Kyoto Racecourse.
With dirt races recently added to his schedule, Koichi had arrived even earlier.
On the way, he had checked the latest online comments about the Tenno Sho. Everyone's confidence in Golden Masterpiece left him unsure what to say.
As expected, expectations were still too high. Although the training times had worsened a little, everyone still believed Golden Masterpiece would have an impact on the race.
Perhaps that was also because of the Hanshin Daishoten.
Golden Masterpiece had fought back even under those circumstances. There had been a penalty, but it had not made much difference.
And Koichi's recent results as a jockey had been getting better and better.
Viewed that way, he and Golden Masterpiece really were the strongest pairing in the Tenno Sho.
There was certainly plenty to look forward to.
Yutaka Take was paired with Triumph Ballet, and Yasuo Iwata with Japan Jordan.
A clash of heavyweights.
The only disappointment was that Yuichi Fukunaga was not participating.
But all of that was tomorrow's business. Today's races naturally had less to offer by comparison, and the crowd was not particularly large.
Everyone was saving their energy for tomorrow's Spring Tenno Sho.
They had waited these two weeks for this showdown!
Koichi was no newcomer, either. He was thoroughly familiar with the procedures.
The first day was definitely about finding his form, while his objective was naturally to get the best results he could.
But compared with jockeys who had access to more resources, the horses he was assigned were certainly weaker.
Still, any difference in the horses' ability had to be judged by their performance on the track.
Even excellent training times meant little if their race-day performance was inconsistent.
Of course, it was not impossible for a horse to suddenly deliver an exceptional performance. That was