After the Turf Mile Champion Cup ended, Luo Fei, Liu Shixing, the trainer, and the jockey first took photos, then attended a press conference and answered questions.
Back at the hotel, after savoring the outstanding racehorses of the Founding Celebration Series for a while, Zhang Jun decided to speed up his plans to open a ranch. He would buy more race-ready horses from various places, earn prize money, and buy a ranch.
He turned on his computer and logged into the East China online secondhand horse trading platform, planning to see whether the used-horse market had any overlooked gems that had been entered in the wrong surface or distance, or ridden with the wrong racing style.
Every country had a secondhand horse market, though the format differed. In the United States, it took the form of races: horses put up for sale ran in a race, and owners watched before bidding.
Huaxia was similar to Japan, with a dedicated online trading platform. The difference was that Japan's platform only provided photos and videos for viewing, while Huaxia's platform also held livestreams like an auction, allowing bidders to observe the horses more closely.
Because Huaxia was so large, every geographical region had its own online trading platform. Buyers could view every secondhand horse on the platform or select an individual province to look at its horses separately.
There were three online trading sessions each month, one every ten days, held on the sixth, sixteenth, and twenty-sixth. Horses entering the auction were registered and handed over to the local Horse Racing Association on the third and fourth of each month, while the auction list and livestream were released on the fifth.
Purchased horses were transported by province on the transport planes of the regional racing branches under Huaxia's local Horse Racing Associations, flown together to each province's capital. Buyers then had to arrange horse transport themselves, though those living far from the provincial capital could also rent planes from the provincial racing branch.
After logging in, Zhang Jun checked the October auction list for secondhand horses in East China. East China had a total of 150,000 racehorses, but most horses listed on the secondhand trading platform were poor performers. There were currently 245 secondhand horses listed for October.
Zhang Jun selected mares of all ages and two- and three-year-old colts in the filter options.
If a four-year-old racehorse matured early, it had already passed its peak. Even if he bought one, it would not be able to race much longer. A two-year-old, at least, could still race throughout its three-year-old season.
As for three-year-olds, most were still at their peak. With some adjustment this year, they could race for at least half a year at four, and those with longer peak periods could race for a full year without issue.
He selected all mares because he wanted to find mares with decent breeding attributes to serve as the core broodmares once he opened his ranch. He could keep them at Jianzhou Ranch or with Luo Heng for now and breed them next year.
This September, Jianzhou Ranch's breeding department had expanded, adding three eighteen-stall barns. Luo Fei had allocated one of them to Luo Heng and given him a sum of money to choose mares and stallions for breeding himself, allowing him to gain experience for eventually taking over Jianzhou Ranch's breeding department.
Luo Fei had promised in advance that all proceeds from the sale of foals bred by Luo Heng would belong to Luo Heng. He could also rent out stalls to earn money, though he would be responsible for paying the stablehands' wages himself.
By placing his broodmares with Luo Heng, Zhang Jun could rest assured about their safety, help Luo Heng earn some boarding fees, and fill out the barn. Luo Heng currently only had one mare Luo Fei had given him, and she was terribly lonely.
After looking through the listings, Zhang Jun narrowed the field to fifteen racehorses based on the attributes shown by the system panel. Eight were mares with fairly good breeding attributes. Their displayed foaling attributes all reached five points, with two reaching six.
The mares whose foaling attributes were not displayed still had a positive genetic factor under their breeding traits. They were excellent mares capable of establishing a trait-based female line for the ranch.
As for the colts, Zhang Jun selected two-year-olds with Speed at E or above and at least one attribute exceeding C, as well as three-year-olds with Speed at E and Late Normal or Late growth types. This ensured they would have at least a year of peak form left to earn prize money.
There were also three colts whose Speed attributes were not displayed, but whose key attributes, such as Burst and Fighting Spirit, exceeded B.
Not long after spending 160,000 to buy Cloudstream Flying Shadow, she won the Jian'an Fillies Championship. The first-place prize was 1.1 million, bringing Zhang Jun 110 points and 610,000 in prize money.
Now that it was October and the January dividend payout was drawing near, Zhang Jun had considerably more available funds. He now had 1.7 million to use.
Zhang Jun planned to spend ninety points to unlock the attributes of these fifteen racehorses, six points per horse. He would keep the remaining twenty points in reserve for the broodmare auction at the end of October.
As for Shadow Hunter and Cloudstream Flying Shadow, the attributes they currently displayed were already sufficient. The two young fillies were still far from their debuts, so there was no rush.
After spending the ninety points, Zhang Jun crossed three colts and four mares off the list of fifteen. Among the three colts, the six newly revealed attributes showed either G- or F-rank Speed, or crucial surface adaptability ratings of X and △. They simply could not run.
As for the four mares, three had originally displayed Bronze Pony breeding traits, but after Zhang Jun unlocked their foaling attributes, all of them were below four points.
The remaining mare had a breeding attribute of six, but her breeding trait was Frailty, a Rainbow Pony trait. Her foals would either have glass legs or problems elsewhere.
Although it could be offset by Shadow Hunter's Health trait, Shadow Hunter's Health trait was not guaranteed to be inherited. Zhang Jun did not want Shadow Hunter's descendants—at least those under his ownership—to be injured, so he ruled her out.
The most outstanding of the remaining eight racehorses was a three-year-old colt named Flying Cloud Colt. Zhang Jun had originally selected him because of his B+-rank Burst and Late Normal growth type. He had not expected the attributes revealed after spending six points to be so exceptional:
[Horse Name: Flying Cloud Colt Sex/Age: Colt, 3 Coat Color: Blue Roan Racing Attributes: Speed: D Strength: A Burst: B+ Flexibility: C Health: B Surface Adaptability: Turf ○, Dirt ◎ Distance: 2000–2500 Growth Type: Late Normal. Breeding Attributes: Foaling: 5 Genetic Trait: Burst (Bronze Pony).]
His D-rank Speed was on the same level as Shadow Hunter's current Speed, and his growth type was Late Normal. It could be said that his potential ceiling was entirely on the same level as Shadow Hunter's. Unfortunately, his trainer had delayed him before, entering him in six or seven short-mile races on turf and dirt. He had not won a single one.
Zhang Jun drew a star beside Flying Cloud Colt's name in his loose-leaf notebook, intending to buy him as the ranch's second breeding stallion.
Of the remaining four mares, three had foaling abilities of five. Their breeding traits were Bronze Pony Speed, Bronze Pony Health, and Iron Pony Burst, respectively.
The final mare had a foaling ability of six, but unfortunately possessed no breeding trait. Zhang Jun still intended to buy her as a broodmare and send her directly to Luo Heng's stable for breeding next year.
Of the three colts, two were two-year-olds. Both had E-rank Speed and Late Normal growth types. Once fully developed, they might reach D-rank Speed. Their other attributes were also quite good; both had simply been entered at the wrong distances.
The last was also a three-year-old colt with a Late Normal growth type, but he had E+-rank Speed. He had merely been given the wrong racing style: with D-rank Burst, he had been run from off the pace. Worse, he had raced in Shandong Province, where both local and central tracks had the longest finishing straights, so he had not won a single race.
However, this chestnut colt named River Moon had extremely high Fighting Spirit at A+, and his preferred racing style was front-running. Zhang Jun had no idea how heartbroken the poor colt must have been after trying so hard and losing five races in a row.
The foaling abilities of these three colts were all rather poor. Zhang Jun decided that after buying them, he would race them until their peak periods ended, then send them to Jianzhou Ranch's retirement branch to retire, or to riding clubs to earn a little of their own retirement money.