New Name

The 'Coventry Friendship' race at Kochi Keiba has had to be given a fresh name, as the number of characters allowed in the race title is too small. Not to worry, as this one is mainly to show support for Kochi, so the new name reflects just that. The request has been sent through for the race to be held at some time in November, so I'll keep you posted with details as soon as they come through.

Meanwhile, I was going through the latest Carrot Club yearling line-up, and a few things have changed from the preliminary listings. The one Manhattan Cafe kid I had my eye on seems extremely expensive (as in overpriced), so that train of thought has been abandoned, and the NAR runner both Louis and I had our hearts set on has been withdrawn! That's a great shame, as there are no other NAR horses that appeal to me this time around...

Statistics

I love playing with statistics - you can make them say all sorts of things, but there's no disputing them in their simplest form. Of the nine horses born in 2010 that I'd invested in, two retired early on - Quadrille, who had a best finish of seventh place in JRA racing, and Fairy Robe, who got a third in NAR.

Taking these out of the equation, as we can't be sure what results would have come their way (there was a good chance Fairy Robe would have done the business), we are left with seven horses from the 2010 vintage. Thanks to 'Misto', we have over half of them as winners - Tenshinramman, with two JRA wins so far, and one JRA victory apiece for Harmony Fair, Miracle Rouge and Mistoffelees.

Now we need something to happen with Lourdes No Hitomi (who always seems to finish fifth!), Mosto Verde (with a best of seventh place so far), and Quick Bread (with eighth as his best result to date). I have to say that I think Lourdes No Hitomi will be worth watching in her next outing, and then we'll be at a 71% win rate. For today, I'm happy that we moved up to 57%...

Mistoffelees V1

Courtesy Carrot Club

Well, it took a while, but 'Misto' finally showed what he was capable of, largely thanks to a predetermined battle plan to let him go and dictate the pace from the front. He'd shown in his first outing that this was his style, and every time Genki Maruyama tried to race him in traditional fashion, he disappointed. His move to dirt, combined with Makoto Saito (the trainer) giving the ride to Hironobu Tanabe, revived his spirits a fair bit, and today, with an inside gate draw and a start that allowed him to dominate the race, Saito-san's faith and hard work was properly rewarded with a fine win - he beat his nearest rival by one-and-three-quarter lengths, and the favourite by two-and-a-half. The Secretariat blood running through his veins came to the fore today...

Rush Of Activity

It's suddenly all happening - Mephisto Waltz passed his gate test with ease, so we can expect a race debut fairly soon now, while Sophisticate and Divine Daughter are due to be shipped off to their respective racing stables within the next couple of weeks.

While True Motion's race has been scratched (a touch of tiredness making it more prudent to wait until Nakayama for her next outing), Mistoffelees runs at Niigata on Saturday. Tanabe-san climbs into the saddle for the 7R (1800m on dirt).

Courtesy Carrot Club

Lourdes No Hitomi (pictured here during her last outing, from earlier in the month) should be out for the 24th at Hakodate, scheduled to run in the 2400m dirt race (the 4R), although the jockey has yet to be confirmed. On the next day, Miracle Rouge will compete in the Niigata 9R - a fairly important 2000m turf race. Let's hope she can deliver me a nice birthday present!

Then, on the 7th September, Tenshinramman looks for revenge for that last outing in the Nakayama 11R - a 2000m Stakes race on turf. On the same day, Irish Harp makes her debut in a fillies-only race at Hanshin. Booked for the 1400m 7R on turf, the jockey has yet to be arranged at this stage.

Finally, moving away from JRA and into NAR territory, there are thoughts of running Pop Label in mid-September to keep him in the mood for the big one on the 15th October. By that time, Beat The Boarder should be settled in her racing stable, probably at the TCK (Tokyo) track.

Licences #2

This morning, thanks to the sterling work of Machikane Ukon (a full brother of Hishi Amazon, on loan from Daisuke Haruta), Louis secured his '2-kyu' (110cm) show-jumping licence with ease. This means he can
now compete in the major Japanese dressage and show-jumping tournaments whenever a venue and time suits him, even though the jumping exploits will probably be limited to county level for a little while yet. But at least the three tests he had lined up for this week are out of the way now, and he's got all the paperwork he needs for the foreseeable future...

Time now to concentrate on getting Sophie up to speed with her gymkhana ambitions, and get me back into a proper training routine to join her as a team member, with 'Jaguar' as our trusty steed.

Licences #1

With Louis aiming to compete in the dressage category of the All-Japan Championships next year, he needed to get a licence to confirm his ability to make a reasonable challenge. Today he got his third level test ('3-kyu') out of the way with 'Jaguar', meaning he's ready to roll, as the three paper tests lined up for him were done and cleared a couple of days ago.

Five minutes later, and while Sophie was letting Jaguar wind down with a gentle stroll around the outside track, Louis was securing his third level jumping test with 'Heart' as his partner. This involved clearing a number of fences safely, with the height set at 80cm. Tomorrow, he'll team up with 'Ukon' to get his '2-kyu' licence, taking him up into the 110cm class. He's then ready to tackle whatever show-jumping events he wants to...

The Baron

The first Japanese superstar in the equestrian arena was Baron Takeichi Nishi, who won a gold medal at the 1932 Olympic Games. Born in 1902, this striking military man had a short but eventful life, dying at the end of WWII on Iwo Jima. As it happens, he features in a movie about the last stand on the island, although he only came to mind because of a phone call I received earlier this evening.

My oldest friend in Japan (both in terms of the length of time we've known each other and in age) called for a chat about peaches of all things. We met originally through the car world, heading towards 18 years ago now, and he will forever be a hero of mine - he's an inspiration of epic proportions, a father figure, a Hall of Famer, and an amazing human being, who, even at 103, is still pin-sharp and immense fun to be around.

My dear friend mentioned how pleased he was that Louis and Sophie were making good progress with the horses, as he himself has always had a soft spot for them. He spent a lot of his working life in America, bringing him into contact with a culture built around the horse, and I have a set of Western spurs with his name on them - he gave them to Louis (who is actually his godson) to encourage him as a horseman. Louis sees them as a thing of beauty at the moment - one day he'll realize they are close to being a national treasure, as they are already in my eyes.

As soon as I put the phone down, and I immediately thought of the Baron Nishi link. He was actually my friend's neighbour when they were kids, and this is probably where the equine love affair started, as there were always horses around thanks to the Baron's obsession with them. He would have seen the gold medalist jumping as a child, and now, almost a century later, he is cheering on Louis, hoping he will follow in the Baron's footsteps...