Win #24!

After an incredibly tense morning, in which every horse at the Tokoro stable seemed to feel Spring was in the air (particularly 'Bugatti', who decided to go back to yearling racehorse mode and give Louis the best rodeo practice he'll ever get short of riding a mad bull!), it was nice to get home with everyone in one piece. I've come to expect Louis to handle whatever is thrown at him, but I don't mind saying I was proud of him this morning, and I'm just as proud of Sophie - an 11-year old, who still mounted up later despite having seen what she'd seen. What a great team these three have become...

After putting the kettle on, I then checked on the JRA results, and with Massabielle running a 2000m debutante's turf race, the video was available, so that was what I watched first. Good clean start, I thought, and then disaster - he hit another horse, or at least baulked badly, and dropped back down the field as fast as the others went forward. Here we go again! But Masaki Katsuura held on, and the horse just kept going, albeit ten lengths down going into the third corner. It was then that he picked up the pace, going around the outside like a steam train, and by the time the uphill finishing straight arrived, he was already finding his line to the post. Katsuura-san never touched the whip, but still the horse found yet another gear as a challenger mounted his attack, and the win was his. When the picture I posted yesterday arrived, I said to the missus that it looked the part, but such a remarkable performance was beyond my wildest dreams. This is definitely one to watch!!

PS. Just looking at the post-race data, and Massa's 35.3 last 3F time was the same as that posted in the 12R - the same distance, but with the older, more experienced racers. Given that the jockey says there's a lot more muscle to come, it does make you wonder what we've unleashed.