A SEA OF PEOPLE 
Made a last minute decision to allow myself to be dragged across to Tokyo-Fuchu today - Louis had been pestering me to go to the Japan Cup for weeks, but I'd managed to resist the pressure well until this morning. When a meeting failed to materialize and a black joke about going (but not going!) was met with the kind of disappointment that only a mature 12-year old boy can show - no tantrums, no words other than "Hidoi," but the kind of doe eyes that compete with those of the cat in the Shrek series, it suddenly seemed like a good idea! 

Considering the huge amount of people there (in excess of 110,000 according to the TV report), including some friends that had also ventured out for the day (getting up at 3am!), the transport system held up well, and there was only a minimum of waiting at the various facilities once inside. Full marks to JRA on the logistics, and the racing was just as good.

In the end, the main event turned out to be a two-horse race won by Gentildonna, with Orfevre coming home in a close second - a battle between the sexes and Triple Crown winners (Gentildonna had won the the filly equivalent), and a triumph for the Sunday Thoroughbred Club, with its horses filling the top three places. A good day out, but having fought my way across what feels like half of Japan, and waded through a sea of people, it's time to jump in the bath and then down a little nightcap...