Decision Time

Today, War Chronicle runs at Chukyo, and will be a deciding factor in whether Carrot Club gets a call from me saying I'm quitting the club as soon as the office opens next week. The result isn't as important as seeing effort, but what will be a huge thing to sway my mind one way or the other is what happens next. If we get the usual "oh it's tired, so we're sending it to Northern Farm" then I quit on the spot. This is a horse that has ran just nine times in its 58 months on Earth, and if it gets shipped off to NF, it will wipe out any progress that has been made in recent months and any financial help a decent result will give us to make up for years of frailty.

Larressingle is at Northern Farm, Rush Attack has been there a year, Vertice is at NF, Trovao is at NF, and Million Ways is at Midway Farm (after it has held at NF for ages, of course), which is just as bad, as the cost is mad compared to Nankan stables and potential winnings, especially when the last race was more attributable to a donkey than a Thoroughbred. To have Lotus Blossom and War Chronicle as the only decent runners capable of providing bang for the buck out of seven is bad enough, and if that count goes down to one, running once a month at best, it will be time to bring my entire Japanese 'racing' programme to an end.

On a lighter note, Masterson is jumping in England today, and that is the reality. The horse, even in its off-season, has never left the stable and the care of the groom and workout rider that know him best, and the odd jumps race is simply to to keep him in perfect fettle, mentally and physically. The contrast between a country that abuses the name of racing in order to make vast sums of money for the chosen few and one that has racing in its blood is too great to put into words.

PS. War Chronicle's run is hard to sum up. The result on paper was dreadful, but if one watches the race, it was down to the jockey's inexperience in an unusual scenario - effort was seen, and I would even be happy to give the jockey another go, as he tried, that much was obvious (he was also honest in his post-race report, which is important). So it's down to what happens next - a Northern Farm trip and I finish, or another run (or retirement, of course) and I stay on...

PPS. Ummm. Sure enough, War Chronicle will be going away for a 'refresh' session, which in Japan circles means three to six months, I guess - both unnecessary for the horse, and an unnecessary expense for us. Ridiculous! But hey, Rush Attack has apparently arrived at Miho TC, which takes the edge off my conviction to quit. Let's see what happens and make a decision when things become clearer this time next month.

Lotus Blossom V1

Well, the debut seemed to take forever, but at least Yuta Sato has created a horse that looks and runs like a horse during the period between leaving NF (something that at times looked as if it would never happen) and arriving at Funabashi. Credit where it's due, Yoshihara didn't panic too much when the pace looked too hot, and 'Lotus' was able to hold off the challenge from the other highly-fancied nag at the end. Effort was seen, potential was seen, and we had a fair fight - I never ask for anything more, as that is what we pay for, and therefore what we should receive without any questions. A win is just a bonus beyond those things, and I'm happy that Yuta has found an animal more in keeping with his stable than Chocolat Sucre was. Now, after all the time we've been paying out and getting nothing for it, hopefully we can get some monthly action out of her for the rest of the year.

An Amendment

Rush Attack's long-awaited report turned out to be a cut-and-paste special with no indication whatsoever of when (or even if) a comeback was in the making. Larressingle had a similar grey note on progress, and Trovao has picked up a fever. Great! Would it have picked one up in Tokyo, where it should be? And don't even get me started on Vertice - a very late debut, two mediocre races, and already off on holiday at huge expense.

I have withdrawn from both Sunday TC and Shadai TC, with the end result being that I have nothing to do with the races of the 10th. As such, I simply don't care what happened - it has no relevance to me, and if everyone else is happy with the status quo, let them get on with it. I shall be making a decision on the future regarding the Carrot Club nags on Saturday afternoon, when the results from Lotus Blossom and War Chronicle are in, with the level of effort seen dictating whether a phone call to quit is made on Monday or not.

Dates & Unwanted Patterns

Raining Dollars should be running Down Under on Saturday, kicking off a fresh Aussie campaign. Kealoha and Magic Key are out at Funabashi on the 10th (our Japanese first action of 2017), while Phosphorus makes a comeback on the 13th, and Lotus Blossom makes its debut on the same day (the latter with Yoshihara in the saddle, which is hardly a brilliant choice for me considering I've been against him ever since the Tokyo Derby). Let's hope we can start the New Year over here better than we finished the last one. In reality, it would be difficult to record even worse results, but I'm saying nothing until the racing is over. Oh, Vertice is off to Northern Farm, of course! Let's start funding the bloody place as early in the year as possible. Bollocks.

Larressingle is going back to JRA (with a new trainer due to the old one retiring), and I just hope we don't see the typical Carrot Club scenario of "okay, it's won now, so here goes with three years of no effort and easy money." This has happened all too often in the past, with Tenshinramman and Massabielle being perfect examples of wasted potential, so I shall be watching progress carefully with this one, as it's a damned good horse - if it doesn't perform like one, someone should take responsibility instead of keep taking our hard-earned cash for no racing and no return.

PS. On the subject of unwanted patterns, another bad race in Australia on Saturday. No news on Rush Attack since the 20th, which is concerning - the old saying of 'no news is good news' does not apply when Northern Farm are in the equation, especially when the thing has already clocked up ten months off the track.

PPS. Further to the last race report on Raining Dollars, I have made a decision to end my Australian race campaign for the time being. I don't really want to, as I know the results have not been the fault of the trainer, but the horse's run of bad luck has been seemingly endless in recent months. Sitting in bed awake due to the wind battering the window shutters, I decided a mark has to be scrawled in the sand somewhere along the line, especially when I moan like hell about Japanese results (the only difference is the poor results here are largely avoidable with more effort, which we should be getting without question considering the amount of money that goes out to the clubs each month!), and the New Year seems as good a time as any to draw that line. Thank you, Jo, for almost four years of fun through three different nags...

Crap End To Year

Well, was Million Ways' long-awaited comeback worth all the time and expense? No! Definitely not. As expected, it was a pathetic performance from Million Ways, despite a promising run and decent position up until the last corner. As soon as the straight appeared, it was as if the jockey threw out an anchor, and all the others (all low level nags, I might add) flew past as if the Carrot Club horse was standing still. At a massive 1.9 seconds off the pace, that wasn't race rust, that was a complete and utter lack of training - training that has cost owners a lot more than it should of, too. Two disgraceful runs in three days, and they wonder why I'm fed up with paying excessive amounts for this. It's that word again: Retirement!

PS. The post-race report expresses surprise, but it doesn't alter the fact that the trainer still got paid - we're the ones that have paid out month after month for the damned thing being on the injured list, although in reality, it was never technically injured at any point in its career, just useless. The report says it will be out at the next TCK meeting. It can't do any worse, I guess, but if it doesn't come at least second, it should be retired on the spot, for it's nothing more than a money pit.

PPS. The horse is back at Midway Farm again, which is 70 miles (115km) away from where it's supposed to be based - its home track being listed as TCK. Not only that, Midway Farm sell and prepare their own horses for the same events, so they're really going to try hard to get a rival to win, aren't they? Seeing as they get paid whether the horse does well or not, I somehow doubt it. One thing for sure, though, is that we can safely say that the next bill is going to be huge again thanks to unnecessary transport fees (allied to yet another month of zero income), and we can almost certainly say that the next race will be no better. A totally unacceptable situation, and oh so typical of Japanese racing - too many horses and nowhere near the level of staff, facilities or appropriate race calendars to deal with them properly. The next Tokyo meeting is at the end of January, when I hope a clear conclusion can be made. Right now, I just want to get rid of the damned thing, for it's costing a lot more than it should (that doesn't bother the club, though, for we're the ones paying, not them!) and giving nothing but constant disappointment in return. It should join Shine Tiara, Chocolat Sucre - and Nine Half, the only Carrot NAR nag I didn't buy into that year - on the retired list. And if Trovao doesn't improve, that can go, too! 

Progress Stalled

Pop Label let me down badly, coming a pathetic tenth at TCK today, despite Christophe Lemaire taking the place of Mori-kun at the last minute and starting as third favourite. After waiting ages for the thing to run a proper campaign, I saw no effort whatsoever, and I would definitely have no hesitation in retiring the horse after such a poor performance! Numerous post-race excuses, as always, but none of them acceptable. A serious toothache (following a difficult lower wisdom tooth extraction) prevented me from going to Tokyo, as the thought crossed my mind (I haven't been for a very long time as a form of protest), and I'm bloody glad I didn't, for I'd have been even more furious than I was watching the race from my armchair. Three years without a win now, and with the current team, that ridiculous situation isn't going to change. Million Ways next, but I'm not expecting much better than today, to be honest...

Meanwhile, the main race was a bad joke for NAR supporters, with all 122,000,000 yen leaving NAR circles to go to JRA stables. When will TCK learn that all they are doing is encouraging folks to leave NAR, for it doesn't pay at the best of times? Keep donating all the decent pots to JRA runners and the NAR owners' list will just keep shrinking at a time when new owners are desperately needed in order to replace those dying off, let alone increase numbers.

Signs Of Progress

Masterson was fourth at Fontwell yesterday, tiring at the end after taking up the pace for most of the race. For a flat runner, it was a sterling effort, and who knows, he might have a go over the jumps again after such a bold performance.

Trovao is supposed to be aiming for a big Nagoya race as soon as winter fades, although keeping the horse at Northern Farm in the meantime is not a good idea as far as I'm concerned. In fact, I think it's a bloody awful idea - I just hope I'm proved wrong. Meanwhile, Lotus Blossom has passed its race proficiency test, so hopefully it can start clawing back a few pennies after it makes its very, very long overdue debut. Phosphorus also passed, so can get back into action, albeit an annoying five months behind schedule!

The first time out, Vertice ran a stinker. We were told to forget it, as it wasn't an authentic display of the horse's potential, so had a right to expect something decent this time around, despite the extreme outside gate. Well, we didn't win, but third (three-and-a-half lengths down) wasn't bad at all, and it certainly gives us more to build on than the awful debut run.

PS. The post-race report notes that Vertice will disappear to NF for a while in the New Year. Why? Today is the first month since time began that the horse has actually broken even on the finance side - in fact, it's the first cent it has earned. Now off to Northern Farm at needlessly huge expense, and you'll probably have a donkey on its return. That mention of 'progress' in the post title didn't last long did it? Pathetic! At least Lotus Blossom might run in early January, and that's good, for this one also has an expense sheet running in rivers of red ink.

PPS. Just checking, and Larressingle is now at NF again following its Sonoda campaign; Rush Attack has been there forever; War Chronicle is at the stable so far (we'll wait for a new report to see what happens next, although there are hints of a break being such a fragile horse, bringing into question its worth as a racehorse, full-stop); Trovao is at NF; Vertice is off to NF soon, while Million Ways is at Midway Farm. This means that of all my Carrot horses, apart from Million Ways, only Lotus Blossom is totally free of Northern Farm's grip, which is madness. And they wonder why they are struggling to sell NAR horses. Maybe it's because constant Northern Farm breaks (after we've been paying for nothing other than cut-and-paste reports for a year, ready to get long-overdue debuts and what should be a promise of regular racing thereafter, something absolutely necessary in NAR) pisses people off! I think you can see why my shares in Japanese horses have fallen off to such a large extent compared to a few years back. It is nothing like racing - Carrot Club should change its name to the Northern Farm Supporters Club.