Narita Brian’s mysterious Takamatsunomiya Cup race

On the day of the Takamatsunomiya Cup, which was the subject of much controversy, I wasn’t at the racetrack. I had taken the day off to attend the wedding of a friend from high school. The race took place while I was attending the reception, so I couldn’t even watch it live on TV.

When I found out later that he had finished in 4th place, I thought “I knew it,” and wasn’t surprised. In fact, in my predictions published in Sankei Sports, I had left Narita Brian unmarked.

Afterwards, I watched the race on video I had recorded.

The race progressed with Three Course taking the lead and Flower Park in second place. Narita Brian got off to an excellent start, but was unable to match the dash power of the fierce sprinters and ended up racing in fourth place from the back. However, he seemed to be in the flow, and Take Yutaka was not trying to push him too hard to get in front.

However, even at the crucial moment, the gap with the front horses did not narrow at all. After the pace increased, Take Yutaka’s hands were constantly moving. Flower Park took the lead at the midpoint between the third and fourth corners, and the horse was running at a steady pace. Tahara Naoki’s hands were not moving at all. Once Flower Park entered the straight line, he was finally able to push forward, and with his powerful strides, he pulled away from the rest of the pack.

Meanwhile, what about Narita Brian? Perhaps he decided that he would never catch up if he went around the outside, so he went around the inside and headed into the straight, where he split through the pack and stretched his legs. But it was too late. Flower Park’s legs were even more impressive. The gap with the leader never closed, and Narita Brian crossed the finish line in fourth place.

Narita Brian’s time for the first 600 meters was 34.0 seconds. He showed the dash power required for a sprint race, under 34.5 seconds for the first half, but his time for the last 600 meters was 34.2 seconds, the same as the runner-up, Biko Pegasus. He was unable to show the explosive power of 33 seconds that he had displayed in long-distance races. It can be said that he was unable to show the explosive power in the second half of the race because it was a sprint race that required no breathing space.

The winner, Flower Park, took the lead at the fourth corner and used the fastest finishing kick (34.1 seconds) of the field. He took the lead in the first half of the race using his own outstanding speed and maintained his speed in the second half. He showed us the winning method of a short distance specialist. Even Narita Brian could not win with this.