[200 Chapters less goo]
[5 extra chapters if Max Verstappen wins the 2025 f1 WDC]
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Today was finally the race day of the Takamatsunomiya Hai. As one of the only high-grade races held in July and August, the usually quiet Chukyo Racecourse—far less crowded than Tokyo—had become packed with people.
As usual, this major graded race was scheduled as the second-to-last event of the afternoon, giving the team plenty of time to prepare.
"I didn't expect that just chatting casually with Tokai Teio and the younger girls would bring such a change to Inari One."
Carrying a stack of documents on the way to the jockey prep room, Yuzuhara sighed a little at how much Inari One had changed recently.
"Before, she only wanted to run for everyone back in the Oi district, and that belief supported her through many races."
"But now, besides running for her family, she also wants to show a better image to her juniors."
"This really suits her competitive nature. If we had encouraged her from this angle earlier, maybe her preparation these last few weeks would've gone even more smoothly."
He was speaking to Kitahara. The two walked at the back of the group heading toward the rest area.
Hearing his colleague's words, Kitahara pondered for a moment and explained casually:
"That's also something Teio and the others only realized because they joined this round of training."
"Training together with peers brings a huge improvement in ability."
"But for Inari and her peers, they aren't just training partners—they're rivals. There are probably many thoughts they can't easily say out loud."
"In times like that, talking more with juniors about personal worries can really change one's mindset."
They were discussing Inari One's changes in training as the race day approached.
Interactions between horsegirls often influence training and racing in subtle, indirect ways.
With juniors to teach, the seniors—especially Inari One, who was about to run in the Takamatsunomiya Hai—showed remarkable improvement. The trainers gradually became aware of this trend.
This made Kitahara and the others very pleased, especially since Inari One's condition was noticeably better than before.
During the special training aimed at this race, Inari had been able to complete sessions, but when Oguri Cap and the others intentionally changed their pacing rhythms, her emotional fluctuations were obvious.
If this continued, even with excellent base ability, her actual race performance would carry some risk.
They needed to prevent this, and the training staff had spent a lot of time brainstorming solutions.
One was to increase the number of practice runs with partners using a "desensitization" approach—expose her to various situations enough times, and she would naturally adapt better in the real race.
Another was to focus on full relaxation the day before the race to preserve her condition.
Or they could adjust race planning—ensuring she could still perform at maximum strength even when influenced by other competitors.
But since Inari One's condition was now increasingly stable—able to handle the same targeted pressure as before and still finish perfectly—only the final race-day arrangements remained to be done.
"In short, having more people to talk to and gaining a more stable mindset—that's a pleasant surprise."
Kitahara added, "Maybe not just Inari. If Oguri and the others interact more with Teio and McQueen, they might undergo unexpected improvements too."
"Mm, I think so too. Horsegirls are all clearly competitive by nature."
Usuhara laughed. "So wanting to perform better in front of juniors is natural."
"That might even let them achieve better results in future races."
While chatting, they arrived with the others at the rest room. The team had already prepared all the documents and equipment needed before the race.
One thing was different from usual: a special "audience section" had been arranged for Oguri Roman, Tokai Teio, and the other juniors.
Seats were arranged at the wall near the door, lined with desks like a classroom.
The juniors sat behind the desks with paper and pens in hand.
They weren't only here to listen—they had to take notes, write down questions, and review everything thoroughly after the race.
Aside from Eisei, no other team or trainer had ever instructed horsegirls—especially ones not yet debuted—like this.
For Kitahara and the others, it was an experiment. But for Oguri Roman and her group, this hands-on, real-race-like learning was thrilling and fresh.
Especially Tokai Teio, whose lively personality made her unable to contain herself the moment she walked in.
"Hey hey, old man! I've heard tons of people say Eisei's pre-race planning is super special—that's why the senpais perform so amazingly and so unexpectedly!"
She raised her hand like she was in class. "But this looks the same as any other trainer's preparations!"
The staff were quite used to her enthusiasm. Kitahara answered casually:
"People outside are just guessing. Honestly, there's nothing that special about what we do."
"Don't rush, Teio. Sit down and listen first."
But Teio didn't sit—she froze for a second, then her face turned red. The other horsegirls realized why and giggled behind their hands.
Kitahara also realized his mistake too late. He coughed awkwardly.
"C-cough… um… if it's inconvenient for you to sit… then… just stand while listening."
"Your question will make sense once you listen a bit more."
He remembered—Teio's rear was still sore lately, making sitting difficult.
An issue that made him sigh. The root cause, of course, was the recent special training that emphasized glute strength.
For senpais like Oguri Cap, such training didn't require extremely high intensity.
Strengthening the glutes reduces pressure on the legs; since glutes are larger muscles, they provide more power and speed than people expect.
With proper training, running feels lighter, and leg joints suffer less wear.
The seniors already had a solid strength base due to long-term nutritional conditioning. They didn't need heavy emphasis on this.
But the juniors, including Teio, were different.
The Japanese Tracen Academy—and most trainers—did not train as precisely as Eisei did.
Even in the anime's future timeline, Teio's trainers rarely focused on muscles outside the legs.
So when assigning training tasks, Kitahara and the others deliberately increased the focus on core and glute strength.
Especially for Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen.
In Kitahara's memory, those two were basically "leg injury specialists" in the parallel world.
He didn't know exactly why they suffered so much in that timeline.
But analysis in this world suggested that strengthening muscles besides the legs could greatly reduce that risk.
This was different from training Super Creek or Mejiro Ardan—those two had long rest periods to completely care for their legs.
But Teio and McQueen, who needed continuous training, benefited more from shifting load to tougher areas.
The trainers thought it all through—except they overlooked one thing: the girls' personalities.
Teio was overly enthusiastic—too competitive.
If she had trained with Eisei longer, she'd know their training loads were always calibrated carefully—not too much, not too little.
Overtraining would harm her and delay future sessions.
But not knowing that, Teio secretly added extra training on her own.
The result was that, while the others—Oguri Roman, McQueen, Narita Brian—recovered on schedule, Teio needed extra rest.
Not only that—because the training focused on glutes, her self-added workload also targeted those muscles.
And she went past her limits.
Her glutes and nerves hadn't recovered for two or three days—making sitting and even sleeping difficult.
There wasn't much Kitahara could do, aside from emphasizing "follow the training plan" and asking McQueen to watch over her.
Now he simply advised her to stand while listening.
After the little incident, Kitahara cleared his throat and displayed a 3D course map on the projector.
The map showed two ovals—the outer one in pale green (turf) and the inner one in light brown (dirt).
Compared to Tokyo or Hanshin, where the juniors were used to four tracks, Chukyo was much simpler—the smallest of the URA-controlled major racecourses.
"Chukyo's track is simple. More than 60% is flat."
Holding a laser pointer, Kitahara traced the course counterclockwise.
"But there's one troublesome spot—the downhill between the third and fourth corners."
The red dot pointed at the lower left segment of the track.
Because it was a 3D map, the track normally had a visible column-like height.
But at that point, the track dipped sharply—three-quarters of its height sinking over about one-fourth of the course's length.
"Before this 'dip' is a gentle uphill—its effect is negligible."
"But when reaching the third corner for the first time, the track suddenly drops 3.5 meters."
"Then after the fourth corner, around 350 meters before the finish, there's a 2-meter uphill."
"After that, the rest of the track is flat."
"So the key area of this race is this entire dip."
"If it were just an uphill and downhill, it wouldn't be much trouble—it's all about strength."
"And Inari doesn't lack strength."
Kitahara smiled at Inari One.
"Hah! Strength? Not a problem!"
Inari spread her legs into an exaggerated sumo stance, hands on knees, like she was about to lunge.
"This little downhill? Just hold back a bit and I won't lose balance! And as for a 2-meter uphill—"
"Two meters? I'll just zoom right over it!"
"No problem at all!"
Previously, when analyzing the course, both she and the trainers had felt confident about her strength.
Contrary to common belief, downhill requires more strength than uphill—gravity speeds you up, and you must control posture and shocks properly.
Without enough strength, your posture collapses, your speed becomes uncontrollable, and your knees take massive damage.
So techniques like arm extension, proper foot-strike angles, shoulder control, and resisting forward tilt were essential.
This required resisting ground force, gravitational pull, and momentum all at once.
Inari One was among the strongest active horsegirls in Japan.
Even if her sumo pose wasn't perfect, if she fought real sumo wrestlers, they'd need four or five at once to match her raw strength.
But strength alone wasn't enough for this race.
"Right, we know your strength is fine. But the plan is the same as before—don't use full power in this section."
After exchanging glances with Yuzuhara and Komiyama, Kitahara continued:
"As long as you maintain your usual stalking or chaser position, that will be enough."
"Save your real power for the final straight."
"Next is predicting how Cosmos Dream and Tanino Comet will act here."
"If they treat you as the strongest opponent, and you conserve power here, they'll likely focus more on each other."
"That will make the latter half much easier for you."
This strategy had been discussed and practiced already, so Inari nodded.
But the juniors on the sidelines now murmured in confusion.
"Ehh? Old man, you can even guess the opponents' thoughts?"
Of course it was Teio again. McQueen and the others looked curious too.
"It's not guessing—more like predictions based on their past races."
Seeing that Teio still didn't understand, Kitahara checked the time on the projector and decided to explain more thoroughly.
He operated the device, and a race replay appeared.
"This is this year's Oaks. The winner was Cosmos Dream—the one we just mentioned. Inari and the others have watched it many times, but now I'll explain it to you juniors."
He added:
"And it's a reminder—"
"In any race, watching only yourself isn't enough. You must understand your opponents."
"You've heard from the senpais that Inari's opponents this time are troublesome—their preferred tactics are particularly bad for her."
"That's why we spent so much time on adaptation training."
"And besides training, we've analyzed how they might behave in the race."
"Watch Cosmos Dream's race carefully. See what you notice."
As the juniors focused on the replay, Kitahara couldn't help finding the scene amusing.
In the anime, Teio once handled "opponent investigation" in a ridiculous way—dressing like a spy with black hat, black sunglasses, black suit.
Naturally, she stood out and was immediately noticed by all her future opponents.
After all, everyone else was wearing Central Tracen Academy's blue-purple uniform, so her all-black outfit stood out far too much.
Of course, when using race footage for analysis now there's no need to worry about opponents discovering anything—the URA has ready recordings of every major race.
Whether obtained through media outlets or by retrieving files from the council or student union archives, it's easy to get them—especially for heavyweight events like the Oaks.
The Eisei team used the official version: high resolution and high frame rate, so every moment from the start to the finish line was crystal clear.
Still, after watching the race in full, the junior horsegirls in the observation seats fell into deep thought—each of them stroking their chins, frowning, and falling silent.
Seeing this, Kitahara didn't rush. Letting them watch the footage spontaneously was itself a form of guidance.
If they could spot the key points by themselves, that would be best; such discovery helps both their future races and daily training.
And if they couldn't, it was fine too—Kitahara would explain afterward.
"Take your time to think it over. If you notice anything, say it."
Race planning couldn't wait for Tokai Teio and the others to answer, so after that reminder Kitahara turned back to Inari One.
"Other than the uphill and downhill sections, you don't need to worry much about the rest of the course being targeted by opponents."
"The overall plan remains: stay in the middle-to-rear of the pack during the first half, and pass through the dip without drawing attention."
"By entering the second half in that state, not only can you maximize your base abilities, but you'll also be able to enter your domain properly."
"If everything goes smoothly, in this Takamatsunomiya Hai you'll be able to demonstrate an even more spectacular performance than Tama's at the Takarazuka Kinen."
(End of chapter)