Tasty Carrot

Well, I've said it before, and I'll say it again - unlike JRA runners (wherever they're sourced from), these Carrot Club NAR horses certainly give value-for-money. Yuta Sato's stable put in the work on Chocolat Sucre (pictured), and all the effort paid off handsomely when Taito Mori crossed the line in the 1200m 2R at Funabashi this morning to claim a seven-length victory. I've known Yuta a long time but, while we've come close, this is the first winner we've had together since he became a trainer, so I'm chuffed for both of us. She will probably need a bit of a rest at home now, as she's not eating well due to a stomach upset - that's what R&R is for, to repair problems, and, as a proper horseman from a horsey family, that's fine by me. What gets my back up is the JRA lot on automatic R&R mode, whether the horse needs it or not, and usually it doesn't. If it's tired after one race every few months, it's because it's not been trained well enough in the first place, and another holiday certainly won't improve things! Anyway, 'Choco-chan' gave me my 43rd win so far (my 20th in NAR), and a very satisfying one it was, too.

Million Ways was in the next race, and came fourth with Mashima-kun in the saddle. It was a steady improvement on the last race, which is all you can ask for. The first part of the race was really impressive, to the point where I thought we'd got win 44 in the bag, but the finish was off the pace, which on the face of it points toward a shorter distance being the way forward. After the last run, Mashima-kun and the training team put together a few fixes that all worked nicely today, so we can look forward to the next outing. Yes, NAR folks learn and then apply knowledge - something one doesn't see very often in the other Japanese racing series. As such, although we didn't win, I'm happy with what I saw, and the results will come with this one. Again in contrast to JRA, there's time for the horse to hone its craft, with plenty of opportunities to run during the year - assuming it doesn't get injured, of course!

Anyway, I got what I wanted today - not just the win, that was a bonus. What I got was improved horses, straight talking and 100% effort from all concerned. That is more important than cold results, and that is what real racing is all about. As a sign of faith, before something else annoys me, I'm buying into the last Carrot Club NAR horse that's still available...