Mixed Bag

Glint Moment was 12th after all that hassle we went through having him gelded, and so on. He really has been a complete waste of time and money from the 'glinting' moment he was bought, and, for some reason, he's still limping along as a JRA horse, despite retirement being the obvious move.

River Spirit is back in UK action in the 5:55 at Kempton on Wednesday the 8th in a six-furlong Class 6 claiming stakes race, and then Pretty Gully takes up the fight in Australia on the following day, competing in a 1300m Open race.

Pop Label should be starting in the 2000m Starburst Cup at TCK on the 21st, while Phosphorus is back at Funabashi, and should be returning to the track in the near future. Had a wonderful day at Funabashi yesterday, by the way, bumping into lots of folks and buying a ton of stuff, including a beautiful 1996 trophy from Kawashima-sensei's stable. And don't forget the Kochi event on the 18th, too - that should be a lot of fun...

PS. It was announced late on Sunday that Glint Moment had been retired.

Until Next Time

Just moved my office from one room to another, so these reports are a bit late filing through. Anyway, Raining Dollars had a pleasing debut in Australia - sixth, but with slightly different timing, he'd have been in the top three. He definitely showed he has potential and a nice temperament, so Jo Hassett's time and patience is starting to pay off. With that run under his belt, he'll be one to watch for in the future.

Poor ol' Lord Ilsley is a bit miffed with River Spirit, who came fifth at Kempton in England last night. This was her first outing at six furlongs, and the race scenario wasn't kind. Ultimately, she was still driving for the finish at the end, so I'm fairly happy with the little lady. She's a dame!

In Japan, Joyful Step couldn't get a race, and has been retired. No big shakes! Glint Moment is up for action at Hanshin on the 4th, with Sakai-san taking the controls in the 1800m dirt 3R. Unless he wins, that will be the end of his career, too. At the other end of the scale, Rush Attack is due to make his debut on the 26th in a mile turf race at Tokyo-Fuchu. I think he has a better chance of victory than Glint Moment...

Was That A Pin?

It's so quiet on the Japanese racing front, you could hear a pin drop. Beat The Boarder (a Sunday TC horse) is slowly but surely regaining form, although there's little else worth reporting beyond that. Of the Carrot Club 4yo runners, well, none of them are running! Tenshinramman is still dithering, but might be out again at Fukushima or Tokyo. I'm assuming that means the 2014 Fukushima or Tokyo, which would see something happening in the next few weeks, but plans surrounding 'Tenny' are as reliable as those surrounding Porthos. Harmony Fair should be back at Miho Training Centre in the next week or so, meaning an entry is imminent, while Miracle Rouge - who last raced in June - is moving from one R&R centre to another...

With Belle Plage going on holiday, Irish Harp is the only 3yo with something worth mentioning, and that's the fact that her training programme is being changed to bulk her up a bit. There is a plan to run Joyful Step at Niigata over the weekend, but the no-hoper brigade are struggling to get a berth in the gate.

As for the 2yo crop, Massabielle is doing gate training and will take a test soon. Meanwhile, Time For Love is apparently a changed horse after the debut run, with sharper reactions and a generally sweeter movement. No mention of another race, though, for her, or any of the six others in her age group. Let's see if anything positive comes up on Thursday.

22, Not 21!

Firstly, I have to admit a big mistake - I'd said Pretty Gully was my 21st winner, when in fact, she was my 22nd. Poor Agua De Vida - running at the same time as Pop Label in Hokkaido, everything tended to be overshadowed by this magnificent creature, but Agua did win one, and that shouldn't be forgotten.

Porthos Du Vallon was fourth at Ayr, which seems more than reasonable given that it was a Class 3 race with 13 runners. There are plans to race him one more time at Musselburgh before entering a Junior Hurdle event, although I've heard this before, and I'm not building up hopes of it ever happening - ultimately, that's why Danielle's Journey ended up being bought, adding more expense to the racing budget. At least we've got River Spirit to brighten things up in the UK on Thursday. Running at Kempton in the Barn Dance Handicap Stakes, Sam Hitchcott has been named as the jockey - the gentleman that gave this charming filly her first win.

Back to Australia, where we've been having a lot of success with the JLH Racing team, and Raining Dollars makes his debut in the 2:00 on Thursday at Townsville. This is a 1000m maiden handicap race on turf, and we've got the highly-experienced Jeff Felix lined up as jockey. Now, we're not expecting a great result here - simply a practice run - but you just never know what will happen in these initial outings. One thing is for sure, though, Raining Dollars (aka Ted) has a super team behind him, and if anyone can pull something out of the hat once the gates open, I'd say Mr Felix is your man. Watch this space...

The 2013 Crop #5: No.78

Courtesy Carrot Club

I've never met Yahagi-sensei or managed to have a horse with him, but I've seen a number of documentaries on him (as well as his famous red hat in the paddock a few times), and I like the way he works and thinks. With that in mind, the chance to have a Falbrav filly with his stable in Ritto was another temptation that was impossible to resist. So this is the second - and last - JRA runner with Carrot Club that I've bought a stake in this year.

The sire on this particular horse (a Northern Dancer, Nijinsky and Hail To Reason cross) is Falbrav, who won some big races in Italy before going on to take the Japan Cup, the Eclipse Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. Going back three or four generations, we have Seattle Slew, Nearco and Ribot, so there's some classic bloodlines in the mix, although it is in the dam line where Nijinsky - my favourite racehorse of them all - comes into the equation. The dam is Starlit Love, who never had much of a race career, but she passes on that coveted Nijinsky DNA via Maruzensky, as well as that of Hail To Reason through her sire, Special Week. If this newcomer performs half as well as Special Week, I shall be a happy bunny...

The 2013 Crop #4: No.5

Courtesy Carrot Club

I've really admired what Ogata-sensei has done with Belle Plage this past year, so when the opportunity came to have another King Kamehameha filly with him, I couldn't resist it, even though I had made a decision to concentrate on NAR racing only in Japan. This is still the long-term plan, ultimately, but it looks like we'll have at least one more season of JRA racing running in parallel, unless something suitable comes up with Sugai-sensei again, and that might extend the campaign by another year...

Anyway, there's no need to go too heavy on introducing King Kamehameha, as we profiled him when we first looked at Belle Plage. It is interesting to note, though, that King Kamehameha won the 71st Japanese Derby and passed the post first in all but one of his eight races. He also has some fabulous bloodlines.

As for the dam, we have Aubergade - a French mare that was shipped to Japan after achieving a 2-2-2 record from 12 starts. Her sire was Kaldoun, one of the Aga Khan's horses that won five races and went on to be a Champion Sire in France. Watch out for this little lady, who will be based at the Ogata Stables at Miho Training Centre.

PDV at Ayr

Porthos Du Vallon has been declared for the 5:30 at Ayr tomorrow (the 30th), with Tom Eaves in the saddle. This is a Class 3 handicap over a mile, with 14 runners eager to claim the fairly hefty prize for passing the post first. What happens after this depends a lot on the result, I guess, but there's even a rumour that he may jump after all...

The 2013 Crop #3: No.83

If you've been following the blog, you'll know that I love Vermilion. You may also know that I had a Vermilion kid that died only hours before it's debut (the only grey I'd ever fallen in love with), and the replacement I had in mind was so oversubscribed, I had no chance of getting it and went for an alternative strategy with Shadai. I had said that I wasn't buying any more Carrot Club horses, but this fella gave me the chance to get a Vermilion colt - that desire was seriously strong, and if you buy one, you might as well buy three, right?

Courtesy Carrot Club

As we said in the Monsoon Trough profile, Vermilion has just started his career as a sire, and with him winning so many big dirt races for the Sunday Thoroughbred Club (including the Japan Cup Dirt, Teio Sho, and JBC Classic no less than three times), if he's a good father, his services will cost an awful lot more than they do at the moment...

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.

On the dam side, despite being unraced herself, Simple The Best has a good record for producing winners, and adds yet more Northern Dancer blood into the mix in this case. The damsire, Thunder Gulch, won the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, only just missing out on a US Triple Crown, so this is another reason to be hopeful that we've got a potential NAR star on our hands here.