Good Progress

Sophie made good progress on the Dressage Test today, doing the entire sequence without any prompting. Sure enough, she let 'Jaguar' cut a few corners - a habit of his that needs positive correction in the turn, as Louis learnt the hard way - and there's still a lot of polishing to do in certain areas. But basically, she has every reason to be as pleased as punch with her performance, and Jaguar was also happy with his training. Indeed, after he was released in the paddock for a roll around in the mud, he ran back towards us at a gallop kicking his back legs up high en route. Whether this was to appeal to 'Merryl' who was passing by, or just sheer exuberance, I'm not sure, but it's nice to see older horses so full of life...

Lladro

This advert came with one of my magazines this week - an advert for a beautiful bone china sculpture by the Lladro concern. Although I have a lot of David Geenty sculptures in the house, I was seriously tempted to find space for this - until I saw the price! It may be limited edition (1500 off), three foot long and over a foot in height, but at 1,312,500 yen, that's the price of a small car out here. Perhaps if there were only ten in the world, or something like that, I might be able to justify it. As it is, I shall sadly have to force myself to admire the piece from afar...

We haven't looked at equine art for a while, but it has served to remind me that I need to order a couple of new Jacqueline Stanhope prints. With luck, she'll be doing something of great interest to Japanese race fans in the near future.

Sophie's Choice

The cooler weather saw 'Jaguar' stomping around the dressage area at Tokoro today, and after Louis had warmed him up, he took him through the first dressage test to remind Sophie of the sequence. A few minutes later, once the stirrup straps had been adjusted to suit the girl's petite frame, and Sophie completed the test with only a few minor misses on the route. Tomorrow, we'll have another go, using different colours on the marker cones to make instructions clearer if she goes wrong, and with any luck she should be ready to go for the November competition at Tomisato.

No Ceilidh Today

Well, what can you say? Irish Harp was rightfully well-fancied, and got away from the gate well enough. But when the final acceleration was called for in the straight, nothing happened. The overall race time improved, but the last 3F time was incredibly disappointing, leaving her trailing behind off the pace. Let's hope she gets her act together soon...

As for Mephisto Waltz, he's still learning on the job - the trainer has a policy of building on race experience, so we can't expect much from him for a while yet probably. But at least his footwork improved nicely and his last 3F time was the same as his debut outing, despite the extra furlong, which added 10.4 seconds to his overall race time. With more control and concentration - something that will come with age - hopefully his Dalakhani blood will start to show through. If he's not tired, expect him out again soon.

Funabashi Friday

Having been a taxi driver for the kids all week, I managed to escape to Funabashi for the day today, bumping into old friends and breathing in the wonderful atmosphere - there's nothing to beat the close-up colour, speed and sound of NAR racing.

I took almost 250 pictures, including some beautiful jockey portraits (the light was absolutely perfect for SLR photography with a fast lens), but I rather like this one for summing up the day in one shot, as it's so peaceful - the Funabashi race track is my haven after all. Hope you like it, too...

Fame

Pop Label appears in a full-page article in the latest edition of Thoroughbred - the magazine for the Shadai Group, which naturally includes the Sunday Thoroughbred Club and Shadai Thoroughbred Club. Hopefully his performances will justify more column inches in the near future, with the 2nd October being his next race.

Fame is also spreading for the blog, as we had a record 250 visitors yesterday - 247 had been the previous record, that I honestly felt would never be beaten. Folks from 62 different countries have tuned in that I know of. There could be a few more, but even if there aren't, it's an amazing show of support, and much appreciated...

Poco Poco No.4

The new edition of Poco Poco has arrived, with pieces on a number of younger jockeys from the 'Nankan' NAR tracks, TCK's Norifumi Mikamoto, and Seiji Sakai after winning the Tokyo Derby the other day, plus a mention and picture of Pop Label - one of my horses. There's also an article on the typical life of a groom. This is definitely a job for the dedicated, with the love of horses and the racing scene being a bigger draw than financial reward. All grooms have my respect...

As always, Poco Poco contains a great selection of pictures and insightful text from a group of ladies with their fingers on the pulse. Louis has managed to creep into the Tokoro advert again, too!

Make That Two

Having just said I'd only got one horse racing this weekend, a late entry has been made for Saturday's JRA Hanshin meeting, so now we have two. Yuichi Fukunaga will ride Irish Harp in the second race (1400m on turf), which starts at 10:25am with 18 runners, and 30 minutes later, Yuji Hishida will team up with Mephisto Waltz for the 1800m turf 3R. It looked as if Mephisto was going to be given a rest, as the 29th was first muted and then things went quiet. A slot in the starting gate has been secured for Saturday, though, and it will be interesting to see how much he has improved since his debut...

2012 Horses #4: Carrot Club No.13

Courtesy Carrot Club

This attractive filly is by Neo Universe out of Time Will Tell. We looked at Neo Universe when we profiled Joyful Step (one of last year's crop), and concluded that his winning ways came courtesy of a combination of a lot of blood from old school legends. We should mention his sire was the highly-respected Sunday Silence, while the broodmare sire was Kris, who had a good, solid racing record in Britain, and that puts things into perspective.

The dam is Time Will Tell, who chalked up seven top three finishes on the track. More good DNA in her make-up, with Brian's Time as her father (bringing in the Roberto and Hail To Reason blood I love so much), as Sadler's Wells as her damsire - it doesn't get much better than that. Ultimately, she is classed as a Kris (3Sx4D) and Hail To Reason (4Sx4D) cross, and is based at the Nakagawa Stables at Miho Training Centre.

New Dates

Only the one horse racing this weekend - the long-awaited return of Irish Harp on the 28th, as we've reported earlier. However, a few more dates for the near future have been added to the calendar, with Agua De Vida in NAR action at Monbetsu on the 2nd October. She'll run in the 1700m 4R, although the jockey has yet to be confirmed. Pop Label is also racing at Monbetsu that day, so an exciting meeting in store.

Looking a bit further ahead, Mistoffelees is out again with Tanabe-san in the saddle. They will tackle the 1800m dirt race at Niigata on the 6th (4R), and Ebina-san returns with Harmony Fair on the 12th. They will compete in the 12R at Tokyo-Fuchu, which is a 1600m race on turf.

In other news, Single Cask will be taking the gate test soon - progress being delayed by a youthful nature, while Divine Daughter is coming along nicely, her times improving with each outing. With luck, this Sunday TC horse will run at Tokyo on either the 13th or the 20th (1300m or 1400m on dirt), and Sophisticate should also be making his debut within the next couple of weeks...

2012 Horses #3: Carrot Club No.08

Based at the Ogasa Stable at Miho TC, this colt is interesting, because the mother is Mejiro Lourdes, who gave birth to Lourdes No Hitomi - a horse that gave me a great deal of entertainment in the JRA arena and is now fighting it out in NAR racing. As such, there's not much point in going over the dam side again - it's simply enough to say that Mejiro Lourdes was sired by Sunday Silence, with strong Mejiro family lines in the female side of the equation.

Courtesy Carrot Club

The sire is Harbinger, a legend in racing circles that had his career cut short by an injury. Still, six wins from nine races, including victory in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes, plus a second and a third, allowed him to stand as a stallion in Japan from 2011.

Harbinger has some truly beautiful bloodlines, with Danehill as one grandfather and Bering as the other. Danehill, successfully combining the blood of Tesio's greatest, goes down in history as being one of the most successful sires of all-time, while Bering won the Prix du Jockey Club and came second in the L'Arc de Triomphe during his career. His mother is the French-registered Penang Pearl, who picked up a useful 3-5-1 record on the track before becoming a broodmare.

Fascination

About every five or six weeks, a farrier comes along to the club and makes new shoes for all the horses. The old shoes are taken off, the hooves cut back and flattened, and a new shoe is formed on the anvil from the nearest red-hot blank to suit the finished surface. The fascination of watching this being done never goes away, and it never ceases to amaze me how calm and collected the majority of the stable's inmates stay - especially the Thoroughbreds, who are also the best at being ferried in the big horseboxes due to their trade in their earlier life.

I would like aluminium alloy racing shoes for Jaguar (seen here), but with his constant stream of activities the way they are, he's better off with steel ones for now. As his workload reduces, perhaps I can move him over to the lighter versions, as I have no doubt that he'd feel a lot more comfortable, and the loss of weight there would go some way towards cancelling out my own substantial heft.

A little bit of trivia for our non-UK readers. If you look in an English phone book, you'll find the name 'Smith' comes up an awful lot. This was the name usually given to a blacksmith - someone that works with iron, often shoeing horses. Other names relate to trades, too, such as Thatcher (a person that makes or repairs thatched roofs on houses), while Wright is usually a wheel maker, and so on. Interesting to delve into these things...

2012 Horses #2: Carrot Club No.87

A bit later than promised, here's the first of the profiles on the new yearlings added to my portfolio of racehorses, taking the total to 30 if we include Mayano Time ('Jaguar') and Tempai ('Tenn-chan'), for these are still very active in competition with my family, even if they don't race any more. I reckon if you gave Jaguar the chance, he'd be up for the challenge, though...

Courtesy Carrot Club

Anyway, the first Carrot Club horse we'll look at is a colt sired by Montjeu, which naturally has a huge appeal for me as a Brit. The Irish-registered Montjeu won 11 races, including the Prix du Jockey Club (the French Derby), the Irish Derby, the L'Arc de Triomphe, and the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes, making him a legend.

Montjeu was sired by Sadler's Wells, a horse I love dearly, bringing together the best combination of Nearco, Hail To Reason, Native Dancer, Hyperion and Mahmoud blood in the business. His dam was a French horse called Floripedes, who picked up a 2-1-2 record from five starts, largely thanks to the DNA of the Aga Khan's Top Ville, and Charlottesville from the same stable - both winners of the Prix du Jockey Club.

The dam for the newcomer is Reve D'Iman, and although the race record of this Sir Gaylord cross (standing at 1-1-1 from 13 starts) is hardly anything to write home about, she does have a well-earned reputation for producing good foals. Looking at her pedigree, it's hardly surprising, as we have Highest Honor - a strong French stallion - as her sire, adding Kalamoun blood as well as Nasrullah and Princequillo crosses into the equation, with Blushing Groom (by Red God), Green Dancer (by Nijinsky) and Sir Gaylord on the dam side.

As soon as a name has been decided, I shall let you know. In the meantime, one thing I can tell you is that the stable he'll be based at is the Yasutoshi Ikee Stable at Ritto TC, which is where Orfevre is trained. I have high hopes for this one!

Colourful Monday

We came away from a long day at Tomisato with a good selection of rosette colours - a blue one for Sophie for winning the Japan Cup gymkhana event with 'Jaguar', a red one for Louis who was just pipped to first on time in the 60cm show-jumping, and also a white one for the boy for coming fourth in his 80cm show-jumping debut. It's a wee bit annoying that the one fence fell having just touched it, which dropped him down the finishing list, while the winner of the 60cm class hit one quite hard and it didn't fall. Had the laws of physics worked the way they are supposed to - at least in theory! - he'd have had a win and maybe a second place under his belt.

But there's no argument at the end of the day. If a wooden beam is still on its supports after you've hit it, that's all there is to it - it's not like a net service in tennis. And besides, if we start looking at 'what if' scenario, had Kuri Nakajima not took a wrong turn (an understandable one, as she followed the natural curve of the course), she would have definitely won for the Tokoro RC team, as she was very fast and also had a clear round. Noriko Mori of Tokoro RC won the 80cm class, by the way, but had a fall on her way to a sure victory in the 100cm category. I sincerely hope she's okay, as she had me rather worried at one point...

In the future, Sophie will enter the gymkhana GP, incorporating a jump at the end, as well as starting dressage competitions, and Louis will concentrate on improving his A3 dressage scores with 'Jaguar' and work harder with 'Heart' on the 80cm jumping - the approach to the 60cm class is now safe, smooth and secure, so the challenge lines have been established.

LNH Update

As you know, Lourdes No Hitomi has finished her JRA career, and also her time with me, but her new owner has placed her with Shoji Tanaka, an experienced NAR trainer based in Hokkaido. It will be interesting to follow her progress - such a strong girl deserves a second chance on the track...

There are thoughts that Quick Bread may also go the NAR route now his JRA stint has ended, although I have my doubts regarding this, as he was running on dirt, and proved less than satisfactory at both short and middle distances. Yes, his debut was delayed, but the next batch of yearlings are already winning at the same time as he was finishing in the second half of a field. He would probably be more suited to a life outside the race track, being retrained for dressage or something similar.

2 x 2

Well, 'Jaguar' certainly lived up to his reputation for being awkward this last couple of days, with a lack of enthusiasm yesterday followed by too much joie de vivre today. In reality, the 53.69 score was better than the 53.04 chalked up on Saturday, but it's such a shame to see all that hard work go unrewarded. On saying that, of course, this was Louis' first attempt at the A3 dressage category, and I'm told one should be happy with anything over 50 for a starting point. Tomorrow, let's see if he can add at least one blue ribbon to the two red ones he picked up today, although, being realistic, it will be a tough fight for him and 'Heart' in the 60cm and 80cm classes. Sophie takes out 'the difficult horse' in the gymkhana event, too, so please wish her and 'Jaguar' luck also...