Bernese Mountain Dog

Only leaves remained on the cherry tree beside Minowa Shrine.

Crossing the asphalt road between the farm's south and north barns and passing over the drainage ditch, the yearlings grazing in the pasture came into view on the other side.

He looked down at his watch to check the time.

There was still some time before Ikee's visit.

Even so, he quickened his pace toward the pasture.

Inviting a trainer to the farm at the beginning of April was partly because of Traveler, but more importantly, because of Poetic Banquet.

For yearlings and one-year-olds bought at auction, he tried to use different methods every year for their upbringing until their debut race.

Poetic Banquet, the only horse from this year's two-year-old generation, was also being raised under a new model that differed somewhat from last year's.

In previous years, after being purchased at auction, they would usually first ask Mr. Ogawa to handle the training at Nishiken Farm, but the horses would often be transferred to the racetrack—or rather, to a stable—relatively early.

Monbetsu, where his career as an owner had begun, was one of the few racetracks in the country that accepted racehorses starting from the training stage. To put it more extremely, even horses that had received almost no training after birth, or whose training had been unsatisfactory, could be sent directly to a stable.

The breeding farm handled the practical early upbringing, while the trainer took care of the rest—this had been the basic stable-entry process for an owner operating primarily in local racing over the past several years.

But for central racing owners, things were different.

Normally, after purchasing a yearling at auction, it would first be sent to a training farm to adapt to training.

Horses acquired through the Hokkaido Horse Sale Summer Sale were