Hokkaido Horse Racing Story.

Chapter 219 A Corner of Good Luck

It wasn't even noon yet, but the temperature had already exceeded 30 degrees.

The sky I looked up at was so clear that it made me feel dizzy.

Due to the hot weather, the exhibition session before the auction was temporarily cancelled.

In response to this, the horse owners in the field expressed their understanding.

As it was getting close to dinner time, the Kyushu Horse Owners Association sent us boxed lunches and desserts to cool us down.

Even Kitano was not left out.

The staff responsible for distributing lunch boxes also repeatedly thanked him for his support for Kyushu horses.

After a slightly early lunch, the sunlight overhead became even stronger.

Many horse owners stayed in the awning and drank cold drinks to pass the time.

Kitano stood up and walked towards the stable, continuing his unfinished observation of the horse's body.

Although it was said that the auction was not completed, in fact, there were only a small number of 41 horses.

Right now, there are less than five that haven't been observed yet.

"Shall I bring the child out to you?"

"No, that would be too much of a bother. I'll just watch from here."

After politely rejecting a stable attendant's suggestion, Kitano focused his attention on the figure in the stable.

It’s a bit small indeed——

Regardless of the degree of training, most horses produced in Kyushu are smaller than average.

Especially in the hindquarters, it is rare to see well-developed hip muscles in one-year-old horses from Kyushu.

Judging from the horses' bodies alone, the quality of the horses being auctioned today is not very high.

As for the gait part, it can only be discussed after the auction officially starts.

Standing in the stable at the end of the corridor, Kitano gathered his energy and began his last observation of the horse before the auction.

The rather uncoordinated horse body—

The overly long torso makes the horse appear loose, while the chest tends to be narrow.

No matter how you look at it, it seems to be a culmination of unfavorable factors in the bloodline.

However, are there any exceptions?

Although he had never personally seen those horse kings with disproportionate body proportions, Kitano, who was a counterexample and a "horse fraudster", had just seen one.

So, he opened the panel.

After a moment, he left the temporary stable without any reluctance.

really--

There is a cooling-off period when it comes to finding bargains.

After waiting in the steamy outdoor area until the auction began, Kitano followed the horse owners from Kyushu into the large warehouse of JBBA.

The breeding stand was pushed to the corner, but the tatami in the middle and the sawdust on the ground remained intact.

There is only a wooden half wall between the seats for buyers and horse owners and the exhibition area. People sitting in the first row can almost touch the auction horses on display.

Although it is a bit exaggerated, the Kyushu auction started in such a simple environment.

I sat down in a well-ventilated corner near the exit, but found that the person sitting next to me seemed familiar.

Aside from the Yahagi master from Ritto, the only person dressed similarly was—

"Hello, Dr. Kobayashi."

He turned his head and greeted the other person.

"It's Kitano-kun."

Dr. Kobayashi, who was still wearing a bright suit on a hot day, nodded with a smile.

"I'm surprised to run into Kitano-kun here. You must have chosen a lucky direction."

"You must be hot too."

“There’s no such thing.”

As he spoke, Dr. Kobayashi turned to a page at the back of the list.

"Haha, this time my target is this kid. I have a feeling he'll be the type to escape."

Looking at the name, it was the foal born on Red Treasure Day.

"Can Feng Shui also be used to judge horses?"

With this in mind, President Kashiwagi of the Kyushu Light Horse Association walked towards the microphone in front of the stage.

So the conversation between the two ended here.

“Thank you to all the guests, old friends and new friends for your support.”

President Kashiwagi's tone in his speech seemed quite sincere. Unfortunately, due to the microphone's disastrous recording, all that reached Kitano's ears was a chorus of "thank you" mixed with the neighing of horses.

It was not until President Kashiwagi bowed that the applause finally drowned out the horse's cries.

The auctioneer and appraiser at the Kyushu yearling market is Yasunori Asano, who is said to be a famous horse racing figure.

However, this was the first time Kitano heard of such a person.

While the rules were being read out, he skillfully picked up a marker and spread out the list of auction horses on his lap.

Somewhat surprisingly, all of the 41 auction horses originally scheduled to appear were present.

As soon as I turned the list back to the first page, the first auction horse appeared.

It was one of the Brancohorn foals that Kitano had detected with the [Detector].

Although I'm not sure about its other attributes, I'm afraid that "G"'s [Stamina] might cause it to lose speed even in a short race.

".How about starting with one million. One million and a half? One million and a half—"

As Asano's somewhat unskilled bidding sounded on the stage, Kitano decisively turned to the second page of the name list.

Several horse owners around immediately followed suit.

"One million and a half million yen—what do you think of this price?"

"Is there really no one bidding 1.5 million? 1.5 million yen——"

Amid the enthusiastic singing of the audience on the stage, there was a strange silence in the audience.

Kitano, the culprit, even raised his head in surprise.

A somewhat crisp sound of a hammer rang in my ears.

It turns out that the first horse to appear can also be the main one -

The next few pieces were almost all sold at the reserve price.

"Debut number six, Pavlova 2026, father is Cape Branco, female, reed-haired, born on March 18th, height 156cm, chest 167cm, waist 19cm, weight 424kg."

Pavlova 2026, who looked intimidating both in her presence and size, was unusually meek as she followed the stable boy into the arena.

"What do you think of the price of 1,100,000 yen? 1,100,000—1,100,000."

The atmosphere, which had been slightly lively, suddenly became deserted again.

"Oh--"

"Okay, this customer in the white short-sleeved shirt, do you have any other offers? One million, one hundred thousand—"

Before Kitano could even raise his hand completely, Asano on the stage immediately began a new round of bidding.

"One million and two hundred thousand—anyone willing to pay one million and two hundred thousand?"

Dr. Kobayashi gave me a slightly surprised look.

"This female line looks quite interesting."

Kitano shrugged and explained in a slightly louder voice.

"I see. It seems Kitano-kun is planning to dominate the national racecourses by inducing horses."

"This plan is not bad."

The two of them put their arms around each other and started joking.

Several horse owners who were eager to try after seeing Kitano's bid suddenly became hesitant again.

"Okay, congratulations to the guest number 43, and thank you for your bid."

As if fearing that Kitano would go back on his word, Asano on the stage slammed the gavel down hard.

"One million, one hundred thousand yen. Purchaser number twenty-six, Mr. Kitano Yuki of the Hokkaido Racing Club."

As soon as the words fell, there was an uproar in the venue.

Even in the live broadcast room, a series of "?" comments quickly flashed across the screen.

------------

"[@kyushusanba:

2027 January 06

Kyushu Yearling Market
6

Father Branco

Pavlova

mother and father ocean liner

Production ranch Yuji Tagami
The owner of the horse turned out to be that President Kitano!!!
The future of Kyushu-produced horses is uncertain.”

——Odagiri WAO
　Sorry, only one update today.

　　I was just annoyed by the bizarre remarks of a hyperthyroid football player this morning, and then I received the news of Xiaocao's death in the afternoon. It's really hard to concentrate on writing today.
　　I'm really sorry (p′︵‵.)
　　
　
(End of this chapter)