The Trajectory of a First Run

October passed without incident.

On the final Sunday, instead of heading early to the United States to join the team as usual during an overseas campaign, I set off from Tokyo at dawn for Niigata in Hokuriku.

For the second race at Niigata Racecourse today, a 1,400-meter turf maiden for two-year-olds, I had decided after consulting Trainer Matoba to debut Zhibao here. The jockey would be Yoshida Hayato, the younger brother of trainer Yoshida Yutaka.

Apparently, in early August, shortly after arriving at Miho Tracen to begin training, Zhibao's right foreleg had felt slightly weak when she put weight on it. As the owner, I quickly reached an agreement with the trainer: "Don't force her. Start with light training and build up gradually."

Throughout August, the stable watched her condition while gradually increasing the pace.

She had already received plenty of starting-gate training at Nishiken Farm. After adjustments, her right foreleg improved considerably, and once she had run a lap to warm up, the weakness disappeared.

Though it could not exactly be called smooth sailing, she passed the Central Racing gate test in September, one month after entering the stable, and today she finally faced her first race as a racehorse.

Besides watching as her owner, I also wanted to personally express my gratitude to Trainer Matoba.

Kikuchi and Rachel Ho, who were supposed to be on vacation, had somehow come along as well.

The train was nearly empty in the predawn hours.

I found an empty seat at random and sat down, my body swaying slightly with the vibrations coming through the tracks.

After setting a reminder for when to get off, I closed my eyes and caught up on sleep.

Though the Joetsu Shinkansen ran through Saitama and Gunma, the fact that we had to leave this early