Blacklister V2

Blacklister clocked up a fine victory with Charlie Bishop at Haydock last night, taking his record to 2-7-1 from 22 starts. This three-year old gelding has worked so hard for Mick Channon's Box 41 syndicate, probably running more times in his short career than all my Japanese horses put together this year - a testament to Blacklister's toughness, and a solid indicator of the poor value for money one gets when 'racing' out here. There may be another youngster coming up with Mick soon, so watch this space! In the meantime, congratulations to everyone involved with this super fighting machine...

Another Carrot Disaster

Well, I guess that was our last JRA race for months, and it was about as successful as my last attempt at brain surgery. I can only hope that that was a warm-up for a proper race, setting War Chronicle up for a real challenge in a couple of weeks, for there was no effort made whatsoever today. I await the post-race excuses with a sense of dread, and knowing the usual bullshit JRA dish out, I'm half-expecting a Northern Farm spell, which would put me down to nothing running until the end of next month at the earliest - with 18 horses out here, that is totally unacceptable...

PS. Coming hot on the heals of my monthly bill, full of horses earning nothing towards their keep, the post-race report was as grey as possible. Both the jockey and trainer are saying maybe race-rust was the reason behind the lack of reaction at the end, and there's no surprise there. How many times have I said Japanese horses don't race often enough? About a million times, at least. There is talk of a bad leg, which doubtless means yet another holiday, when what the horse requires is proper training from a proper trainer and decent staff - every day spent at Northern Farm reduces the chances of that happening by a huge amount. The only way to get this horse working is to race it as often as possible. If yet another lengthy R&R session is called for, retirement is the only answer, as this particular nag has been on holiday or recovering from injury for most of its career. Like the majority of Carrot Club horses it seems, it's nothing more than a liability. Over-reaction? Okay, out of 13 Carrot horses, Shine Tiara is aiming (note the deliberate choice of the word 'aiming') to return to the track at the end of August, and then there's War Chronicle. And that's it - the rest are either resting up (seemingly indefinitely) or injured, and there's way too many on the latter list compared to the percentage of horses of similar ages injured that I run in England, Ireland and Australia. Despite what Japan's figures would lead you to believe, Thoroughbreds are not that fragile - at least not if they are bred correctly and then looked after in a way that suits the breed. 

Another Strong Run

Ettie Hart was a superb third in a classy field of 15 at Chepstow, with Killian Hennessey allowing her to fight hard from the front as soon as the gates opened. I love this little horse - such a brave fighter. On the subject of brave fighters, Blacklister rolls out for duty again on Saturday at Haydock, with Masterson, Lillyput and Sayesse all being lined up for action next week.

Three Back?

It seems like Kealoha may be going back to Kawashima Stables at Funabashi soon, now weighing a much tighter 517kg instead of the 541kg when it was first sent from NF to begin its racing career. With any luck, it will get back onto the track quickly, as Shine Tiara is still disappointing, and there's no word on War Chronicle - it's just continuing to do nothing in another place it seems! Considering these are the only runners (a word I shall use, even though it doesn't make sense from a technical point of view) out of 18 Japanese horses, I am looking forward to something bringing a few pennies in to balance the books, which are currently covered, month after month, with streaks of red ink...

Don't ask me who did what in the Japan Dirt Derby, by the way, as I don't know and really, really don't care. However, I do care about Ettie Hart in England tonight, although I'll have to wait until tomorrow morning JST for the results due to the time difference. At least that's something to look forward to on the racing front. In the meantime, I'm going to brave the heat to play with 'Bugatti'.

PS. Just made it back home before the thunderstorm came, and on checking reports, it's just been noted that - wait for it - War Chronicle is due to race at Hakodate on the 16th. Wow! A JRA race, which is so rare I can't remember the last one! Anyway, Miura Kosei takes the reins in the 1700m dirt race, the seventh on the card. Then, of course, it's announced that Trovao is on its way to NF (expected, but it still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth) and Shine Tiara won't run again before the end of August. Bollocks.

Japanese Tribulations

I always get worried when I haven't had a report from Northern Farm in a while, especially when a pattern has built up that gets broken... And, let's face it, it's easy to spot patterns when you have so many nags at the bloody place for overly long periods of time. Why? Because the other pattern I've picked up is that no news isn't good news, as the old saying would have you believe, it's usually a problem that they - the perpertrators - hope will have gone away by the time the next report is filed. As such, I'm not looking to seeing what will be said about Kealoha (supposedly going back to Funabashi), Another Door (the legendary "short" break), or Magic Key (supposedly "much better"), which reminds me of magical last words rather than a magical device for opening locks! Phosphorus should be a few kilos lighter and have a higher-pitched voice, but when he will return is anyone's guess, while Pop Label should be back at the end of August or early September, meaning it will have been away for another three months on top of the ten months it had out before...

As for the Carrot NAR horses, god knows what has happened Trovao and, more to the point, what it will be like when it finally returns - another Massabielle? Vertice and Lotus Blossom have still not started their careers beyond false starts; Million Ways might run again soon if we're lucky, as per Chocolat Sucre, while Shine Tiara is far from shining. As for the JRA stuff, naturally they are all on holiday (the worst thing possible according to a vet friend, and a theory proven time after time in the post-break results), although War Chronicle might run one day. After all, that had eight months between its first and second race, and now a four- and three-month break either side of its last, decidedly dreadful outing, so it shouldn't be tired, now should it? The excitement is killing me, and I can almost imagine the post-race excuses for failure without the twits at JRA having to write a word. If anyone is thinking of getting involved in Japanese racing, this lamentable but true story should be enough to put anyone but a madman off the idea.

But not to worry, for Japan - or Yoshida Inc. at least - will survive for the time being, for there appears to be an endless supply of folks with more money than sense, seemingly unaware that they are paying over the odds by gigantic margins. A Deep Impact kid born in 2015 has just sold for 2,600,000 USD, and a handful of others have sold today for well over a million each. Well, all I can say is good luck to the owners, for they'll need it if they're to see even a fraction of their investment come back. There will be a lot of people laughing their heads off tonight, and I dare say a fair few crying in their beer a year down the road. Horses like Buffering at $22,000 in Oz - now that's what real racing is all about, and bulletproof, value-for-money nags like that can be found all over Europe and Australia, which is why my money is staying there in the future. I refuse to encourage the madness and greed that dominates the scene out here.