A FAREWELL RACE 
Yesterday, at Tokyo's TCK track, despite the freezing cold wind and the threat of rain (snow wouldn't have surprised me!), thousands upon thousands of NAR fans said an emotional farewell to a couple of dirt racing legends - Furioso and Bonneville Record.

Fortunately, the wet weather held off, but because of the forecasts, I'd left all my good camera equipment at home. Armed with the cheapest DSLR in the house, so it wouldn't be the end of the world if it got wet, I got some nice pictures in the daylight, but some pretty mediocre results as darkness started to fall. Then, to add insult to injury, the battery packed up! Louis had his camera, but his chances of being a top photographer are about as slim as the chances of me becoming an astronaut. As such, nothing wonderful to share with you - most of the images will stay stored as data in our tiny brains.

This picture shows Furioso being handled by Koji Kawashima (the youngest of Kawashima-sensei's boys) in the TCK paddock. He was ridden in this last race by Keita Tosaki, who allowed the legendary horse to lead in fine style going into the first corner. The finish - it doesn't really matter, for I wouldn't have cashed-in my betting slip anyway. To have seen him run in front of a huge and excited crowd, that's all that's important. A memorable event...

ANOTHER FACE PACK
I think I've figured out how Jaguar is keeping his youthful looks - he gives himself a face pack at every opportunity!

Do horses have vain streaks, I wonder? For sure, as soon as the pinky-orange stuff belonging to his old owner was replaced with black goods - certainly, a distinctly more butch colour - his attitude seemed to change, and the bright yellow bits and bobs I've been buying, so popular in Keiba circles at the moment, appears to meet with his approval, too.

I SHOULD STOP COMPLAINING! 
I keep moaning about how cold it is here in Chiba - the windchill was pretty rough to say the least yesterday, and today is just plain chilly without the wind assistance - but a piece on BBC World news this morning has suddenly made me think that maybe I shouldn't be complaining.

Courtesy BBC

This picture shows a group of Chinese artists making sculptures from the snow and ice. It's actually something that gets done here in Japan, too, in some of the northern areas, but the subject caught my attention straight away. It really is a beautiful creation, and it's such a shame that it will melt. That doesn't mean I'm not looking forward to warmer weather, though! Ironically, the forecast for the next few days is rain...

BOXING DAY UPDATE 
With gentle training to avoid damage, Fairy Robe seems to be coming along nicely, with all the signs of tiredness in her legs slowly disappearing, so that long-awaited debut shouldn't be far away now. With races scheduled for the first and last week of January at Kawasaki, there are plenty of options if things keep going in the right direction...

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN...
When I left England, I thought I'd also left the days of being freezing far behind me. Well, let me tell you now, the winter in Chiba is not much different to that of ol' Blighty, or at least it feels that way, even if the figures on the thermometer say it's not actually that cold as soon as the sun has been up for a few hours. On saying that, of course, whatever the thermometer may say, there's no disputing that ice still lingers well after midday in shady spots - that tells me it's cold...

Anyway, one thing is for sure, it's time to get out the Newmarket blankets again. And that ear net Jaguar's wearing was fitted as a matter of habit - the flies are nowhere to be seen, but I'm sure Jaguar was glad of it to keep his ears warm!

MERRY CHRISTMAS 
From the frozen wastes of Chiba, here's wishing everyone who tunes into the blog a very Merry Christmas!

Since starting the blog in the middle of September, we've had over 9000 visitors from all over the world, and we're still getting people from new and exotic far-flung places on a weekly basis. In addition to all the regulars, which are mainly made up of Japanese, Europeans, Americans and Russians, this week alone saw folks from Australia, Argentina, Venezuela, Latvia, Kazakhstan, Mali, Morocco, Indonesia, Hong Kong and China tuning in. Thank you all for your support, and may you all be blessed with a happy and healthy new year to come...