The third episode of the TBS Sunday Theatre drama "The Royal Family" (Sundays at 9:00 PM), starring Tsumabuki Satoshi Tsumabuki), the only son of Kanako (Wakana Matsumoto), who runs the racehorse breeding farm "Nozaki Farm," attracted attention on social media.
◇The following contains spoilers
Kurisu (Tsumabuki) suggests to Kozo (Koichi Sato), who is looking for a new racehorse, that they visit Nozaki Farm in the Hidaka region, and they head there together.
When Kozo expresses his desire to purchase a horse from Nozaki Farm, Kanako's father, Takeshi (Kiba Katsumi), explains the harsh reality of thoroughbreds in the Hidaka region. "The guys in Hidaka have given up. They're just trying to make ends meet. But I want to win. I want to win," he passionately pleaded, "No matter what anyone says, my goal is to win a G1 race with a horse from this farm."
Kanako also said, "My father's dream is the dream of everyone in Hidaka," to which Kozo confessed his thoughts, "A dream? Sorry, but my dream is also a G1. To come first at Arima. There are other horse owners here who feel the same way as you. I now have another dream. I will achieve that dream with a horse from Hidaka."
Kozo called out to Tsuyoshi, "Let me ride your dream." When Tsuyoshi asked him, "Are you determined to win?" Kozo nodded vigorously and replied, "I'll do my best," to which Tsuyoshi burst into tears, bowed his head and said, "Thank you very much."
Later, the name of the horse that Kozo bought from Tsuyoshi was decided to be "Royal Hope." When Kanako heard the news from Kurisu (Tsumabuki) over the phone, she responded with a smile, "Hope? Oh, that's good. Yeah, it's great!"
Shohei, a fifth-grader, was watching Kanako and took out a picture. It was a picture of a jockey riding a horse that Shohei had drawn. It read, "Future dream: Jockey, 5th grade, Class 2, Nozaki Shohei." Shohei wrote the words "Royal Hope" on the horse's bib number in the picture.
On social media, the post garnered attention, with comments such as, "Just writing 'Royal Hope' on the horse in Shohei's picture of his future dream made me cry," "I almost cried when I added 'Royal Hope' to the picture of the horse," and "The moment I added the words 'Royal Hope' to the illustration of the jockey, I literally started crying."
The story is based on the novel of the same name by Kazuma Hayami. Eiji Kurisu admired his father, who was a tax accountant, and followed in his footsteps, but he experienced setbacks and lost hope. However, his life takes a major turn when he meets Kozo Sanno (played by Koichi Sato), a horse owner.
