Friday, October 2, 2015

Traumatic TCK

Beat The Boarder started as third favourite in Tokyo, but finished a very disappointing ninth - even worse than I was expecting, and I wasn't expecting a lot to be honest, given the competition, crap gate draw (as usual) and heavy rain overnight. With very little other reason to go to TCK nowadays, I chose to stay and home and work until the race started, which I'm glad I did now. There seemed to be very little attention paid to the race, so perhaps it's time to call it a day with this one. In the hotter weather, she appears to have a go, but switches off as soon as it gets cooler. Seeing as it's going to get colder and colder - and wetter - over the coming months, I don't see much point in continuing with this one over the winter.

Other news on the NAR front, Chocolat Sucre has arrived at Yuta Sato's stable at Funabashi, and Trovao is entered for the main race at TCK on the 14th. For Funabashi fans, you'll be pleased to know I saw Nike Madrid on Thursday, and he looks really settled in his new retirement home.

Next race for the household is Belle Plage, who's entered for the 6R at JRA's Nakayama track on the 4th, with Yutaka Yoshida back in the saddle. Yoshida knows this horse well, so we should get a better result than the one we got stuck last time out. Let's face it, doing that shouldn't be difficult - even with the next to outside gate being drawn!

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Tuesday Tattle

War Chronicle has gone to Nagoya for some NAR action. A couple of wins will see a return to JRA racing, but first you have to get into winning ways. At least the horse is being given a chance, and for that, as a group of owners, we should be thankful. Whatever happens, we know the nag was given a fair crack of the whip, so to speak, unlike J'ai Un Reve, who was abandoned the second it caused problems and didn't win with ease...

We've got the Irish pair back in the game soon, with A Touch Of Sparkle looking to build on DJ's earlier success, and Pretty Gully had a good jump-out the other day meaning a return to the Aussie tracks for her in the very near future. Pop Label is close to a return as well, stationed at Murakami Stable at TCK from now on, while Phosphorus is due to come back to racing in December, too. Not much else happening, but next up is Masterson teaming up with Charles Bishop at Nottingham, which is definitely one to look forward to.

PS. Masterson was off the pace, but I'm not surprised - not because of the horse or the trainer (both are class acts), but because September was a crap month for me all-round, and it would have been stupid to expect anything better. September 2015 will go down in history as being a month to try and forget on a number of fronts! Oh well, at least October should be better... Blacklister will be back in action again soon, and Beat The Boarder runs at TCK tomorrow, albeit from a bad gate and in strong company.