The big screen at Rowley Mile was nowhere near as clear as those in Japan, and the crude resolution made it rather hard to see.
Even so, he recognized at a glance the bay figure entering the starting gate.
"Waiting for Hot Spring Ancient Capital to enter the gate—he's in, representing his sire Sea City Star in his final Guineas runner...
"And there's the maiden race winner from Japan, Mejiro Sawin."
Though the broadcast was somewhat distorted, he could roughly understand it from the context. Still, when Sawin's name was mentioned, the local race caller's tone seemed to grow noticeably hesitant.
Before he had time to make a joke about it, the male caller's voice rang out again.
"They're all set, and they're off."
"One mile ahead of them, this is the 222nd running of the Classic, the Group 1 2,000 Guineas Stakes, and they're racing."
As the gates sprang open to a burst of cheers, water and clumps of mud could be seen flying up beneath the horses' hooves on the big screen.
The track conditions really were dreadful. Hot Spring Ancient Capital, who had broken sharply, seized the early lead, while Ancient Town Fine Steed, ridden by Luo Dun and expected to press forward aggressively, offered no resistance and easily yielded the front.
Though the process had differed slightly from expectations, the three Coolmore runners had nevertheless successfully deployed their usual tactics on the Guineas stage.
For the other camps, especially those who had started near the inside rail, that was probably bad news.
But—
In Sawin's case, although he had failed to take the lead immediately out of the gate, Duman Lai decisively chose to tuck in behind on the rail after noticing that Hot Spring Ancient Capital had broken well from the neighboring stall.
If Luo