EVENING UPDATE
Shares in five new Carrot Club horses were approved earlier this afternoon - four JRA yearlings, and one that will run in NAR events, the latter unexpected, but pleasing, as the father is Gold Allure, while the damsire is Kurofune. They've all been added to the bottom of the page, although it will be some time before they receive names, of course.

Having gone across to Tokoro this afternoon to unload all the kit from the weekend and give Jaguar a cookie or two, I'm told that even 51 is truly a cause for celebration in Louis' category, especially having just started in it, and even more so given that Jaguar was only firing on a couple of cylinders on Saturday, in a new location and in a class he's never competed in before. Nonetheless, there was probably some skillful diplomacy in the fact that the certificate from the first day mysteriously went astray, while the one for Sunday now sits on the desk next to me with a batch of photographs kindly taken by Noriko Mori. They certainly give a good idea of the awful conditions everyone had to contend with and/or endure on the second day. Thank you, Mori-san - as always, much appreciated!

I meant to write this earlier, but got called away - Yoshimi won her class on Twister at the weekend, which is naturally a nice thing to be able to record, as the bond between these two is a joy to behold. But a story filtered through that one of the Tokoro members, a delightful lady whose sight is failing, had an image of mountains when Yoshimi was riding thanks to Shinji's music. For me, that's almost as inspiring as watching Mutsumi-san fearlessly riding Noel, her pale grey Thoroughbred, while Waka the guide dog patiently awaits her return...