The wind and snow continued outside.
Koichi sat in the office, looking over the latest performance reports.
Heavy snow would cut off the mountain tomorrow, and he had little else to do. Rather than sit around, he might as well review the ranch's recent business reports.
With winter setting in over the past few months, the ranch was bound to be operating at a loss.
Things would be better once spring came next year.
The ranch's biggest expense was naturally the racehorses. Their daily feed bills alone were high, and all the specialized heating equipment cost money to run, too.
Grass and other supplies also had to be brought in from outside.
The computer in front of him was connected to the cameras in the ranch's stable.
From here, he could see exactly what the racehorses were doing in their stalls.
Epiphaneia was fairly well-behaved. When he had nothing to do, he liked standing by the window and watching the snowy scenery outside.
Gold Ship had a much fuller schedule.
Admiring the scenery, eating, rolling around, and staring at One-Way Passage.
While Koichi relaxed in the office, everyone at the ranch was preparing for the New Year.
Today was the first day of the new year.
Once the snow stopped, the ranch staff quickly began clearing the roads.
The snow would only pile up deeper. Unless they cleared it quickly, walking around would become difficult later.
After finishing the reports, Koichi checked Sweetie's camera feed.
Compared with Divine Might and Ship, she was much more settled.
The vet at Aoe Ranch now examined her regularly, too.
She was at particular risk of giving birth prematurely right now.
Premature birth was certainly nothing good for a racehorse.
They had to minimize the risk of anything going wrong.
Ding, ding, ding-
A