Busy Day

Another disappointing race from All Rosie on Friday, although he is being given another chance today as a swansong run under Lee Attard. Larressingle (0-6-1-2) is also facing the chop at Nakayama, in what looks like a totally unsuitable race on paper - the price we've paid for leaving things too late, and handing races to others. Someone in the know lined up as a buyer, perhaps? Nothing would surprise me nowadays. Well, whatever - I'm past caring to be honest...

On a brighter note, this is probably the first day we've ever had horses running in all four countries we campaign in - I certainly can't remember it happening before, and I tend to recall things like that, even though I can't remember what I had for dinner the day before half the time. Some of the results won't be in until the wee hours due to the time differences, but we'll be able to confirm the Japanese and Aussie ones shortly after lunch.

PS. I have to say, Larressingle did much better than I expected on dirt, although third place means goodbye nonetheless. The horse did well, but the typical blocking - a black mark on Japanese racing that makes a mockery of the sport when the nags finally do escape the money-grabbing grips of NF - screwed things up from halfway round. Uchida-san could have gone wider from the start, I guess, but it's no good going over what could have been now, as that was the final chance for Larressingle, and without a win, it's fate was sealed. The only good JRA horse we've had in ages, and now it's gone. All Rosie, too - it's a shame it couldn't have performed in a manner that reflected Jo's hard work, but another chapter has come to an end, and a lot less painfully than with a lot of the Japanese ponies!

PPS. A fascinating situation has come about with Larressingle. After such a fine dirt debut, it has been decided to run the horse in NAR for a while, with the long-term plan of bringing it back into the JRA fold at a later date. If it goes into NAR, I'd rather it stayed there, as I'm against this swapping and changing business, but at least the only Carrot horse worth keeping is still on our lists, and we'll see how things go as soon as a new stable is found.