DRESSAGE AT TOMISATO
Today was a Chiba county Dressage competition for Jaguar and the boy. I didn't go across as it happens, as the timing could have been a lot better, but at least we have some pictures we can share, and some good news to go with them: Louis and 'The Difficult Horse' managed to score an impressive 55.8% in the 2課目 class and claim second place, finishing within striking distance of Tokoro's Kuri Nakajima - the lady we mentioned a bit back with the dog named after Jungle Pocket!

The interesting thing is there are still several small areas of improvement available to polish by all accounts, so the potential for greater things exists, even with good ol' Jaguar (above).

The other horse we have an interest in at Tokoro RC - Tempai (aka Tenn-chan, or Armalite as he's registered in competitions nowadays), apparently had a stormer with Yoshimi Bamba on-board, scoring an amazing 63.3% to win the inter-city challenge (right). Yoshimi's skill in the saddle is never in question, but one has to remember Tenn-chan very nearly died in the summer. What a wonderful way to show a full recovery...

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
If you've been following the blog for any length of time, you'll know how much Sophie wants to be a jockey. Well, she's fearless, light yet remarkably strong, and she can ride pretty good, too, so she's most of the way there. But when it comes to the details, practice makes perfect, and here we see Sophie doing 'The Kota' on a training piece. Definitely nine out of ten marks, my girl!

Sophie's not the only one at it. The other day Louis rode past the house at terrific speed on his bicycle, and as soon as he saw me standing by the gate, instinctively adopted his own interpretation of the classic 'The Kota' posture, as if he'd just breezed past the winning post of the Tokyo Derby, albeit with a rather different type of saddle beneath him! Sometimes, even when life isn't being too kind, you just have to smile...

If you want to see the real thing, try this TCK link: tokyocitykeiba.20120606. If you can't read Japanese, the green arrow to the left of the photo is the play button. It will load the video into Flash Player format for you.

A VERY QUIET DAY
After the last couple of days, allowing Jaguar to make new friends, today has seen a swift return to normality. I couldn't even relieve the boredom by going to see 'The Difficult Horse' as he'd been shipped off to Narita ready for tomorrow's Dressage competition. Apparently, his tension level has gone off the scale, so it should be an entertaining day...

The last of the frames and mats (mounts) arrived today, meaning that the final paintings can be made ready for sale. The one special order frame was very expensive, so unfortunately the cost has to be passed on. However, it's for my favourite Jacqueline Stanhope print, so I might just keep the said framed painting on the office wall until a buyer comes forward!

The latest copy of Thoroughbred, Shadai Group's in-house publication, has pictures of some of the 2012 foals - we've only just started buying the 2011 batch! But whenever you see photographs of these blue-blooded youngsters, one can't help wondering what the future holds for them.

I also went onto the Northern Farm homepage to check out the online shop. It appears very difficult to get replica silks for the Shadai Thoroughbred Club and Sunday Thoroughbred Club. I have a Carrot Club shobu fuku and would like to add these to the collection. If anyone knows where I could buy them, please contact me.

At least things picked up this evening when a friend sent me a video link of Tenshinramman after her win in Tokyo. Still no confirmation on her next race as yet, but I'll be sure to keep you all posted as soon as any news filters through. Meanwhile, 3500 visitors and counting!

AND THIS EVENING'S HEADLINES
Harmony Fair has stopped swirling her tail like a propellor and passed her gate test, and plans are afoot to race Tenshinramman in the big time. As things stand, she may be held back for an 1800m event, that will doubtless suit her, or she could be entered in the Artemis Stakes on 3rd November, which is next weekend. As soon as something positive comes out of the Carrot Club offices, I'll be sure to let you know. But things are certainly starting to get exciting with this beautiful filly...

TOKYO RACE TRACK (NAR)
Having covered the JRA track at Fuchu a few days ago, today we'll take a look at the NAR facility at Oi, usually referred to as TCK, or Tokyo City Keiba.

The original opening ceremony was held in May 1950, but it wasn't until November that the first meeting took place. Three years later, Japan's first starting gate was installed at the track, with jockeys wearing helmet colours to match the stalls. May 1955 witnessed the first running of the Tokyo Derby, the jewel in the crown of NAR racing, albeit under a different name back then.

The next truly historic event came in 1986, when the first Twinkle Race was held. Such was the popularity of these night races, the running period was extended on numerous occasions, and now they're held virtually all year round, with only the months caught in the depths of winter not having them.

Tokyo MXTV started live broadcasts of all the weekday races in November 1995, and continue to do so to this day, explaining why Louis and Sophie never seem to get their homework done on time!

The huge L-Wing stand, which dominates the view in front of the paddock, was completed at the end of 2003, and contains the TCK shop. There's also a museum on the site, with all sorts of memorabilia tastefully displayed in glass cases, pictures and the bloodlines of past equine heroes and heroines, and a video library.

MISTOFFELEES
The race debut for the 27th has been scratched - Mistoffelees simply isn't running nicely at the moment, with a very disappointing three-furlong time of 38 seconds. Knowing that this colt is capable of far greater things if his condition is right, it has been decided to postpone his first outing, which is fair enough. It would be a shame to watch him come home near the back of the field when he should be up there fighting for the lead.

As a matter of interest, Carrot Club has been featuring my first choice of this year's batch on the top page of the website for the last couple of days. I imagine this means that very few people other than me have shown an interest in her, but those who like following bloodline histories should be fascinated by this filly, sired by Special Week, with Celtic Harp as the dam. Even though I'm based in the east and she will be based in the west, her Nijinsky cross (4Sx4D) bloodlines were irresistible as far as I'm concerned.

THE "OH, DEAR!" DEPARTMENT
Just opened the latest copy of Yushun, and it becomes clear why Orfevre lost momentum heading for the finish of the L'Arc in Paris - he hit the fence! From jockey statements and a clear photograph of the point of impact, it all starts to make sense. Apparently, the intention was to keep Orfevre going in a straight line after moving to the outside of the main group of runners, but once he'd cleared the bunch, he started veering off to his right, to such an extent that he hit the guard rails. The Yoshida family has every right to cry in their beer for a month! So near, and yet so far...

ANOTHER NEWCOMER
Had a good day messing around with Jaguar and some friends yesterday, but today witnessed the mother of all storms, putting an end to any plans the kids had to make the most of an early finishing time at school. Not to worry, at least there was plenty of riding Monday (a holiday to make up for having to go into school on Saturday), and I managed to get a cookie run in this afternoon, plus a few paintings framed up before I was called upon for taxi duties once again.

If you've been following the blog these past few weeks, you'll know by now that when I'm feeling low, another horse gets tacked onto the bottom of the page. Well, a new one has just been added, even though it has spoilt the symmetry of the page...

Identified by the number 27 until she is named, this is a filly by Jungle Pocket out of Cecil Cut. Bringing Tony Bin and Northern Dancer (via Nureyev) blood into the equation, Jungle Pocket has a lot of fans in Japan, including Kuri Nakajima of Tokoro, who even named her dog after him! Cecil Cut has Hail To Reason and Northern Dancer DNA, and Never Say Die in the female line - a very pleasing bonus for me, being Lester Piggott's first Epsom Derby winner.

JRA MUSEUM
Close to the east gate at the Tokyo (Fuchu) track is a modern building housing the JRA Museum. I only got to see a fraction of it on this first trip across, as it would probably take a day to do the place justice. Opened in 1991, it contains all manner of memorabilia, and not just from Japan - there are a number of artifacts from foreign lands to cover all the great racing nations of the world.

I'm going to have to go back one day, but I thought it was worth mentioning that there's a small exhibition on HM the Queen's long and dedicated involvement in racing, with some super photographs, and even a set of her distinctive silks next to a caricature of the ever-jovial Willie Carson - in my eyes, one of the few men that could compete with Lester Piggott on equal terms, whilst being completely the opposite in character.

There's pictures of the great horses belonging to the Queen's ancestors, like Persimmon, and some classics of her own, such as Highclere, which I remember Joe Mercer riding to victory in the 1974 1000 Guineas. In addition, there are a couple of shots that show just what a fine rider the Queen herself is, and that's an angle very few would know about in Japan. Some, who should know what they're talking about, have also said she would have made an excellent trainer had she taken up the trade. Of course, she already had a job in a rather different field, and, sadly, ruling an Empire does tend to take up one's time, so no chance of doing a bit of training as a hobby either!

This particular exhibition, on a subject very close to my heart, opened earlier in the month, and runs until the 25th November. For those like myself, with a deep respect for the Queen, it's a chance to see something you're not likely to see again in Japan, while pure race fans might be surprised to see the joy on her face watching events unfold on the turf, or the bloodlines in horses they follow that can be traced back to the Royal stables. Entrance is free on race days, or a modest 200 yen otherwise.

TOKYO RACE TRACK (JRA) 
One of the most surprising things about the JRA Tokyo racecourse is the feeling of space. Granted, the place is right on the western outskirts of the prefecture, but Tokyo is Tokyo, and one expects things to be more confined due to the built-up areas surrounding the capital. Perhaps the fact that you can see mountains off to the right of the track (including a nice view of Mount Fuji), combined with wide walkways and clever landscaping, hiding buildings beyond the paddock area, gives a stronger impression of being well outside city limits.

The first Tokyo Keiba track was situated in Meguro, opening for business in 1907, but as the area became more urbanized, it was moved to cheaper land in Fuchu City. The new track was duly opened in November 1933, but it does at least explain the existence of the Meguro Kinen race.

A dirt course was added in 1961, and the facility was overhauled seven years later, with improvements to the stands and a new rail link put in place. A second major refurbishment was started in 2000, with modifications to the track also included - gentler curves made the racing much safer. The bulk of the work was finished in the spring of 2003, although the glass panel we mentioned earlier, allowing people to see the winner's stalls, wasn't added until 2005.

The track is arranged in a series of ovals, one inside the other. The turf course is closest to the stands, with an incline up to the finishing post, and two length options off to the right. The simple oval dirt track runs inside that, with another track of a similar shape laid out with grass and hedges for steeplechasing. The stands are huge (when crowds approaching 200,000 turn up for the big races, they have to be!), and the site also houses the JRA Museum, which we'll talk about separately.

TENSHINRAMMAN - THE FOLLOW-UP
'Tenny' was one of only two Carrot Club horses to win a race yesterday (the other being a colt called Epiphaneia, crossing the line first on his debut), with her victory being shown on TV last night in the Chuo Keiba Digest programme, which is a regular broadcast on channel 8.

The seemingly effortless run-in at Tokyo, plus the stunning pace shown at the end of her first outing at Niigata, has people thinking she's perhaps better suited to longer distances, but Tanaka-san (the jockey that has ridden 'Tenny' on both of her track excursions so far) is convinced of one thing - Tenshinramman is a real racer that has a long and exciting career ahead of her. This picture shows her in the paddock, minus jockey, as he was still getting ready after winning the first race of the day!

A SPECIAL TIE 
In-between paddock visits, races and checking the horses coming in after the race via the underground viewing area (a fascinating idea, probably unique to the Tokyo track, giving punters a glimpse of the winner's stalls and the weighing-in room), I managed to find something rather nice in the Turfy Shop yesterday - a '79th Nippon Derby' silk tie, commissioned by the JRA, and designed by Michiko Koshino (the lady behind the Michiko London brand). There's a light gold version (the one I bought to remember Tenshinramman's win by), or a red option. At under 3000 yen, the price is reasonable, and the unusual graphics can always provide a talking point at the office, drawing mutual Keiba fans out of the shadows. Don't think I'll wear it to the stables today, though, as Jaguar is just as likely to eat it as admire it...

Another 3000 worth mentioning: The blog's visitor count has just passed the 3000 mark! With Turf, Dirt & Thoroughbreds being written in Japan, largely about horses based in Japan, naturally that's where most of the traffic is emanating from, especially on weekdays as folks are going to and from work, I've noticed. America provides the next biggest audience, followed by Russia and the UK. Germany and Switzerland lead the figures for the European mainland, with occasional visits from France, Spain, Greece, the Czech Republic, and Ukraine. We've also had visitors from South Korea, China and Malaysia, as even as far afield as Brazil. Strangely, given the lack of a language barrier, no-one from the Antipodes as yet. But it's early days, with tomorrow still only our 40th day online.

TENSHINRAMMAN V1
I got up at the crack of dawn this morning and made my way from one end of the Kanto area to the other to be at the JRA Tokyo track in time for the first race, as Kota Motohashi was riding, and my daughter wouldn't have missed that for the world! Fortunately, the JR and Keio rail systems did their usual job of making British Rail look bad (whatever happened to the era when you could set your watch by the trains in England?), and we managed to get there in plenty of time. We then found the paddock, and were able to start relaxing at last.

Some support for Kota (he ultimately had eight outings on the day, including one in Carrot Club colours), and then it was a quick dash back to the paddock to see Tenshinramman circling with eight other horses in readiness for the second race. She certainly looked the part, moving nicely, and with high-spirited tension showing through her bright eyes.

In the race, she flew out
of the gate, but the experienced jockey Katsuharu Tanaka kept holding her back until the final straight, and then he let her go. The whip was hardly needed until the last furlong when it looked as if Fete Grande (another Heart's Cry kid, heavily fancied on the day) was going to give her a run for her money, and then she pulled away, seemingly with plenty of power and speed still in hand.

Tenshinramman, justifying her status as pre-race favourite, ultimately won by half a length, with the third-placed nag two-and-a-half lengths down, way out of contention. It was nice to be able to shake hands with a co-owner who'd also taken up a viewing position opposite the winning post, and I hope I'll be able to share the pleasure of a well-deserved win again soon. I have a feeling this is the first of many victories for this fine racehorse...