After entering the opposite straight, Oguri Cap had already overtaken Southern Vigorous and Supreme Space, leaving her just one horse length behind DS Soarer. In other words, she had moved into the middle of the pack—while Don Fortis, holding the lead, was only six lengths ahead.
"She should start controlling her pace now," Tojo Hana judged confidently, her eyes following the movement on the track. "Don Fortis can't possibly accelerate through the entire eighteen hundred meters."
"It doesn't matter," Shuta An replied, calm but focused. "I don't know about the others, but for Oguri Cap, my instruction here is to conserve her strength."
"So Oguri… she has to hold back now? Not push forward?" Mrs. White Narubi asked, lips tightening with concern.
"Exactly. Conserving energy here is crucial," Shuta An explained patiently. "Think of it like a punch—you have to pull it back before you can strike with full power. Racing's the same."
Tojo Hana quietly noted his words down in her mind. 'Perhaps I should tell Silence Suzuka this later—to help her resist the urge to surge ahead too early'
Unaware of her thoughts, Shuta An's gaze never left the track. His fists clenched slightly as he watched his gray filly approaching the next turn. "The key to victory lies right here," he murmured, anticipation flickering in his eyes.
Rewind—twenty seconds earlier.
The five Uma Musume ahead of Oguri Cap all knew that the upcoming turn would decide everything. And they also understood one thing clearly: none of them were particularly good at taking the inside lane.
To their relief, judging from Oguri Cap's first turn, she wasn't good at it either.
So, without needing to speak, the five front-runners all drifted a few steps outward as the straight neared its end, leaving a clear path open along the inside rail.
Oguri Cap's eyes lit up.
'Should I accelerate now? They've given me the space' The thought pulsed in her mind like a heartbeat.
According to Shuta Trainer's plan, she should still be conserving stamina here and only strike after exiting the turn. But the perfect gap now shining before her was too tempting—it called to her instincts as a racer, screaming for her to seize it, tear through it, and carve a path these opponents would never forget.
She hesitated.
'Do I trust my instincts… or my Trainer?'
Shuta An had praised her instincts before—but this time, they were leading her away from his command. Then, she remembered his words from their strategy meeting:
"I grant you permission to improvise. If, at any moment, you feel breaking from my plan is better—then go ahead and do it."
'Go ahead and do it'
Oguri bit her lip, lowered her body slightly, and prepared to accelerate.
"Then, I'll trust my—"
But at that very moment, Don Fortis, the leader entering the corner first, cast a quick glance back using the slope of the terrain. Her eyes met Oguri's—just for an instant—and that was enough to jolt the Gray Filly back to reason.
'Wait… if I accelerate now, I'll need time to overtake all five of them. Don Fortis or Happy Green could just cut inward after the turn and legally block my lane. I'd be trapped, pinned on the rail, unable to break through…!'
In the stands, Shuta An, having just finished explaining the race plan to Mrs. White Narubi, turned to Berno Light.
"That's why I wanted Oguri to endure here," he said. "Even if an opening appears, it's a trap."
Berno Light frowned, anxiety flickering in her eyes. "She might not be able to resist it. You know how she is when she sees a chance."
"I trust her," Shuta An said firmly, voice low but unwavering. "And she'll trust me."
As his words fell, Oguri Cap made her decision—she abandoned the urge to sprint and rejected the call of her instincts.
"…No. I'll trust the Trainer." Her voice was steady as she braced herself to enter the slope road.
The five front-runners ahead took the outside lane again, just as they had on the first turn. The inside space they left didn't shrink—it grew wider. Yet Oguri Cap didn't dive in. The sting of nearly falling for that earlier "trap" was still too fresh. So she kept her course, following the others along the outer line.
"Perfect," Shuta An grinned, pumping his fist once. "They're all veering outward again to secure their acceleration space; but by doing that, they've just set up the stage for her."
He leaned forward slightly, voice low and tense with excitement.
"Alright, Oguri… it's time for the magic show."
Several other Trainers in the VIP area noticed his reaction. A few frowned, uneasy.
"That Kasamatsu Trainer looks far too confident… Don't tell me he and his Uma Musume still have something hidden up their sleeves?"
While the Mombetsu Trainers whispered among themselves, Oguri Cap, shadowing the leading group, reached the latter half of the final turn. Don Fortis, at the front, began adjusting her position for the last 330 meters. She didn't cut inside—instead, she continued outward.
For Don Fortis, it was a calculated move. 'If this were a Central graded race, I'd cling to the inside. But this is Mombetsu—there's no need.'
Yet a flicker of unease rippled through her chest.
At that moment, Oguri Cap noticed the front-runners all beginning to accelerate.
'That's it… the moment Trainer meant.'
Her pupils sharpened. "The time is now!"
Oguri took a sharp step inward, cutting through the open lane, and in the next heartbeat—released all the power she had held back.
"Oguri Cap suddenly shifts to the inside!" the commentator's voice burst through the speakers. "Her speed hasn't dropped—she's accelerating! She's shattering every impression we've had of her!"
The crowd roared.
Using the shorter distance of the inside path, Oguri Cap's finishing kick erupted like a cannon blast. She tore through the mud, overtaking four opponents in a single breath.
Now, only Don Fortis remained ahead.
"Tch…" Don Fortis's teeth ground together. She had already sensed Oguri's surge. "I was careless. I didn't think she'd use the inside like that."
Her expression twisted—half fury, half exhilaration. "Fine then! Let's see how far you can go! I'm a three-time Central winner—I won't lose to some mud-splattered rabbit from Kasamatsu!"
Actually, Don Fortis's jab wasn't wrong.
Because she had been following behind several Uma Musume, Oguri Cap's tracksuit and face were splattered with mud, making her look particularly disheveled. Yet the momentum of her powerful surge from behind was so fierce that Don Fortis quickly refocused on the race.
As an Uma Musume who had transferred from Central, Don Fortis could not afford to stumble here against someone from Kasamatsu—a local academy with over fifty years of history that had never produced a single National Regional Exchange Graded Race winner. Even their victories in the lower-tier Tokai Regional Exchange Graded Races were rare.
Even if that "mud rabbit" behind her somehow finished second, it would still mark history for Kasamatsu.
Still, Don Fortis didn't shift inward to block Oguri Cap's acceleration lane. From her experience, the inner rail of Mombetsu Racecourse was unsuitable for sprinting—the mud there was deep, heavy, and would only slow her down.
Her Trainer thought the same. "Hold your line. If Oguri Cap sprints on the inside, her finishing kick won't be able to match Don Fortis's."
But Shuta An disagreed.
"With the rain pouring these past few days, there's barely any difference between the inside and outside lanes. Taking the inner rail even saves a few steps."
Tojo Hana chuckled from beside him. "One could say the home team fell into the trap of conventional wisdom."
"Fell into the trap?" Shuta An grinned. "A Trainer who doesn't understand astronomy or meteorology, doesn't know the geography of the track, and can't adjust an Uma Musume's mindset—isn't that a failure? At the very least, they should be good at one of the three, right?"
Tojo Hana, hit squarely by the AOE, twitched her mouth in silence.
With 200 meters left, Oguri Cap had already drawn level with Don Fortis.
For the first time since the gates opened, the two Uma Musume from different regions ran shoulder to shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye, Oguri Cap could see the fierce expression on the top favorite's face. She knew her own expression probably didn't look much better—but there was no time to worry.
'No Uma Musume would dare relax at the decisive moment… probably?'
Oguri Cap lowered her center of gravity, her body nearly parallel to the muddy track. Every cell screamed in protest, but she no longer cared.
"I said I wanted to see my Trainer, Berno, and My Mother's smile as the ending to this summer!" she gritted out. Her stride quickened, propelling her half a head ahead of Don Fortis.
But Don Fortis wasn't one to surrender.
"I came back to Mombetsu from Central to build the strength to represent my hometown and challenge Central again! How could I lose to a mud rabbit from Kasamatsu today!"
Her muscles tightened, straining to their limits, even at the risk of overload injury. Step by step, she clawed back the gap.
"Oguri Cap has overtaken Don Fortis—but Don Fortis hasn't given up! She's caught up again! The two are neck and neck! The third-place DS Soarer is five lengths behind!" the commentator's voice cracked with excitement. "It's down to a one-on-one duel!"
For spectators, there were two kinds of exhilarating finales: the "solo run," where a single Uma Musume storms far ahead to cross the finish line unchallenged; and the "one-on-one duel," like now, when victory would be decided by inches at the wire.
In the stands, Shuta An's heart pounded violently. It was as if he were the one sprinting against Don Fortis on that rain-soaked track.
"Oguri Cap…" he murmured, lips pressed tight. He had done everything he could before the race—now, with 150 meters left, all that remained rested on Oguri Cap's willpower, tenacity, and heart.
"Uma Musume seven, human three…" Shuta An recalled the lesson from Trainer Sagami Masayuki in the Dream World. "It's true—I can only do my best with the three parts. The rest belongs to her."
"I believe in her." His teeth dug into his lip hard enough to draw blood. "Come on, Oguri Cap. Break through the prejudice of the human heart."
With 120 meters left, the two runners were still dead even. Neither would yield.
Don Fortis needed victory to earn the right to challenge Central again.
Oguri Cap's reasons were more layered—her Trainer's smile, her mother's comfort, her friends' efforts through the summer. Yet, at that instant, all of it faded away.
Only one thought burned in her mind: I want to win!
She stole a glance at Don Fortis beside her. Even through the rain and mud, she sensed her opponent's condition was worse than her own.
Then, suddenly, a flash of memory surfaced—
"I had a dream once… I was sprinting side by side with an opponent, and then…"
She remembered that voice echoing faintly in her dream: "Use a head to head battle…"
The moment she recalled it, her stride exploded with power.
In the blink of an eye, Oguri Cap surged forward, pulling a full horse length ahead.
"What—?!" Don Fortis's eyes widened. "Am I even inferior in explosive power to a Kasamatsu Uma Musume?!"
That instant of distraction sealed it. Oguri Cap broke free completely.
"Fifty meters to go! Oguri Cap takes the lead again! Don Fortis on the outside is desperately chasing—can she catch up?!" The commentator's voice rose into a shout, his professional calm abandoned. "She can't catch up! Oguri Cap's speed keeps rising—the gray streak monster is about to split open the gates of victory at Mombetsu Racecourse!"
It wasn't hyperbole. It was the truth. In that moment, the commentator could already see Oguri Cap's victory seconds ahead of the rest.
At the same time, in the stands, Shuta An's lips curved into a trembling smile. His body loosened from tension. Berno Light beside him swinging his right arm, shaking it with excitement. "We're going to win! Oguri's going to become a Stakes Uma Musume!"
Mrs. White Narubi's gaze turned toward the young Trainer. She noticed Berno Light's gesture and a faint, unreadable look passed over her face.
Shuta An didn't notice. He nodded to Berno Light, then turned toward Oguri Cap's mother.
"Thank you, Mrs. White Narubi."
"It's I who should thank Shuta-kun." White Narubi's voice wavered as she forced a smile. "To let Oguri—who once had stiff legs—become a Stakes/Graded Uma Musume that's your achievement."
Before Shuta An could reply, the commentator's shout cut through the rain:
"Oguri Cap crosses the finish line! A flash of lightning on the final straight! Kasamatsu's first Regional New Uma Musume Champion in fifty years is born!"
Shuta An's gaze snapped back to the track.
There, Oguri Cap—three lengths ahead of Don Fortis—had slowed to a jog, rain cascading down her silver-gray mane. She stood in the downpour, looking up at him from afar.
The Gray Umamusume narrowed her eyes, a radiant smile blooming on her face, and raised her right thumb toward the VIP section.
Shuta An stood by the railing, doing the same—raising his own thumb for her to see. Then, turning to Berno Light and Tojo Hana, he said with a grin, "I'll go and pick her up."
Without waiting for a reply, the young Trainer hummed an unknown tune and jogged off through the rain.