Best breeding farm.
Best horse owner.
None of these awards had anything to do with Koichi, of course, but he recognized plenty of the people who went up to accept them. After all, the Club Line dominated every year now.
Stallions with strong domestic records were all sent to Shadai's Stallion Station, while Shadai itself had a large number of high-quality broodmares.
It also had several major clubs under its umbrella.
In this era, the Club Line could be said to dominate the domestic horse racing industry.
But for jockeys, it all amounted to the same thing. As long as they had the ability, they could rely on the Shadai Line.
Koichi Sasaki was a perfect example.
Although he had never had particularly close ties with Shadai before, he had the ability and had brought Gentildonna to prominence, generating enormous profits for Shadai.
Applause.
Listen to a speech, then applaud again.
The attendees naturally showed these big names plenty of respect. Whatever else might be said, they were among the leading figures in the industry.
It was such a small circle that everyone was bound to cross paths regularly.
Koichi had also grown used to the rhythm of the ceremony.
The jockeys still had to wait until later.
"Next, we have this year's jockey awards."
Only when the host said those words did Koichi's eyes light up.
Finally.
Ryuji Wada, sitting beside him, patted him on the shoulder.
He had noticed long ago that Koichi was getting impatient.
When Koichi debuted in 2011, he had competed in too few races. Although he had won plenty of major events, his overall numbers still fell short.
This year, restrictions involving the tracks still meant Koichi had not competed in many races, but he had certainly made considerable progress compared with before.
In