Lances Raised

Twenty minutes before the race, at 2:40 p.m. Hong Kong local time.

"Wonderful, Representative Kitano!"

The moment they stepped onto the central grass of the parade ring, they ran into a top-hatted gentleman who looked as though he had rushed over from the Epsom Derby.

Correction: that was Mr. Taniguchi from Afilido Farm.

With bloodshot eyes wide open, Mr. Taniguchi excitedly held up his phone.

"The Best-Looking Horse Award is ours!"

"Huh? Really?"

As an unprecedented three-year-old taking on older horses in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Cup, Baozuo ranked only sixth in parade-ring popularity among the eight runners, despite having his previous Breeders' Cup performance as a reference.

"On the way here, I saw quite a lot of fan merchandise for that boy!"

As he said this, Representative Taniguchi pointed toward the railing beyond the wall.

Looking in the direction of his finger, they indeed saw many young racing fans wearing the supporter T-shirts the farm had launched this year.

There were even Mejiro-branded horse plushies placed along the railing, released by NAR and JRA or handmade by fans.

And Equinox shirts, like the ones they had once seen at Li Muhua's horse-racing-themed shop.

Perhaps Baozuo had won the Best-Looking Horse Award partly because he resembled that world champion horse in appearance.

Though in terms of temperament, Baozuo was clearly much naughtier.

Just as they thought that, an incredible commotion came from the concrete tunnel at the far end of their sight.

Almost dragging the lead rope forward of his own accord, the dark bay horse bounced onto the parade-ring track.

The way he shook his head and looked from side to side was like a college student who had wandered into a cram school class by mistake.

Still, he was much younger than his older rivals, who were