May after the cherry blossoms

I passed through the stable corridor and followed the resin-bound gravel path toward the now-familiar farm lounge.

May stretched before me beneath a cloudless sky.

At the weanling auction that marked the second stop on our Australian trip, I had successfully bought Shirley 2027 for A$91,000, slightly below my expected price.

During the post-auction interview, Mahanya stole some of the limelight beside me, joking, "Now that's a horse Kitano would buy."

After some thought, I ultimately decided to import Dialta 2026 to Japan as a foreign-bred racehorse, while Shirley 2027 would remain in Australia and join Mahanya's stable.

When accompanying us to inspect the horses, Mahanya felt that such an extraordinary physique could yield even greater potential and had high hopes for Shirley 2027.

—Though at their very first meeting, Sherry 27 had spiritedly displayed a temperament that made the Australian trainer frown.

With my first-ever weanling purchase safely entrusted to Mahanya for the time being, the only remaining business from our Australian trip was transporting Dialta 26.

Due to quarantine on arrival, however, it would be at least another month before Dialta 26 officially made an appearance at the farm.

As life gradually settled back into the farm's usual routine, news began trickling in of debut wins for horses belonging to owners I knew.

While sending flower arrangements and congratulations, I couldn't help thinking, So everyone else can win that early, huh?

At present, I did technically have a youngster who counted as a Monbetsu debutant.

But—

According to the feedback from Teacher Tanaka, Mejiro Reikū's retraining was still ongoing.

Although jockey Ishikawa, who had been riding the horse, had suggested that "we could probably start thinking about a debut," Teacher Tanaka still hoped to use this second training phase to get at least the horse's hoof push-off mechanics