The First Hit Toward Home Plate

The same day he became a racehorse owner.

To register for central racing, Baozuo had briefly stayed at a Miho stable.

His temperature was fine, sweating and weight loss were not overly pronounced, and his appetite was still improving.

After confirming that, the owner quickly discussed the pre-debut arrangements with the trainer—

They would begin transport to Hokkaido as soon as possible, make a brief adjustment at the branch farm in Yakumo Town, then move into the expedition stables at Sapporo Racecourse.

Normally, transporting racehorses between Honshu and Hokkaido became noticeably more difficult during this season. Whether it was the transport companies or the training farms, scheduling was far more troublesome than usual.

On the other hand, if they waited for the JRA's official horse transport arrangements, that step alone would probably delay them by quite a few days.

Still, compared with the other camps that were generally scrambling about, the first partnership between a novice central racing owner and a novice trainer was fairly composed.

On the day Baozuo's racing registration was completed, the horse transport truck dispatched by Nishiken Farm had already set off back toward Hokkaido.

To ensure safety during transport, Zepp and Kikuchi, both licensed to drive special vehicles, had been pulled away from the busy farm to take turns driving.

That morning, after finishing the main farm's morning work, they hurried to Yakumo Town, several hundred kilometers away.

After several months, the uneven land that had nearly fallen into disuse now held a Western-style building that seemed strangely out of place.

The Yakumo Branch Farm, built as a stopover for racehorses traveling from Honshu.

After parking the pickup and stepping inside, a sense of relief washed over them.

Its size and facilities were still clearly inferior to those of the main farm, but they had