Double Two

Both Masterson and Ettie Hart ran well at Lingfield yesterday under Killian Hennessey, with the former a very close second and the latter a clear second but a bit further off the winner after a strange moment on the final run-in. One thing we can say for sure, is that both of the horses and the jockey (still an apprentice, but with a big future ahead of him) performed admirably to provide two very exciting races. The two nags will be out again in three to four months. Oh sorry, that's JRA stuff... Being UK horses, they'll naturally be out again next week.

Revolving Door

Another Door ran more like Another Dud, trailing in six lengths behind the winner to come fourth; in addition, the last 3F time was 0.5 seconds slower than the victor, who was also lighter - I would expect a heavier horse to have done well in the wet conditions. Oh well, only another 110 races bringing in money like it got today, and it will have covered its extortionate purchase price. Too late to renew my faith now anyway, so Another Bad Joke springs to mind as a different naming option. I wonder if it will run in Sunday TC silks next time (apparently at the end of the month), or if it will run in the jockey's colours to help it blend into the background? At least we have some proper racing to look forward to in England later today and over the weekend - nothing running here, of course, as they're all tired having run once or twice this year. Did you detect a slight hint of sarcasm in that last statement? You can bet your ass on that!

Derby Disaster

Courtesy Miho Long

Mar-kun and Arayama-sensei are not to blame for the disaster, and fourth in an NAR S1 Classic is hardly a disaster anyway (bloody good actually), but for NAR, it was a very, very black day. Why? Because the race was stolen by a traitor of a trainer who had only won 17 races in two years, and then allowed a JRA horse to be registered at his stable - a horse that had never entered one NAR race before, yet was accepted in a Classic, a festival for NAR fans that has now been sullied beyond repair. JRA horses are not better - they have the benefit of multi-billion dollar training facilities, while NAR folks are lucky to have a poxy dirt track outside the actual race track. And now, an underhand trainer has opened the floodgates for a ton of JRA horses to try and claim what bit of money there is in the NAR pot, while the real NAR boys will struggle even more. Seriously, you would have to be an idiot to buy an NAR horse now, as the already remote chances of clawing some money back have been further reduced, while the asking price for yearlings keeps going higher and higher. This is the beginning of the end for NAR. For me, it is the end. I hereby declare, once and for all, officially and with no repeal, that I am finished with Japanese racing. I hate JRA, and how can you help NAR when it doesn't want to help itself? There will be a few (and I do mean a few) disgruntled heads shaking, but from what I've seen, most are patting the jockey on the back. Good, strong message that this sort of thing won't be tolerated next year, boys...

Landmark Win

Courtesy Lord Ilsley Racing

The Channon family have given me my 50th win - a huge victory for me, coming at a time when my faith in Japanese racing couldn't possibly go any lower. 

Killian Hennessey followed instructions to the letter, taking Ettie Hart briskly out of the gate in the last race at Brighton to lead from start to finish in an impressive display of staying power. For the record, Ettie cost just over a million yen (not for a microscopic share, but to buy), and she got over a third of that back last night having run two weeks earlier. This is real racing. Low risk and big fun, as opposed to high risk, very little fun, and a lot of insincere excuses to cover failure, Northern Farm excursions and a shocking level of injuries...

PS. I would put up another picture of the Carrot Club overview, but nothing ever changes (a picture I posted on the 18th May will prove that), so it's incredibly boring just seeing 'NF' marked against virtually everything. To be perfectly frank, I think the picture will continue looking the same for months! This is why my hefty box of Shadai catalogues and discs will stay unopened, until I need a good laugh, and then I'll take a look at the prices they're asking.

Making Up Numbers - Again!

As expected, Pop Label was a disappointment, coming in a distant seventh (out of the money), when the 'Pop' of old, with a decent jockey, would have won a race of B3 level by several lengths. Pathetic. Truly, pathetic. Take the costs into consideration, and a result like that from a horse of this calibre is almost criminal after having had a month in which to prepare. While the trainer might be at fault for timing the training badly (or just doing a bad job, which wouldn't surprise me), it's also obvious that Sasagawa simply hasn't got the hang of him at all, and seemingly never will - Sophie would have done a better job tonight. All I can say is thank god I didn't travel around the Bay to witness that performance - people would have seen a side of me that I've thankfully managed to contain for a long time. A big part of me is annoyed that I wasted half-an-hour sitting in front of the television, though, because there was a lot more effort from me in doing that than I saw on the track today.

So let's see what we have to show for an awful lot of money being spent supporting Japanese racing: In NAR, Magic Key is out, Kealoha out, Million Ways out, Chocolat Sucre out, Shine Tiara is making up numbers, and Phosphorus and Pop Label are doing the same; of the three newcomers, one has sore shins already. Indeed, Trovao is the only one doing anything beyond being a drain on finances, which is ridiculous considering how good some of these horses are supposed to be. In JRA, six of the seven are at Northern Farm on long-term holiday (a kiss of death), and the remaining one is making up the numbers in that arena. Not good enough!

PS. Having just read the post-race reports, Sasagawa is saying the horse seemed tired. Ummm. At the same time, the trainer is saying he will review the situation after two or three days, and suggesting a treatment that will knock 'Pop' out for several months as well. Here's my suggestion on a better treatment - fire the Tokyo team, and send him back to Hakaku-san at Funabashi, for he hasn't performed anything like he's capable of ever since arriving at TCK, so any advantage of a clockwise track is meaningless. At least he'd be cared for properly at his old home.