8:22 p.m. Sorry about skipping yesterday. I finally got around to updating my Windows10 to 11, but then it took me three hours to finish the process, humph. I should have expected that with Microsoft.

So now my desktop computer is updated to Windows11 and I'm looking at an unfamiliar interface. Just to let you know, I had to search for the power icon for a while, just like many of you must have done. I soon remembered it was Windows, though and hit the flag key to find it on my own.

The barriers have already been drawn and announced for Argentina Republic Cup while I was fiddling with the new OS and it looks like Chrominance, currently the most favored has drawn an inner post.

It depends on how the turf condition would turn out after tomorrow's rain, but I can't fully trust Chrominance at least, not at this point.

The End

Caterpillar

8:19 p.m. I didn't have work today and thus had more than enough time. Then why am I still struggling with Argentina Republic Cup?

The thing is, I can't be sure about the track condition while the pace is also uncertain. I need to have at least either of them stable to predict the result of a handicapped race, as I'm not a magician nor a psychic.

The best I could do in this situation is to call the race based on assumptions, so I tried to narrow down the candidates on the premise that the track condition would be either good to firm or firm, and the pace average to slow.

I got six horses left so far, Mixology, Chrominance, Meiner Memory, Meiner Virtus, Savona, and Seleccion, with only Meiner Virtus having the Roberto line. Well, I have a hunch that the race might become a bit closer to 2600m where Gold Ship descendants perform well.

Maybe I should keep Meisho Breguet too in that sense. Will ponder and decide by tomorrow.

The End

Caterpillar

7:32 p.m. That was too hard. This year's Argentina Republic Cup was too difficult for me to call right.

Looking back, I was quite confused and wasn't sure what to do from the beginning, because I couldn't find any horse that I could be confident enough to perform well in this race. Chrominance, Savona, Seleccion, they all had chances to perform well, yet they also had risks.

I tried to leave these horses aside and build up my call based on the apptitude against Tokyo turf 2500, but then all I could come up with was Meiner Virtus, Taisei Feerique, and Hayayakko. Taisei Feerique was a female horse which had never performed well in the past 10 years, while Meiner Virtus and Hayayakko were both 8 years old, generally, way past the prime of a racing horse.

Thus, I learned another lesson. That in races where the entrees are lame, too lame to win the race, old but experienced horses with certain accomplishments and high apptitude for that particular race would be better options.

The least blessing was that my betting was small.

The End

Caterpillar

8:20 p.m. Having finished the reviewing and regretting on Arzentina Republic Cup, let me pull myself together to face Queen Elizabeth Cup.

But then again, the entrees appear to me unimpressive with only two G1 winners and no 3-year-olds from Shuka-sho. What happened to Stellenbosch? What about Brede Weg, last year's champion? What's Stars on Earth doing? Why isn't Liberty Island running when she didn't do well in Tenno-sho?

Since I can't make these horses run in Queen Elizabeth Cup, there's nothing to do but to wait for the barrier draw, check the track condition, assume the pace and pick the horses that have better shots at performing well. I see. So there's not gonna be any fun and games wondering which horse could handle the distance, or which horse could beat who.

It can't be helped, but I'm afraid Regaleira is going to be overwhelmingly favored, even if it's for a female horse race.

The End

Caterpillar

8:20 p.m. I can't be complaining all day so I decided to check my notes about Queen Elizabeth Cup from last year.

It said, "speed for the last three furlongs is a MUST." It also said, "horses running previously in G3 or lower class are unnecessary." How brutally frank could I be?

Not to mention, I went on to check if these are true. In fact, there was only one horse finishing in the top three of Queen Elizabeth Cup "running previously in G3 or lower class". It was Clavel finishing in third place in 2021, previously running in Niigata Kinen, a G3 handicapped race.

We shall be careful, though since Queen Elizabeth Cup 2021 was run on Hanshin, not Kyoto. That means there isn't a horse in the past 10 years that performed well enough to finish in the top three previously running "in in G3 or lower class" when Queen Elizabeth Cup was run at Kyoto.

Isn't that quite decisive?

The End

Caterpillar