We'd been warned before the race not to expect much from Mephisto Waltz. He was beautifully prepared, but had no fighting spirit whatsoever. Although the trainer wanted to field him as part of the horse's learning process - to allow him to learn what to do in a race - I'm not entirely sure we can expect a great deal from 'MW' in the future either, at least based on what I saw yesterday. I hope I've proved wrong...
As for Irish Harp, well, had she got out of the gate in a spritely manner, she'd have probably won. As it was, she came home in fourth. Iwata-san was happy with the way she made up for the starting gate fumble, and so was Sugai-san, the trainer. This one has a future, and one can see why she had a strong following in the betting. If she doesn't win next time out, I'll eat my hat!
And finally we come to Miracle Rouge. Yet another bad start - four out of four on the day! But she made up ground nicely and still made a stonking finish. For a horse that was supposed to have been outclassed in this field, she showed a huge amount of spirit that will serve her well in the future. Tenshinramman would have won, but she wasn't there, and that's all there is to it. Despite her coming 11th (only 1.1 seconds down on the winner!), I'm proud that Miracle-chan made the race, put up a good fight, and looked stunningly beautiful in the process, as this picture shows. She has to be one of the most elegant horses around at the moment.
In other news, Sophisticate is hard at it doing gate training (now passed), Single Cask has arrived at the Kurita Stable at Miho TC ready to start her career, and on the NAR front, Agua De Vida races on the 12th September at Monbetsu; Kuniaki Sasaki will guide her around the track in the 1700m opening race.
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