July and August flew by, and at the end of August, Epiphaneia successfully returned to the Training Center to begin preparing for the upcoming Kobe Shimbun Hai.
Koichi naturally returned to Hanshin as well, beginning his work at the racecourse for the second half of the year.
The two racecourses open in mid-September were Nakayama and Hanshin.
Koichi's main focus, of course, was on the Kobe Shimbun Hai.
For racehorses based in Kansai, competing in the Kobe Shimbun Hai and the Kikuka Sho was the best arrangement.
Epiphaneia had started his break first and returned first, while Man o' War and Gold Ship would probably both wait until September.
Before the Kobe Shimbun Hai came the Shuka Sho prep race for three-year-old fillies.
Over the past few days, Koichi had been getting rides on Sunday Club horses.
During this stretch when Koichi Sasaki's regular mounts were not racing, most of his working time had been divided among Shadai's various clubs.
Compared with the first half of the year, this happened more often in the second half, and his workload had clearly increased.
Some of the slightly older jockeys rode five or six races a day, while he was up to seven or eight.
This was mainly because he had now begun his venture into dirt racing.
He really had no results to speak of on dirt, and he rarely entered graded stakes on that surface.
The same was true of turf sprints and mile races.
Saki Ikegami had also been very busy lately.
Her workload had been relatively light in July and August, but it increased noticeably in September, and she also had to prepare for the October races.
Although September was still hot, it was much better than July and August, and more spectators came to watch the races.