On the last Sunday of March, a morning when spring, at least by feel, was drawing to a close.
Honshu's seasons had quietly moved toward early summer. Walking outside no longer brought the chill of winter.
On the way from the airport to the racecourse in a rented car, instead of chatting with the Trainer or gathering information about the race as usual, he passed the time searching for things that seemed unrelated.
It was said that Japan had called April 1st April Fool's Day since the Taisho era.
For Japanese people, who were not especially good at jokes, the idea that "April 1st is a day to joke around as much as you like" was still hard to call a social consensus.
In the past, April 1st had been called Disloyalty Day, a day for people to reflect on their usual rude words and behavior.
"So, rather than an April Fool's joke, it was probably a rare bit of heartfelt honesty."
Remembering the scene from a few days ago, when they had hosted Ryan Moore, the Jockey, he could not help thinking that.
The request for Little Light's ride had come from Ryan Moore, the Jockey, himself.
He had certainly been pleased, but he had not agreed on the spot.
In fact, quite a few Trainers had already made similar requests before this.
But while the concern with finding a stable was "putting that child somewhere she could bring out her talent," as an owner, the concern was more along the lines of "entrusting her to a Trainer and Jockey who could handle her."
Still, even Ikee, who managed relatively few horses, and Wada, one of the new generation of Horse-First Principle believers, would be hard-pressed to devote much energy over the next few years to caring for a