As Expected

When you've had a nice relaxing holiday sitting on the beach, do you really feel like setting the office alight with enthusiasm on the first Monday back? No, of course not! So despite high hopes from some quarters, I was expecting nothing from Miracle Rouge or Tenshinramman because both were coming back from long R&R sessions. My prediction turned out to be the right one...

Miracle Rouge was so far off the pace, that ninth almost seems like a bonus. The jockey and trainer are saying that the dirt debut went well, so we can expect a dirt race next time, too. It's supposed to come soon, but I won't be holding my breath, as there's nowhere near enough JRA races available. This is the root cause of poor performances, on a par with the mediocre trainers owners are stuck with. They try and sell you the "tired" excuse, but one of the NAR horses I have was running almost weekly and winning, while a Lord Ilsley racer in the UK ran one day, then won 19 hours later. The JRA system is nothing to do with real racing whatsoever, and never will be until the race calendar is expanded by at least 70 to 80%. Until then, horses get shuffled around from one rest home to another, and eventually get to the track carrying more rust than a ship that's been at the bottom of the sea for a decade or two.

That problem - finding a berth - is going to be Tenshinramman's undoing, too. There's no doubt her run for the finish was hindered by a wall of horses in front of her today, but the bottom line is she finished ninth as well. And to be perfectly honest, I saw very little spark in today's run anyway - I certainly don't share 10% of the trainer's optimism, as I saw little hope of a win even without the blockages. This will make finding the next race difficult, as she now has a string of recent results that would struggle to get her into a Donkey Derby. Of course, the trainer is saying he wants to get her out again ASAP, but he always says that just before an extended holiday. To cover himself, he is also stating that if a race can't be found, she will go on an R&R session again, and that's assuming the slightest problem doesn't sideline her for months anyway. The race was described as educational, but if she doesn't know how to race by now, she never will. We don't need more learning, we need results worthy of the horse's potential, and that's something we haven't seen since last August; the time before that was April 2013!