Blacklister was ridden beautifully by Paul Hanagan at Leicester yesterday (today JST) to allow the fighting gelding to claim three wins from three outings within just three weeks. The Shadai magazine was celebrating the fact that auction prices are still high (aka astronomical) in the editorial of the latest issue, despite Brexit, although quite how high prices benefit owners is beyond me, especially when horses run about as often as solar eclipses come around in Japan. Blacklister was expensive by UK standards, but with the ridiculous exchange rates, he cost about 4,500,000 yen - at regular rates he would have been about 6,000,000 yen, when horses with six zeros are almost impossible to find out here nowadays, even in NAR. In 14 months, he has run 24 times in one of the most caring stables you'll come across, clocking up a 4-7-1 record along the way, recouping two-thirds of his cost already, and he will almost certainly sell for a profit rather than a huge loss (the norm in Japan, because the original purchase prices are far too high). Now that is real racing, and real value for money.
PS. It looks like the 16,000,000 yen Another Door will be having another go at Monbetsu on the 10th. Surely, it can only improve, as so far the horse has proved to be pretty awful. In other news, sense has prevailed, and Infinity Love has been retired. Wasting members' money has been cited, which is a good step forward, as it's the first time I've heard value for members considered - the same thoughts should now be applied to Perfumer at the very least, please...
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