Infaustus

Blacklister runs at Kempton Park on the 2nd, in what will almost certainly be his last Box 41 race. This magnificent fighter is then going to the Doncaster sales. Unlike the Japanese rubbish, which can all be sold tomorrow as far as I'm concerned, I shall be sorry to see this one go... Ettie Hart also runs on the 2nd, this time at Newcastle. 

In Australia, All Rosie might be racing two days straight at the end of September. Surely a three month break between races is necessary judging by Japan standards? Well no, as my friend in the UK did the same thing, winning on the second day, and the horse was racing again - doing well - a week later. This is what real racehorses do. Raining Dollars should be out again soon, too.  

PS. Blacklister was fighting a bit above his weight on Friday - a fact ably illustrated by his 33/1 odds. He will not be forgotten, though - a superb horse with a fighting spirit of truly legendary magnitude. Poor Ettie, fighting for the lead, seemed to get squeezed out about 600m from the end and Killian then just dropped back to cruise in.  

PPS. I actually missed the fact that Masterson was running yesterday, even though I checked on the At The Races site as it's very unusual not to hear exactly what's going on with any of Mick's horses. I knew it had been entered in several races over the next few days, but must have missed the declaration. Anyway, just watched the Newcastle run over two miles, and the little beauty won - two in a row, and three wins now in total. Well done to all the team that make the Box 41 syndicate a pleasure to be in. He'll be out again at Brighton on Monday. That means he alone will have run twice in September, when none of the 17 Japanese horses have made the starting gate yet this month! In fact, the way things are looking, Masterson will race more than all of them put together over the rest of the year... 

Fair Or Not?

Some folks may think I am exaggerating in the statements I made in my last post. So here goes with a case-by-case resume, and then you can make your own mind up as to whether I am right and justified in saying what I've said, or whether I'm being overly critical. Bear in mind also that my UK horses run virtually every week without fail (yes, every week), picking up a fair few wins along the way, and cost a fraction of what the nags over here did and continue to.

Pop Label - a juvenile champion in 2013, that was then ruined by an idiot (or collection of idiots) deciding to run it when injured. It was then off for almost a year recovering from operations, and has done absolutely nothing since (0-5-2-11), except cost me money. Its last run was in June, when it came seventh, and its comeback is continuously delayed. Late September is now being quoted, and then you can bet it will have race-rust anyway. You can bet a retirement notice will be posted soon after, having milked owners for as long as possible in the meantime.

Phosphorus - this used to be a good horse (winning five times), then it had six months at NF for an operation, and has again done nothing since (0-1-0-8). It also last ran in June, went to Northern Farm for gelding, and has not returned. The latest report is saying it will go back to Funabashi in October. Why so late, because gelding doesn't take anywhere near that long? Something we're not being told?

Magic Key - a 16,000,000 yen flop. Cheated out of a win first time out, it duly won in January and has not raced since. Yet again, the same operation as Phosphorus required, and the August return date has now passed without any sign of the bloody thing. A later report stated a September return. Watch this space for more excuses to come.

Kealoha - a very late starter, but it made up for it with two wins and a third, although it last raced in early May. Suffering from sore shins, it returned to Funabashi at the beginning of August in such poor condition that it needed an extra month of training just to get it looking like a racehorse again - didn't stop NF charging a fortune for its stay there, though! The latest race date is now the last week in September. Maybe.

Another Door - another 16,000,000 yen disaster, with a 0-0-1-4 record and a total 225,000 yen income from all five races (about two weeks keep at Shadai prices). It screwed up in the gate in its last race, getting disqualified and earning a 20-day ban into the bargain. Well done to the training staff, if there are any, because the horse certainly doesn't look to have had any training in my eyes. At this rate, it won't qualify for Nankan racing, and even if it does (by some miracle), I can't see it doing any good anyway.

Belle Plage - a good horse until it started fighting in the big league as a 4YO. It has been awful this year, and last raced in early May. Said to be coming back soon, although the training programme hasn't changed since early June (the same cut-and-paste words for weeks). This means either the return is far from soon, or it was being held back unnecessarily to make space in the racing stables - a common problem, as there's too many horses being bred (way more than the industry can handle properly) due to extreme greed overwhelming any semblance of sense.

Massabielle - a raw talent that suddenly went from unbeatable to dud after a three-month break at NF. It hasn't wanted to race since (a 3-1-0-0 record going to 0-0-0-3 after the break), and now it has spent the last five months at guess it... Yep, Northern Farm. The reports say week after week that the horse is not good and needs care. Here's the bottom line: It needs retiring, and owners need compensation for yet another horse ruined by incompetence.

War Chronicle - a good first race, then it had eight months off through injury (that word again - a common link, don't you think?). Came back as a donkey, then went to Nagoya to re-qualify for JRA. It should have stayed in NAR, for it raced twice (badly) in seven months after its return, and it's injured yet again. Another horse that is too fragile to race.

Perfumer - one lucky win in the lowest level racing possible means we have to keep this heap of lard. This last raced in May (when at least it didn't finish last, as it did in the race before), and has been kept at NF ever since. There is no positive diagnosis on what is wrong with it, just the usual grey drivel that we get with Massabielle. If no-one knows the problem, how can it be cured? Retire it.

Rush Attack - off since March with a hoof problem, and given its last few runs, a total waste of money trying to get it back racing again. Of course, that comeback could still be months off yet!

Larressingle - the only horse out of all of those in Japan worth keeping, and ironically, it hasn't won a race yet. It was supposed to be coming back to the racing stable, but the typhoon has delayed the trip (I can understand that - about the only excuse with a ring of truth to it I've heard in months). It has one last chance at Nakayama, and if it doesn't win, it's gone. Mad when you think of all the rubbish we are keeping.

Shine Tiara - early promise has turned to crap, this time after a break at Kanagawa Horse Park. It seems to hate sand in its face, and that is a kiss of death for an NAR horse, especially one that doesn't have the staying power to lead from the front. The towel should be thrown in now.

Chocolat Sucre - another weakling, with two decent races followed by two jokes. Last raced in May, and no sign of when it will return to Funabashi. In the meantime, its bills are becoming huge, and for no good reason. Its throat operation shouldn't have cost anywhere near what the last bill came to, so what else is the extra money for? Beer perhaps?

Million Ways - the only thing you can say about this one is it was looked after at its own stable while it had three months away from racing! The brilliant comeback turned out to be far from brilliant, and the next race was even worse. If it does nothing next week, it's another one for the chop as far as I'm concerned.

Trovao - a potential star that was kept back for the big races. It was screwed by stupid rules in one, and failed to make it to the last one. As such, it would have been better running it every month and getting some value and income from it. Now it is injured (the reports say "tired", but no Thoroughbred is tired for weeks on end unless something is seriously wrong) and has been at NF since July, with no sign of it returning any time soon.

Vertice - still to get a race licence as yet, and one wonders if that will ever happen judging by the last report to be honest. Still, it was a full 10,000,000 yen cheaper than Another Door, so it could be said that it offers good value compared to that - if neither win anything during their entire career, which is starting to look highly likely, that 10,000,000 yen makes a huge difference! Of course, when one thinks that Blacklister in the UK cost about the same as Vertice and won three times within a month recently, it becomes easy to see why my opinion of Japanese racing has become so jaded.

Lotus Blossom - another one that missed a Hokkaido campaign and has yet to get its race licence, except it was injured last week, so who knows when or if that piece of paper will ever come. The annoying thing is it was supposed to be being shipped off to Funabashi any minute, too. Had it have been sent earlier (on a 600-mile journey I should add!), this latest injury could probably have been avoided.

So, is there any horse in the whole of Japan that hasn't been injured and run every month like it's supposed to? I very much doubt it. My conclusion - after given it a fair go for several years - is that Japanese racing is not actually racing at all, just a vessel for moving dosh around within a monopoly. With cut-and-paste reports containing no substance or plan of action, nothing but excuses to cover an unrelenting flow of needless injuries, and no visible signs of effort on the rare occasions these nags do actually race (followed by more excuses doused in sugar), I can say, hand on heart, the Japanese racing game is the worst value for money in the world.

Total Bollocks!

Sunday Thoroughbred Club - total bollocks! Shadai Thoroughbred Club - total bollocks! Carrot Club - total bollocks! If you want a really fast way to get annoyed and lose money, join one or all of them. If not, avoid them (and Japanese 'racing' in general) like the plague... 

Let's look at the Sunday/Shadai horses first. One of them last ran in June (although its last win was three years ago), another in June (last win in April 2015), another in May, and another (costing 16,000,000 yen I should add) in January - seven months ago, and with just two runs to its name! The other 16,000,000 yen 'star' has won 225,000 yen from five races, and would get left for dead by a blindfolded donkey with three legs. Yesterday it got banned for 20 days to add insult to injury, because it is being 'trained' at NF no doubt.

As for Carrot stuff, as usual, just read treadmill and Northern Farm against everything for months on end, with no plan of action, simply dragging out the NF fees for as long as possible. Even when they do run (with the possible exception of Larressingle, run isn't how I would describe the movement made by these things, as it happens, but it's the right word, so I have to use it), the results are terrible - it's even hard to see any effort most of the time. The club is still pissing about indefinitely on Massabielle and Perfumer, when a decision on their future should have been made months ago (do something, or ditch them - at this rate, it will be the Tokyo Olympics before they run again), and Rush Attack is - and will continue to be - a drain on resources and nothing else; that one probably will be running in 2020 next time out. 

Regarding the Carrot NAR stuff, it's the same level junk as the Shadai rubbish. Why? Because they all come from the same place, and all get ruined by the incompetent staff at Northern Farm. Lotus Blossom has now been added to the injury list (and Vertice was close to joining it), making you wonder if anyone in the racing game out here should be allowed to go anywhere near a bloody racehorse. Either that, or the horses are so inherently poor and fragile, they shouldn't be offered for sale in the first place.

Keeping fees keep going up, especially when the nags are away from their racing stables (odd isn't it, when professional staff are as rare as rocking horse droppings?), but prize money doesn't. The current prices mean Shadai stuff, in particular, has to win every month to avoid going into the red with them - that's not going to happen when they don't run. There is no interest in racing whatsoever - the sale of new horses and keeping NF rich is all that matters; they won't even return a phone call, unless there's a sniff of a sale in the air. It's just a huge scam of epic proportions to keep 'the boys' in clover at the (heavy) expense of enthusiasts. I cannot wait until I can put this very unhappy chapter in my life behind me. 

Another Disaster

Another Door has got a new name from me - Another Disaster, which replaces my previous moniker, Another Dud. Today, we found a different excuse for a pathetic failure (which takes some doing as we must have used most of them in the book), this time being a gate problem. Indeed, it reared up in the stalls, and damaged its back thigh (apparently), although the starters were poor in their response to the situation, allowing the horse to stay in the gates for too long, 'AD' getting more and more uptight with every passing second.

The horse was duly withdrawn, along with the nag next to it, meaning another week of no income, another big bill (despite the horse being stationed at Northern Farm - not even a racing stable, which is frankly unbelievable for a pony that cost as much as it did, and could be part of the reason it can't run!), and an uncertain future. If it is injured, it should be retired on the spot, as it is nothing more than a drain on finances, even when it is racing. It has no right to be called a racehorse - a rip-off is closer to the mark, and even that is being kind.

Still no report on Phosphorus (16 days now, which probably means bad news), and no sign of anything happening with Magic Key (last run in January!), Pop Label or Kealoha either. Oh that's surely a lie, as there must be something happening, because the owners get landed with an inflated 400,000 yen bill for each of them month - the only element of the Shadai TC and Sunday TC racing experience guaranteed not to fail! I've never seen anything so poor as the so-called 'racing' out here, with absolutely no relation to the silly money it costs to be involved, and that's a fact.

PS. Belle Plage is supposed to be going back to the stables soon, and about bloody time. War Chronicle is "getting better" but still not ready for heavy training - not that NF knows what heavy training is anyway, which is why the horses in their ultra-expensive 'care' are never anywhere near ready to race after a holiday there (most are useless). The reality is, it is all just an excuse to keep Northern Farm in the pennies. Phosphorus is supposed to be returning to Funabashi in October. Why so late (even early October is a long way off), and will it be able to race straight away? I doubt it. Another Door has picked up a 20-day ban for its gate antics, which I'm sure could have been avoided if it had been trained. This damned horse, like most of them out here, isn't worth its weight in waste paper. As I said earlier in not so many words, racing my ass!

The End?

Naturally, Larressingle drew the outside gate (14 of 14), which is hardly surprising at all if you've been following the blog for any length of time. Of course, Carrot Club will never query this, or any other odd coincidences, for this is Japan. No-one questions anything - heavyweight bills, overly long spells away, poor performances, strange results (including those that are sometimes very strange, as in fishy), or consistently bad gate draws. The only consolation was that the main rival - on paper, at any rate - drew gate 13, and at least we had a decent jockey this time. Starting as a firm favourite (with odds at 2.2), the problem was the other Carrot horse in gate 13 had a superior one, who timed his race far better. Second again! And if that was the last run, Larressingle will now be dropped for next year, despite it being a better horse than the winner, and despite being by far the best of my batch of JRA nags. I guess with Ogata-sensei retiring soon, the timing is good to draw a line through another one. I'd rather get rid of Perfumer, Massabielle, War Chronicle and Rush Attack (Belle Plage, too, in reality), but the rules state that keeping junk is fine as long as it's the members' money that's being wasted to keep Northern Farm in clover.

PS. Like me, the trainer isn't particularly impressed with the performance of the jockey (nowhere near as bad, or downright fishy, as the Miura ride, but it seemed like a half-baked attempt to me), so Nakayama is now being lined up as a final fling (the 10th September is the first of the batch of meetings). Next up, Another Door on the 30th. Having earned just 225,000 yen in four races, it needs to improve by a remarkable amount if it is to do anything worthwhile. I don't honestly think it will do any good - it's certainly a ridiculously poor animal for 16,000,000 yen! No news on Phosphorus either - it definitely does't take this long to recover from being gelded. The horse has had more holidays than I've had in my entire life, despite being around for ten times longer.