Nakayama Racecourse.
With racing at Tokyo Racecourse over, Nakayama Racecourse naturally became the next major attraction.
In Kansai, racing was underway at Hanshin Racecourse.
It was now the crucial stretch for the Satsuki Sho and Oka Sho trials.
Koichi had come over from Hanshin Racecourse this time to ride Epiphaneia in the Yayoi Sho.
Epiphaneia was fairly familiar with Nakayama Racecourse, having run an earlier open-class race there. This time, however, the challenge was a two-thousand-meter race.
Koichi would spend the first and second weeks of March at Nakayama, then head back in the third week to ride Gold Ship in the Hanshin Daishoten.
After a period of adjustment, Gold Ship had snapped out of his sulky mood and was working quite hard and earnestly in training.
That had given the team fresh hope.
Since most of the jockeys at Nakayama Racecourse were based in Miho, not many jockeys had come over with Koichi.
The other jockeys had to prepare for the races at Hanshin Racecourse.
Yutaka Take, Ryuji Wada, and Koichi Sasaki.
The three of them had become a little squad of Ritto jockeys.
"How are your preparations going, Sasaki?"
Ryuji Wada had also finished changing into his racing silks.
"I'm ready. I'm still a little nervous about riding Epiphaneia in a race for the first time."
Koichi patted the chair beside him as he spoke.
"If you're nervous, let me ride Epiphaneia next time, then."
Ryuji Wada sat down and laughed.
He wasn't good at handling racehorses like Epiphaneia.
Though jockeys were highly skilled, not every jockey could handle that horse. His own style clearly wasn't a particularly good fit.
"Then you'll have to go head-to-head with Ikezoe first."
Koichi gave him a mischievous grin.
He would be Epiphaneia's main rider during his three-year-old season, but if he