LOVE IS... PART DEUX
As well as watching the kids riding during the morning session at Tokoro RC, I received two sets of pictures - one from Kuri Nakajima, including some golden oldies which are quite shocking (how can Louis grow that much in just over a year?) and a batch of photographs from Louis' last competition outing with Jaguar in October (right) from Noriko Mori. Thank you!

The first 'Love Is...' entry prompted an amazing number of hits, but for me this picture - showing Sophie with Jaguar (aka Mayano Time) - is possibly an even better illustration of the level of communication possible between two- and four-legged friends. You can read it all in the eyes - mutual love, trust and respect, and perhaps a subtle hint of expectation on Jaguar's side, as in "Where's the cookie?"

CRYING IN MY BEER
I don't know how many of you saw Tenshinramman race today, but it was a disaster, with bumping galore, and even more blocked paths to glory. She had absolutely no chance whatsoever to show her potential, and that's perhaps even sadder than the fact she lost.

Had she won, of course, the future would have been a fairly easy ocean to chart, but today will look like a black mark on her record, even though it wasn't her fault, or that of the jockey's for that matter. They call early two-year old races "the Kindergarten sports day" in racing circles. I can see why! It really is something of a lottery, especially with so many runners. You can see what I mean by watching the JRA video, available through this link: 201205050111h.asx

Fingers crossed the two horses making their debuts next weekend get a clear run and show what they're made of. And I wouldn't put Tenshinramman out of the picture just yet. Let's hope she can bounce back after a nice rest...

At least we had a good day with Jaguar before the race started, with the delightful Rui Ovara looking like a Joba veteran in her white competition jodhpurs. It's amazing how much light Jaguar can bring into people's lives. He loves all the fuss, and the cookies that come with it!

YUTA SATO ON FURIOSO
Always interesting, the official Funabashi Keiba blog has a real treat for NAR fans - Yuta Sato taking legendary horse Furioso out with a camera attached to his helmet. Click on this link, and YouTube looks after the rest - フリオーソ動画！フリオーソの調教を騎手目線で!!

OYAJI POWER PART 2: TAKAYUKI ISHIZAKI 
Having looked at TCK's golden oldie, Fumio Matoba, this second installment of "Oyaji Power" looks at Funabashi's equivalent - and another of Louis' heroes - Takayuki Ishizaki.

Born in Hokkaido in January 1956, Ishizaki-san got his jockey licence in July 1973. He won his first race in the following month - the first of 6181 to date in NAR (a 17.7% win rate), and no less than 74 in JRA.

Unusually, his riding record covers the whole of Japan, not just Minami-Kanto, and there was a time when he was called up for JRA duty almost every weekend. From 1990 to 2002 inclusive, he was awarded NAR's jockey of the year prize, which is a truly remarkable achievement.

Now 56 (like Matoba-san), one wonders how long he can keep going, but I saw him win in convincing style in the week, so there's still plenty left in the tank by the looks of things. Whatever happens in the next couple of years, the pride attached to the family name is sure to continue at Funabashi with his son, Shun, riding there alongside his father... 

OYAJI POWER PART 1: FUMIO MATOBA 
With work on the new book, proofing and indexing on the last, and just a bit of fun in-between, the two pictures I've got waiting to go up on the blog are starting to take up residence on the computer desktop. I'm fed up of looking at them, so here goes with two of Louis' heroes...

The first is golf-mad Fumio Matoba, who was born in Fukuoka in September 1956. Registered at Oi (TCK), he got his jockey licence in 1973, and made his race debut in October that year, following in his brother's footsteps.

He has been declared NAR's leading jockey twice, and Oi's top man on no less than 21 occasions. As of today,
he has almost 6400 NAR wins to his credit, with a remarkably strong winning percentage approaching 19%. My boy Louis calls him a legend, and I'm not going to argue the point with a record like that.

Oddly, Matoba-san has rarely ventured into the JRA scene, but still has four wins in this arena to his credit. Furthermore, we're still waiting for him to win the Tokyo Derby after 30 attempts - something of a mystery in NAR circles given his prowess in the saddle...

STOP PRESS
As we pass the 4000 visitor mark, the latest news from Carrot Club is that Tenshinramman has had her entry confirmed for the first ever running of the Artemis Stakes on Saturday. Apparently, the JRA preview is quite complimentary, saying that if she unleashes everything she's got, she could well be the horse to beat. Fingers crossed...

GETTING MUCH CLOSER
It's all happening. All of the new yearlings seen to be progressing quickly, with one or two already showing a great deal of potential. Also, if things keep going as they are, Harmony Fair will have a 1600m race in Tokyo on the 24th November as her debut outing. Nothing for certain as yet, but the possibility is high.

Tenshinramman now looks set for a date in Tokyo on the 3rd, with Katsuharu Tanaka riding her in the Artemis Stakes (11R). Miracle Rouge has now been booked for her debut at the sixth race at Tokyo on the 10th (2000m), with Yoshitomi Shibata on-board, and Mistoffelees races in the fifth at Fukushima on the following day. This is an 1800m event, and Genki Maruyama has been secured as the jockey.

GETTING CLOSER
Still waiting to hear confirmation on when and where Tenshinramman's next race is to be, and things have gone quiet with Mistoffelees following his last race being scratched. But it was a strange coincidence that Shinobu Tabata, a friend who we first met at a Nakayama race meeting, knew the horse through her links with the Saito Stable, and only found out later we had an interest in him. It really is a small world...

Courtesy Carrot Club

Meanwhile, there are plans to give Fairy Robe (an NAR runner based at Kawasaki) a December debut, and Quadrille has a Nakayama debut against her name now, which means December or January. Mosto Verde (pictured here) is off to the training centre for his final schooling, so hopefully it won't be too long before he makes his way to the tracks as well.

By the way, new countries dropping in on the blog include Italy (possibly drawn here by the Tesio piece) and Moldova. At our current pace, with a steady flow of regular visitors, we should pass the 4000 mark with ease by the time the weekend arrives.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!
Eccentricity is something all us Brits are born with - it comes either as a trace value, or in heaps! Not quite sure where I fit in, but the Long house is Halloween central where we live in Chiba. To be honest, I never really bothered with it when I was in England, but a trip to Tokyo Disneyland one year in the Halloween season softened me up, and with the rest of the family already hooked, things just seemed to take off from there...

Here we see Louis horsing around - literally! - in Carrot Club colours. Actually, my money was on one of the Sunday Racing horses this afternoon, but it finished third. Today's main event did at least give me the inspiration to write a set of short pieces on all the classic races of Japan, as the names and their equivalents are not always easy to pick up for us foreigners. I'll get onto it soon, but in the meantime, Happy Halloween!