Hot, Hot, Hot!

Mad levels of heat again today, so training was quite fairly light - just enough to keep Jaguar in trim and interested in things. A couple of days ago, a friend asked if Jaguar could jump, and my response was a little like "Yes, but..." He will clear a good height, of that there's no doubt. The problem with Jaguar is he takes off like a Saturn rocket that's just cleared the launch pad, and then lands the other side of a fence with all the elegance of a brick that's just been thrown out the window.

Well, today, the question having revived thoughts of jumping him, we gave him a shot at some low cross fences, and he jumped like a demon - straight down the middle, and with so much room to spare it was almost funny to watch. Ultimately, this is instinct getting Jaguar over the fence, as he's never had any training in this area, so it was pleasing to see that he has real potential. Part of today's success could be the improvement in Louis' jumping skills, but whatever brought it about, it's made me want to give Jaguar a chance to become a true all-rounder...

Not much in the way of photographs, I'm afraid, as the pocket camera died - again! It amazes me that I have cameras from this maker that are 50 years old and still perfect, yet one bought at Christmas 2011 has failed big time on me twice already. Modern technology - gotta love it!

Another Day Done

Ever since the kids broke up from school, Jaguar (pictured here on his way back to his stables) has been a busy bunny. He's done gymkhana training with Sophie virtually every day for a week, and a bit of dressage with both of the kids, as Louis is going to take his licence in the near future (maybe this month, or next month) to enable him to enter the All-Japan Championships. He's also busy
training for his show-jumping licence
at the 110cm Class at the moment - I don't know who was sweating the most today, Louis or Merryl-chan! But all good fun, with the horses enjoying the work-out, and especially all the fuss and cookies that inevitably come at the end of every session...

Double Drat

Agua De Vida (pictured) started as firm favourite for her race this evening (with odds of 2.2:1, with her closest rival on 5.7), and although she was still looking okay on the back straight, she just went backwards from then on to deliver perhaps the most disappointing finish I've experienced all year. To be honest, it might just be the most disappointing finish of all-time as far as my horses are concerned.

Courtesy Carrot Club

I shall wait for the report before saying anything else, but the wild swerve she made early on may be part of the reason? The 8kg weight gain? Simply an off day? I just don't know at this stage. The ground certainly didn't look that heavy, so that's one thing we can eliminate...

Rubbing salt into the wound, an envelope arrived in the post this afternoon containing a photo and a letter saying congratulations on Dinner Bell's debut at about the same time as an E-mail saying her first race had been postponed due to an oversubscription! Drat and double drat.

PS. The jockey and trainer reports have shed a lot of light on Agua-chan's disastrous performance tonight. It seems she was irritated all evening, and when she wanted to go flat-out, Igarashi-san held her back with race-winning timing in mind. She obviously reacted badly to this, and refused to give anything thereafter. So, after all said and done, it looks as if we have a temperamental young lady on our hands! Thus, the trainer is going to release her for some R&R (which he now feels should have been done after the second race) and then we can try again.

Two More Races

Two more races to add to your diary - Lourdes No Hitomi is out for the 3R at Hakodate (2400m on dirt) on 4th August, while Harmony Fair runs at Niigata on the 10th with Teruo Eda in the saddle. Harmony's race is the 1400m turf 9R, which is the one before Tenshinramman's outing, so plenty of interest for me in Niigata that afternoon.

Mephisto Waltz and Irish Harp are both close to being able to take their gate test, enabling two more newcomers to start racing - assuming they can pass the test! Meanwhile, Agua De Vida runs at Monbetsu tomorrow evening. She was third first time out, then second in her next race, so she's a strong lass. Please support her...

Friendship

The confirmation has come through for 'The Coventry Friendship Race' to be held at Funabashi Keiba. It will be the fifth race (5R), held during the afternoon of the 7th August - the same day as Pop Label has his big race up in Monbetsu, so plenty of NAR action in store for me on that date. 

Regarding the Funabashi race, this is something I wrote earlier, but it remains relevant: "As it happens, my hometown of Coventry is twinned with Hiroshima - a city I love dearly, but it's a long way from Chiba! They were twinned after WWII, as both were devastated during the conflict. My family lost virtually everything in the war, including my Great-Grandfather's stables, and about the only thing to remember us by nowadays is a road named after the gang leading up to the area that used to be our farmland (with a history in Coventry and the surrounding area dating back to the Doomsday Book, I come from the Hunt and Lowe family lines, and Hunt Terrace is their epitaph)."

The piece continued: "In reality, there probably isn't that much to link Coventry to Funabashi, or Chiba in general come to think of it. Coventry was the centre of Britain's motor industry, with motorbikes and aeroplanes also playing a large role in the development of the city. Before that, it was silk, bicycles and watchmaking. For centuries, it was the second most important city in Britain, long before the likes of Birmingham and Manchester came to the fore, and was the birthplace of the Lady Godiva legend. But there's a Coventry kid who's made Chiba his home and Funabashi his haven. At the track, we may struggle with each other's language, but we come together through our passion for racing. We communicate through Thoroughbreds, and become friends as a result. Hopefully the race will raise awareness of a city 6000 miles away, and help further promote friendship between two very different cultures with one thing in common - a love of Keiba."

I'll be sponsoring another 'Friendship' race at the Kochi track in either October or November. It's a small gesture, but I really want to try and do something to help out the track. Naturally, I'll be posting the details as soon as they become available. Meanwhile, the Funabashi date is looming fast...