After Tracen's open house days ended, Kagura's life finally returned to its usual rhythm: preparing meals daily for Nice Nature and Rudolf Ojou-sama, occasionally feeding freeloaders like Akikawa Yayoi and Maruzensky-san, plus Gold Ship, who dropped by every once in a blue moon.
Lately, another regular visitor had appeared at the cafeteria—Mr. C.B. Though she didn't show up too often, each time she visited, she always ordered something with radishes. Taro radish cake, pickled radishes, even something as simple as stir-fried shredded carrots with pork. Kagura began to suspect that her senpai's head was entirely filled with radishes; if it had radishes in it, she liked it.
Rudolf Ojou-sama's recent training progress had also been going exceptionally well. The entry list for her upcoming open race had finally been announced. Kagura had expected many Uma Musume would avoid racing against Rudolf, but even she hadn't anticipated that including Rudolf herself, there would only be five participants in total.
Kagura couldn't decide if these Uma Musume were brave or something else entirely. Rudolf's reputation had already spread far and wide throughout professional circles, yet these few stubbornly refused to back down, insisting on challenging her anyway.
Bizen Nishiki had also sought out Kagura shortly after she returned to her daily kitchen duties, asking Kagura to support her instead. She'd clearly stated her goal—challenging Rudolf Ojou-sama to claim the Triple Crown.
However, Kagura politely declined Bizen Nishiki's offer. Both objectively and subjectively, Kagura had no intention of switching teams. Upon hearing Kagura had signed an exclusive contract with the Symboli family, Bizen Nishiki immediately gave up her poaching attempt, expressing understanding and regret.
Recently, Kagura—who regularly followed online discussions—noticed an increasing buzz online about another Uma Musume besides Mr. C.B. and Rudolf Ojou-sama: Bizen Nishiki herself, who'd maintained an undefeated record since her debut.
Fans online considered Bizen Nishiki the most promising rival to Rudolf. Reportedly, she'd secured each previous victory with relative ease. Her next target was February's Kyodo News Hai, and if all went well, she would enter the Classic Triple Crown races with four or even five straight wins. Fans online were incredibly hyped about her potential.
——She won't make it. Forget your Ojou-sama; even you would give her trouble in a race.
Yet, not long ago, after Kagura had collected footage of Bizen Nishiki's races, Eclipse-san offered a completely opposite opinion from the online consensus.
——Her distance adaptability is really problematic. Those fans pushing her into longer races are completely irresponsible. With her adaptability issues, if they keep forcing her forward like this, it won't be long before she pays the price on track. Muscle strains would be minor; if she collapses during a sprint, that's not something a couple days' rest can fix. I've seen Uma Musume die on the track before.
Uh… Eclipse-san, Bizen Nishiki hasn't raced anything beyond a mile yet, right? How do you even know she has distance adaptability issues?
——Some things you can see clearly just by watching how she runs. She simply isn't suited for mid- or long-distance races, at least not what you guys call mid- or long-distance. Once you've seen enough, you'll recognize it too.
Eclipse's comments had no concrete evidence, sounding overly mystical, mostly based on her personal experience. Yet Kagura found Eclipse's words very credible and even agreed with her assessment of Bizen Nishiki's overly zealous fans. After all, the online community in Japan truly loved creating idols out of thin air.
…
Amidst these busy preparations, Rudolf Ojou-sama soon found herself in the late-November open race.
This was Rudolf's most bizarre race yet since her debut—mainly because there were simply too few participants. Previously, many Uma Musume would enter races hoping to at least secure a top-five finish, but now, even counting Rudolf herself, only five Uma Musume entered in total.
Thanks to Kagura and Trainer Tojo's meticulous support during this period, Rudolf Ojou-sama, in peak condition and thoroughly trained, displayed her overwhelming dominance. She quickly pulled away from the sparse pack, charging ahead to finish first with an enormous nine-length lead, easily crossing the finish line without any suspense at all.
Ojou-sama, seriously… Did you deliberately slow down near the finish line just now?
Observing from the distant spectator stands, Kagura quickly noticed something odd about Rudolf's performance.
People unfamiliar with Rudolf might not catch it, but Kagura—who was regularly dominated in training by Rudolf—noticed instantly. On the final straight, Rudolf intentionally eased off, deliberately controlling her lead so it stayed at precisely nine lengths.
Kagura understood why she'd done it. Against these particular opponents, Rudolf was indeed far too strong. Had Rudolf continued sprinting at full strength in such circumstances, some poor Uma Musume would have been penalized with a suspension due to the huge gap. Those who'd shown up for this race were already commendably brave; punishing them further would've been utterly unjustified.
——Your Ojou-sama sure is nice. When I raced, I never thought of sparing anyone.
Eclipse-san's words appeared briefly on Kagura's phone screen before quickly disappearing again.
Eclipse-san, did you often finish with massive leads back then?
——Massive leads? We weren't as friendly as your modern system. Here, gaps over ten lengths aren't even measured anymore, just labeled "Big Margin," and some people even ease off to prevent penalties. Back then, I'd leave everyone far behind every race, disappearing completely from view. Winning by fifteen, twenty lengths was entirely normal.
Eclipse-san… You're not exaggerating, are you?
Kagura couldn't help but feel incredulous. From what she'd seen so far, no Uma Musume—in Japan or elsewhere—had managed to consistently leave opponents that far behind in every single race.
——I have no interest in exaggerating things that never happened. These were my real experiences, both my pride and the greatest regret of my life.
This wasn't the first time Kagura had seen Eclipse mention such feelings. She always sensed a tinge of melancholy whenever Eclipse spoke of her past victories, even though they had always been overwhelming and absolute. Perhaps, Kagura thought, this was the loneliness that inevitably came with unmatched skill.
Below, Rudolf Ojou-sama was chatting with her competitors while waving gracefully toward the stands. Kagura saw the other participants—finally catching up, panting—surrounding Rudolf with bows and handshakes, apparently expressing gratitude.
"Oh right, Tojo-san, does Ojou-sama have any more races planned this year?"
Kagura quickly calculated how much of the year was left. Personally, she was strongly against overly frequent races. With it already being late November, she really didn't want Rudolf racing any more for the rest of the year.
"No more this year. Racing too frequently won't help Rudolf's career at all. Oh, by the way, Kagura, did you see today's news? About the Japan Cup."
"What happened at the Japan Cup?"
Today also happened to be the day of another G1 event—the Japan Cup—which seemed to be Japan's only internationally competitive race. Kagura planned to check it out after Rudolf's event finished.
"Our Uma Musume, Kyoei Promise, finally proved to the world that Japanese Uma Musume can also be incredibly fast. She secured second place, losing by only a tiny margin at the finish line. The internet is going crazy right now."
"Huh? From the way you spoke, Tojo-san, I thought Kyoei Promise-san had actually won… Still, second place is good news, right? Why the serious face?"
Kagura frequently heard Eclipse's harsh comments about Japanese Uma Musume being slow. Objectively speaking, it was true—Japanese Uma Musume generally weren't as fast as their overseas counterparts. It was genuinely rare for one to prove herself in international competition.
"Right after Kyoei Promise crossed the finish line… she collapsed. Medics had to carry her off the track immediately. Just earlier, her trainer officially announced her retirement. The leg injury she sustained was so severe that standing again might become impossible."
"What?! C-carried straight off?!"
"Yes. That's why Uma Musume need proper rest too. Burning yourself out like that is dazzling, true—but after such flames die out, only lifeless ashes remain."
Trainer Tojo's gaze shifted toward Rudolf, still standing tall on the track.
"Rudolf is my most cherished student. More victories are obviously important, but…I never want to see her end up like that."
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T/N: Kyoei Promise is a real racehorse! hreers stuff i ciopy and pasted
After debuting, he did not achieve outstanding results for a while (current standard), and won his first serious injury victory at the age of 5.
Even in the 6-year-old season, he lost the entire first half of the season due to anxiety in each department, and also took third place in his comeback match, the Mainichi Crown . However , in the Emperor's Prize (fall), she defeated Amber Shadai to win her first eight races.
Next, we decided to compete in the Japan Cup , but at that time, the level of Japanese horse racing had not yet improved much, so Japanese horses never won even in the Japan Cup, which was their home ground. At this time, the most anticipated horse in the Japanese horse racing world was Mr. Sibi, the first Triple Crown winner in 19 years , but Mr. Sibi actually avoided the Japan Cup and chose to rest.[4] In the end, when everyone was despairing that they had missed out on winning the Japan Cup this time, Maju Takamatsu proudly declared in front of reporters, "Kyoei Promise will enter the Japan Cup as the strongest Japanese horse." Jockey Masato Shibata also added that Kyoei Promise is in perfect condition and can win.
Anyway, most of the spectators bet on foreign horses, and Kyoei Promise entered the race as the 10th favorite, behind fellow Japanese horses Hagino Kamuio , Mejiro Titan , and Amber Shadai . However, as the race progressed, Kyoei Promise showed performance that could not be outdone by foreign horses, and ultimately finished second by a neck behind Stanera.
Kyoei Promise, who burnt everything in the Japan Cup, retired after the race due to torn ligaments in her right foreleg. However, Kyoei Promise's second place in the Japan Cup gave the Japanese horse racing world confidence that it could continue to perform well against foreign horses, and this led to Ace Katsuragi winning the Japan Cup for the first time in Japan the following year .