Tomisato Success

The kids got back home with some great Dressage results to show for all their effort - Louis scored 65.7 in the A2 Class (enough for the gold medal), and Sophie got 59.2 and a silver with 'Jaguar' in the Chiba Dressage category. As usual, they competed with the adults, so these are super scores, and it's especially pleasing to see Sophie able to handle the big onry one so well - Jaguar is far from easy to ride, that's for sure. Louis should really be in the A3 Class, but with so little time with 'Orion', A2 seemed more sensible this time around. But after one of the judges gave him 70, I don't think they'll let him do it again! As for Sophie, she was beaten by a very, very experienced lady we know from Funabashi Keiba, so there is no need for her to be disappointed - scoring 59 at 11 years old on a difficult Thoroughbred with no handicap on age and no training aids is something she can be justly proud of. The picture shows Louis, Yoshimi (who was competing at pro-type levels) and Sophie with their rewards for a good day's work...

2012 Crop Revisited: Monsoon Trough

The eagle-eyed may have noticed there's a new name at the bottom of the page in the NAR section - that belonging to a filly sired by Vermilion. Vermilion has just started his career as a sire, and with him winning so many big dirt races for the Sunday TC (including the Japan Cup Dirt, Teio Sho, and JBC Classic no less than three times), I wanted to give him a chance - if he's a good father, his services will cost a lot more than they do this year, and if not, well, at least I'm showing respect for an old soldier...

Courtesy Sunday TC

Vermilion gets his speed from a combination of El Condor Pasa blood, who was his sire, and Sunday Silence, who acted as damsire. El Condor Pasa we covered in Miracle Rouge's profile (a Sadler's Wells cross, and our most recent winner), while Sunday Silence is one of the most well-known US Triple Crown winners of them all, having a huge influence on Japanese bloodlines.

Although Solstice was nothing special as a racer herself, she keeps getting covered by good horses, and has some interesting blood - Kurofune as a father, explaining her colouring, plus Sunday Silence (Hail To Reason), Maruzensky (Nijinsky) and L'Arc de Triomphe winner, Saint Crespin, in her female line. 

So far, because her first-born has yet to race, we don't know if her foals are winners or simply horses that make up the numbers. With the freshness of Vermilion blood as well, this one is an unknown quantity all-round, but it's certainly going to be fun finding out if the DNA mix is a good or bad formula! 

So Close!

I went across to Kawasaki yesterday to watch Phosphorus in action, and came away pleased by a fighting performance, even though coming second by a narrow margin always leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. The funny thing, of course, is that Phosphorus has still not unleashed anywhere near his full power - he wasn't even breathing heavy after the race, which makes you wonder just what he will be capable of when he finally decides to give it his all...

As you can see from the picture, he's a most handsome animal - probably the most attractive of all the horses at the foot of this page, and there's a good few of them nowadays! He is already much tighter than before, and yet still has a fair bit of puppy fat left to get rid of. A fraction more muscle and a shadow roll to reduce distractions (he swerved to avoid a puddle, costing him the race), and I think we will have a monster on our hands in the very near future, especially if we can get him a longer race. Another ten or 15 metres on Thursday, and he'd have clocked up a maiden win, that's for sure. With luck, he'll be ready for the next Funabashi meeting, and I'm already looking forward to seeing him race again.

In other Shadai Group news, Beat The Border should be ready for the TCK meeting at the end of the month, and we finally have a name for the Vermilion kid.

Better Late...

Better late than never. That's what we say back in England, probably because we've become so used to British Rail services over the years - the relief of a train turning up at all overcomes the fact that it's two hours late! Anyway, I've had all sorts of things keeping me away from the PC these last couple of days, so it's time to catch up a bit.

Tenshinramman, featured in this month's Carrot Club magazine, along with Agua De Vida, is still on course for the 23rd, and Miracle Rouge is provisionally booked for the 16th at Nagoya. Dinner Bell should be out for the 5R (1400m turf) at Nagoya on the day before, although the biggest hopes for the weekend lie with Irish Harp at Hanshin on the 15th. Although I personally would have continued with Cristian Demuro as jockey, this time she teams up with Mirco Demuro (Cristian's older brother) for the 3R (1400m on dirt), and it should be a race well worth watching.

In other Carrot news, Mistoffelees has been released for some R&R, while Classic Curl is improving. The bad times posted are blamed on the bad ground, and that seems fair enough. Meanwhile, there are thoughts of trying Single Cask on dirt.

Almost Forgot

Before signing off, I should mention that a name has been chosen for the 'Avonbridge Filly'. As soon as it has been registered officially, I shall let you know what it is, suffice to say that I like it a lot. Still waiting on the name for the Vermilion kid, but otherwise we're all up to date.

One other thing, this month's issue of the Japan Equestrian Federation Journal had four top three results (including two victories) listed for Louis, Sophie and myself - it's the first time that three members of the family have been featured together in the competition results log, and hopefully it won't be the last...

Not Much To Say

Courtesy Sunday TC

Unusual for me, although there's not much for me to say for myself today. I can almost hear the sigh of relief in some quarters! Part of the reason is that of eight Carrot Club reports, only one has anything worthwhile passing on, even if it is bad news - True Motion has a swollen right front leg, so time will be needed to put that right. In reality, I have a feeling this horse is out of the picture...

Agua De Vida is a bit tired after her run yesterday, and that's fair enough - she ran like a wild thing! She will have a period of TLC now, and then a decision will be made on which way to go next with her. I reckon a mile race with Mikamoto-san in the saddle, and she'd be hard to beat.

Hopes for Divine Daughter (pictured) running at the weekend have been dashed, which is a shame. But with any luck she'll be in action within the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, she's undergoing a fairly heavy training programme to prepare her a bit better for her next outing. All that's left now is a quick tidy of the office, as I intend to spend a little time supporting Phosphorus and his jockey tomorrow. Good luck to them both!

Second!

Agua De Vida fought hard at Kawasaki today to come in second, taking her record to 1-2-2-4. All the work the Yamazaki family have been putting in finally paid off, and had she not been cut up at the start, the victory should have been hers - against a horse commanding 1.1:1 odds!

Mikamoto-san is saying with a fair old amount of enthusiasm that she has the "same level of ability as the winner," and looking at the times, it's easy to see why. Although she finished a length-and-a-half down, all of this and more can be accounted for by a loss of momentum due to the unfortunate incident at the start, as Agua posted a 39.5 second 3F time against 39.9 for the winner and another horse that finished well back; the next fastest horses were in the 40.4 range. A mile, and she'd have almost certainly won. Whatever, though, it was certainly a good run, and you can't ask for more than that...

Let's see what Phosphorus can do now on Thursday. The jockey has been named: Kota Motohashi jumps in the saddle again, and he is known to like the tight Kawasaki track. Should be interesting.

Mika-Sama

While I was at the stables getting a thorough soaking, it's just been announced that Norifumi Mikamoto will be riding Agua De Vida on Tuesday rather than Shun Ishizaki. That's really turning up the heat, as Mikimoto-kun was the 'Nankan' leading jockey last year. I wish them both, and the training staff, the very best of luck with this new combination...