Riding Choices and Track Knowledge

After seeing Kitano off, Tanaka went to the neighboring Kadowaka Stable.

"You'd better keep pushing, Junji. I had my plaque for two thousand wins prepared at the start of the year."

The moment they met, Trainer Kadowaka enthusiastically threw an arm around his shoulders.

"I'm afraid I won't be getting there that soon. Senior Kadowaka, on the other hand, you look like you're really on a roll."

Tanaka shook his head with a modest smile.

Their win totals as trainers were not far apart, both hovering close to two thousand.

After exchanging pleasantries, Tanaka explained why he had come.

"Monbetsu Future Star?"

As if recalling something unpleasant, Kadowaka frowned slightly.

"I don't have any promising two-year-olds on my side either. Go ahead and enter them."

But he quickly waved a hand and agreed.

Tanaka let out a small sigh of relief.

"That settles it at last."

The matter of entry slots had been resolved just like that.

"After you win, don't forget to buy me a drink, you lucky bastard!"

As Tanaka left, Kadowaka laughed and cursed as he offered his blessing.

Back at the stable, Tanaka shut himself in the cramped break room.

Though there was still more than a month until the race, the jockey issue had to be considered early.

Not only had Owner Kitano given the green light to the recommended Jockey Hattori, he had also entrusted the specific jockey arrangements to Tanaka.

By convention, Ochiai, who served as the regular jockey for both horses, would be given priority in choosing which one to ride.

Then Hattori would be offered the ride on whichever horse remained.

That was usually how riding arrangements worked.

There was no clear difference in ability between Mejiro Tenma and Mejiro Sakuya, so there was no need to distinguish between a lead horse and a secondary one.

Following convention was undoubtedly the safest choice.

Yet after picking up his phone, Tanaka suddenly hesitated again.

On this matter, the trainer's position aligned with the owner's.

Their shared goal was to get both horses as high a placing as possible and secure better prize money.

For that reason, they had to be cautious in choosing jockeys.

Ochiai, who could keenly seize opportunities during a race and adapt well in the saddle, paired well with the quick-witted, fiercely competitive Mejiro Tenma.

Hattori, with his excellent whip work and seasoned experience, was more suited to the somewhat sluggish Mejiro Sakuya, who could nevertheless make good use of her finishing speed.

But that was only the ideal scenario.

Breeding racehorses required compromise, training required compromise, racing required compromise, and even choosing jockeys inevitably required compromise.

The personal relationships between owners, stables, and jockeys usually had to be considered first.

As for compatibility between horse and rider, that instead fell into a relatively secondary position.

If only Owner Kitano had made a clear nomination.

Tanaka could not help thinking with some frustration.

He called Ochiai first.

"Both horses are running in the Monbetsu Future Star?"

Ochiai sounded somewhat surprised on the other end of the line.

Having his two main mounts entered in the same race meant he had no choice but to pick between them.

While top jockeys in the central circuit often faced similar dilemmas, such situations were actually rather uncommon for local jockeys.

Even horses of comparable ability from the same stable and same generation were often assigned by trainers to different regular jockeys for various reasons.

"Can you give me some time to think it over, Master?"

Ochiai did not rush to give an answer.

"No problem."

Tanaka agreed readily, but after putting down his phone, he could not help letting out a sigh.

Things had become a little complicated.

Then there was the other side.

"No problem. Leave it to me."

Things went rather smoothly with Jockey Hattori.

He had no objections to replacing the rider on either Mejiro Tenma or Mejiro Sakuya.

After hanging up, the arrangements for the Monbetsu Future Star were temporarily settled.

On the other side, Ochiai's moment of decision had only just begun.

After leaving Tanaka Stable, Kitano returned home.

He did not need to open for business or make house calls, but there were not many places he could go either.

In a place where there was only one bus every two hours and just one McDonald's in the entire town, most forms of entertainment were related to horse racing.

As he took off his shoes in the entryway, the faded wind chime swayed, making a slightly hoarse sound.

Once he shut the front door, the fading chirp of cicadas vanished from beside his ears.

The summer heat was still clearly present, yet the elements of summer were slowly fading away.

After opening the refrigerator and pouring himself a glass of iced barley tea, Kitano picked up the latest issue of Yushun.

It was only August, but he could already sense the atmosphere surrounding a race two months away.

Of course, it was not [NEXT STAR Monbetsu].

The [Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe], an overseas race held on the same day as [NEXT STAR Monbetsu].

Kitano read the magazine's introduction to the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe with great interest.

ParisLongchamp Racecourse, 2,400 meters on the outer turf course—a place said to have gathered the long-cherished hopes of countless Japanese racing fans over the years.

Kitano himself did not have any particular feelings about it.

When he turned to the page introducing the track, he rubbed his eyes in disbelief.

For a moment, he even suspected the magazine had printed it wrong.

In the course elevation diagram, both the uphill and downhill sections were simply far too exaggerated.

Having grown accustomed to Monbetsu's dirt track, which was almost entirely flat and had simple turns, he could hardly imagine what a course with such complex changes and elevation differences would be like.

But with the help of the modern internet, he quickly found plenty of relevant information.

The diagram in the magazine had indeed been correct.

In fact, a video introducing the actual racecourse left a far greater impression on him than the paper materials had.

For a track grand enough to be called "majestic," people had challenged it long before information was anywhere near as accessible as it was today, in an era when ordinary Japanese people found it difficult even to leave the country.

He did not know whether such people should be called warriors or arrogantly foolish idiots.

After closing the magazine, Kitano took the opportunity to search for information on other racecourses as well.

The results opened his eyes.

Racecourses in the United States were much like Monbetsu.

Their layouts were simple, without any particularly noticeable elevation changes.

Europe, on the other hand, was far more complicated.

It was not even easy to find two racecourses with relatively similar designs.

Even within Japan, the several central racecourses each had their own distinct characteristics.

Before this, he had found that completely unimaginable.

He had even assumed that racecourses everywhere were probably more or less the same.

If he entered races at other venues with that mindset, he might suffer a major loss because of it.

"Sure enough, there's still so much to learn."

If the system had an ability called [Track Knowledge], then Kitano would probably have had a status like "[Track Knowledge] ↑" floating above his head right now.