Roster and Question Marks

Third and sixth.

Even with Mr. Yutaka Take in the saddle, in what could at least be called a popular entry based on the parade ring response, they still failed to win.

In the final year of his training career, Matoba's win total stopped at the bleak figure of "0."

Yet the trainer himself wore a rare look of relief.

After the master trainer and Mr. Yutaka Take each gave remarks on behalf of the trainers and jockeys, Matoba walked onto the stage amid sparse applause from the stands.

Without mentioning his glorious career as a jockey or the trainer career that had just come to an end, the trainer retiring today simply put on his glasses and took a long handwritten list from his pocket.

The late Trainer Okubo and Trainer Gohara, the owners he had worked with, stable hands, farriers, veterinarians, and even the apprentice jockeys who had assisted with morning training.

Without any flowery words, Matoba merely offered the simplest thanks to everyone on the list.

The moment he heard his name called, Representative Taniguchi beside him gave a slight bow toward the stage.

In this day and age, when owners increasingly valued win rates—especially graded-stakes and Grade One win rates—as grounds for choosing a stable, most trainers inevitably entertained similar thoughts—

They persuaded owners to transfer out horses with unsatisfactory results and tried to bring in as many promising two-year-olds as possible.

Matoba, who accepted unfashionably bred horses sent by small owners without complaint, as well as local transfers with poor-looking records and returning horses that had suffered serious injuries, was practically the model of someone "going against the times."

Even so, for all the care Matoba and his stable staff had given them over this not-so-long period, there was only gratitude.

In Zhibao's case, it