Not An ATM

With the letter that arrived in the post today, I can see the rumour I heard on the Shadai NAR horses for this coming year was partly right, although the expected risk and outlay has only doubled rather than quadrupled. It doesn't change my position, however, unless something really special comes along at a price that is far more realistic than those quoted in recent years. Horses like Magic Key and J'ai Un Reve have taught me a valuable lesson - my years of blind support are behind me, and from now on I need to see some true value for my investment, or some real effort and sincerity at the very least. I have an NAR plan in my head for the future, but if Japan doesn't appreciate the fact that I part with an awful lot of my hard-earned money, there are other countries that do, and all of my racing interests will be based abroad unless people stop treating me as an ATM and nothing more. Simple enough...

Tomorrow, Honda-kun gives Trovao a long-awaited return to the track in the Haneda Hai at TCK - I'll definitely be wishing him luck, as I've always liked the lad. I'm a bit concerned there will be race-rust, although the trainer has planned the Classic trail well with this nag so far, pulling in the services of Mikamoto-san along the way (someone I have a lot of respect for), so I'm assuming he's on top of the potential problem. At least the horse hasn't been released from the stables that much since its last outing, so it's not like the pathetic JRA/NF syndrome that destroys form (barring extraordinary situations, they're basically never released in the established racing nations so the groom and trainer know the horse inside-out and can fine-tune things on a daily basis until retirement). On saying that, Trovao did spend a fair bit of time at Northern Farm (about the same as Leontes - a $1.1m nag that won twice but hasn't won since it's NF excursion in December), and that worries me as much as the lack of recent race experience. Interestingly, the other G1 Carrot runners lining up alongside Leontes at the weekend were fielded by Ikee and Yahagi - the best was 1.9 seconds off the pace, the other 2.6! Looks like someone else will have learnt the hard way, via the gaping hole in their bank book. Anyway, due to the NF involvement, tonight may well turn out to be nothing more than a practice run for the Tokyo Derby, which would be a terrible waste. I hope I'm wrong.

Meanwhile, we've got some English action with Mick Channon's stables (Ettie Hart first, followed by Ryan Moore on Blacklister), and Ireland and Australia will be flying the flag for us soon, too. These places speak my language in more ways than one! Reports on horses like those released today on Massabielle and Infinity Love make no sense to me whatsoever, no matter what language they are written in. Perhaps if I'd never been near a Thoroughbred in my life, then they wouldn't grate so much, as I wouldn't know what they were saying was feeble at best, and more often than not pure bull.