Colza Debut

The other big news yesterday was Louis and 'Bugatti' being the first to enter the brand new arena at the Colza Horse Club - a big honour for the young pair. After a few minutes on a lunging rope, just to take the tip off Bugatti's built-up tension from not being able to train properly for the last couple of days due to the move, it was time to drop the stirrups and let Louis go for it. I'm glad to say that the Mad One was no worse than usual - he gave Louis a little rodeo practice, as he often does just before settling into his work mode, called out to his mates a few times, and then became so focused, it was inspiring to watch him strut his stuff. The new arena stood up to its first test well, compacting a lot less than the old Tokoro dirt, and it will definitely be less dusty on windy days. A good start!

Phosphorus V5

Shun Ishizaki rode a perfect race to take Phosphorus well clear of his rivals in Kawasaki last night - his stunning power was just too much for the others to respond to as soon as the final straight appeared, despite two of them also being well-fancied and marking 'Phos' all the way round from the first corner onwards. It was an impressive performance, and a testament to the hard work that goes on behind the scenes at Yano Stables.

This was Phosphorus' fifth win so far (his record moving to 5-3-2 from 16 races), and my 27th to date. The way he improves every time he goes out, growing mentally as much as physically, has me thinking there's a lot more left in the tank yet. I have a feeling he will be the one to watch as a five-year old. Urawa next...

C'mon Phos!

Phosphorus has drawn gate two in the 1600m C1 10R at Kawasaki tomorrow, with Shun Ishizaki in the saddle. All you can do is keep your fingers crossed, I guess... Pop Label is booked for TCK's 1800m 12R on the 8th April, but we never seem to get a gate berth there, so we can probably forget it.

As usual, the JRA horses are wasting time that they don't have. Summer will be upon us in a minute, and then the last-minute chaos starts as the seasons change again, and there's never any gates available. Tenshinramman is supposed to be looking good, so can hopefully end a long and incredibly disappointing run of poor performances at Fukushima on the 18th. Of course, the R&R session has been a long one, and while the 1800m turf race should suit her, she'll almost certainly be full of race-rust and then after a ton of excuses, disappear on holiday again. Miracle Rouge is supposed to be at Nakayama on the same day, but in a 1800m dirt race. As a dirt debut, this could either be very interesting or a complete disaster.

As for the foreigners, the English pair are coming along gently, and Pretty Gully is expected to run on the 26th April in Australia. A Touch Of Sparkle missed her scheduled debut in Ireland, but should run in a P2P race. In reality, the Irish point-to-point scene is very professional, and the race should serve as an excellent bit of experience. Danielle's Journey should be out again soon, hoping to build on her 1-2-0 from three record.

A New Era

Phosphorus runs at Kawasaki in the 1600m 10R on Thursday, but not much else happening - and that's true of all of our bases (England, Ireland, Australia and Japan). On saying that, 'Bugatti' has made it into his new home today - the Tokoro RC era has finished, and his Colza HC era begins. He's naturally in high tension mode at the moment, but I'll sure he'll settle down soon and learn to love his new environment. We'll see what he's like tomorrow and hopefully be able to give him his first training session on the beautiful new arena...