INHARMONIOUS 

Well, it was never going to be an easy race, given that all the horses entered in it had already won one apiece, but today was a little disappointing to say the least. Harmony Fair fluffed the start and was never really in contention after that, Ebina-san choosing to stay on the inside (the shortest route by far at Nakayama given the large radius on the bends), but never seeing an opening thereafter. There was a brief sign of a sprint for the finish, although, even ignoring the wall of horses in front of her, the starting point was too far back to make an impact. Having looked good in the paddock and started as fourth favourite, tenth is nothing short of a disaster, and in all fairness the jockey seems to be as gutted as I am. Reasons for failure to mull over: Soft ground, longer distance, bad timing... who knows? Hopefully she'll do better next time.

PS. Our first folks from New Zealand have tuned into the blog, the 44th country to register...