LIVING LEGENDS ARE A DYIN' BREED 
So the late, great Waylon Jennings once observed, and he wasn't kiddin' either! Those sporting heroes we used to follow religiously - the Lester Piggotts, Jackie Stewarts, Barry Sheenes, Muhammad Alis, George Bests and Ray Reardons of this world - have either retired or passed away, leaving a void in their respective field of activity. Granted, some of the voids have been filled to some extent, but these guys, like Waylon himself, were larger than life.

Thankfully, there are still a few livin' legends in our midst, and yesterday at Funabashi race track, one of them provided me with a personal highlight in what was a day full of happy memories. With apologies to a certain credit card company for using their advertising style: A betting slip - 100 yen. Seeing Masayuki Kawashima looking dandy and smiling, walking purposefully towards the paddock and obviously enjoying himself again after a bout of illness - priceless...

Please see the blog entry from 17th September 2012 to read Kawashima-sensei's profile.