On a plane from France:
Treve, Solemia, Workforce, and other Uma Musume have already embarked on their journey to Tokyo. The flight from France to Japan takes about 15 hours.
They will arrive tomorrow morning and then head to Tracen Academy.
The three of them are sitting together.
Who would have thought that this row of seats holds four French G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe champions?
Workforce won the 2010 Arc, beating Nakayama Festa by half a length.
Solemia won in 2012, beating Orfevre.
Treve achieved consecutive Arc victories in 2013 and 2014, beating Orfevre in 2013 and Gold Ship in 2014.
Many other new-generation French Uma Musume followed along.
They are discussing excitedly:
"Hey, hey, do you think when Treve-senpai reaches Tracen, she'll have a 1v1 match with Orfevre? But Japanese turf is different from French turf. Treve-senpai wouldn't accidentally lose to Orfevre, would she?"
"Don't you worry! Treve-senpai is invincible. I believe that even on a track she's least suited for, she can exert her maximum power."
"Ugh, I really want to follow Treve-senpai forever. Even if it's just watching her from a distance, I'd be satisfied! Ehehe."
"You've got problems."
"..."
The French Uma Musume were clearly excited about heading to Japan. They looked at the sky beneath the plane, dreaming of the future.
When would they be like Solemia-senpai, Workforce-senpai, or Treve-senpai, leaving their own footprints on French tracks, or even international ones?
Meanwhile, at Tracen Academy in Japan:
Chairwoman Yayoi Akikawa was also preparing for this international exchange. She had set up a vast exhibition hall documenting various honors from Japan's URA and the top accolades of the French Uma Musume.
Every activity was fully prepared, with banquet facilities including simultaneous translation headsets and AI robots to help the French visitors resolve grammar issues and provide real-time navigation around the campus.
Tracen was treating the French Uma Musume as VIPs, just as France had hosted them in the past.
Of course, these were just the indoor facilities. The outdoor areas had specialized signs and specific tracks, including French-style starting gates on the practice field.
Since French gates are smaller than Japanese ones, having them available allowed Japanese Uma Musume to familiarize themselves with the setup while providing a comfortable environment for the visitors.
The Tracen cafeteria had even prepared snails recently. On average, a person in France eats 1,000 snails a year, so with the French girls arriving, the kitchen made sure to have some ready.
Chef Uma Musume like Super Creek, King Halo, and Matikane Tannhauser were actually quite eager to try cooking them, hoping to master the dish during the visit.
Hearing this, Mizuki remarked: "Snails are so cute, how can you eat them! Are you all really that greedy?"
"...Wait, actually, I'm craving them too. Never mind."
Back on the plane from France:
"Treve, it seems everyone really admires you. Consecutive G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe victories... calling you the strongest mare in racing history wouldn't be an exaggeration," Workforce said.
"No... Workforce, have you forgotten? Trainer Mizuki also wrote down another name," Treve said seriously.
"You mean... Enable? I haven't seen much data on her yet. To be honest, I still think you're stronger."
"You're a Horse of the Year, you've won numerous high-difficulty G1 titles in France, and you took back-to-back wins at the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp."
"To put it bluntly, if you took just half of your career honors and gave them to another horse, they would instantly rank among the world's top-tier mares!"
"If that Enable is supposedly stronger than you even at your level... honestly, I can't fathom how terrifying she must be. She'd have to be a monster among monsters."
"Did she break a record at the Arc? Or go undefeated in England? It's hard to imagine what she actually did."
Workforce pondered it but couldn't reach a conclusion. She felt it was impossible, yet she couldn't help but be curious about the name "Enable," dying to see just how brilliant her career truly was.
If Enable really was stronger than Treve, those who raced in the same era as Enable probably only felt one thing: Despair. Endless despair.
Workforce wondered that if Enable really was that strong, what would her own chances be in a race against her? Could she stop her?
She shook her head, feeling that even with her best effort, it would be difficult. The gap might be small, but if Enable truly sat atop the throne of the world's mares, Workforce's win rate wouldn't be high.
However, she felt there was no point dwelling on it now. She'd wait to see how Trainer Mizuki described Enable's career later. Perhaps she was just overthinking it.
For now, she was more interested in the "Three Heisei Giants" of the JRA.
Workforce realized that compared to Oguri Cap, Tamamo Cross, and Inari One, her generation were essentially juniors.
They felt deep respect for these seniors, since the modern running facilities and training programs they enjoyed were built upon the trials and errors of those predecessors.
Treve and Workforce stopped discussing Enable and turned their attention to the Three Heisei Giants. Honestly, the developmental history of the trio left Treve speechless.
Especially the experience of Tamamo Cross. Just reading about it felt suffocating.
If anyone else went through what she did, they might have gone insane.
Treve put herself in Tamamo's shoes: Her ranch went bankrupt, her mother was gone, yet faced with a cruel fate, she didn't yield. She seized the last chance to change her destiny, ran incredible times, and became the "White Lightning" that drove the JRA wild.
Her story was like the protagonist of a hot-blooded shonen anime.
Solemia was also stunned by Tamamo's history and felt a deep heartache for her. She knew that if she had encountered such things, she might have become depressed.
Why keep running? She wouldn't see the meaning in it.
Solemia also saw in the log that the real-life Tamamo Cross had a difficult temperament and was extremely polarized, disliking the approach of humans.
Looking at her history, it was completely understandable.
"When we get to Tracen, I have to go see Tamamo Cross. I wonder what she looks like?" Solemia asked curiously.
"Maybe an Uma with a face full of determination?" Workforce suggested.
Meanwhile, she was wondering how much Oguri Cap could actually eat. She had to compete with her. After all, she was Workforce, the undisputed champion of the French cafeteria!
"Not sure, let's go see for ourselves," Treve laughed. In their imagination, Tamamo Cross was likely a strong, melancholic type.
In reality, the lively and cute Tamamo Cross was nothing like their imagination. "Tama-chan" was adorable and often did things that were fatally cute—like the look of pure despair on her face whenever she failed to stop Symboli Rudolf from telling a pun.
As someone who considered herself a wise-cracker, she was usually one step away from a mental breakdown when she heard those bad jokes.
At Tracen Academy:
"Everyone's here now," Super Creek said happily, her eyes sparkling with anticipation for what would happen next.
"I wonder when I'll get to run a G1 race," Tamamo Cross added expectantly.
Inari One felt the same. When her mentor first asked her to come to Tracen, she had kept refusing. She knew her mentor wanted a better future for her, but she only wanted to stay and show her gratitude.
That was until her mentor told her: "If you really want to thank me, go to the JRA. Take the spirit of Ohi to the JRA tracks and tell the whole world that a girl from Ohi can conquer the strongest arena."
At that moment, she made up her mind to win.
Bamboo Memory said enthusiastically, "Speaking of which, Super Creek-san, I wonder if we'll have a race together. I'm from that era too. If we race, it'll be a 'Father-Son Match'!"
Super Creek asked, "Father-Son Match? What does that mean?"
Bamboo Memory laughed, "Did you forget? Trainer Mizuki said my trainer was Kunihiko Take, the 'Magician on Turf' and father of Yutaka Take. Since your jockey is Yutaka Take, if we race, it's Kunihiko Take vs. Yutaka Take. A father-son showdown! It'll be a great watch."
Daiwa Scarlet: "Now that you mention it, I remember. Trainer Mizuki mentioned before that in the 1991 Takarazuka Kinen, Bamboo Memory raced, and the commentator Sugimoto Kiyoshi gave that famous line: 'Tonight, your dream and my dream will run here. Your dream might be McQueen, Ryan, or another, but my dream is Bamboo Memory.'"
"In the end, the highly anticipated Bamboo Memory suffered a crushing defeat in 10th place. Trainer Kunihiko Take later complained: 'Every time I remember that line, I can't stand it. It's too embarrassing.'"
(T/N: This is another example of the Author forgetting what they wrote in previous chapters. The MC never wrote about any of the above in the diary, it was explicitly something the narrator said outside of the diary.)
Mejiro Bright added, "In that race, Norihiro Yokoyama and Ryan-nee were first! McQueen-san, ridden by Yutaka Take, was second."
Bright looked at Mejiro Ryan with admiration. After all, Ryan was her "father" in the horse world.
In that race, Yutaka Take on McQueen had directly defeated the horse his father trained. One can imagine Yutaka teasing her dad afterward: "Dad, you okay?"
Super Creek said, "Wow, that's something to look forward to! Though our distances might be different, maybe we'll meet in the Arima Kinen."
Oguri Cap nodded. Her starting point was here. Tama had already made her mark, now it was her turn, along with Inari One and Super Creek.
Mizuki's log continued:
[Returning to Oguri Cap. After running the 1600m G3 Pegasus Stakes on March 6, 1988, his camp chose the G3 Mainichi Hai to increase his prize money.]
[On March 27, 1988, at Hanshin Racecourse, Oguri Cap started the Mainichi Hai as the 1st favorite. Facing a 2000m track, he showed incredible adaptability and successfully won the race with jockey Hiroshi Kawachi.]
[By this point, Oguri Cap had enough prize money to participate in the Triple Crown.]
[However, his camp discovered a massive problem: Although he had the money, he couldn't register for the Triple Crown.]
[The JRA regulations at the time stipulated that any horse coming to the JRA Central circuit had to be registered for the Classic races in advance. Oguri Cap had missed the registration deadline and was thus disqualified from competing.]
[This meant his team could only participate in the G3 Kyoto Yonsai Tokubetsu on May 8, 1988.]
[Oguri Cap, like Maruzensky before him, became the second major "Phantom Triple Crown Horse" in JRA history that was unable to compete due to the rules. Everyone believed that if he had competed, he had a massive chance of winning the 1988 Triple Crown.]
[His absence was a huge regret and caused massive dissatisfaction among Japanese fans at the time.]
[This regret eventually pushed the JRA to change the registration rules for the Triple Crown, leading to the "Supplementary Registration" system, where owners can pay a fee to enter late. This allowed the later legend, the Overlord of the Century's End T.M. Opera O, to use this system to enter the Satsuki Sho and begin his path to dominance.]
[Realistically, Oguri Cap's dominance at that time wasn't as overwhelming as Maruzensky's was. Maruzensky crushed every horse in the JRA, whereas Oguri Cap was still only dominating G3 races.]
[So, who were the winners of the 1988 Triple Crown?]
[G1 Satsuki Sho Winner: Yaeno Muteki]
[G1 Tokyo Derby Winner: Sakura Chiyono O]
[G1 Kikuka-sho Winner: Super Creek]
[If Oguri Cap had raced, would the results have changed? It's certainly something to ponder.]
[After missing the Satsuki Sho, Oguri Cap ran the G3 Kyoto Yonsai Tokubetsu on May 8 and took 1st place with terrifying ease.]
[On June 5, 1988, having missed the Japanese Derby, he chose the 1600m G2 New Zealand Trophy Yonsai Stakes. He was the undisputed 1st favorite, and his speed shocked everyone again. Not only did he win, but she crossed the line with a massive 7-length lead, completely dominating the field.]
[With this victory, he achieved 4 consecutive graded stakes wins and his first G2 title.]
[Continuing his momentum, he ran the 2000m G2 Takamatsunomiya Hai on July 10, marking 5 consecutive graded stakes wins.]
[On October 9, 1988, in the 1800m G2 Mainichi Okan, Oguri Cap defeated the "tragic horse" Sirius Symboli, who had returned from France in 1987, marking 6 consecutive graded stakes wins.]
[At this time, Oguri Cap was in high spirits, while Sirius Symboli's record was bleak. Looking back at Sirius Symboli's career, "victim of circumstance" is the best description. He was truly miserable.]
[The story of Sirius Symboli is rare in JRA history.]
[It began on March 26, 1982, when Sirius Symboli was born at Symboli Ranch. Because of his powerful pedigree, expectations were high.]
[In 1984, his owner, Wada Tomohiro, sent him to the prestigious stable of Toshio Nihonyanagi at the Miho Training Center.]
[To handle Sirius's notoriously foul temper, Nihonyanagi assigned him to his subordinate jockey, Kazuhiro Kato.]
[During training, Kato's biggest headache was Sirius's gate issues—moving around, missing the start, and numerous leg problems. But by his debut in September 1984, while things had improved slightly, the problems weren't solved.]
[Sure enough, Sirius missed the start and was last out of the gate.]
[Despite the slow start, Sirius used an amazing late-kick to sprint from the back, overtaking everyone to win by 1.5 lengths, proving his incredible closing ability.]
[The camp then entered him in the Fuyo Tokubetsu two weeks later. He was the 1st favorite. But lightning struck twice: Sirius missed the start again.]
[With debut experience, Kato calmly navigated from the back. However, disaster struck: The pack ahead formed a thick wall. Kato was forced to swing Sirius to the outside, but this move impeded another horse. Although Sirius finished first, he was disqualified.]
[A race that should have been won was lost due to a jockey's error. This infuriated owner Wada Tomohiro. Though Trainer Nihonyanagi mediated the tension for a while, this conflict planted the seeds for future clashes.]
[Then came the next graded race. Again, a slow start. Again, Kato moved from the back. But luck wasn't on their side. They didn't foul anyone, but they lost by a nose.]
[These successive failures finally enraged the owner. Tomohiro told Nihonyanagi he wanted to replace the inexperienced Kato with Yukio Okabe, who had just achieved the undefeated Triple Crown with Symboli Rudolf that same year.]
[However, Nihonyanagi didn't believe the jockey was the problem. A fierce conflict erupted. Both sides had accumulated resentment, and it only needed a spark to ignite.]
[Actually, Nihonyanagi had reason to be angry. At that time, it was rare for owners to interfere with stable decisions. Doing so was seen as a slap in the face to a prestigious stable like his. Why should he listen to the owner?]
[One might say that in the entire JRA, Wada Tomohiro was likely the only owner who would clash so violently with a stable.]
[Furthermore, Sirius Symboli and Symboli Rudolf were very different. Rudolf was essentially an "automatic" horse. He was often the horse leading Okabe, not Okabe commanding the horse.]
[Okabe even admitted in interviews that it didn't feel like he was in command, Rudolf just ran and won. While a bit exaggerated, it was true to an extent.]
[Despite the friction, Tomohiro and Nihonyanagi maintained a surface-level peace for a while.]
[In the next race, the Fuchu 3-Year-Old Stakes, Sirius—still ridden by Kato per the trainer's insistence—won by a neck. Although he missed the Asahi Hai 3-Year-Old Stakes due to a schedule conflict, he was still ranked among the top 2 of his generation.]
[Entering 1985, Sirius should have seen better days. But Trainer Nihonyanagi made a heated remark: "What does Tomohiro have to complain about? If he's so unhappy, he can transfer to another stable!" This set Tomohiro off.]
[Ten days before the Wakaba Stakes in March, Tomohiro suddenly decided to transfer Sirius Symboli to another stable.]
[Losing a strong horse like Sirius meant losing prize money, which infuriated the staff at Nihonyanagi's stable. Some grooms even began refusing to accept any horses from Symboli Ranch.]
[The situation escalated until the Trainers' Association had to intervene. One week after transferring to a new stable, Sirius Symboli was returned to Nihonyanagi's stable.]
[Two days later, Sirius Symboli—this time ridden by Yukio Okabe at the request of the "temporary" stable— participated in the G2 Wakaba Stakes and won easily by 2 lengths.]
[After the race, perhaps feeling vindicated after the regrets surrounding the choice of the Nihonyanagi stable, Owner Tomohiro proudly remarked to those around him: "See? I told you Okabe rides him better."]
[Subsequently, Sirius Symboli skipped the Satsuki Sho. The camp publicly claimed it was a leg issue, but in reality, it was a move to lower the heat surrounding the recent drama. After all, the controversy was massive back then, and that was in an era without the internet. If it happened today, it would have broken the internet.]
[Skipping the Satsuki Sho = Lowering the drama.]
[That inequality is a total loss of logic.]
[While avoiding races, Sirius spent that time training alongside Symboli Rudolf.]
[Sirius Symboli's camp then set their next goal as the G2 NHK Hai, the prep race for the 1985 G1 Japanese Derby. However, he was forced back into rest due to a hoof contusion.]
[When the Japanese Derby finally arrived, the reins of Sirius Symboli were handed back to Jockey Kato, who hadn't ridden this ill-tempered horse in half a year.]
[But this time, in the G1 Japanese Derby, Jockey Kato and Sirius Symboli pulled off an unexpectedly brilliant tactical ride. In that 1985 Derby, the performance of both horse and rider was nothing short of spectacular.]
[June 1985. On the day of the race, it was pouring rain. The turf at Tokyo Racecourse was washed into heavy ground, with the inner rails becoming a muddy mess.]
[Shortly after the gates opened for the Derby, a strange sight occurred: The pack didn't head for the inside but clung to the outside instead. The goal was to avoid the heavy ground and find flatter footing on the outer edge.]
[Jockey Kato did the same, but he was even bolder. As if he understood that Sirius Symboli could handle anything, he steered him to the outermost lane—a move so extreme it even shocked the trainers.]
[Then, entering the final sprint, Suda Hawk (the Yayoi Sho winner) surged from the inside while Sirius Symboli charged from the outside. They engaged in a fierce battle, but ultimately, Sirius Symboli won by a commanding 3 lengths.]
[The conflict between Owner Tomohiro, Jockey Kato, and Trainer Nihonyanagi finally seemed to reach an end.]
[However, even after the Derby victory, Owner Tomohiro was still unwilling to continue collaborating with the Nihonyanagi stable. He resolutely decided to send Sirius Symboli on a campaign to Europe, with Yukio Okabe designated as the rider.]
[Sirius Symboli thus headed to Europe. His first race was the British G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes in July 1985. But even with Okabe in the irons, Sirius Symboli finished a disappointing 8th.]
[Following that, he finished 4th in the Grosser Preis von Baden.]
[After that race, Jockey Okabe returned to Japan, while Sirius stayed overseas to continue competing. He crossed the English Channel to France. After a 6th-place failure, he took 3rd in the French G1 Prix Royal-Oak.]
[That 3rd place gave the camp a glimmer of hope, but his subsequent record was dismal. In the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, he suffered a crushing defeat, finishing 14th out of 15 horses.]
[By May 1987, Sirius Symboli's overseas record stood at 16 starts with one 2nd place and two 3rd places.]
[In reality, if Sirius Symboli hadn't gone abroad— and if Owner Tomohiro hadn't interfered with his stable— he might have forged a completely different legend. He likely would have won multiple G1 titles.]
[But instead, his owner chose to chase glory and fame, ignore the advice of others, and ruined a great horse like Sirius Symboli.]
[Keep in mind that Sirius Symboli was strong enough to even beat Rudolf in a public race that served as a demonstration.]
[Even Rudolf himself wasn't able to escape mismanagement at the hands of Tomohiro. His record was forever stained by his run in the US.]
[One can only blame Tomohiro for Sirius's fate. Just reading about the abuse Sirius suffered makes me angry.]
[In the story designed by Cygames, Sirius Symboli is portrayed as someone who deeply respects individual will. In her eyes, a happy future and the composition of one's dreams are not decided by others, but by oneself, because the will is the only thing that cannot be dominated by anyone else.]
[To have one's dreams and happiness controlled by others is to be a victim of circumstance.]
[Honestly, seeing Sirius Symboli's plight and comparing it to Oguri Cap's owner, Koichi Oguri, versus Sirius's owner, Wada Tomohiro... their approaches were worlds apart.]
[Thinking of Ryuji Wada now, if he had encountered an owner like Wada Tomohiro, he probably wouldn't have survived past the second episode.]
[But you can't really compare them; T.M. Opera O's camp was essentially a ragtag group of rookies, so the level of tolerance was naturally higher.]
[Uncle Wada certainly had great fortune.]
[After defeating Sirius Symboli back then, Oguri Cap had already secured 6 consecutive graded stakes wins, including three G2 races, and had even posted terrifying results like winning by 7 lengths.]
[The times Oguri Cap was posting were things even some G1 horses would find difficult to achieve.]
[Thus, Oguri Cap's camp felt that for a horse like this, how could he not win at least one G1 race to further prove herself?]
[They believed that Oguri Cap's limits were far beyond what had been seen so far.]
[With this mindset, his camp finally scheduled him to race in the Tenno Sho Autumn on October 30, 1988.]
[At the time, the decision to enter Oguri Cap in the Tenno Sho Autumn drove the entire JRA into a frenzy.]
[Not just because people wanted to see Oguri Cap perform on the G1 stage, but largely because Oguri Cap, with his 6-win streak, was about to meet another gray horse who had arrived on the JRA stage earlier and also held a 6-win streak, Tamamo Cross.]
[The JRA headlines at the time screamed:]
[Tenno Sho Autumn.]
[The Gray Monster, Oguri Cap vs. The White Lightning, Tamamo Cross!]
[A clash of titans, a battle of the ages, was about to begin!]
At Tracen Academy, countless Uma Musume finished reading the log with complex expressions.
Some were stunned by the sheer level of Oguri Cap's performance, while others were shocked by the real-life events surrounding Sirius Symboli.
"Six... six consecutive graded stakes wins? Honestly, if Oguri Cap could have participated in the Triple Crown, it would have been incredible. But no matter what, Yaeno Muteki-san, I'll always support you!"
Bamboo Memory and Yaeno Muteki were close friends, and Bamboo was often looked after by her, yet she still felt the pull of supporting Oguri Cap's legendary run.