The Training Center.
"Happy New Year."
"Happy New Year."
On the second day after New Year's, Koichi was already back at work.
"Are you here to train some new racehorses?"
Megumi Mitsumori stopped cleaning the stable.
"What else? If I weren't working, I wouldn't be here this early. Everyone else's holidays aren't even over, but we already have to start training for the first week's races."
Koichi had changed into his training clothes as well.
There were quite a few major races in the first week.
He would be riding many of those horses for the first time, so naturally, he had to come to the Training Center to get acquainted with them beforehand.
"There's really no such thing as time off in our line of work. Besides, if we have time to rest, it just means we aren't good enough, and the days are slipping away fast."
Megumi rolled her eyes as she spoke.
After all, she now had quite a few people she could call on.
And whenever she had time, she had to visit the Training Ranch or the breeding ranches to check on the horses that would be joining her stable.
The one she looked forward to most was Man o' War.
When Koichi first bought him, she hadn't thought much of him. But the Training Ranch's current assessments had raised her expectations considerably, and his distance aptitude seemed to be pretty much what Koichi had predicted.
"Is Man o' War's stall ready?"
"Of course. Xiaoman is going to be the star of my stable's two-year-olds."
Megumi said it with a smile.
She also intended to find time to visit Xiaoman at the Training Ranch again.
She didn't have many races to arrange lately. Epiphaneia and Gold Ship were both on vacation, while her other horses