He Did It!!

Courtesy West Ilsley Stables

George Baker gave Blacklister (pictured here at home, last week) his first, well-deserved win a few minutes ago at Lingfield Park. Blacklister has run 14 times in eight months, which makes something of a mockery of the JRA system, as he's come incredibly close on a number of occasions. Indeed, had it not been for an unfavourable handicap number, then it's fair to say that with even a slight change in his luck and he'd have won several times by now - certainly no three month gaps required between races with this one! In fact, had he not won today, he was booked to run again on Thursday! Anyway, thrilled for everyone at Mick Channon's stables - a just reward for all the hard work done behind the scenes. His record now reads 1-5-1.

Not So Belle

Belle Plage had to go all the way around the outside, and finished seventh. I'm hoping today will serve as a warm-up for the next race rather than a one-off performance followed by a rest, as I reckon she can go all the way if she was a bit tighter and got a decent gate within the next couple of weeks, for it was basically a good run in a very competitive race.

Hamanaka-kun went for another flying lesson, but the thing that hit the headlines the most all day yesterday was the head-to-head race between two horses that cost over $2m each. It was a perfect example of where the sport is losing direction - a sick statement trying to fool people that the only way to win is to spend more. It doesn't work like that. Even before taking injuries into account (which are far too prevalent in Japan), bigger money means bigger risk, and that's all. The one of the celebrated nags won, with ease, while the other came third, despite the services of one of the best jockeys in the world at the reins. Reality strikes for one owner, who could have doubtless come third with something costing a fraction. Moreover, the third place would have probably brought a smile to their face instead of giving them a headache. One horse last year, costing well over $3m, was retired after one race, and there have been a series of well-documented bad jokes emanating from the Middle East, where there's obviously a lot more cash than sense. Recently, in New Zealand, a white TB was bought for half-a-million dollars, presumably because it's cute. Where will it end? High prices damage the sport, keeping 'normal' people out of it. It's time to realize that it's the regular folks that were there long before the silly money brigade came into town, and the regular folks that will be expected to keep things going long after the silly money brigade gets bored of their latest fad and leaves town.

In the meantime, Blacklister should be out on Saturday in England, and it was a pleasant surprise to hear that Perfumer will be running at Funabashi on the 18th. We can expect Chocolat Sucre and Million Ways (also Carrot Club horses, like Perfumer) and Phosphorus (Shadai TC) to join him at my local track at some stage during the meeting, while Pop Label (Sunday TC) should be out at TCK in the following week. Rush Attack and Single Cask are due to run in JRA races on the 21st.