A quick look at the results over the weekend reveals that Porthos Du Vallon was fourth at Musselburgh. He weakened over the last furlong again, making that jumping career look less likely than ever. I think he will go down as being an expensive lesson - if you want a jumper, you have to go to a specialist stable, which will be the plan for next year.
Next up, Irish Harp was third in Hokkaido. The winner was in a different league, which is fair enough. At least she tried, and her race record looks a bit brighter for the effort with a second third place. She now stands at 0-0-2-7, although within the seven, there are four fourths and a fifth. The trainer is still confident of a win, and I have to agree that it's only a matter of time before it comes.
River Spirit was fourth with William Twiston-Davies at Bath. Having gone up in class, and with two strong horses we'd been told to be afraid of ahead of her, my spirits are still as high as they were before the race with this girl. As Arnie would say, we'll be back!
Looking ahead on the JRA front, Miracle Rouge and Dinner Bell have gone back to Miho TC, meaning they will race soon. Miracle has a chance of redeeming herself for her last two bad runs, while this will hopefully be Dinner Bell's last race, and we can stop the pain of having to watch her come in at the back of the field as usual.
With the Kawasaki week over in NAR racing, the Funabashi week starts. Guess what? Phosphorus runs again on Monday! He was still as fresh as a daisy after his last win, so Yano-sensei has decided to run him in the 1600m 8R - the race he was originally scheduled for before the snap decision to enter him at Kawasaki. There's also events to celebrate Kota Motohashi's 500th win (with Phosphorus, of course), Syogo Nakano's 100th, and the graduation of Yuta Sato from jockey to trainer. You'll remember we did a profile on Yuta some time ago - a smashing chap...
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