Plus, Minus

Well, at least I saw some improvement and effort with Another Door today - a good second, at a time that would have won the first race by a small margin. With only six days of keeping fees covered due to the poxy pot, though, it's what happens next that's important. The horse needs to keep improving (by a lot!) and stay free from injuries during a schedule that ideally requires at least two, preferably three, races a month. Unless that can be done, it will end up at a dead end track and any kind of return will be nothing more than pure fantasy - retirement would be a better option if the Monbetsu campaign keeps going at this pace. The Sunday Thoroughbred Club needs to remember that this is a 16,000,000 yen horse, and it needs to perform like one - a purse of 305,000 yen from six races could have been achieved by a blindfolded mule...

PS. There's talk of Another Door racing at Sonoda to get enough money for a Nankan campaign that much quicker. The problem, of course, is the horse can't win a donkey derby level race in Monbetsu, so what chance has it got at Sonoda, let alone Funabashi? No plan for Larressingle, at least as to where it is going to further its career, assuming they don't screw it up at Northern Farm in the meantime (that's assuming a lot), and yet more annoying news on War Chronicle - the "autumn keiba" reports have now been adjusted to "it will take some time" once more. This horse is just too fragile to be a racer, at least in the hands of those keeping it, and should be retired on the spot.

So, hardly anything left compared to previous Japanese levels, but still problems galore - problems that simply don't occur outside JRA and NAR, or when they do, far less fuss is made about it because the problem is caught quickly and dealt with effectively. Phosphorus went for a simple gelding operation in early July and is still miles away from a track return - after half a year out not long before, this is something of a bad (and expensive) joke. Horses get injured, yes, but once in a while, and certainly not every one you own and every five minutes. That kind of scenario stinks of incompetence or poor quality horses. Or both, period.  

Of the other Shadai stuff, Pop Label has come back but done nothing, and now the next race it was being lined up for has been scrubbed in favour of one two weeks later. Why? Because his "movement isn't very good." Piss off! Nearly four months off, one poxy return race, and we're already back to the bullshit flying. I guess the next thing, despite a new date of the 25th being set for the next race, will be another sob story and an excuse to funnel owners' money off to NF until retirement. Magic Key looks like it might do something, and about time after eight months out of action! Kealoha, too, needs to claw back some pennies having spent four months away, while Another Door's situation is a pathetic one that we know about.

As for the Carrot Club nags, Lotus Blossom and Vertice look like they will never race at all at this rate, Trovao might come back to TCK within the next few weeks (assuming nothing goes wrong in the meantime), and Million Ways and Chocolat Sucre have been a disaster zone from day one. War Chronicle is another disaster zone, being injured every few minutes; Rush Attack is another waste of time and money, last racing in the first week of March, and Belle Plage is at last back at the stables after a long five-month break. Who knows what will happen with Larressingle? I guess Northern Farm will keep it as long as possible, generating yet more pennies for the boys, with no thought of what the lack of racing is doing to the horse...