I've heard through the grapevine that Shadai Group are changing the owner format for next year, so I will not be buying any more horses from them. Their horses are already too expensive, and seem to be overly prone to injury, meaning they cost even more - it wouldn't be so bad if they came back decent, but I have still to see a successful recovery. Now they want us to increase our risk four-fold. Well, they've lost a customer. If I'm going to invest that heavily, I'll buy my own NAR horse and run it as a sole owner - ditching the junk from Carrot Club and no Shadai outlay (heavily in the red recently) will cover it, and I don't have to rely on bad decisions from others in the process.
Ultimately then, it looks like my Japan era has come to an end when the contracts on the current batch (19 horses in all) runs out. When everything has finished and settled, I'll look into my own horse, assuming I've seen enough effort in NAR circles to justify my support in the meantime. If that effort isn't clearly visible (and with the recent run of 'bad luck', I'll be looking at what's going on without the blurring caused by rose-tinted glasses from now on), then we'll be restricted to Australia, England, and Ireland, the decision having now been taken to give the latter at least another year and keep the jumping side going in the process.
PS. Belle Plage couldn't get a berth for the 16th, but it could be better ground next weekend, when hopefully she will run alongside Larressingle. War Chronicle's race has also been postponed as her gate technique is being refined - we can expect big things later, then. Think positive! In other news, Lotus Blossom sales will end on the 22nd apparently. And Phosphorus was second - it would have to be bloody Yano that beat us, wouldn't it! But at least it looked like the 'Phos' of old coming through again, and Kota did a good job.
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