WTF Was That?

Well, the stable reports said this should be an interesting race coming up, as the horse is up and ready for its long overdue debut. As such, I was actually looking forward to today. The betting also said Vertice was a clear favourite, and it looked as if it would live up to that promise off the last corner. And then what? To say it ran like a donkey would be cruel to donkeys, for they can run much faster than that! In the end, Vertice finished an incredibly distant seventh (3.5 seconds or 18 lengths down) out of eight runners, despite a few smacks of the whip in the closing stages. That has to be probably the poorest race performance I've ever had to suffer, and there have been plenty of stinkers in Japan, that's for sure. Having missed the 'Fresh Challenge' series at Monbetsu, that was the only chance of an even remotely respectable pot, too - this will be a drain on finances and nothing else, for there's no fun in watching a horse simply make up the numbers and finish so far off the pace that a three-legged greyhound could beat it. I'm now looking forward to the retirement notice more than its next race, if there is one. It's hardly a brilliant advert for shifting the remaining three out of four NAR Carrot yearlings, is it?

PS. The only thing you can say is at least we saw some honesty in the post-race report summary, which is usually sickly sweet and overly positive, written from a high and mighty perspective. Mashima-kun described the performance as a "shock," and Arayama-san, the trainer, said it was a "disgusting" run. Doesn't help pay the bills, of course (back to zero yen syndrome again with a bump), but acknowledgement of total failure is hopefully a foundation on which to build improvement.

PPS. The pain continues... The Jazz Singer was doing quite well at Fairyhouse until a fall at the last fence. At least horse and rider are fine, so we can fight another day.

They Never Learn

The big race at TCK fell to a JRA interloper again - a horse that has now stolen 45,500,000 yen from more deserving NAR owners in three races (a massive amount that would normally take four years to accumulate on regular NAR winnings, if very, very, very lucky). Well, as I said before, until NAR starts standing up for itself, looking to the future and looking after those who allow them to survive, I don't see why I should keep going without to support the organisation. No new horses from me until NAR is NAR, and not a quick way of boosting JRA's coffers by entering all the big races and then promptly pissing off to where they came from - where they should stay. Would a Formula One team be allowed to run in Formula Two races? No. And if JRA is F1 in terms of available finances, NAR is closer to F3, except for running costs passed on to owners, who are then expected to say nothing when a JRA runner comes and goes after robbing the few healthy pots there are in local dirt racing.

One More Down

It's a shame Belle Plage has been retired, as it's a beautiful horse, but there really was no option. There has been nothing to point towards 'Belle' being a keeper for a long time, and the entries probably haven't helped in that respect - the jockey said he thought the nag unsuited to turf (an observation backed up by early history and all of her three wins coming on dirt), yet the last three races were on grass, each over wildly varying distances, which doesn't particularly inspire confidence in the knowledge of those looking after her; the jockey may not be perfect, but he was certainly right on that score. Goodbye, old girl. I hope she has a long and happy retirement...

Well, that leaves me three JRA horses - War Chronicle, which is perpetually injured and should have been retired before 'Belle' in all honesty, and Rush Attack, which should also have been retired long, long ago. The only decent one of the three is Larressingle, which is currently running in NAR, if the trainer in Sonoda ever decides to run the thing.

No word on Another Door either (with the same Sonoda-based stable), although at least we have a debut for Vertice on the 2nd. Magic Key, Kealoha and Chocolat Sucre are booked for Funabashi in the following week, and The Jazz Singer is out in Ireland again before that with any luck. Trovao has been entered for a big race at Urawa (I had thought that would be my Urawa debut at first, until I remembered an awful race from Phosphorus) close to Christmas, which is when Million Ways is due to go to its new home at TCK - something I'll believe when I see it. Pop Label should also be running at the end of the year, but God only knows what will happen to Phosphorus - another one long overdue a retirement notice, as much as I like the horse.

PS. Larressingle should be out at Sonoda within the week according to a report posted on Thursday. Another Door, too?