Hokkaido Horse Racing Story

However, what lies before us is only the first step of the problem——

How to start a ranch?

Chapter 137 Gao Yueqing

"Mr. Kitano!"

As soon as he walked into the main gate of Oi Racecourse, Kitano heard someone calling his name.

The man shouted as he ran towards Kitano.

The trainer in a suit and tie came up and shook Kitano's hand vigorously, with an expression on his face that could almost be described as flattering.

"Thank you so much! Mr. Kitano's trust is as precious to me as a family treasure!"

Are you so excited that you are talking nonsense?

Majima's strange behavior attracted the attention of many passers-by, but he still shouted unconsciously: "I will take care of that child as if she were my own daughter, absolutely!"

Looking up at the regretfully blue sky above his head, Kitano let out a heavy sigh.

This is the so-called Gao Yueqing.

Not far away, the lifelike bronze statue of Hesek raised its head slightly, as if paying attention.

As for why Kitano came to Oi on the last Wednesday of June——

Then we have to mention what happened a few days ago.

Shortly after returning to Hokkaido, he commissioned a specialized agency to conduct due diligence on several candidate ranches.

As for Kitano himself, he was deeply mired in negotiations with the ranch operators.

Although he had received warnings from various stakeholders in advance, Kitano did not realize the stubbornness of the Hidaka ranchers until he saw it with his own eyes.

Even though the income and expenditure situation is already a mess, not many people are willing to give up the ranch operation easily.

The negotiation process was as unsuccessful as the weather in June.

On a chilly and gloomy morning like any other, Mr. Matsumoto, a fellow horse owner, unexpectedly contacted me.

"Feng hopes to meet Mr. Kitano."

Kitano was a little surprised when he heard the news.

Wu Feng——

He didn't have much of a relationship with the legendary Japanese rider.

As for the Kitano family's previous cooperation with the other party, that was a long time ago.

However, there is no harm in getting closer to this popular rider.

So, I got the contact information of the Taketoyo rider from Mr. Matsumoto.

During the phone call, both parties agreed to meet at Dajing after the Emperor Award match.

In addition to meeting Mr. Wu, registering the racing horse identity for Ocean Fleet2024 is also the goal of Dajing's itinerary.

Although he hesitated for a while between Tanaka Stables in Monbetsu and Hattori Stables in Saga, Kitano decided to register Ocean Fleet 2024 as Oi Racing.

In Hokkaido, Tanaka is wholeheartedly striving for the Hokkaido Triple Crown.

There is no time to take care of the two-year-old horse that has just entered the stable.

In Saga, Kitakyushu, Hattori Stables was also in a hectic state after just opening.

Although there were options such as Iwate or Kochi, after discussing with Ogawa Takeshi, who was in charge of training, Kitano decided to let Ocean Fleet2024 start the competition in Oi first.

"If we pair him with a rider who can control this kid, he should be able to put in a dazzling performance in the competition."

This was the evaluation given by Ogawa Jō after a parallel walking training session.

Despite being out of control throughout the practice session, Ocean Fleet2024 easily left another two-year-old horse named Xiaohua in the ranch far behind.

After obtaining Ogawa Jo's consent, Kitano tried to upload the training video to the social platform.

At the beginning, it was just for the purpose of increasing exposure before debut.

However, after the video was released, he received invitations from some trainers, both familiar and unfamiliar, to join the stable.

The new trainer in front of us is also one of them.

However, compared to other trainers who simply sent out invitations, Majima has put in a lot of effort.

He agrees with Ogawa Jō that Ocean Fleet 2024 needs to be paired with a rider who can control her in order to unleash her true strength.

In addition, Mashima raised a point that surprised Kitano a little.

"We should try to suppress the child's urge to escape, and avoid running away like this."

After the video was released, many professional and non-professional horse fans in the comment section, and even some trainers and horse racing commentators who participated in the comments, believed that Ocean Fleet2024 was only suitable for the foot quality of the escape.

He is timid and has a complete disadvantage in terms of size—

For a horse like this, the answer that comes out almost subconsciously is "escape."

But Majima suggested the exact opposite.

In addition to excessive consumption, he gave another reason.

In the 1200-meter parallel training with Xiaohua, Ocean Fleet2024 did not have a significant gap in the first 200 meters.

This means that the chestnut horse does not actually have the initial explosive power that is crucial for a escaping horse.

Its physical disadvantage can easily put it at a disadvantage in the initial battle.

It is too risky to rely solely on the start to fight for the lead.

In addition, Majima also manually counted the time taken for the last three waves in the Ocean Fleet2024 training.

They are 12.3 seconds, 12.4 seconds and 12.2 seconds respectively.

“Although it’s not a formal race, I think this kid is more suited to running in the second or third position behind the escaped horse, leaning towards the lead position.”

"As for how to help her overcome her fear and get used to running among the herd, that's the responsibility of the trainer and the rider."

Unexpectedly a bit too serious.

If it weren't for what happened just now, Kitano would probably have more respect for him.

perhaps--

"Please!"

Before he could even raise his hand, Majima had already pushed open the door of the general office.

This move also attracted the attention of some staff members in the firm.

Although I had heard about the existence of shadow horse trainers in the central government, I didn't expect that such bad practices would spread to Dajing.

but--

It turned out to be President Kitano.

The gathered gazes quickly shifted away.

When he arrived at the counter, Kitano submitted the registration information he had prepared early in the morning.

"Mejiro Atalanta. It's a rather long name."

After confirming that the spelling was correct and did not exceed the maximum limit of nine characters, the staff in charge of registration accepted the application form.

"The symbolism of Atalanta is that we hope she will be as brave and swift as the heroine of the same name in Greek mythology."

Kitano spoke without waiting for the staff to ask questions.

After completing the racehorse registration, Majima was responsible for stable placement.

The trainer laughed cheerfully and practically danced out of the office.

Kitano looked down at the time.

There was only one or two minutes left before the Emperor's Award race began.

If we rush over now, we won’t be able to catch up with the game.

So, we turned our attention to the agreed meeting place, a restaurant called "Makimura" outside the racecourse.

After ordering an all-you-can-drink buffet, Kitano slowly drank the mango and milkshake drink while waiting for the rider Taketoyo.

The taste is unexpectedly good.

After finishing the second cup of mango milkshake, I finally waited for the legendary Wu Feng.

The rider maintained a faint smile on his face, seemingly because of the good results he had achieved in the previous race.

“Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule.”

Wu Feng approached, bowed slightly, and greeted warmly.

"Hello, Mr. Taketoshi."

Facing this famous rider, Kitano subconsciously used a respectful title.

"Mr. Kitano, just call me Takeshi. If you're worried about confusing me with Koshiro, you can also use 'Feng'."

After sitting down, Wu Feng said with a smile.

After a period of awkward silence, Wu Feng took the initiative to talk and ease the atmosphere.

After that, they naturally started chatting while eating, and Kitano's originally tense mood relaxed slightly.

As if to maintain their weight, riders only eat much less than normal people even when they eat out.

If you want to meet a rider alone, it’s best to choose a place like a cafe.

This is Kitano's understanding today.

Only after the first round of dishes on the table were almost finished did Taketoyo put down his chopsticks in sync with Kitano and asked, "Mr. Kitano, have you heard of WJS (World Jock Series)?"

Chapter 138 Ranch Purchase

In the early morning, Shin-Hidaka Town was filled with a layer of granular mist.

The air during the rainy season sticks to my skin, and I feel a damp chill permeating my entire body almost as soon as I open the car door.

People here are more accustomed to calling it "gas" rather than fog, and it is also a unique feature of the Hidaka area.

Kitano put on the bowler hat in his hand and bowed slightly to the people behind him.

"I'll leave it to you today."

The purchasing group, consisting of real estate appraisers and livestock law specialists, also responded.

The German hoof trimmer with messy blond hair blinked in confusion as if he was still asleep.

As the only full-time member of Mejiro Shoji besides Kitano, he naturally cannot escape occasions like today.

but--

Even Zep couldn't say what purpose his coming here would serve.

After Grandma Gaocun fell ill, the outside world believed that it was only a matter of time before the ranch was closed.

Generally speaking, the first to take action are the operators of large ranches.

They rarely miss any good grazing land.

Mr. Takamura's original plan was to close the ranch and sell it as a large ranch for training or grazing.

However, the big operators are unusually uninterested in Gaocun Ranch.

The southern extension of the Hidaka Mountains surrounds the pasture on both sides, and the grazing land is cut into two discontinuous parts by the rolling hills.

Although the nearby Gunmai River provides convenient water access, for large ranches, the geographical limitations on expansion are more worthy of consideration.

Although they visited several times to inquire about quotes, most large ranch operators chose to wait and see for the time being.

For Kitano, the downsides of expansion are not a problem, at least in the short term.

The 9.5-hectare pasture area seems too crowded for the operators of large ranches, but it is just acceptable for Mejiro Shoji, which currently has only two full-time employees.

After several talks with Takamura and on-site inspections, Kitano thought this would be a good deal.