Hokkaido Horse Racing Story

Both mentally and physically.

Before leaving the house, I took out a can of coffee from the refrigerator.

It's great that it's still in stock.

Outside the house, the sky is a light lake blue, like the clear color of paint dissolved in water.

The weather has gradually become cooler from hot, and I opened the window while starting the pickup truck.

There were few vehicles on the asphalt road, and it didn't take long to reach Menbie.

Of course, the so-called "not taking long" is only based on the standards of a rural place like Hokkaido.

In Tokyo, an hour's drive is definitely not considered "short".

After parking the car, I successfully entered the racecourse through a special passage for people with connections.

As he approached Tanaka's stable, Kitano was slightly surprised by the scene in front of him.

The open space outside the stable was filled with flower baskets of various styles.

It looks like it just opened.

By the way, when he first took over the clinic, the number of flower baskets he received was roughly the same size as it is now.

"Mr. Kitano!"

Tanaka, who was inside the stable, came over with a greeting.

"These were just sent by people with connections in the industry."

He pointed at the flower basket and said with a smile.

Send flower baskets to the winners——

Although this behavior has not yet become a custom or a routine, it is indeed quite common among familiar horse owners.

Especially among the older generation of horse owners.

Kobayashi, the stable attendant, compared the names on the sides of the flower baskets and whispered something to Lakshmi, the stable attendant, in broken English.

The latter kept nodding his head, and occasionally exclaimed "how awesome" once or twice.

Even Tanaka was a little surprised when he saw the flower basket for the first time.

Although it was expected, the influence of this title was still underestimated.

The thing closest to Kitano's eyes was the flower basket sent by Nishiken and Xinsheng Ranch.

Already very familiar.

Attached to the bottom of the flower basket are handwritten blessings from the representatives of the two ranches, Takeshi Ogawa and Kimura.

As the representative of the production side, Kimura solemnly thanked everyone in the camp.

Then, there is the flower basket from the symbolic pasture.

Once upon a time, the Symbol Ranch and Mejiro Ranch had an "alliance" relationship.

However, after Kitano's great-grandfather Toyokichi passed away, this relationship gradually became distant.

He learned this by accident while studying the bloodlines of racehorses.

Unlike Mejiro Ranch, which has completely gone bankrupt and disbanded, the symbolic glory has continued into the 21st century.

However, it seems that it has reached the point where it can only barely maintain itself.

"Next time when the ranch produces the best horses, we'll also give them flower baskets."

Coming back to his senses from his thoughts, Kitano turned his head and looked at the next one.

【Xishan Ranch】

【Representative Shigeyuki Nishiyama】

The image of an old man immediately emerged in my mind.

In fact, he had already met this famous horse owner and producer through a previous communication on a social platform.

Even after the victory last night, Mr. Xishan sent his congratulations early through social media.

"We must not forget about Xishan Ranch either."

Although I haven’t become a JRA horse owner yet, necessary interpersonal communication is still necessary.

This is exactly what is meant by "from the Zhongyuan Festival to the end of the year".

Then, there is a wicker flower basket made of white roses and green chrysanthemums, which looks quite delicate.

【Yokoyama Norihiro】

I do have some vague memories of this name.

That was almost ten years ago.

I vaguely remember that it was a funeral.

Then, he looked at the last flower basket in front of the stable.

His eyes froze slightly.

"Well, this should be able to be sent back, right?"

Kitano said, pointing to the location of the flower basket.

"Mr. Kitano?"

Tanaka on the side seemed a little stunned.

He seemed to want to say something, but he didn't open his mouth.

"Lakshmi."

Tanaka waved to the Indian stable boy and whispered a few instructions to him.

Lakshmi nodded and picked up the flower basket he pointed to.

As I walked along the road, I looked at the words on the flower basket with some curiosity.

【Nobuchi Iwasaki】

For his current level of Japanese, this level of Chinese characters is still too complicated.

Lakshmi shook her head.

"Mr. Kitano, do you know the symbol of Sirius?"

After watching Lakshmi leave with the flower basket, Tanaka suddenly spoke.

"Ah, that Derby horse."

Kitano quickly recalled the relevant information.

Father Mogami, mother's dagger is a Derby horse from Pasolong.

It seems that he has left no famous descendants.

"It would be great if Mr. Kitano knew."

Tanaka's tone was a little slow: "Sirius Symbol is really a racehorse with great potential."

He stared into Kitano's eyes and continued.

Then, it quickly returned to normal.

"Thank you, Master Tanaka, for the reminder."

Kitano smiled.

As a Derby horse, the Sirius symbol does carry a lot of people's expectations.

However, in the conflict between the horse owner Hiroshi Wada and the trainer Toshio Nihonyanagi, the symbol of Sirius unfortunately became a victim.

Tanaka gave a subtle reminder in this roundabout way.

After all, it is indeed a very bad behavior.

However, as early as when he was preparing to become a horse owner, Kitano had already made plans to completely break off with Mr. Iwasaki.

The relationship between water and oil is the best description of the relationship between the two parties.

As to why this is so.

It is nothing more than confidants colluding with outsiders and subordinates rebelling against their superiors, which has been a very common occurrence throughout history.

Kitano does not have much ill will towards Iwasaki Shinmichi himself.

Even without the other party's instigation, Mejiro Shoji had already reached a point where it could no longer continue.

At best, what he did was just to speed up the sinking of the old giant ship "Mejiro".

However, this does not mean that Kitano will easily forget.

In order to earn enough tuition, I once had the experience of wearing a doll costume and holding a billboard for several hours on the streets of Shibuya in the summer.

Even if it is just for those days of sweating profusely, it is impossible to let the past grudges flow away like water.

Of course, he is not a fool who is blinded by hatred.

If Iwasaki became a big shot after taking over the original ranch, he would have to deal with it even if he was reluctant.

However, things did not turn out that way.

Although there have been some improvements, the ranch is still in a "more or less the same" state after the change of ownership.

In this way, there is naturally no reason to be hypocritical.

Chapter 55 Tanaka's Concept

It is said that the celebration banquet was often visited by other riders and trainers, and Kitano received a very warm welcome on his first visit.

"cheers!"

Sitting down in the private room, everyone raised their glasses.

The atmosphere is harmonious yet polite.

There will always be people in the world who try to use impolite behavior to show the intimacy of their relationship with others.

But being rude is just being rude, nothing more.

Once the relationship becomes close, getting along with each other will naturally become easier.

As for things like names or actions, they are just a continuation of this.

In order to make up for his mistake of not going to watch the game in person last night, Mr. Kimura took the initiative to perform a stand-up manzai.

Regardless of whether they understood or not, everyone laughed along.

Just then, the barbecue arrived.

Everyone first crowded aside and took a group photo.

After that, not many people actually turned their chopsticks to the expensive barbecue.

The so-called celebration banquet is actually something like this.

Or rather, most banquets in the world are like this.

Everyone was chatting quietly with the people next to them, occasionally raising their glasses.

"JBC turns two next month. With Sakuya's abilities, maybe we can give it a try."

Halfway through the banquet, Tanaka suddenly lowered his voice and spoke into Kitano's ear.

Like spies exchanging information.

Kitano looked sideways.

Tanaka didn't look like he was joking, and his eyes looked very serious as he held the wine glass.

As the person involved, he stretched out his chopsticks at this time.

He went around the neatly cut fish fillet and grabbed the snow-white radish underneath.

When reviewing the game last night, a vague idea emerged in Tanaka's mind.