The awards ceremony that followed was brief, with three round trophies-large, medium, and small-set on the podium.
The recipients, however, were rather special.
The jockey was Koichi Sasaki.
The horse trainer was Tadashi Ishisaka.
And the horse owner was the president of the Sunday Club.
His original thinking had been simple: if they failed to win this race, he would just treat it as a sightseeing trip.
But to his surprise, Gentildonna and Koichi Sasaki had won it for him after all.
An offspring of Deep Impact had successfully claimed the Dubai Classic.
That would certainly be good news for their auction that year.
Of course, the biggest boost would go to Gentildonna's maternal line and the offspring of her relatives.
After the awards ceremony, the president chatted with Koichi for quite a while.
Their conversation naturally centered on plans for races in the second half of the year. If possible, he still hoped Koichi Sasaki would keep riding Gentildonna.
But now that this race was over, Gold Ship would be facing Gentildonna in the Takarazuka Kinen.
"Sasaki, we'll continue celebrating in a bit."
"Of course, sir."
Koichi also knew there would definitely be a party that evening.
After saying his piece, the president briefly greeted Saki Ikegami as well.
He still had to return to his family.
"That was amazing, Sasaki. We'll have even more resources available to us now."
Saki Ikegami spoke with a smile.
Their taxpayer-funded trip had come to an end, too. Tomorrow would mostly be devoted to shopping for local specialties to take home, and their flights had already been arranged well in advance.
"Let's watch the race. There's only one left now."
Koichi turned toward the big screen.
He was quite satisfied to have won his first race here. Not only was there a