MIRACLE ROUGE V1 
Plus and minus today. The big news is that Miracle Rouge - a Sadler's Wells cross - won the 3R at Tokyo-Fuchu this morning, having started second favourite. She has always ran with consistency, except in the one race, so I guess it was only a matter of time before the hard work at the Uehara Stables was rewarded. Today was an 1800m turf run, and her extensive experience at 2000m would have paid off in the heavy going. My hearty congratulations go to the jockey, Hiroyuki Uchida, the stable staff, and fellow Carrot Club owners.

Courtesy Carrot Club

That deals with the plus side, but ten minutes later, disaster at Hakodate. Starting fifth favorite (second at one point) and running up front for a long time, Mistoffelees ultimately finished a disappointing ninth. Granted, the longer 2000m distance may not have perfectly suited the fella, but I'm seriously wondering if Genki Maruyama is a mismatch with this horse. The Saito Stables work hard, and the horse definitely has ability, but results only seem to come when 'Misto' has been allowed to run freely, as in his first outing, when he led from the start to take second over 1800m. Such a nice horse should have better in-depth results to show by now. Ironically, looking back through my old race records, Miracle Rouge's only bad result has come with Maruyama in the saddle, and she won today. Ummm. On saying that, I'm sure I spotted a very subtle limp in the right front leg during Misto's paddock walk, so maybe this had something to do with it if I'm right...

PS. Having seen the full race at Tokyo, I think we can mark Miracle Rouge's race up as the first win of more to come in a promising career. Such a strong finish on such heavy ground, whilst still last but one and fenced in with three furlongs to go, deserves a special mention, as does the skill of Uchida-san guiding her with supreme precision around the slower obstacles.