Hanshin Racecourse.
April.
Compared with Tokyo, the cherry blossoms naturally bloomed a little earlier here in Hanshin.
Koichi had come to the training grounds with Gentildonna for her final tune-up. This time, he could clearly feel that she was in much better form than she had been for her last race.
The journey toward the Triple Crown began here.
The final weight updates and starting stall assignments had also been completed.
Although both of the Sunday Club's racehorses had lost in the Tulip Sho, that had not affected their popularity for the Oka Sho.
Life Is Fun remained the favorite, while Gentildonna was still the second favorite.
Everyone still had plenty of confidence in these two racehorses.
The Oka Sho had a full field of eighteen racehorses. Apart from a few entrants selected by lottery, the rest were all very strong.
For example, the third favorite, No One but Me, had lost only to Life Is Fun in last year's Grade 1 race for mares and had already won a Grade 2 race this year.
That racehorse was naturally one of their main rivals, too.
Gentildonna's final tune-up this time was also being conducted alongside Life Is Fun.
And Yuichi Fukunaga was, of course, still in the other saddle.
Both of them had been specifically targeted in their previous race. This time, Fukunaga and Koichi naturally hoped to redeem themselves on a bigger stage.
"She really is in great form."
Life Is Fun's trainer spoke.
They had indeed tuned up together before races in the past. It offered a chance to see how strong your opponent was and figure out how to respond.
"Last time, the main problem was that she hadn't recovered her form quickly enough after her fever. Hopefully, she can show her true ability in this race."