Stinky

Having got away nicely, Perfumer finished a disgraceful ninth at Funabashi, beaten by a huge 2.5 second margin by an NAR horse - the one's that JRA people look down on! Having taken so long to prepare for a race and coming up with a performance like that, in what was supposed to be a less competitive event compared to a full-blown JRA one, one can only assume (and hope!) that retirement is the only answer. If the trainer says it needs a rest after that gentle jog, I shall scream - loudly! It's time that someone in Carrot Club realized that keeping horses like this because of one lucky win in a low-level race is simply a waste of time and a drain on resources. Racing is not about making up numbers - it's about being competitive. There are born racers and this obviously isn't one of them, whatever the bloodlines. Thoroughbreds that can't race after eight months of training simply aren't racehorses, and need to find another avenue of employment.

PS. The trainer report, believe it or not, points towards an R&R session. Come on! Eight months of holiday for no apparent reason (in which time Blacklister has run 14 times in the UK with constant good results), one crap performance lasting just over a minute (a good first half means nothing if the second half - the one that counts - is pathetic), and off for R&R again. Retire the bloody thing now, and while you're at it, take away the trainer's licence because he certainly shouldn't hold one with that kind of thinking after taking forever to achieve a piss-poor result with the facilities JRA has at its disposal. This was a warm-up and nothing more. If it isn't injured (and you'll know by the morning whether it is or not - no need to go to NF to figure that out), it should be raced again ASAP now it vaguely remembers what a race is. If it can't race, release it to a riding club, for if it goes away to the frozen wastes and treadmills of Northern Farm, it will come back useless again. That much I guarantee. 

PPS. The post-race report also states - from the Carrot side - that the winning horse was a high-level nag, and indeed, most of its career was in JRA racing. But it is now an NAR horse, with NAR training facilities and budgets, and the fact remains that Perfumer came ninth, not second. Whichever way you look at it, starting sixth favourite with unfancied horses beating it hands down, it was a run that no-one has a right to be proud of or defend. If someone said to me that this was indeed a warm-up, and there was never any expectation of coming anywhere, I would be prepared to look at things differently and say the result can be built on, assuming it runs again soon. What I'm reading, however, is typical JRA BS. "Oh, it was away from the track for a long time." Yes, and who's fault was that? It wasn't injured according to reports, except for one minor question mark over condition five months after its last race. And now they want to send it away on holiday again so that they can use the same excuse! With the Rush Attack news coming five minutes after this (an oversubcribed turf race - deep shock!), if tomorrow is no better and all I get is constant bull, I think I'll be throwing in the towel completely on Japanese racing. The gate draws (11 of 12 and 11 of 11) don't bode well...