4:24 p.m. Happy New Year, everyone! It's 2020! Have you made your resolutions yet? I haven't. And I'm reporting from a nice business hotel called Super Hotel.

Last year I stayed at Ours' Inn Hankyu and that was nice because they gave me vouchers to a communal bath facility located in the same building. Unfortunately, this time the room I wanted to stay in had all been booked, so I decided to stay at a different place.

Super Hotel has so far been living up to my expectations, aside for the non-smoking room. But they have a smoking area, so will have to live with that. They have an onsen though artificial, and that itself weighs a good value. Will start looking into Kinpai tomorrow.

The End

Caterpillar

6:02 p.m. Sorry about the crazy date over the year-end to New Year. Simply forgot to rewrite the date from my template. Let me have this opportunity to show my apology.

Was going to write about Kinpai today however, the entry hasn't been closed yet and there are too many horses to think about. So think I'll just stick to reviewing why I'd lost last year. I hadn't trusted Win Bright enough to put him on the top of trifectas, and I also misread the pace to let the leading Tanino Frankel hang on to 2nd place for Nakayama. As for Kyoto Kinpai, it was My Style who broke my dream into pieces. I'd thought the horse wouldn't go up front shortening the distance, but he did, starting from an outside post. Should have guessed that.

Must remember to take these into account when calling this year's Kinpai. Also, I'll try to stay on trios not trifectas this year, since my omikuji told me not to be greedy. Finally, am fully enjoying my share of silence and freedom!

The End

Caterpillar

5:14 p.m. Since JRA won't announce the closing of entry list, I'll go onwith myself and take a look over the past 10 years of data for both Nakayama and Kyoto Kinpai.

There are a few things that both races share like the most-favored horse doing quite well unexpectedly, or the pace rarely tensening up to a high pace. Also, the new 4-year-olds do well except for the ones with poor performance in recent races.

Given that, Crescendo Love is likely to do well in Nakayama Kinpai whereas Catedral might not.

The End

Caterpillar

9:35 p.m. Short respite is over and back at house of terror. Took me a long time but finally finished calling both Kinpai. It always take time as the first two grade races of the year are both hard to win.

For Nakayama Kinpai, I'll key Crescendo Love on a wheel of Red Roses, Triomphe, Gibeon, Elation and Zadar. Might cut out Zadar. For Kyoto, will key Catedral (have changed my mind since Kyoto Kinpai would at least pace up than the slogging Mile Championship) on a wheel of Sound Chiara, Breath Taking, Meisho Shoubu and So Glittering. God, I've done too much thinking I'm feeling dizzy.

The End

Caterpillar

5:49 p.m. I can't remember when was the last time I won Kinpai, either Nakayama or Kyoto.

Well, as a matter of fact, l feel that Kinpai could be the most difficult grade race to win. Mainly due to the unusual schedule for New Year. Though another factor making it harder for me is the track condition. I can't quite get it every year. This is going to be my urgent goal to clear after I finish the dreading reviews for the year-end, ugh.

The End

Caterpillar

3:58 p.m. As I was filling in the bubble card to bet on Kinpai yesterday, I realized the announcement on the monitor saying Triomphe's rider will change to Mirco Demuro from Kosei Miura. Wondered what happened, but didn't make much of it at the time. It seems there'd been an accident in Nakayama's 7th race yesterday.

I've checked out the video of the race and my, that was a terrible stumble. I mean, Kaito Ohtsuka has given his horse a whack from the right while the horse was bolting to the outside (the horse's left side). Got too close to the horse right in front of him, caught the shoe of the front horse and rolled over on the turf. Miura's horse just happened to be near and got caught in the accident. Or so it seems.

It's sad to see such a terrible accident with a horse's life wasted. But horse race is not just gambling, jockeys and horses risk their lives for a win. Let's keep that in mind and start on my review.

The End

Caterpillar

4:46 p.m. Already frustrated since I haven't been able to start my review yet. Relax mode built during 4 days of my short vacation has been blown away. Had random tasks to get over with as it was the beginning of the year plus some left-over work from last year.

Will start reviewing today no matter what, and upload whatever I come up with in the following couple of days. Need not worry this is a will-do scam.

The End

Caterpillar

2:27 p.m. I've got on to my review, first from Arima Kinen.

Of course, I was stupid enough to break my iron rule of "do not key the most favored horse with win odds below 2" to key Almond Eye, whose name had been crossed out on my list because she wasn't fit for the race.

And, I was beside myself lost in the hectic year-end mood to put too much weight on Velox, that also didn't fit the condition of Arima Kinen. I'd gone blind the night before Arima Kinen. Other than those, my approach was not so bad overall. I'd bought Saturnalia (just couldn't be so sure about him to key him) and World Premiere (he won Kikka-sho).

I've also went through a thorough search on the link between Kikka-sho winners and their Arima Kinen performance. I'm gonna win this year, you wait and see.

The End

Caterpillar

3:03 p.m. Have finished Tokyo Dai-shoten's review, too.

It was my fault to have leaned on K.T. Brave too much while the conditions didn't quite match the horse. I was going to key Omega Perfume which I'd been marking right after the loss of Champions' Cup. Omega Perfume doesn't do well when the distance is shortened especially, on fast JRA tracks. My guess had turned into confidence seeing Perfume lose Champions' Cup two years in a row, but I simply got lured away by the odds. I'm only human, I have my desires.

As for Mogiana Flavor, I could have had him on my wheel if my head was cool enough since my preparation for the race had given me insight on the breeding background of horse that perform well on Ohi 2000 meters. However, again I'd ignored my dutifully written list.

Now I know where I went wrong, I'm gonna win Tokyo Dai-shoten this year, too.

The End

Caterpillar

1:16 p.m. Will move on to reviewing Hopeful Stakes today. There's something that's been bothering me for a few years, though. It's the track condition. I've been feeling that my judgement of track condition for Nakayama or Kyoto around year-end and year-beginning somehow doesn't seem to be fitting the virtual track condition. And I'm suspecting that this might be the cause for my loss. Or at least one of the causes.

At the beginning of the year-end Nakayama season which usually comes around at the end of November, the track seems quite firm and fast giving advantage to horses that have power and instantaneous speed that go up front. Considering the features of Nakayama course, I think it natural for such horses to perform well. However, I have the impression that lookers from the outside do better just as the year turns. Kyoto course has a break after Kikka-sho until the new year, so it might only be my impression, not any concrete changes made on the tracks themselves. But it's been bothering me for years.

So I thought I might as well figure this out once and for all while I work on my reviews.

The End

Caterpillar

1:41 p.m. Oops! We're having Shinzan Kinen tomorrow. Races won't wait for me and the 3-year-olds are already starting up for the classical races. Better jump on while I struggle with the remnants of last year.

I'll key Sanctuaire for Shinzan Kinen. I'm afraid Deep Impact descendants might not do so well on Kyoto turf around this time of year, but still Kyoto mile is one condition they're good at. On the wheel would be, Varuna, Cortesia, Tagano Beauty, Di Molto, and Caballero. Am shutting my eyes to Route d'Or.

The End

Caterpillar

4:17 p.m. Sanctuaire has won and Route d'Or has sunk in Shinzan Kinen as I'd hoped for, but I didn't have Prince Return on my wheel. Should have bought Prince Return instead of Tagano Beauty, as horses that performed their best in Asahi-hai don't do well in Shinzan Kinen. It's rather the ones who didn't lose big in Asahi-hai, but also didn't too well that still have enough energy left to bring out a high performance in Shinzan Kinen. Thus, Prince Return.

One thing I have to keep in mind given the results of today's Shinzan Kinen is to keep following Sanctuaire closely. Fillies that won this race tend to turn into a G1 winner, just like Gentil Donna or Almond Eye. Jeweler, who came in 2nd for the 2016 Sninzan Kinen won Ouka-sho, too. The former mentioned two fillies have both won triple crowns. I can easily guess that Hanshin Juvenile Fillies champion Resistencia would be favored, possibly the most favored for Ohka-sho, if things go on without incident. Sanctuaire might run another step race like Tulip-sho before Ohka-sho, though I'm suspecting she would lose in her next race due to damage from her former races. For the 3-year-olds, mental stress and physical fatigue weigh heavy in the first several races around this time of year. As a result, (hopefully) Sactuaire won't be the most favored in Ohka-sho, but will do well.

The biggest question however, is whether I can remember this until pre-Ohka-sho week. That's why I'm keeping it down here on text so you can all refer to, even if I forget.

The End

Caterpillar

4:48 p.m. Today was a holiday so I've finished up on all the washing well, most of the washing including my jogging shoes. I'm planning to take apart my unworking hdd recoreder to re-format it and turn it into an external hard disk drive. 500 gigabytes of memory is quite intriguing.

And while I haven't moved on any further with my reviews, rather the contrary as Shinzan Kinen just joined in the pile, there's been an only-one winner in WIN5 today for a huge payout of 394,365,860 yen! Wow. The winners must have been narrowed down after the 1st race with the 8th-favored winning the race, but it's a miracle that one person survived the shake-off at the 3rd race when the 12th-favored Winkle Salute won. Admirable. Congrats to the winner!

The End

Caterpillar

2:23 p.m. Looking at the results of yesterday's WIN5, I realized that 3 out of 5 races selling WIN5 betting tickets were lower class prize races, 2 of them being handicapped.

Ah, there are more races for horses with less prize money during this time of season when the top category races aren't run. There's a chance such races go wild especially, when they're handicapped. Also, the main races tend to be trials for 3-year-olds which means that these might not be won buy the most-favored either. As I always say, those horses have just made their debuts, they're still wearing diapers and anything could happen.

So perhaps it's the right time to start buying WIN5 tickets that is, if you're interested in buying them. I'm not. I don't have the seed money to win big.

The End

Caterpillar

4:01 p.m. Perhaps you might already know about the 10 million dollar purse race held at King Abdulaziz Rcetrack on February 29th (it's a leap year, remember?), Saudi Cup. Its official website has announced the entry list for the race today.

According to this entry list,8 horses are entered for the 1800m dirt race from Japan. Their names are: Copano Kicking, Chrysoberyl, Deirdre, Gold Dream, K.T. Brave, Mozu Ascot, On The Rocks, and Yoshio.

I wonder if Nanako Fujita is going to ride Copano Kicking? And who's gonna ride K.T.Brave, Mikamoto or Fukunaga? Not that it matters much. And Copano Kicking would probably run the sprint race as 1800 meters is too long a dsitance for the horse. I can't quite tell from the photo on the website, but the dirt texture seems different from that on JRA courses...

The End

Caterpillar

6:10 p.m. Suddenly I'm driven by work again, my time for reviewing lost in the business. Where has my time gone? Where? Where?

So far I've finished up to Nakayama Kinpai, with Kyoto Kinpai and Shinzan Kinen still pending. The only thing I picked up from reviewing Hopeful Stakes and Nakayama Kinpai is that horses with high performance on year-end Nakayama 2000m turf, need enough speed to go up front yet they also need the last turn of foot. Therefore, such horses that didn't do well in their previous races being taken over by lookers would become the target for Hopeful Stakes and Nakayama Kinpai.

Not sure if I could finish up the review by Saturday, but will do the best I can.

The End

Caterpillar

4:56 p.m. If I took in account my analysis of the year-end Nakayama 2000m, it should be natural to think similar things might happen for this weekend's Keisei-hai, a 2000m turf race on the same course.

So I've taken a look at the entry list and 8 out of 12 horses running this race turn out to be front runners... Well, things still might change as we are bound for rain tonight with possibly a chance of snow in the morning. You see, the hardest part in calling races that nothing stays the same.

The End

Caterpillar

6:22 p.m. I've had a cancel without notice in my meeting. Someone had wasted nearly an hour of my precious time while I stood waiting. They say one's life has only 30,000 hours to live, you know? I should have done my searching while waiting for my client, but I didn't exactly know what was going on and I just couldn't sit still lost in my own things to do.

Now, my call for Keisei-hai. I'm going to key Sky Groove, as her win odds isn't below 2.0 no, not yet. Mr. N-jima had informed me earlier thath this horse had high potential. I agree, judging from the results of her previous race which was also her debut race. Besides, she carries 2kg less weight. On the wheel would be Roll Of Thunder, Xenoverse, Bitterender, and Vehement.

The End

Caterpillar

10:56 p.m. I've been out all afternoon unitl half an hour ago and haven't had the time to see Kesei-hai. Though I've been hosted with a home-made, spicy curry with rice which was very tasty!

As I've just briefed the results and ... oh. Now I have another race to review and analyze on top of all my left-overs...

The End

Caterpillar

2:11 p.m. I've seen the video of yesterday's Keisi-hai.

Sky Groove has lost in 2nd place though it seems she's used up her stamina having had to run on the outside, due to her outmost starting position, post number 12. Whereas the winner Crystal Black didn't have much course loss staying behind, being able to choose the good parts of the turf. Still, I'll have to say Crystal Black had enough stamina to cover a distance going over 2000m, as he'd been fighting with the rider during the beginning of the race. Horses that stuck to the rail where the turf was most damaged and rough like King Of Dragon, Xenoverse or Chuwa Wizzard, must have also run out of stamina.

I don't think Crystal Black would perform well in his next race though, since he was lucky enough to run the best course of his choice today, unless there is some sort of setting that should work to his advantage. As for Sky Groove, it looks like she performs better on wide, spacious courses like Tokyo or Hanshin than tricky courses like Nakayama with small turns. I can't just cut her off for this one loss.

The End

Caterpillar

4:37 p.m. I have a sore throat. I've developed a toothache last week to have the inflamation expand to my deep throat. I've been busy over the weekend, I hadn't had enough rest to recover. The over-the-counter drug that I've taken in hopes to take away the inflamation seems to be doing its job and I'm fighting with drowziness. Or you might say I 've completely given up and given into recurring short sleep.

While I go back and forth between sleep and awakenness, my Google calendar is showing AJCC and Tokai Stakes to be the next grade races. Have found Blast One Piece's name on the entry list, so I'm looking forward to see how he'll perform. I'll call Tokai Stakes so I can watch AJCC at ease.

The End

Caterpillar

2:33 p.m. It seems like Yutaka Take is seeking for a higher position. The news has been out that Yutaka has asked a well-known iron club manufacturer MUQU to design and make stirrups for him. They say a project team has already been launched to accomplish this mission.

Personally, I'm rather surprised to know such things hadn't happened until now. I mean, top athletes tend to be uncompromising when it comes to what they use; shoes, wears, gloves, bats and so on. It's very natural for Yutaka to think he should have his own stirrups made, stirrups that would suit his riding style and draw out his best performance. What makes him special is that he was the first jockey to focus on stirrups and that he's already in action. Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. Good luck to Yutaka, hope things work well.

The End

Caterpillar

6:05 p.m. Haven't had time to do anything, thanks to people who come to us for help AFTER Microsoft has cut support�@for Windows 7. One thing common about such people is that they are not sure what's going on, which in the worst case result in a troublesome situation that Windows had tried to upgrade itself automatically to Windows 10 but the user had freaked out and forced to shut down their computer before the upgrade process was completed.

I wonder why these people own computers? They wouldn't need computers when they don't know how it works or don't know how to operate them. Surely, it's not a status to own lap-top computers when the world is already striving for 6G and quantam computers.

The End

Caterpillar

6:09 p.m. And now come the coughs... it's hard to control them once they start.

Inti seems to be the most favored for Tokai Stakes run this weekend, as it will be held on Kyoto tracks this year. Though Kyoto 1800m dirt has reminds a bitter memory of Miyako Stakes last year. Seeing Sumahama's name on the entry list, I fear similar things might happen. It might be just worrying for nothing if Inti draws inner posts. Besides, Yutaka is riding him this time, not Kawada.

The End

Caterpillar

7:29 p.m. I've been struggling with both my coughs and my call for Tokai Stakes. Since Tokai Stakes is held on Kyoto dirt 1800m this year instead of the usual Chukyo dirt 1800m, I haven't had much clues from the past results.

Cannot hope for much in the only 4-year-old in this race, I decided to key Air Almas, a 5-year-old. On the wheel would be Koma Bisho, Sumahama, Inti, King's Guard, and Vengeance. Think I'll buy myself a bottle of Vicks vaporub to rub onto my soles. Let's see what happens.

The End

Caterpillar

4:56 p.m. Thanks to VaporRub, my coughs grew less and I was able to sleep last night. Though my temperature seems to be rising. It reached 37 by noon while it didn't go above 36.6 even when I had the type-A flu last year. My average temperature had dropped to somewhere around 35, give or take a few and haven't recovered much no matter what I've doen. My temperature 37 is someone else's 38.

Don't know if VaporRub is to thank for this too, but I won Tokai Stakes. I was a bit worried about the position of Inti concerning Sumahama, but that was unnecessary. Yutaka has held Inti fast in 4th or 5th position from the top to seek for an early spart. That's what makes him a world-class jockey, that's why he's a genius. He comes up with a good strategy that would draw out the best of his horse, and puts it to work like an artist. It doesn't go well all the time, but not many jockeys can go through this process that seems simple, yet hard to practice. Inti wouldn't have come in 3rd today, if it weren't for Yutaka.

The very person who screwed up Inti in Miyako Stakes won AJCC with Blast Onepiece, which I'm not surprised at since he should win against those competitors on Nakayama 2200m on a soft track, the best condition he could wish for. I'd rather like to give all my praise to Stay Foolish and Christophe for a good strategy and putting up a good fight.

The End

Caterpillar

5:12 p.m. At work place though feeling terrible. Thought it would be better than staying at home where radio and tv noise is booming in the house, and my dear mother yapping at me to take the day off and stay home. I would if I could, dear mother, if you'd only turn off that damn radio and leave me in peace.

We're getting closer to the end of January and Negishi Stakes is going to be run this weekend. Oooh, so Dr. Kopa has finally given up Nanako, huh? I'm wondering how Wide Pharaoh might do in this 1400m race in a while. It seems like a perfect stage for the horse to me.

The End

Caterpillar

6:33 p.m. Fighting stuffed nose, coughs, sore throat, unhearingness (because I can't pop my ears), a dull headache, sleep deprevation and everything else that comes along with a viral cold. It might even not be a cold, since it started from a toothache.

As I was looking at thte entry form for Silk Road Stakes also held this weekend just like Negishi Stakes, I noticed Velox's name on it. Velox? Yes, it seems the crew chose a 1200m sprint race as a new start for last year's classical races' runner-up. The horse's bbs was filled with comments of surprise as well as speculation about why they chose a print race, for a horse that came in 3rd place in both the Japanese D'erby (2400m), and Kikka-sho (3,000m) with his previous race being Arima Kinen (2500m).

Well, it's not rare for trainers and owners to enter their horse in multiple races especially, when they haven't quite made up their minds yet. So having Velox's name on the entry form of Silkroad Stakes doesn't automatically mean the horse is going to turn to a sprinter. But well, there are chances as long as he's entered. We'll wait and see.

The End

Caterpillar

4:51 p.m. Have already consumed 2 packets of cough drops and used up at least 2 boxes of tissue paper. The tip of my nose and the skin above my upper lip is miserably scraped and stinging. Ouch.

I'm being damaged but it's not only me. Suave Richard has been announced to retire. The horse has developed inflamation in his right hock after Arima Kinen which literally became his last run. Triomphe who's won Nakayama Kinpai has also benn announced to retire due to recurrence of his bowed tendon. A lot of pain going around.

Meanwhile, Chuwa Wizzard has won Kawasaki Kinen leaving 2nd place Hikari Oso, 6 lengths behind. Well, the dramatic gap was a performance of the yielding track condition I suppose, still it's important that Chuwa Wizzard has won when he was most favored.

The End

Caterpillar

4:51 p.m. Looks like the invitation has finally arrived.

I couldn't help but burst out laughing several days ago, when I learned that Chrysoberyl announced to enter the 10 million purse Saudi Cup hadn't actually received an invitation yet. Chrysoberyl's side seemed so eager on the challenge, when they hadn't even been invited...tt..tttee-hee-hee, sorry about that. Today the news came in reporting that Saudi Cup invitation has arrived to both Chrysoberyl and Gold Dream. I'm glad to hear that.

The End

Caterpillar

5:52 p.m. The barier draw for Negishi Stakes has been announced. Kopano Kicking has drew post number 5 while Mikki Wild drew 3, Mozu Ascot 11, and Wide Pharaoh, 6.

Not quite convinced about the weight they carry, though. Mozu Ascot has won a G1 but that was on turf. Still he's carrying 58kg, while Kopano Kicking who virtually won a dirt G1 in JBC Sprint is also carrying 58kg as well as Wide Pharaoh who has only won a turf G2 for 3-year-olds. These three horses carrying the same weight just doesn't seem fair to my eyes. Well, nothing changes if I bickered or not, a rule is a rule it won't be bent.

The End

Caterpillar