Saturday's races were fairly uneventful, with the steeplechase becoming the biggest draw.
Koichi also worked on getting himself into form during his races.
By the afternoon, Koichi was mostly killing time in the jockeys' room.
Still, he had taken all four of his turf races seriously that day.
Two mile races and two middle-distance races.
On dirt, he had ridden in one maiden race.
He had picked up two wins that day, which was a pretty good result for him.
Once his races were over, Koichi spent the afternoon chatting.
There was still a long stretch from that afternoon until tomorrow.
Mostly, the upcoming steeplechases bored him a little. After all, he rode in flat races, knew little about steeplechasing, and did not have the appropriate license.
Naturally, the conversation turned to that week's Satsuki Sho, with everyone predicting who would become its next winner.
"I feel like this Satsuki Sho really will go to one of the top few favorites. An upset doesn't seem very likely."
"I think so too."
"If Sasaki wins this one as well, he really will have pulled off three consecutive titles."
Everyone was rather bored while watching the steeplechases.
Koichi was still wearing his weights.
Neither of the last two races that afternoon involved him, so he had settled down to rest early.
The Satsuki Sho crowned the fastest three-year-old.
The Derby crowned the luckiest three-year-old.
And the Kikuka Sho crowned the strongest three-year-old.
That evening, Koichi picked up a magazine at random and read it for a while, then went to bed early.
Evenings during race meetings were usually dull.
There was little to do, and the other jockeys had all turned in early too.
Naturally, tomorrow's Satsuki Sho mattered even more.
After arriving at the racecourse the next day, Koichi felt