Hokkaido Horse Racing Story

Chapter 48 Ride Selection and Track Knowledge

After seeing Kitano off, Tanaka came to Kadokawa's stable next door.

"You have to work harder, Junji. I prepared my 2,000-win celebration card at the beginning of the year."

As soon as they met, Trainer Kadokawa put his arm around his shoulders enthusiastically.

"I'm afraid it's not that fast on my end, but you, Kadokawa-senpai, seem to be on the rise."

Tanaka shook his head and smiled modestly.

The number of wins of the two as trainers is almost the same, both very close to 2,000.

After the greetings, Tanaka explained his purpose.

"Menbie Future Star?"

As if recalling some bad memories, Kadokawa frowned slightly.

"It just so happens that I don't have any good two-year-olds here, so just sign up."

But soon, he waved his hand and agreed.

Tanaka breathed a sigh of relief.

"This time, it's finally done."

The problem of the number of people leaving was solved in this way.

"Remember to buy me a drink after you win the game, you lucky bastard!"

When leaving, Kadokawa gave his blessing with a smile and scolding.

Back at the stables, Tanaka locked himself in the cramped lounge.

Although there is still more than a month to go before the competition, we have to make plans regarding the riders early.

The owner of the Kitano horse not only gave the green light to the recommended rider Hattori, but also gave him the specific task of appointing the rider.

According to convention, Ochiai, who is the main rider of both horses, will have priority in choosing the rider.

Then, ask the Hattori rider to ride the remaining horse.

The so-called saddle arrangement usually involves this situation.

There is not a very obvious difference in strength between Mejiro Baima and Mejiro Sakuya, so there is no consideration of the so-called difference between the main general and the deputy general.

Following convention is undoubtedly the safest option.

After picking up the phone, Tanaka suddenly hesitated again.

On this matter, the trainer's position is consistent with that of the horse owner.

Their common goal is to help the two horses get higher rankings and better prizes as much as possible.

For this reason, careful consideration must be given to the selection of riders.

Ochiai, who is able to keenly seize opportunities and take advantage of the game, is paired with Medaipei, who is quick-witted and has a strong fighting spirit.

Hattori, who is excellent in whip skills and experienced, is more suitable for Mejiro Sakuya, who is slow but can make good use of his leg strength.

But this is just an ideal situation.

The breeding of racehorses requires compromise, their training requires compromise, their racing requires compromise, and even when selecting riders, compromise is unavoidable.

The interpersonal relationship between the owner, the stable, and the rider is usually the first thing to consider.

As for the degree of compatibility between man and horse, it is actually of secondary importance.

It would be nice if the owner of the North Wild Horses specifically named it.

Tanaka couldn't help but think with some distress.

He first called Ochiai.

"Two horses leaving at the same time, are they not the future stars?"

On the other end of the phone, Ochiai sounded a little surprised.

Having two horses ridden by the main force run in the same race means having to choose between them.

Although powerful riders at the central government often face similar troubles, such situations are actually not very common for local riders.

Even horses of the same strength and from the same stable are often assigned to different main riders by trainers for various reasons.

"Can you give me some time to think about it, Master?"

Ochiai didn't rush to answer.

"no problem."

Tanaka agreed readily, but after putting down his phone, he couldn't help but sigh.

It's become a slightly more complicated situation.

Then the other side.

"No problem, leave it to me."

On the other hand, things went quite smoothly for Hattori Rider.

Neither Mejiro Baima nor Mejiro Sakuya had any objection to the request for replacement.

After hanging up the phone, the arrangements for Menbie's future star came to an end for the time being.

On the other side, Ochiai's moment of decision has just begun.

After leaving Tanaka's stable, Kitano returned home.

Although there is no need to open for business or make medical appointments, there are not many places to go.

In this town, the bus only runs every two hours, there is only one McDonald's in the entire town, and most entertainment is related to horse racing.

I took off my shoes at the entrance, and the faded wind chimes shook, making a hoarse sound.

After closing the door, the gradually fading chirping of cicadas suddenly disappeared from my ears.

The heat can still be clearly felt, but the elements of summer are fading away little by little.

After opening the refrigerator and pouring a cup of iced barley tea, Kitano picked up the new issue of "Youjun".

It’s only August, but we can already feel the atmosphere of a game that will be held two months later.

Of course, it’s not [NEXT STAR].

[Arc de Triomphe] is an overseas event held on the same day as [NEXT STAR Gate].

Kitano looked at the introduction of the Arc de Triomphe in the magazine with great interest.

The 2400-meter outer grass track at the Paris-Longchamp Racecourse is said to have been the gathering place of the long-cherished wishes of countless Japanese horse lovers over the years.

Kitano didn't have any special feelings about this.

Turning to the page introducing the track, he rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

For a moment, I even suspected that there was a misprint in the magazine.

In the provided track profile, both the uphill and downhill sections are really too exaggerated.

Being used to seeing sand tracks with almost no ups and downs and simple bends, it is almost impossible to imagine what a track with complex ups and downs like this would be like.

However, with the help of the modern Internet, a lot of relevant information was quickly found.

The cross-section drawing in the magazine was indeed correct.

I even felt a shock far greater than the information on paper when watching a video introducing the actual event.

For such a "majestic" track, people have challenged it since the time when information was far less developed than it is today and ordinary Japanese even found it difficult to travel abroad.

I don't know whether to call such a guy a warrior or an arrogant idiot.

After closing the magazine, Kitano took the opportunity to search for information about other stadiums.

The results were an eye-opener for him.

The tracks in the United States are in a similar situation to those in Menbie.

The changes are simple, without any obvious ups and downs.

The situation in Europe is much more complicated.

It is even difficult to find two racecourses with similar track designs.

Even in China, several central-level competition venues have their own characteristics.

Before this, this was completely unimaginable.

Kitano even thought that the stadiums in various places should look similar.

If you sign up for competitions held in other venues with this idea in mind, you might suffer a great loss.

"Sure enough, there is still a lot to learn."

If the system had the ability of [Track Knowledge], Kitano would probably have a status like "[Track Knowledge]↑" hanging above his head at this moment.

Chapter 49 NS Discussion

"Then, let's get started."

Kitano said as he waved his hand to drive away the mosquitoes in front of him.

Sitting in a circle around him were the representative of the production ranch, Ogawa Jo, and the two riders, Tanaka and Hattori, from the trainer's side, and Ochiai.

It was a Sunday evening in late September.

The location was the lounge of Tanaka Stable.

For five adult men, such a narrow space is really inconvenient.

However, none of them looked too concerned.

On the small whiteboard at the back of the lounge, the words "Strategy Discussion Meeting - NS Department" were written crookedly.

If you know nothing about horse racing, you might mistake these people for employees of Ren○Dong.

In fact, NS is the abbreviation of NEXT STAR.

What these guys were preparing to discuss was the escape strategy for the huge reward [Future Star - Menbie] in the near future.

Rather than the sales status of handheld game consoles in different regions.

Because it was a huge reward, both sides took a more serious attitude.

It's not appropriate to have a relaxed discussion in an izakaya like the first time.

Although in Kitano's opinion, it's not as good as an izakaya.

"How is the horse's condition?"

After the meeting started, Tanaka first asked the question that he was most concerned about.

"When Pegasus was weighed yesterday, he weighed 474 kilograms, two kilograms heavier than before the last competition."

Xuhe Zhang responded confidently.

“Both physically and mentally, I am ready for the competition, and I can feel the momentum in training.”

After a month of rest, Medairo did not become relaxed.

On the contrary, one can feel a sense of eagerness to try whether in training or grazing.

Not only did he successfully eliminate the fatigue accumulated from the continuous competitions in the past period of time, but he also made further progress in horse fitness.

Although, it might be a little slow.

Tanaka nodded.

"Sakuya has also adjusted to a state suitable for the competition."

Ogawa continued.

Kitano rubbed his fingertips subconsciously.

Is it possible for Mejiro Sakuya to withstand such a change in the rhythm of the game, running away with a huge reward after only having one match experience?

He still has doubts about this.