Kealoha V1

We suddenly seem to have pulled out of the worst race record run in history, with Phosphorus (Shadai TC) doing well last night, and Kealoha (Sunday TC) winning in fine style with Masashige Honda today. Starting as favourite, I honestly thought we'd blown it coming out of the gate, but Mar-kun kept his cool and guided the big fella to what amounted to a fairly easy victory over the second favourite nag. Well done to all connections...

In other news, Another Door has been moved up to Monbetsu, thus escaping NF, and sales of Lotus Blossom have finished; Lotus Blossom and Vertice will also move up to Monbetsu now. Both Ettie Hart and Blacklister are set to run in England on the 20th, when Trovao has his big race at TCK. Masashige Honda will be in the saddle again, which is good, as he did a super job with him in the last race.

Moving away from racing for a minute, Sophie came third in her A2 Dressage competition at Tomisato, scoring a superb 57.3, so she is definitely improving. The reality is 'Bugatti' is an awful lot of horse for her tiny frame, so I tip my hat to the girl - great job!

PS. Belle Plage is once more on the receiving end of the problem caused by there being too many horses and not enough races in JRA - this time, 51 registrations for 15 berths in next week's proposed race! At least Trovao has been confirmed for the 20th, and it looks like Irish Harp will run at Urawa on the 28th - an interesting move. On the riding side, Louis did well to score 56.2 in L1, and then Sophie won with 58.2 in A2; jumping on the next day saw the pair win their respective categories, so a good weekend all-round for 'Bugatti' and the kids. 

Turning Point

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.

Contempt

Already ran out of superlatives for disgusting, so let's just say that Million Ways ran like a donkey with piles. Last! So much for the Carrot NAR horses, too, by the look of things. That was a joke, even by Carrot Club's JRA horse standards. No-one would believe right now how close I am to finishing Japanese racing per se...

The Carrot Club JRA horses are the pits, but recently the NAR ones are doing no better. What have I got for my sign of faith and handing over hard-earned cash? Well, let's have a look:

J'ai Un Reve (JRA): A horse that literally cost a fortune and was never given a chance from day one. If that's the best he can do, Ikee should have his licence revoked as far as I'm concerned.

Tenshinramman (JRA): Months of 'preparation' to finish last in its final race. A G2 horse that missed out on a classic berth by a nose ruined by so called 'training' from a bunch of amateurs.

Massabielle (JRA): A G1 horse and classic runner that frankly looked unbeatable, ruined again. Eighth out of ten in its last race, five months after the race before, and now being retrained. Why? Surely it should have remained trained after its G1 run?

Rush Attack (JRA): A hoof problem, with the club having no qualms about keeping owners paying the bills for months on end (and no possible date for recovery, when I reckon it will be a good half a year), and with no hope of a decent result afterwards anyway. Retire it!

Perfumer (JRA): On holiday yet again after one useless run after eight months away, and then promptly finished last. There is no option but to retire this donkey, but then that would hurt the finances of one of the boys. Can't have that, can we?

War Chronicle (JRA): A comeback via NAR after eight months off through injury. Back in JRA and nothing for months. It will run this weekend with luck, but I doubt it will do any good. It should have stayed in NAR where at least it was clawing back money for all the time away from the track.

Irish Harp (JRA): A useless return under a new trainer. Looks like he's learning, but my patience has now started to run out. One more bad run, and he will definitely feel my wrath.

Infinity Love (JRA): Placed with another 'elite' trainer who promptly dropped it like a hot potato as soon as he failed to get any kind of performance out of it. Another joke, now being 'retrained'. Bollocks!

Belle Plage and Larressingle (JRA): The only JRA horses worth keeping, both trained by Ogata-sensei.

Shine Tiara (NAR): After a first and second, the last race saw a ninth place out of 12 runners.

Chocolat Sucre (NAR): After a first and third, it finished last in its next race.

Million Ways (NAR): Last tonight. It's certainly not Konno-san's fault.

Lotus Blossom (NAR): Supposed to be in Monbetsu by now, but still at Northern Farm with sales being dragged on as long as possible. Going by experience, the longer it stays at NF, the less chance it will have.

Trovao (NAR): Doing very well, but hasn't raced for a long time. This time next week we'll know if that was a blessing or a mistake.

The Shadai TC/Sunday TC horses are not going to escape this resume of worthless trash either:

Pop Label (NAR): A juvenile champion, ran whilst injured. Six months out as a result, and hasn't won since - the last victory coming in August 2013. The move to TCK hasn't helped at all, so it should go back to Funabashi in my opinion.

Phosphorus (NAR): Five-time winner that was out for six months and hasn't done anything since coming back. It runs tomorrow, but as much as I love Yano-sensei, I think it will fail to win, even if it does continue to improve.

Magic Key (NAR): A very costly purchase that was robbed in its first race, won the second one with ease, and then promptly went away for a six-month spell due to a knee operation. If it comes back as strong as Pop Label and Phosphorus, that will be its last win.

Kealoha (NAR): Third first time out after a very late start to its career. We'll see what it can do on Friday. At least I know Mar-kun will do his best for me.

I'd decided to give up on JRA racing a long time ago, and it should be easy to see why, but now NAR is dangling by a thread too. There has been nothing recently to justify the constant expense - not even enjoyment, for there is no pleasure in watching perpetual failure and hearing nothing but hollow excuses for it. Australia is safe, England is safe, and Ireland is probably safe - Japan is in real danger of losing my support if this disgraceful chain of events continues. It shouldn't take much to realize why I haven't bothered going to the tracks for a long time...

Another Fine Run

The ever-willing Blacklister continues to impress, taking his record to 1-6-1 from 16 races with a second place at Windsor, beaten only by his fellow joint-favourite that was carrying less weight. There is already another race lined up for him on the 16th (yes, this month - not September or October the 16th, as would be the case with JRA), and I can say hand on heart that he wouldn't be running if Mick Channon and his excellent team felt it would harm him. For instance, a decision was taken to stop running one horse I was involved with long before he hurt himself due to a strange running style that couldn't be adjusted out, no matter how hard everyone tried. This cost us all, but not one person involved with that horse kicked up - after a prompt from Mick Jr explaining the situation and the fact that a good home was available, we all agreed that he should retire and live a happy life. It just shows the gap between a country that has racing in its blood and one that uses racing simply to fill the coffers of the chosen few, with the country happily looking the other way in ignorance as long as it keeps getting its healthy cut from controlling the betting side.

Just going through the NAR runners for this week, and I don't think Million Ways has much chance on Wednesday - the Demuro horse fielded by the same stable will definitely have the advantage, even with Konno-sama in the saddle, so talk of classics is pretty damned hollow as far as I'm concerned. I've been on the receiving end of this conflict of interest situation before, and just about had my fill of it to be honest. Whether Kealoha will make amends on Friday (also from the same stable) remains to be seen, while Magic Key (yes, same stable, too) is away recovering from an operation rather than challenging for a classic run, as he should be - he's in a different league to Million Ways, both in potential and, sadly, cost. People have been saying they haven't seen me around the tracks recently, but the fact is that I might as well stay at home and be disappointed in the warm, as travel for ages, stand in the cold and still be disappointed. As much as I love NAR and the vast majority of folks involved in local dirt racing, I guess deep down I'm still suffering from that first Magic Key run - a full recovery from that (followed by a serious injury so soon after) isn't going to come overnight. I've even tried retail therapy with another NAR nag, but it obviously hasn't worked, and there's hardly been a rush of visible results to restore my faith recently. Even Pop Label going to Tokyo looked like a good move on paper, but it hasn't made any difference other than putting some of the best grooms in the business on the sidelines at Funabashi. Perhaps Phosphorus can make me smile if Kota just lets him go his own pace - if he beats what will almost certainly be the race favourite, I will definitely crack a smile...

Lotus Blossom sales are still open, by the way, so my experiment no longer means as much as it did. The club now owns next to nothing of the horse compared to the level when it said sales would finish any minute (two weeks ago!), so we can expect nothing special to happen with it now others are footing the bill. The plan to send the horse to Monbetsu in April looks a long, long way off - an underhand bluff that I, like many others, obviously fell for.

PS. No surprise that Massabielle will be kept away from the racing stables, and is being confined to treadmill work at Northern Farm (aka the Wreckers Yard). Apparently he didn't come out the race too well. I'm sorry, but if he'd have been better trained in the first place, you can bet the problem wouldn't be there! The JRA guys do such light work for months, whip the horses into a frenzy of activity for a few days, and then wonder why a) they don't perform, and b) get injured so easily. Do the same to Nishikori, and see if he can win the next tennis tournament, or even get through it without pulling a muscle. 'Bugatti' did a hard hour on Saturday, including some galloping and jumping, then did the same thing on Sunday (dressage and jumping, without the gallops), and his feed is nothing like the rocket fuel racers are supposed to be on. Set him free in the paddock, he still runs like a mad thing (like today), when if you believe the JRA rot, he wouldn't have been able to do anything on Sunday and would have swollen legs the size of tree trunks. If a Thoroughbred is trained properly and ridden properly with someone they trust, they will willingly perform every day you ask them to. Well, we can expect nothing better next time out then, doubtless some time far, far away into the future. I just wish I could cancel my direct debit, not just on this one, but all JRA horses bar those with Ogata-sensei (two of the eight left), for you can bet Irish Harp will disappoint as usual having had too long a break again already, and no sign of a race in sight. Don't even get me started on the likes of Infinity Love and Rush Attack!

OMG

Perfumer came last, which was hardly a superb advert to get me back on the side of JRA racing. The trainer is blaming the jockey, and the jockey is apologising - in the end, it doesn't change the result, and I wasn't really expecting anything much different regardless of what the jockey did. Oddly, I kind of enjoyed the mad burst of positive front running - at least it showed some spirit, and if you're going to finish at the back of the field anyway, you may as well go out with a bang. Of course, he will now be going on holiday rather than racing again soon now the cobwebs have been blown away, or retiring, which is the only real option for a horse like this, destined to never do anything more than burn money and make up the numbers...

Just to rub salt into the wound, Belle Plage's race for the 16th is - wait for it - oversubscribed! Well, if they can squeeze two horses into each gate, we've got a chance, otherwise the role of the trainer is once again made into a joke. The sad thing is, unlike the majority of JRA's dead wood, Ogata-sensei is a real trainer, and timing and the right distances become critical (as they should, although this is a point lost on JRA folks). Well, let's wait and see what happens. In the meantime, we have some proper racing in England and NAR, with something running virtually every day this week.