatment on January 7 for throat cancer which will keep him out of the saddle for at least three months.