Hokkaido Horse Racing Story.

Chapter 355 The Beginning of a Troublesome Situation

The sun was now shining at an angle, and the intense heat had eased slightly.

San Shi at 4:30 PM.

"Understood. Please do as you wish. If things go smoothly here, I might go over there myself."

After answering, he hung up the phone.

"Is this a matter on the American side?"

Despite his calm tone, Zep's eyes darted around like a curious cat.

"That's right, it's the route arrangement for Good Luck this year."

How about trying the Breeders' Cup?

Given Good Luck's decent form in the Jeb Invitational, trainer Reed made the offer via transoceanic phone call.

Of course, the target will not be the most competitive classic race.

Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint – The race distance may vary depending on the venue.

At Churchill Park, the venue for this year's Breeders' Cup, the turf sprint will be the shortest of the five-furlong distances.

"This will be a race that relies heavily on luck, and I think that kid and his rider are both pretty lucky."

While I can't say I was convinced by those reasons, after reviewing the North American graded race list sent by Reed, I quickly agreed to the race schedule aimed at the Breeders' Cup.

After all, there are only a handful of high-reward sprints on grass in North America, and the number is even smaller after excluding female-limited races.

In addition, Next Luck had already paid the $400 Breeders' Cup lifetime entry fee during its yearling period.

After confirming this, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Thus, the annual route was set with the Breeders' Cup as the goal, followed by the Kentucky Park Turf Sprint, the six-way race in the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series.

From the perspective of the race schedule, the Kentucky Park Turf Sprint, which was just upgraded to a Group 1 race last year, is just a prelude to the Breeders' Cup.

However, in terms of prize money, the former far exceeds that of the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, which is the main race.

"A preliminary round with a higher bounty than the main event—"

Zep stared wide-eyed in surprise.

"After all, it's an American competition, so it's not uncommon for a Tier 1 tournament to be downgraded to Tier 3."

They walked towards the main gate of the ranch while chatting with the hoof trimmer.

The sun was still shining brightly, and sunset was still a long way off.

Upon hearing the familiar sound of the horse-drawn wagon engine, the thought, "Ah, it's that time of year again," flashed through my mind.

It was only with great difficulty that I managed to resist the urge to continue attending the auction.

The partition door slowly descended with a sound like exhaling air, allowing me to observe the interior of the carriage from a slightly distanced distance.

Before the LED lights were fully lit, a powerful roar could already be heard from inside the carriage.

Soon, a somewhat childish response came from the grazing land not far away.

"This kid is really amazing. Before I saw the information, I thought he was a two-year-old horse about to debut."

The flight attendant handed over one end of the tow rope with a wry smile.

On the other end, Yueyue looked around restlessly, and at the moment the tow rope was handed over, she seized the opportunity to bite the flight attendant's sleeve.

Fortunately, it was avoided.

"Thank you so much for your help."

Even the journey from the airport to the ranch must have caused Yueyue a lot of trouble for the transportation company.

On the bright side, the fact that this child still has the energy to keep going after such a long journey across hemispheres is quite unusual for a one-year-old horse.

"You'd never guess he'd be such a troublemaker—"

As he said this, Zep took a mint out of his pocket, unwrapped it, and held it to Yueyue's lips.

As a result, my hand was spat on.

"It seems she's more interested in your fingers than the mints."

"Hey!" Of course, the leash was still being pulled properly, and the newly appointed deputy manager's fingers were still on his hand.

As we passed through the grazing area, a pair of furry ears first appeared on top of the fence.

Next came a pair of seemingly well-behaved small black eyes.

As it released the hay it was chewing, a dazzling figure in the distance raised its head and uttered a persuasive sound from its throat.

The little horse with the blue deer fur twitched its ears slightly, but its eyes remained fixed intently on the procession heading towards the stables.

It wasn't until the dazzling action emitted another clearly emotional hiss that Yuehuang reluctantly turned its head.

"That child's hindquarters are really conspicuous."

At this point, Zep finally shifted his gaze away from one side of the grazing area.

"After all, he's a descendant of Deep—"

Use this sentence as a response.

From pedigree, physique, growth curve, and whether they have been properly trained, every racehorse is vastly different from birth.

On the other hand, the development time allocated to all racehorses before their debut is exceptionally fair.

Of course, from this perspective, premature horses often have a greater advantage.

Thanks to her good physique at birth and the ample milk provided by her dazzling performance, Yuehuang, born in February, weighed 200 kilograms a few days ago, and her height is still growing at a reassuring rate.

In terms of the hindquarters, the originally raised buttocks, which resembled those of a mare, became more prominent, resulting in a horse body that looked somewhat disproportionate.

As for his somewhat troublesome temper—

Even now, as she begins to show some impatience, the mother's dazzling actions still demonstrate tolerance towards the newborn foal, and even the ranch staff unconsciously show their doting affection.

Therefore, many times I have no choice but to be the bad guy myself.

"Speaking of which, isn't that child due for weaning by now?"

Stepping forward and pulling open the stable gate, Zep continued the previous conversation.

"Don't worry yet."

Although the milk production of the dazzling foals has already shown signs of declining, there are no plans to follow the practice of most Japanese farms to wean premature foals uniformly in June.

Recalling a paper I read in the 'Equine Veterinary Journal', I decided to adopt a strategy of delaying the weaning period as much as possible.

While muttering, "It's clearly the BOSS who you like the most," Zepp helped untie the leash.

Yueyue then let out a low hiss as if driving something away, and only buried its head to drink water after the gate closed again.

"This child is far too vicious."

The deputy manager lowered his head and smelled the back of his hand, then made a somewhat exaggerated expression.

"This is karma for talking badly about people behind their backs—"

Although he said that, he also sighed.

It seems that the ranch won't be any easier in the future.

Next, we need to receive Professor Yoshida during his visit.

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"—Congratulations on the decision to commission the statue!"

"Thanks to the love and support of all the horse racing fans, the Grass Bank delivers an enormous amount of grass every day. If this continues, we won't even need to take care of the grazing land (laughs)."

—"Even after retiring, Sakuya's appetite is still so strong."

"It's more accurate to say that she was excessively vigorous. Even Yoshida, the artist in charge of creating the sculpture, was taken aback when he saw her."

"So, will it be a round, chubby statue?"

"We provided a lot of information about the current horse racing season to Mr. Yoshida as a substitute reference, so horse racing fans who were hoping for this will be disappointed."

—"Another Legend of Retired Horses: The Future of Those Horses Revealed by Insiders"—Sakuya Mejiro Chapter 2

(End of this chapter)