The Troubles of a Luxurious Time

For the moment, I shifted my gaze away from the results board and toward the bay horse walking toward the unsaddling area.

Though it looked like a race that had not taken much out of him, we would have to wait for the veterinarian's examination to know for certain.

More than the race itself, the first thing to consider when choosing his next start was how much this race had taken out of him.

At a time when my head was filled with such worries—worries far too luxurious for most private owners still struggling to escape the maiden ranks.

"This child would have no problem with either the Two Thousand Guineas or the Derby."

The one wearing such a confident expression was Manon from the farm.

Even Wada, who had kept his lips tightly pressed together before the race, looked relieved and smiled as he led Sawin back.

Putting the Guineas aside, Sawin probably could not handle the Derby, right? With that thought in mind, I joined the winning horse photo.

Incidentally, in the past, most stables took these commemorative photos after the post-race weigh-in, saddling the horse again and having the Jockey remount.

However, these days, in races below graded stakes level, most stables use the European style introduced to Japan by former Trainer Fujisawa—rather than saddling up again, the Jockey or Trainer holds the number cloth and stands beside the Racehorse for the photograph.

Apparently, putting the saddle back on a Racehorse that had just been unsaddled and was relaxing could easily cause unnecessary mental stress.

At the same time, pressing a sweat-soaked saddle tightly against a Racehorse still perspiring heavily could also negatively affect it, from a veterinarian's perspective.

And besides—

Making a horse wear its removed saddle again just for a photograph was simply too pitiful.