Interview Room
"This is Official TV. Beside me is Koichi Sasaki, the winning jockey of this year's Arima Kinen champion. Sasaki, you put in a terrific performance today."
"Golden Masterpiece really is an incredibly strong racehorse."
Since Koichi had only been at Nakayama Racecourse for this short stretch, he was not very familiar with the host conducting this interview.
"Yes, Golden Masterpiece was incredibly strong today."
Koichi nodded, then answered.
"Could you feel how strong Golden Masterpiece was just from riding him?"
The male host asked.
The horses in this Arima Kinen had all been formidable contenders.
Yet Golden Masterpiece had still won by nearly a length despite being relentlessly targeted at the start.
That was an extremely rare sight in the entire history of domestic horse racing.
"Yes, Golden Masterpiece was in excellent form today. You could say he was at his peak."
Koichi replied.
This distance was just right for Golden Masterpiece.
And during the period since he had resumed training, Golden Masterpiece had been brought into very good form.
His performance this time had also lived up to the support he received as the favorite.
"What were you thinking right at the start, Sasaki?"
That was something everyone was very curious about.
Almost all the horses had moved to box Golden Masterpiece in at the start.
"I was somewhat mentally prepared at the start. When we were boxed in at the back, I just kept telling myself to be patient and look for an opportunity later."
Koichi thought for a moment before answering.
Heart's Sincere had not set a particularly fast pace, and everyone had been planning to settle the race on the final straight.
But the other jockeys probably had not expected him to make his move in the latter half of the third turn.
"And