Waiting in the Morning Mist

It was the early hours of the morning in France.

After landing at Paris's Charles de Gaulle Airport, I went straight to the rental car I had booked in advance.

On the drive to Deauville, I used my phone to contact the team, who were already awake—or, more likely, had not slept all night.

The target was the Prix Jacques Le Marois, held this afternoon, August 12.

At the barrier draw a few days earlier, our team had drawn gate six in a field of six.

Even in a straight-course race with no turns, that could hardly be called a favorable draw.

It was not a glaring disadvantage, but in straight-course races, a horse drawn in that position often depended heavily on how the horse in the neighboring gate performed.

And gate five belonged to Electric Rabbit, from the Coolmore team.

After watching the draw on my phone that day, I had briefly considered withdrawing from the race.

But Yutaka Take sent a message saying, "We still have a chance to win from that gate," and the advisers remained largely positive. For the time being, I put the idea of withdrawing aside.

Baozuo had completed his final Timed Workout at Chantilly five days earlier, on Tuesday, ahead of the team's main target for the second half of the year.

"Finish his preparations in the United Kingdom before considering the trip over."

That was the jockey's advice.

Newmarket, he reasoned, had better facilities for hill training and all-weather track work.

Chantilly, where Baozuo would stay after arriving in France, did have a 4,000-meter straight incline called Lion's Hill. But it was not particularly steep, and the training load it could provide was limited.

Baozuo was also the type who needed time to adjust to a change of surroundings.

To avoid fluctuations