Hokkaido Horse Racing Story

At this time of year, many farms in Hokkaido are preparing for the upcoming selection and summer auctions.

Horse owners and trainers who represent them will also flock to the ranch to negotiate deals.

At Mejiro Ranch, which has not yet produced any foals of its own, visitors are still mainly horse enthusiasts who come to see the farm.

But the changing seasonal winds eventually blew to this small ranch at Suntaka Sanshi.

In the lounge after finishing their morning work, the members gathered together as usual.

However, today's chat seems to have a clearer purpose.

"What do you think of this child? The combination of their bloodlines looks quite interesting."

"My father's victory is in sight. The boss said the summer budget is only 50 million yen."

"So what about this kid? You won the Shinma match in Tokyo on the 12th quite brilliantly."

"A Lotto Heart foal? Although the pedigree and physique look good, I have a feeling the price at the auction will be a bit high."

"This kid looks really impressive!"

"Our goal is a mare—and the president's heart and wallet would definitely not be able to handle the idea of ​​foaling in spring and autumn."

As early as the beginning of this month, the Hokkaido market took the initiative to invite Kitano to a selection meeting.

certainly--

Even if he wasn't invited, he wouldn't miss this opportunity.

However, this year will be a little different.

Kitano will appear at the Hokkaido Select and subsequent summer auctions under the name of both the contracted company Mejiro Ranch and the individual owner.

Mejiro Ranch's goals are clear:

A high-quality mare with both cost-effectiveness and breeding characteristics.

He himself plans to continue with his previous auction strategy.

but--

Judging from the situation of the one-year-old market in Kyushu, it may not be as easy to find a bargain at an auction in the future.

"With the Saint King halo of his mother and father, and his father's victory in sight, this child will definitely become an incredible monster!"

Rachel Ho stood up abruptly, thrust her phone screen in front of the others, and spoke with great conviction.

"Reality isn't a game. Absolutes are way too exaggerated."

"That's right, and this kid is definitely over budget."

Rachel Ho, who was ruthlessly refuted, held her head unwillingly, with her mouth puffed up like a disgruntled child.

"But I do think he'll be very powerful—"

On the other hand, Kitano's schedule for today is also full.

The celebration party, which was delayed yesterday due to heavy rain, was postponed to this morning.

A little later, there will be an unspecified exchange meeting held by the Tokyo Metropolitan Horse Owners Association.

After a quick breakfast of a pack of biscuits, Kitano hurriedly jumped on the tram to the venue of the Ichibankai meeting.

At the end of June, the sunshine waits for no one.

Before noon, the high summer sun had already baked the asphalt road scorching hot.

It is easy to imagine how torturous the temperature would be at the midday exchange meeting.

Totally unsuitable for party season.

However, the horse racing world is such a world with equally strict barriers within the industry.

Even experts in their respective fields, such as breeders, owners, trainers, jockeys, farriers, and veterinarians, have very different understandings of horse racing.

Allowing people who share the common interest of "horse racing" to communicate with each other is a very meaningful thing in itself.

In his third year in this industry, Kitano has a deeper understanding of this.

To put it more bluntly, even for the sake of future prospects for the ranch's foals, it is necessary to establish good relationships with members of the Tokyo Racing Association in advance.

When I looked up again, the destination, Nishiyama Kogyo Akasaka Building, was already in front of me.

The barbecue will end around 11 noon.

Next is the second meeting at noon.

As I stepped out of the building, the strong smell of burnt asphalt instantly hit my nose.

If you take the train, whether it's the Ginza Line or the Chiyoda Line, you'll inevitably have to walk along the scorching Omotesando.

"Omotesando in the summer is really not a place for people to walk."

With this thought in mind, I stopped a taxi that happened to be passing by.

Shibuya is still bustling with people on weekdays.

The sidewalks were packed, completely obstructing the view.

In addition, it was almost lunchtime, and the traffic on the lane could only move at a snail's pace.

Kitano looked at his phone and opened the navigation software to confirm the location.

There is still about a hundred meters left.

So, I got off the taxi at the taxi stand.

In the end, I couldn't avoid walking the last section of Omotesando in sweat.

Kitano rushed into the exchange meeting and was surrounded by a group of people enthusiastically without even having time to take off his coat.

"Come over here, please."

As he said this, several horse owners, known and unknown to him, pushed and pulled him to a nearby table.

Before the exchange meeting even officially started, the discussions at the table were already boiling with eagerness.

There are countless topics to discuss, including bloodline preferences, methods and strategies for purchasing racehorses, the advantages and disadvantages of breeding farms, stable characteristics, the situation of trainers and stable staff, racing strategies such as rider and event selection, as well as opinions on breeding and even overseas auctions.

certainly--

In most cases, the questions at Kitano's table were asked by other people, and he answered them unilaterally.

I was bombarded with various questions for almost an hour, and only had a chance to catch my breath when we changed tables to communicate.

He picked up the almost empty bottle of oolong tea to moisten his throat, but before Kitano could breathe a sigh of relief, another horse owner came up to him.

Finally, someone asked the question, "How do I find a good horse at an auction?"

Including the horse owners at nearby tables, many people stopped talking and subconsciously looked at Kitano.

"I know nothing about Souma."

This completely unexpected answer made the horse owners present burst into laughter.

Although, he did think so.

Before the exchange meeting ended, Kitano exchanged business cards with the horse owners and responded with polite words.

"President Kitano, I think there will be another G1 horse available at the summer auction."

"No, it should be another world horse king."

"No, no" has almost become Kitano's daily catchphrase.

Even if it's just a polite remark, it's still nice to get a positive response.

In addition, he also gained a lot from communicating with new and middle-aged horse owners.

What kind of bloodlines have been popular among horse owners for a long time, what kind of bloodlines have been popular recently, and how much premium are they usually willing to pay for their favorite horses?

Such information is invaluable to horse breeders.

Sorry, I was a little late posting today.

There are two normal updates at night.

Chapter 226 Comparative Display

Before we knew it, July had quietly arrived.

Discussions between horse owners and trainers are beginning to increase around the upcoming auctions.

Tasks like where to buy this year's yearlings and current yearlings, how many to buy, and how to include horses with subsidies are not easy.

But at least, Kitano can be said to be enjoying it for now.

On the first day of the selection meeting, he arrived at the Hokkaido market earlier than in previous years.

I parked the pickup truck in a corner of the parking lot and glanced at the time.

There are still nearly thirty minutes until the scheduled meeting.

There's no rush to get off the bus.

He turned around and fumbled around in the back seat for a moment, and when he came back, he was holding two auction brochures in his hands.

One is a list of targets he has identified himself, and the other is a list of recommendations from ranch members.

The number of participating horses this year has increased significantly, forcing buyers and owners to constantly adjust their auction strategies.

He casually flipped through the recommended list of members and quickly closed the manual.

Then, rub the center of your eyebrows with your index finger and thumb.

The ranch's budget is about 50 million yen—

Among the list recommended by the members, except for Lavid's choice which was relatively reliable, the others were completely random.

"Isn't each one around 50 million yen?"

In comparison, even Rachel Ho's recommendation of a winning colt seems to be a reasonable option.

Of course, the reason for recommendation, "I think he should be very good," still made Kitano shake his head.

After quickly eliminating the options that were clearly over the budget, he began marking the remaining candidate targets in the manual.

Having been a horse owner and breeder for some time, I wouldn’t say my vision has improved much, but my assessment of the actual value of racehorses has become much clearer.

In general, the theoretical price of a one-year-old horse is roughly equal to the breeding fee + the cost of feeding the breeding mare during pregnancy + the cost of feeding the foal before it is sold + possible medical expenses + auction fees + pedigree value (α) + added value of the horse's body (β).

It's a formula that looks a bit complicated.

However, the most important part is actually the bloodline.

To be precise, it is the sum of the values ​​of paternal and maternal lineages.

"This kid's physique looks pretty good, but his pedigree is a bit hard to describe."

I marked the corresponding page in the manual and hesitantly added a question mark below it.

Flipping through the manual page by page, I finally managed to integrate all the potential targets before the agreed time.

Grabbing the manual and jumping out of the pickup truck, Kitano did not go straight to the venue as in previous years, but turned to the exhibition area first.

Comparative display means that the auction horses to be sold are gathered in a designated area for display before the auction begins, so that buyers and owners can make a clearer and more intuitive assessment of the horses' condition and characteristics.

Although such advance observation is not of much use to Kitano who has the [detector] in hand.

but--

Thanks to his experience at the Kyushu 1-year-old market and the exchange meeting a few days ago, he is somewhat aware of his reputation among horse owners.

If I were to attend the auction directly as usual, even if I could finally buy it, there might be some unnecessary twists and turns.

Arriving at the exhibition area, someone who was observing the yearling horse in front of him closely raised his head.

"Good morning, President Kitano."

"Good morning, Wada-kun."

At first glance, the former rider, Wada, looked as calm as usual, but his tone sounded a little uneasy.

One day in early July, Kitano contacted a retired jockey who was preparing for the trainer's license exam.

It was originally just a casual exchange of information about the other party's recent situation, but after learning that the other party was preparing for the exam smoothly, Kitano immediately extended an invitation.