Kealoha V1

We suddenly seem to have pulled out of the worst race record run in history, with Phosphorus (Shadai TC) doing well last night, and Kealoha (Sunday TC) winning in fine style with Masashige Honda today. Starting as favourite, I honestly thought we'd blown it coming out of the gate, but Mar-kun kept his cool and guided the big fella to what amounted to a fairly easy victory over the second favourite nag. Well done to all connections...

In other news, Another Door has been moved up to Monbetsu, thus escaping NF, and sales of Lotus Blossom have finished; Lotus Blossom and Vertice will also move up to Monbetsu now. Both Ettie Hart and Blacklister are set to run in England on the 20th, when Trovao has his big race at TCK. Masashige Honda will be in the saddle again, which is good, as he did a super job with him in the last race.

Moving away from racing for a minute, Sophie came third in her A2 Dressage competition at Tomisato, scoring a superb 57.3, so she is definitely improving. The reality is 'Bugatti' is an awful lot of horse for her tiny frame, so I tip my hat to the girl - great job!

PS. Belle Plage is once more on the receiving end of the problem caused by there being too many horses and not enough races in JRA - this time, 51 registrations for 15 berths in next week's proposed race! At least Trovao has been confirmed for the 20th, and it looks like Irish Harp will run at Urawa on the 28th - an interesting move. On the riding side, Louis did well to score 56.2 in L1, and then Sophie won with 58.2 in A2; jumping on the next day saw the pair win their respective categories, so a good weekend all-round for 'Bugatti' and the kids.