Hanshin Racecourse
The fallout surrounding Golden Masterpiece still lingered, but racing back home remained fiercely competitive.
After such a long break, the unbeaten two-time Classic winner Gold Ship returned to the track.
This time, however, there was a different jockey aboard.
Gentildonna had also just contested her Shuka Sho prep race, defeating her rivals once again to take first place.
She was now preparing for the third leg of the fillies' Triple Crown.
Gold Ship was the undisputed favorite.
The second favorite was Shasta Mountain, who had competed in the Takarazuka Kinen and finished fifth.
Yuga Kawada was once again riding.
His performances lately had been quite impressive, particularly his strength when driving a horse forward.
The third favorite was a racehorse that had run in the Derby alongside Gold Ship. Despite a poor showing last time out, the horse still ranked third in the betting this time.
The jockey had also changed from Katsumi Ando to Yoshifumi Shibai.
Although the strongest horses from the Derby were all resting, the jockey lineup was still as strong as ever.
Yutaka Take, Fukunaga, Iwata, and Wada were all there.
During their casual conversation, they also brought up Koichi Sasaki, who was far away in Europe.
"Aoe Ranch really has gone all in this time."
"This is a good thing for Sasaki, too. However you look at it, he's learned a lot more about the courses over this period."
Yuichi Fukunaga spoke.
During his downtime, he had also watched a compilation of Koichi Sasaki's races in Europe.
"We should let Take weigh in. Of all of us, he has the most experience."
Of their group, Yutaka Take had competed in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe the most times.
Yuga Kawada joined them as well. The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe was certainly