On Monday, Koichi treated his seniors to a meal.
They had plenty to talk about, though the main topics were the upcoming Yasuda Kinen and Takarazuka Kinen.
Unfortunately, Koichi had nothing to do with the first of those, the Yasuda Kinen.
He rarely received offers for sprint races these days. Most were for distances of two thousand or twenty-four hundred meters.
Getting to compete in HNK last time had already been a stroke of luck.
After treating everyone on Monday, he took Tuesday off and packed his things on Wednesday.
They would be staying near Hanshin Racecourse next.
Saki Ikegami had already found him a hotel in Osaka, and the trip from Osaka would not take too long.
With all that taken care of, he had just one thing left to do.
Beep, beep, beep-
Koichi watched Gold Ship and One-Way Passage being unloaded from the horse transport truck.
Having had enough rest, the two were about to board a plane and fly straight back to Hokkaido.
It was not their first flight, so air travel was nothing unfamiliar to them. All the preparations had already been completed.
Tobito Yamana and Mirai were already aboard the plane.
Neigh, neigh-
Secured inside a small stall, Gold Ship looked around.
They were being lifted steadily higher.
The staff were extremely careful, too. In their eyes, these racehorses were worth astronomical sums.
By comparison, One-Way Passage was much quieter.
After quite some time, both horses were loaded into the plane's specially arranged cargo hold.
Snacks, feed, and water had naturally all been prepared for them inside.
The flight from Tokyo to Hokkaido would still take a while, and Aoe Ranch had arranged for another horse transport truck to wait at the airport.
Hokkai Ranch had a horse transport truck of its own, but