New Dates

Belle Plage gives us some JRA action on Saturday (I don't think War Chronicle or Rush Attack will ever run again - we just keep paying for them!), and on the NAR front, Lotus Blossom is supposed to be having its race proficiency test on the following day, while Vertice is being lined up for a debut at TCK on the 2nd December, with Mashima-kun booked as the jockey. Soon after, Chocolat Sucre should be out at Funabashi, along with Kealoha, Magic Key, and possibly Phosphorus. There's plenty of races at Sonoda, so with luck, Larressingle and Another Door can get a race there in the near future, too. Finally, Million Ways is due to go to its new home at TCK by the end of the year.

PS. Phosphorus has hit another problem, and should be retired on the spot. We cannot keep going on and on being served with a multitude of excuses for the thing not being able to do the job it was intended for. It went in for an operation that a horse can usually return from two weeks later... five months ago, and will be at least six now. As usual, the only efficient part of the Japanese racing scene is the invoicing department, for the bills are guaranteed to arrive on time, regardless of whether the inflated numbers contained within are justified or not, and more often than not, they're damned hard to justify - this month's Sunday Thoroughbred Club and Shadai Thoroughbred Club ones are very, very high, so let that serve as a warning to others - to break even at these levels, a win is an absolute must, as the usual prize money for coming second won't cover bills like this, and if nothing runs for half the year, you can see why it just doesn't make sense. Yes, I want to support NAR, but all I'm doing is supporting Shadai organizations (which are already rich enough) and getting nothing back for it most of the time, other than unrealistic bills and stress from reading bullshit. If nothing else, with luck, Pop Label should be out at TCK at the end of December.