We'll Be Back!

Sayesse blew the big race at Newmarket, but will be out there again in a week's time to reap some revenge. Actually, although the finishing position was a long way down the list, the distance behind the winner meant that he wasn't too far off the pace. Ultimately, there were just too many horses in the race for him to show what he's capable of, but he'll be back in winning form soon, of that I'm absolutely sure.

At least we're having some real progress with 'Bugatti' - Louis working him yesterday and Sophie today, in a combination of fine control training and jumping practice. Sophie, in particular, has come on in leaps and bounds thanks to the clinic. By the end of next week, if she keeps up with the programme laid out for her, Louis will have a new and very real rival in the shape of his sister! I often think what a fine steeplechaser 'Bugatti' would have made with his stamina, natural jumping ability and love of work; I reckon he would have been a master over the jumps.

PS. News just in that Another Door will run at Monbetsu on the fourth. Strange thing is that it runs in the 2R, full of tough competitors, when the opener is over the same distance and has the same prize money attached, yet is full of poor quality nags. Because of this careless miss, unless there's a huge improvement, I can see us coming away with nothing again! 

A Small Step

Kealoha came a strong second, which will just about pay for its running costs for a month - it won't eat into the bill for the four months away from the track, of course, or help cover the costs for the likes of those seemingly constantly injured, such as Phosphorus, but it was a decent comeback overall. Had the start been anything like one expects from a trained racehorse, we should have won it with ease; I guess that's what you have to take away from the race as a positive, the fact that - for once - a nag has returned from NF as a horse instead of a donkey. Now, if the bloody thing can stay fit for more than five minutes (something that seems incredibly difficult out here if recent events are anything to go by, despite the English ponies racing far more often and basically remaining free of the troubles that strike down the Japanese runners with a truly maddening regularity), we might just get a bit of sport from this one. About time we got some value for money out of something, for we're still cursed by a ton of horses out here that either can't or won't run for whatever reason. This one race is a very small move in the right direction, but I'm still a very, very long way from happy with the way my horses are being handled, in all respects. Ultimately, there is still a huge (maybe insurmountable) distance to go before my enthusiasm for Japanese racing returns to any extent, and I have yet to see any reason on the horizon for the gap to close any time soon. For instance, unless a race at Oi, Urawa or Kawasaki is attempted with Kealoha, there's no Funabashi meeting in October, with the next one being in the second week of November. That's a long time to wait, with more outlay and no income once more, just for a different reason to the usual excuses.

Cowboys!

After another month of no income from the Shadai and Sunday horses (actually, that's not strictly true, as a few pennies came in this time - around half a percent of the monthly outlay), a crap return from Pop Label, and yet another injury for Phosphorus (can any of the cowboys out here actually keep a horse going for more than a week without injuring it?), we need a damned good result from Kealoha. It is due to run with Honda-kun at Funabashi on Friday, with Magic Key due out the following week at Kawasaki as it happens. Despite the fact that we need winners to recoup a tiny bit of pride, not to mention a bit of cash, I don't think we'll be treated to anything spectacular, so I shall watch both races at home, making sure that things that are close to hand are too heavy to throw at the TV screen.

Belle Plage and War Chronicle are due to go to their racing stables soon, which is about bloody time, after months and months of kicking their hooves back and sipping on pina coladas. While Rush Attack may never see a racetrack again at this rate (and Lotus Blossom may never see one at all, for empty promises are all we've got to show other than a possible late-October or early-November career start date, which will doubtless be shifted further and further back if past experience with this horse is anything to go by), Chocolate Sucre has made it back to Funabashi, and Trovao is getting closer to Tokyo again. To be honest, though, there is little excitement in my office, for what little spark of enthusiasm there was has been dowsed by the news of Phosphorus being out of action again at a time when it should have been returning to the track, and you can bet Chocolat Sucre and Trovao, as well as the JRA horses, are still a long way from race-ready to rub salt into the wound. Thanks to a niggling problem, Vertice is still no closer to starting its career either, with the end of October being cited as a test date - a month beyond the original plan, and I wouldn't mind betting it drifts still further by the time October comes around.

You sometimes wonder if all these injuries are created on purpose, just to take the piss, for surely no professional outfit can keep clocking up maladies at the rate the people out here do? You buy NAR horses because they're supposed to run more often, and therefore provide more sport for your money. Ha - what a joke that assumption has turned out to be! When it comes right down to it, I'd have more trust in the care and skill administered by the likes of Delboy and Rodders than I have in the cowboys that look after racehorses in Japan, especially those camped at Northern Farm. Or maybe it's the breeding, with bloodlines creating nags that are simply too fragile? Either way, I'll be glad to be out of it ASAP - the new catalogues went in the paper recycling box, the invite to the club party was torn up, and I don't even bother looking at club magazines or going to the tracks nowadays. What's the point when you know you'll be told your horse is injured, or performs like a geriatric donkey with asthma when it finally does make a rare appearance in a race? It's simply wasting yet more money and setting myself up for yet more disappointment, which is something I just don't need - indeed, the only race I've seen any kind of real effort in for months on end out here was the third place of Larressingle the other day (far better than the two second places beforehand). This nightmare, brought about by a combination of the greed and incompetence of those who control Japanese racing from all angles, cannot end soon enough for me...