---Twinturbo.
A horse girl belonging to Team Canopus, she increased her record to 5 wins in 14 races after taking 1st place in the All Comer race the other day.
She is petite, about the same height as Rice or slightly taller. She has long hair with a mix of blue and yellow-green tied in twin tails, and her distinctive jagged teeth are visible when she smiles.
Like Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen, she is in her senior year despite being in middle school, and she has previously participated in the Arima Kinen. However, that was her only time in a G1 race, and since she had been on a long-term recovery leave, she wasn't someone I was particularly wary of.
The shortest distance she's raced is the 1800-meter medium-distance race, and the longest is the 2500-meter Arima Kinen.
She finished 14th in the Arima Kinen, so her suitable distance is probably from mile to medium-distance. However, that's based on old data. It's possible she's developed the stamina to run long distances without any problems.
Her first race after returning from her long-term recovery was the open-class Fukushima Minyu Cup. However, she finished 10th in her comeback race, 6th in the subsequent G3 Nakayama Kimpai, 6th in the G2 Nakayama Kinen, and then 8th in the G3 Niigata Daishoten, a series of mediocre results.
But then, she took 1st place in the G3 Tanabata Sho in early July, and 1st place in the G2 All Comer the other day. Considering this, I should conclude that her abilities have grown rapidly in the last few months.
I instructed Urara and the others to warm up and headed toward the training course where Team Canopus members were practicing. I usually analyze information from past race videos, but I decided that wasn't enough.
(An open-class race for her comeback... yeah, that's normal, isn't it? ...In that respect, Team Spica had their member in a G1 for her comeback, so maybe my senior is quite a hard taskmaster...)
While thinking that, I watched the training scene of Team Canopus. The trainer for Team Canopus is a young man, if I do say so myself, who always wears a suit. He has a gentle face and light brown hair, and he's always smiling with a troubled look.
(Hmm... I came to see their training, but they seem to be playing...)
Although I came to the training course, Twinturbo was running around with a smile, and Machikane Tannhauser was chasing her. Nice Nature was looking at the two in exasperation, and Ikuno Dictus was pushing up her glasses with her finger. And the senior from Canopus was watching his horse girls with a beaming smile.
"How's that! Turbo, I beat Teio!"
Twinturbo was cheering and jumping for joy. She's a child who seems to be about the same age as Urara... no, even younger than Urara.
(That kid beat Tokai Teio... really? Really? But it wasn't a dream...)
When I'm tired and sit on the couch and doze off, I'm tempted to think I saw a dream. However, I've checked the All Comer race video many times, and Twinturbo definitely won.
"Oh... a rare face."
As I was observing Twinturbo, the senior from Canopus, who was just watching Twinturbo and the others with a smile, had walked up right beside me without me noticing.
"This is... I apologize for intruding."
Huh? When did he get so close? I bowed my head while thinking. Then the senior from Canopus smiled gently.
The senior from Canopus and I aren't particularly close. Since we're trainers who work at the same place, I remember his face and name, but we have a thinner connection compared to Ms. Tojo or the senior from Team Spica.
Since Rice has competed against Nice Nature, Ikuno Dictus, and Machikane Tannhauser, we're not completely unrelated... that's the kind of relationship we have.
"No, recently more people have been coming to see our team's training. I don't mind at all."
The senior from Canopus said that and didn't stop smiling. Then, Twinturbo charged at him. Twinturbo climbed onto the senior's back and clung to him with both her arms and legs.
"Trainer, let's start training soon! ...Hmm? Who is this?"
Then Twinturbo tilted her head, looking at me over the senior's shoulder. The senior from Canopus laughed calmly, despite Twinturbo clinging to his back.
"He's the trainer for Team Kitalpha. He's in charge of Rice Shower."
"...Ah! Rice Shower! Turbo knows her!"
There was a silence that made me want to ask if she really did. Twinturbo jumped off the senior's back and puffed out her chest with her hands on her hips.
"Turbo even beat Teio, you know! Isn't that amazing?"
"Oh... it's quite something to beat that Tokai Teio."
"Right!"
I gave a perfunctory response, but it seemed to satisfy her, and Twinturbo laughed, showing her jagged teeth. What an innocent smile. Did this kid really beat that Tokai Teio...?
(No, Rice, who is also small like this child, has also beaten Tokai Teio... although she's also lost... Looks don't matter with horse girls.)
While thinking that, I quietly checked Twinturbo's legs. The muscle development isn't suitable for short or long-distance, but if you ask me if her physique is capable of that kind of runaway lead, I'm at a loss for a judgment.
"..."
Also, the senior from Canopus, who had been smiling until then, was now looking at me silently with his eyes slightly open, which was scary. Is there a reason why he's not sending me away, even though I've so blatantly come to scout?
(Just like I came to see Twinturbo, I have a strong feeling that the senior is observing me...)
He's a person with a strange kind of pressure. He's usually quiet, but when it comes down to it, he's full of energy... He seems like the type who was in every class at school.
"So... what are your impressions of seeing our Turbo in person?"
The senior asked me with a calm, smiling face. He's scary... In a different way than Ms. Tojo, this person is scary.
"I can't say for sure without seeing her actually run... but I'm wary of any horse girl who beat Tokai Teio."
I said, feigning ignorance. In reality, it's rare to find a horse girl this difficult to judge. She's as unreadable as Oguri Cap. When I see Twinturbo laughing with her mouth wide open, there's a certain atmosphere that makes me want to dote on her. But when I look at her run in the All Comer, I wonder if this is her true nature or an act.
(Is she a stronger opponent than Nice Nature...?)
I had thought that Nice Nature had the most potential in Team Canopus, but I may need to reconsider my opinion.
"Well then, I also have my horse girls' training, so I'll be taking my leave."
I said that, bowed my head, and turned my back.
"Okay! Bye-bye!"
Then, Twinturbo called out to my back with a smile. At the same time, I felt the senior's gaze on me.
Rice's Autumn Tenno Sho and King's Kikuka Sho are both held in the latter half of October.
However, the Kikuka Sho is a week earlier, and since the dates don't overlap with the Autumn Tenno Sho, I can go to support both of them.
The Kikuka Sho, which is held first, is a 3000-meter race at the Kyoto Racecourse. It's the longest race that only Classic-class horse girls can participate in. It's also the race where Rice took 1st place by passing Mihono Bourbon last year and was met with boos.
In other words, my team has an experienced winner of the Kikuka Sho. That's why Rice has been training with King recently... wait, she was doing that from the start. However, she's been coaching her with even more passion than before.
Rice herself has the Autumn Tenno Sho coming up, but in Rice's case, she tends to improve more in training when she has someone to run alongside. If that someone is King, who desperately tries to keep up with Rice, it's perfect for Rice's practice as well.
Urara also runs alongside the two of them. However, while they run alongside each other, Urara runs on the dirt course, and Rice and King run on the turf course beyond the fence.
Also, for King's next race strategy... to counter the famous Yodo Hill at the Kyoto Racecourse, she's been running on an uphill track and the very steep and numerous stone steps of a shrine that we often use. Urara and Rice are also accompanying her in this, and they were all training with an intensity that was almost frightening.
(Urara's next goal is the JBC Sprint in early November... should I have her run one more race before that...?)
I was entering today's training data into the computer in the clubroom while thinking about that.
There's a four-month gap between the Japan Dirt Derby and the JBC Sprint. However, she ran in mock races with many stronger opponents during the summer training camp, and she usually runs alongside Rice and King. I don't think her competitive instincts will get dull.
(Besides, there are only open-class races on dirt until the JBC Sprint... Senior-class horse girls also participate in those races, but should I dare not have her race?)
Since she took 1st place in the Unicorn Stakes, Urara's prize money should be enough to enter the JBC Sprint. Or rather, the fact that there are few Senior-class horse girls who have earned more prize money than Urara highlights the thinness of the dirt racing field and the small number of races.
(Speaking of Urara, I wonder which race Smart Falcon will appear in... I don't think she'll be in the JBC Sprint...)
I tilted my head, thinking that I can't read that child either.
Given Smart Falcon's distance aptitude, she'll probably be in the G1 races in the autumn, either the mile-distance JBC Ladies' Classic or the medium-distance JBC Classic. I don't think she would be so reckless as to enter a short-distance race where Urara has the advantage... but Smart Falcon's actions are unpredictable, which is scary.
I wouldn't be surprised if she showed up at the JBC Sprint saying, "I just came♪"... no, actually, I would be surprised. I can't say it's impossible.
There are no other strong horse girls who seem likely to enter the short-distance dirt race, the JBC Sprint. If I think about the possibilities, there's Meek, but she'll probably be in the Kikuka Sho, and she wouldn't do something like running a short-distance dirt race less than half a month after running a long-distance turf race.
In any case, strong runaway-style horse girls like Twinturbo and Smart Falcon are a major pain.
My team has Urara, who excels at 'Sashi' and is also decent at 'Oikomi.' Rice is good at 'Senko' while marking, and can also do 'Nige' if needed. King is good at 'Sashi' and can also do 'Senko.' So, we don't have any horse girls who excel at 'Nige' or 'Oikomi.' Therefore, it's hard to come up with a countermeasure. Rice can do 'Nige,' so it can be a practice for Urara and King, but it's a problem that it's not a practice for Rice herself.
(Hmm... Rice is good at 'Senko' while marking the horse girl likely to take 1st place and then passing her at the end, but she can do 'Nige' too... The Autumn Tenno Sho is 2000 meters... A great runaway like Twinturbo... No, no...)
A sudden attempt at a great runaway would likely fall apart. So, should I still have her mark Twinturbo and then pass her? But in that case, can even Rice reach her?
Tokai Teio is also a candidate for marking, and given the distance, Nice Nature and Ikuno Dictus could also appear. If Mejiro McQueen returns from her injury and enters, the number of targets to be wary of will increase even more.
(I thought the Senior Triple Crown in the autumn would be a competition against Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen, but there was a troublesome dark horse... No, that's being overconfident. Everyone grows.)
Twinturbo probably grew rapidly in the last few months. There's no guarantee that the same thing won't happen to other horse girls. And that's not just for the Senior class, but for the Classic class as well.
In addition to preparing for Rice's Autumn Tenno Sho, I'm also racking my brain for King's Kikuka Sho preparation.
(Oguri Cap, Special Week, Biwa Hayahide, Winning Ticket, Narita Taishin, Meek... Will El Condor Pasa enter? Grass Wonder seems to be coming back soon, too... And there's Seiun Sky.)
There are many strong horse girls... or rather, too many. Just reviewing the past race videos of these horse girls I'm particularly wary of takes several hours, and if I were to research them in depth, dozens of hours wouldn't be enough.
If I were to research the other Classic-class horse girls as well, I wouldn't have enough time no matter how much I had. I'm so short on time that I think, "I wish a day was 100 hours."
But I can't get accurate information unless I review past race videos and their conditions at the time, and then compare them with their condition and readiness on the day of the race. It would be so much easier if I could see their stats at a glance like in a game.
I need to meticulously examine what kind of condition each horse girl was in for each race, what kind of run she made, and what kind of time she produced. Then, I need to compare and verify each race and predict that they will run THIS much in the next race, and then train Urara and the others to be able to win against that.
The problem is that I have no way to counter something that isn't in the information, like the two-stage spurt Oguri Cap showed when Urara first raced against her, or the great runaway Twinturbo showed in the All Comer the other day...
(Rice, who marks the horse girl in the best condition and then wins by her own power, is easier in that respect... Urara is also easy to research because the dirt racing field is thin... It's still King's opponent that's the hard part...)
I can understand why King's mother would say, "Why did you debut in this generation?" This Classic class is at a very high level. Nevertheless, as King's trainer, I have to do my best to make her win.
Long distance isn't King's strong suit. However, ever since I took charge, her stamina has improved thanks to having a perfect opponent in Rice. I think she can compete even in the long-distance Kikuka Sho.
"Phew..."
I let out a big sigh and stretched my back. When I rotated my shoulders and neck to loosen them, a loud cracking sound was heard.
(...Ah, dang it. The date has already changed...)
I was so focused that time flew by. When I checked the clock on the wall of the clubroom, I decided I had to go home and turned off the computer. I have work and training for Urara and the others tomorrow, so I need to get enough sleep or I'll break my body.
The thought of just staying in the clubroom and solving all my problems crossed my mind, but I'm scared of what Ms. Tazuna would do if she found out. Or rather, I'm already scared because I've stayed so late.
I turned off the lights in the clubroom and hurriedly went home. That kind of life continued until the Kikuka Sho was right around the corner.
Two days before the Kikuka Sho.
I received the Kikuka Sho entry list that had arrived at the Tracen Academy and checked the contents in the clubroom.
"Oh..."
I couldn't help but let out a voice like that when I saw the entry list.
The names of the members I had mostly expected were on it. Oguri Cap, Special Week, Seiun Sky, Biwa Hayahide, Narita Taishin, Winning Ticket, Meek, and so on.
El Condor Pasa and Grass Wonder must have decided not to enter, as their names weren't on the list. Or rather, both El Condor Pasa and Grass Wonder were in the Mainichi Okan race held in early October.
Ms. Tojo might have had them withdraw from the Classic Triple Crown competition and switch to aiming for their respective goals.
I heard before that El Condor Pasa is considering going overseas, so maybe she'll go abroad sometime next year. As for Grass Wonder... I don't remember hearing anything in particular, but maybe they just avoided being as reckless as the senior from Spica by having her enter a G1 race right after her comeback.
It seems they didn't make her run the Kikuka Sho after such a short time.
The rest is a matter of what kind of condition each horse girl will be in on the day of the race.
And, on the day of the Kikuka Sho.
Since the venue was the Kyoto Racecourse, we arrived there the day before and decided to spend the night before the race. We've done everything we can since the summer training camp. Now, all that's left is to relax in a Kyoto hot spring to get rid of fatigue, and then on the day of the race, do a light workout to check her condition before the real thing.
The Kikuka Sho is the 11th race at the Kyoto Racecourse and is, of course, the main race. The start time is 3:35 PM, which is pretty much the usual time.
I took Urara and the others to the Kyoto Racecourse. Since it's a G1 race, and the final destination of the Classic Triple Crown, the Kikuka Sho, is being held, the area around the Kyoto Racecourse was in a festive mood. Well, G1 races in this world are almost always a festive occasion.
(But still, it's the Kikuka Sho. It's the race Rice ran in last year, and the final race of the Classic Triple Crown, huh...)
This year, Oguri Cap won the Satsuki Sho, and Special Week won the Japan Derby. The Kikuka Sho will be the last one, but I wonder what will happen.
King is in perfect condition. She has a healthy amount of tension but no unnecessary stiffness, and she fell asleep easily last night... Well, yesterday was just a light training menu in the morning for the final adjustment, and then we just moved to Kyoto in the afternoon. But recently, she's been pushing herself to the limit every day, so it's no wonder she falls asleep as soon as she knows she can rest.
I had planned the training menu to gradually relieve her fatigue by the day of the Kikuka Sho, but apparently, she's in a pretty dangerous state unless she takes a bath with Urara recently. In that respect, Rice, who must be doing the same amount of training or even more than Urara and King, is perfectly fine by herself.
(Yeah... We did everything we could. Now all King has to do is run.)
I said that King fell asleep easily last night, but I, who hadn't been in a hot spring for a long time, also went to the world of dreams at 9 PM. And after sleeping for about 12 hours, I was woken up by Urara who dived onto my stomach with a smile. I wish she would wake me up a little more gently.
Anyway, we arrived at the Kyoto Racecourse.
"Ah! Excuse me! Could I interview you? About why you're having King Halo, who took 1st place in the short-distance Sprinters Stakes, enter the long-distance Kikuka Sho..."
"Ah! Excuse me! Please go through the Tracen Academy for that kind of thing!"
I parried the interviewer's words, only taking the first part, and smiled as I walked through. And I don't think it's right to try to interview someone without waiting for a response after asking, "Is it okay?"
Or rather, at least come after the race. I wouldn't be surprised if people said it was an act of sabotage by another team or trainer to do a surprise interview with a horse girl before a race.
I walked away with Urara and the others with a smile, but lately, I've been getting a lot of these kinds of interviews. King, who took 1st place in the Sprinters Stakes just a month ago, is now challenging the 3000-meter long-distance Kikuka Sho. Of course, she's going to attract attention.
(Wait... I'm having her run in a short-distance G1 and then a long-distance G1 a month later, so I feel like I can't say anything about the senior from Spica anymore...)
As a trainer, I wondered if I should have stopped King, but it was the result of King's wish and my judgment that she could do it. If King loses badly because of this, there might be a lot of criticism from the public. Well, I'm confident that she won't lose badly, given King's current condition.
"...Trainer."
Now, we had entered the Kyoto Racecourse after smiling and pushing through, and we were about to part ways with King who was heading to the waiting room. But King called out to me as if she wanted to say something. She didn't look anxious before a G1 race. She looked somewhat apologetic.
"What's wrong? Are you already hungry?"
So, I said something deliberately stupid. I had made sure she ate lunch at the right time for the race, so she shouldn't be hungry... wait, not just King, but Urara and Rice are also in their growth phase... Is it really possible that they're hungry because the calculations were off?
"Of course not! Good grief..."
Ah, good. It was a joke I said to relax King, but I was getting a little flustered thinking about an unexpected possibility. I thought I might have to go buy some grilled carrots from the food stalls outside the racecourse.
"You're such a dummy..."
King said just that and disappeared into the waiting room. The apologetic look she had earlier was gone from her face. So, I nodded and headed toward the paddock.
The paddock was also a huge success, just like the area around the Kyoto Racecourse. The Kikuka Sho, or rather, G1 races are overwhelmingly popular among horse girl races. So, as usual, I was aiming for the front row to check the condition of the participating horse girls.
"...Huh? Why?"
"Today's race... Huh? King Halo is in the Kikuka Sho?"
"Didn't she just run in the Sprinters Stakes recently?"
As I was moving to the front row, saying things like, "I'm the trainer, excuse me," I felt gazes and heard words flying at me. It was a confused, almost negative, atmosphere.
For the past month, I had been finishing my work as quickly as possible and spending the time I carved out on race research, so I didn't know much about how the public felt about King entering the Kikuka Sho. Well, it's only natural for them to think I'm overworking her.
(Hmm... Should I have left Urara and Rice at the hotel? But they came all this way to cheer her on...)
Urara is surprisingly perceptive, and Rice is not good with the malice of others...
(Ah, they seem fine... or rather, they're perfectly calm...)
I checked on Urara and Rice and couldn't help but think that.
Urara had her usual beaming smile, and Rice also had her usual... yeah, the smile she makes when she dotes on King. I found myself thinking, "They've gotten so strong," a thought that was out of place.
Not many people know that King can also run long distances. Or rather, the longest race King has ever run was the 2400-meter Japan Derby, and this is her first time in a long-distance race.
Considering that, I guess the public's reaction is understandable. But still, King has been training hard for this day.
Today, the results of all our hard work will be tested.
"Gate 1, Stall 1, Happy Meek."
And with that, the paddock unveiling began.
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