Feeling Weary

Having started as joint-second favourite, Danielle's Journey was seventh in Leopardstown, so a double-whammy after the disqualification the other day. The financial hit is one thing, but the Cheltenham dream looks ruined now, which hurts more to be honest, as DJ has the potential to do good things. With entry pace thus far verging on cautious in the extreme, in reality, today's race was slotted into the programme to make up for the needless disaster in December, when a longer spell of training or waiting for better ground would have been preferable before a proper assault on a race that should have been a final run-up to Cheltenham. Now we're left in the worst possible scenario!

Courtesy Carrot Club

Raining Dollars (aka Ted) jumps out in Oz tomorrow, but it's not a proper race, so the result is irrelevant outside our reference. Magic Key steps up to the plate on Wednesday, although I'm not looking forward to the race one bit. I might not even bother going to watch to be honest, as the other day's incident has all but destroyed the beauty of the final element of the Japanese racing scene that I loved so much with all my heart (I already detest most of the other bits!), but one thing I can say for sure is that the day's performance and the final jockey choice will have a huge bearing on my future NAR policy. I've just had Louis make a suggestion when he came by to say goodnight, as he knows I'm ready to quit, and for years that was totally unthinkable until the events of last month; I would have been willing to stake the house on me staying in NAR forever until that fateful day, which seemed an even lower point in my racing life after the high provided by a battling Mar-kun and Trovao. Anyway, let's see what happens midweek and work from there.

After Magic Key, Million Ways is out next, which could quite literally go a million ways (being its first run in four months and a Nankan debut, a good result is far from a dead cert, even with Mashima-kun at the controls), while Chocolat Sucre (pictured, with a cold-looking Yuta Sato up) makes her debut on the 22nd with Mori-kun in the saddle, who I know will give it all he's got - the result will be a fair reflection of capabilities, unlike MK's debut. Phosphorus and Kota-kun (who I'm assuming will be the jockey) will also go all the way, and it will be interesting to see how much of a recovery this five-time winner has made since his long lay-off through injury. We shall also see - on either Friday or Saturday - whether Blacklister will finally have a bit of luck after being narrowly denied victory on many occasions. So, a busy week in store, that may or may not yield results. But for now, yet another disappointment to face as my head hits the pillow...

PS. The jockey for Magic Key's second outing will be Shogo Nakano. Good! Of course, gate ten out of eleven, but good nonetheless - hopefully we can start a proper campaign now, and I can slowly begin to rid myself of the bad taste left in my mouth after her debut run. Ted had a nice trial, too, and should be a force to be reckoned with when he gets back into race mode...