It was the familiar Hanshin Racecourse again, but this time, Gentildonna was not the star of the show.
Compared with the previous race, a noticeably larger crowd had turned out today, and Golden Masterpiece's odds had reached a staggering 1.1.
Those odds alone showed that no one thought Golden Masterpiece would lose this race.
Everyone was eagerly awaiting Golden Masterpiece's first race as a four-year-old.
The training figures released also indicated that Golden Masterpiece had been in excellent form lately.
Although the morning drizzle had left the going less than ideal, Golden Masterpiece was clearly a racehorse who had no fear of heavy ground.
Another factor was Koichi Sasaki's excellent performance in his last few races.
Both horse and jockey were in red-hot form.
The other jockeys knew they would have to target Golden Masterpiece this time, yet he had drawn starting stall twelve.
That draw meant Golden Masterpiece would be running his own race.
It all depended on what Koichi Sasaki chose to do.
With him starting from the outermost stall, they had no way to specifically box him in.
"Sasaki, you'll have to go easy on us this time."
Ryuji Wada spoke with a smile.
It was not just the spectators. Even they felt their own horses had no chance of beating Golden Masterpiece.
"Actually, Golden Masterpiece really isn't in very good form today."
Koichi, who had just changed into his racing silks, gave a wry smile.
Sometimes, keeping expectations low meant avoiding disappointment. Golden Masterpiece really could spring a nasty surprise.
Still, he felt Gold Bureau would be relatively obedient today. After all, they had more or less negotiated the terms already.
Carrots were still fairly effective.
"Sasaki's pretending to be the underdog again."
Yuichi Fukunaga chimed in.
None of the horses entered in this Hanshin Daishoten