Hokkaido Horse Racing Story.

Chapter 59 Towards the Autumn Finale

In November, a noticeable chill was already spreading across Hokkaido.

Pushing open the window, the Shinka Mountain in front of me has wiped away the last ochre and burnt brown of autumn, and the top of the mountain is wrapped in a white that is not real like gauze.

In the silent air, the air conditioner made a clanging sound as it fought against the cold.

Standing in front of the mirror, Kitano skillfully put on the suit he had become accustomed to.

The morning chill mercilessly stimulated the exposed skin on the back of the neck, and the remaining sleepiness was quickly dispelled.

Today is the day when JBC’s 2-year-old Youjun is released.

A conspicuous white breath came out of his mouth.

In the hazy fog, the scene of the tactical meeting a week ago vaguely emerged.

"So for a horse with an impatient temperament like this, you should try to stimulate it in a parallel way. If you can disrupt its rhythm, that's even better!"

At that time, Master Tanaka's tone was excited, but his red eyes seemed to have endless energy.

Mejiro Sakuya, who the camp has high hopes for, was ranked third in popularity before the game.

Needless to say, the top two are naturally racehorses from the central government.

The two most popular riders are the famous rider Barro from Honda's stable and the rider Manabu Sakai from Saddle.

One popular one is Shonan Impact from Matsushita Samurai Stables, with rider Kenichi Ikezoe on the saddle.

In the previous few games, Shonan Impact won one of three games and has a record of entering the grass open tournament.

Master Tanaka formulated it as a way to predict the ranking of his opponents.

Back to the present, Kitano stood in front of the mirror and patted his cheek.

"Nothing to worry about."

He said this to himself.

Then, the corners of his mouth seemed to be lifted by invisible threads, and he forced a smile.

The muscles in my lower eyelids twitched uncontrollably.

The reflection in the mirror made the same expression.

“It’s really ugly.”

His face quickly hardened again.

Although the most important race in the horse owner's career so far is about to take place in the afternoon, time is not like in the game, where you can just press the "SKIP" button to skip to a point unrelated to the plot.

While waiting, every minute and every second seemed to be stretched infinitely.

At one point, Kitano even had the illusion that the earth's gravity had changed.

I mechanically flipped through a few pages of the "Youjun" in my hand, but the progress bar of the daily tasks didn't seem to be rising.

I can't get into it at all.

After a few minutes, Kitano sighed and closed the magazine.

“Worrying about the future is a waste of the present.”

Suddenly I recalled the Shakespeare plays I watched many years ago.

Since you have made an effort, you should occasionally expect good results.

He took off his suit and changed into his home clothes.

Turn on the TV and cast the screen to play "All Creatures".

In the soothing rhythm of the TV series, my mood unconsciously calmed down.

The morning passed uneventfully like this.

Lunch was potato pancakes and salmon roe rice bowl.

What is very rare is that there are no pre-made dishes.

Even Kitano would occasionally spend some time on this.

Of course, if it is too complicated, there is a high probability that we can’t do anything about it.

Fortunately, neither of the two dishes today are of this type.

Making potato pancakes is not difficult, you can learn it by following the YouTube video once.

Having said that, he actually put quite a bit of effort into peeling the potatoes.

There is a certain gap between the final product and what is shown in the tutorial, but Kitano suspects that it is because the channel owner used a filter.

Well, that must be the case.

As for the rice bowl, it is even simpler. Just take out the pre-processed salmon roe from the refrigerator and put it directly on the rice.

Swallowing the fish roe topped with wasabi paste along with the rice underneath, an incredible umami flavor quickly spreads throughout the mouth with each chew. It was slightly salty.

However, it goes perfectly with rice.

As for the side of potato pancakes—

It seems like there was too much sugar in it, and it tastes like nothing but sweetness.

After the meal, he crossed his arms and stretched.

There was a creaking sound on my back.

Although some of them were not satisfactory, at least both dishes were well completed.

When I call myself a citizen of Hokkaido, I feel more confident.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Kitano put on his suit.

A familiar feeling of restraint enveloped the body.

It's time to go out.

The weather is a bit bad.

The light grey clouds stretched towards the horizon as if they were going to be higher than Mount Yotei.

There was a distinct, ominous damp smell in the air.

"Won't there be any problems with the competition in this kind of weather?"

With such doubts, I came to Menbie.

Then, I was slightly startled by the scene in front of me.

There was an incredibly long queue at the entrance of the racecourse, and even the small square behind the parking lot seemed to be packed with people.

Even with the special passage for those with connections, it still took a while to squeeze into the racecourse.

As expected, the owner's seats were occupied by various unrelated people, just like on any other reward race day.

At the front of the railing, the situation was as bad as that of sardines in a can.

With a sigh, Kitano walked towards the reviewing ground.

Then, I found Tanaka looking at something.

The trainer was wearing a tuxedo that I had never seen before, and it seemed to be a style that had been preserved since the Showa era.

In addition, a large number of riders and trainers, known or unknown to Kitano, also gathered.

It looked like a quite lively scene.

"Mr. Kitano."

Tanaka nodded slightly in greeting, with a slightly embarrassed expression on his face.

"But it's really an amazing outfit."

Kitano paused and said.

An expression of "as expected" appeared on Tanaka's face, and several trainers nearby burst into laughter.

"Never mind. Anyway, the next time I wear this outfit will probably be when I retire."

Shaking his head with a wry smile, Tanaka looked towards the preparation room.

"Ah, here it comes!"

With this sentence as a signal, the trainers and riders gathered around immediately changed their appearance.

Amid the sound of shutter clicks, ten riders from the central and local governments marched forward in a single line.

Hattori, wearing a purple-sleeved, green-yellow, and yellow-diamond individual deciding uniform, and Ochiai, wearing a green-sleeved, white-green, and one-round deciding uniform with the Mejiro crown, are also among the ten riders.

Although they were riding racehorses owned by the same owner, the two men were wearing different colored horses.

This arrangement was made by Kitano.

Knowing that Hattori would retire after this race, he took the initiative to ask that he be allowed to ride wearing the rider's colored clothes.

"Come on, Oguri Shigeshi!"

On the parade ground, trainers and bareback riders held up huge banners.

As an idol who changed the Japanese horse racing world, Oguri Hattori was also the opportunity for him to become a rider.

His personal victory suit was designed based on Kondo Umazu's red-sleeved, green-yellow-colored, and mountain-shaped suit.

Oguri Shigeru——

The thirty-one-year project has come to an end today.

(End of this chapter)