"Yes, it was during this milk collaboration project that Gold City took the initiative to come to me and talk about this matter."
As he spoke, Kitahara began to feel a headache coming on.
"She said that during the period before and after Sakura Star O recovered, she had been paying close attention to Oguri Cap and the others' races."
"Not just races in Japan—she also tried every possible way to learn the detailed situations of the races in Europe and the United States."
"How should I put it… it felt like she really wanted to compete with these juniors. That's roughly what Sakura Star O told Gold City."
"Gold City and Sakura Star O have always been good friends. After learning about this situation, she also decided to return to racing."
Kitahara sighed, rubbed his temples, and flipped the milk carton in his hand.
"As a Double-crown horse girl, Sakura Star O already has quite a lot of fans. Even though she's been inactive for more than half a year, it wouldn't be difficult for her to return to racing."
"Gold City's record doesn't look that outstanding at first glance."
"But in fact, through several confrontations with Sakura Star O and her own performances, she still achieved results like 2nd in the Satsuki Sho, 4th in the Japan Derby, and 2nd in the Kikuka Sho."
"And in both the Satsuki Sho and the Kikuka Sho, her duels with Sakura Star O were extremely exciting."
"Because of that, her own strength and popularity are actually not low."
"Plus, the unique chestnut-tail bloodline gives her beauty and temperament. If she casually takes on some idol or celebrity side jobs, she has more than enough resources to participate in any race she wants."
"For example, the milk she's endorsing this time—she was approached by the manufacturer, tried it, thought the taste was pretty good, and simply accepted the endorsement."
"If we're talking purely about fan popularity, she's not much worse than Oguri Cap and the others."
"In short, Gold City and Sakura Star O, for their own respective reasons, will both participate in the upcoming races."
"The first race of their comeback will be the Mainichi Okan, which Oguri Cap is also entering."
To be fair, the participation of two returning horse girls was indeed surprising, but Kitahara didn't find their choice of the Mainichi Okan strange.
The race carried the title of "the strongest G2", and it served as the prelude to the series of G1 races in the latter half of the year.
Using it as a "comeback declaration" made perfect sense—whether considering recovery of strength, adaptation to competition, or fan attention.
What troubled Kitahara was the special circumstances surrounding the strength and condition of these two competitors.
There was no need to elaborate on Sakura Star O's strength. Standing out among more than 7,000 horse girls every year and winning both the Satsuki Sho and the Kikuka Sho was hardly something that could be called weak.
Gold City was similar.
For Oguri Cap, however, the troublesome part about this opponent was that she knew this junior better than most other horse girls did.
When Oguri Cap had just come from Kasamatsu to Tokyo, Gold City had helped with paired running training for quite a long time.
Even after retiring, Gold City occasionally came to the academy to train with them.
For business considerations, the Eisei Team, from its early days until its current club structure, had collaborated frequently with Gold City.
It could be said that a considerable portion of the club's industries and cooperative projects were endorsed by this star horse girl.
Including the milk collaboration this time.
Business discussions generally didn't involve too many details about races or training, but such topics still came up casually.
Gold City also hadn't completely severed her trainer agreement with Roppei Ginjiro, and they still occasionally chatted via video calls about recent developments.
Because of all these interactions, Gold City could be said to be the horse girl outside the Eisei Club who knew their internal situation the best.
In fact, she might understand things even better than many of the club's own juniors.
If that were the only issue, it wouldn't be too bad.
But coincidentally, when Rudolf was giving guidance, she learned about Gold City and Sakura Star O's return.
After a brief discussion, those two horse girls also accepted training from her.
After explaining all of this, Kitahara rubbed his temples and spread his hands.
"That's basically the whole story."
"Right now, besides the opponents we previously analyzed, we need to add two more."
"Time-wise, there's only a little over a week left before the Mainichi Okan. That's pretty tight."
"So after we finish discussing our strategy, we'll have to hurry and prepare."
"So regarding these two new opponents—do you have anything else you want to ask?"
The office fell silent for a while.
Everyone except Kitahara sank into thought.
The one who broke the silence was Akashi Tsubaki, but her focus wasn't on the race itself.
"There's something I'm a little confused about."
Seeing everyone turn toward her, she didn't show any stage fright. Instead, she seemed encouraged and perked up.
"It's actually the thing I mentioned earlier."
"When I was still in Europe, I read some reports about Japanese horse girls."
"I remember that Sakura Star O's injury at the Arima Kinen… should have been very serious, right?"
"The reports said that although her trainer believed recovery was possible, most people in the industry thought recovery wasn't very realistic."
"Public opinion was also divided."
"Those who supported her recovery believed that her trainer had worked for 36 years and had never sent any horse girl to a medical clinic."
"So they believed that her trainer—or rather, her team—must have considerable expertise in medical care."
"Even though the injury was severe, maybe recovery was still possible."
"As for those who opposed it, they felt that the injury at the Arima Kinen was simply too serious."
"Rather than risking rehabilitation, it would be better to abandon a comeback and retire."
"That way at least there wouldn't be another accident."
"I don't know which view is correct, but personally, the injury must have been very serious—because even supporters of her comeback never denied that."
"So in that situation…"
She hesitated slightly.
"Could it affect Sakura Star O's strength?"
"I mean… is that possible?"
After her analysis and question ended, everyone in the room's eyes lit up.
Logically speaking, Tsubaki's reasoning made sense.
"I think what Tsubaki said is very possible."
Taro was the first to support her.
"Sakura Star O won the Satsuki Sho by two and a half lengths, which is why her trainer believed she could challenge for the Triple Crown."
"However, after the Satsuki Sho, she developed tendon inflammation."
"Because of that, she rested for 202 days."
"Then she ran in the Kikuka Sho."
"Yes, that's right—she overtook the front-running horse in one burst and won with a clear half-length advantage. Sakura Star O is indeed very strong."
"But after experiencing such a serious issue before that, she really shouldn't have run in the Arima Kinen."
"Yet she did—and that terrible accident happened."
"So I think, after repeated injuries accumulated, even though half a year has passed since last year's Arima Kinen, such a recovery period should only guarantee that she can finish the race."
"If we're talking about her strength fully recovering—or even improving…"
He thought for a moment.
"I don't think that's very likely."
"If her team really had such excellent medical capabilities, they probably wouldn't have needed such a long recovery period."
Although the others didn't immediately express their opinions, they nodded thoughtfully while Tahara spoke, clearly agreeing.
After stating his view, Tahara asked:
"So what do you think, Brother Kitahara?"
If it were another situation, Kitahara might have joked about it.
But this time, the situation really was a bit suspicious, so he couldn't laugh.
After thinking for a moment, he scratched his head and spoke with a slight headache.
"How should I put it… you guys have had less contact with Gold City, Sakura Star O, and Roppei Ginjiro."
"At least not as much as I have."
"So there are some things you don't know."
"Let me start with the conclusion."
"If you think that because she had such a long recovery period and didn't race at all during that time, Sakura Star O's strength must have declined…"
"Then our strategy for the Mainichi Okan will suffer a huge loss."
"Huh? Seriously, senior?"
Komiyama was stunned.
"Then… did Sakura Star O receive very advanced medical treatment?"
"Japan's medical conditions… shouldn't be that good, right?"
"If they were, then Creek's foot inflammation, Ardan's glass-leg problem, and even Tamamo's psychological issues would've been solved much faster."
Before Kitahara could explain, a helpless voice came from the side.
"Regarding medical standards… how should I say this? Komiyama, you might be mistaken. Of course, it's also because I never had a good opportunity to explain it before."
When the topic turned to medicine, Miyamura Kyoko clearly became more enthusiastic.
She glanced at Kitahara. Seeing that he didn't mind being interrupted, she smiled and continued.
"Although there are various restrictions—policies, departmental communication, funding, investors, and so on—"
"If we're only talking about horse girls, the medical care they can receive is already far beyond what most people imagine."
"Do you remember our team's trip to Europe?"
She suddenly brought up the past.
"The trip to Europe? The Epsom exchange competition?" Komiyama asked in surprise.
"Wait…" Tahara suddenly seemed thoughtful.
"I remember that during that exchange competition, Brother Kitahara discussed academy cooperation with President Rudolf."
"Between Central Tracen Academy and Epsom Tracen Academy."
"Was it because of that cooperation that our medical level improved?"
"Is Epsom Academy's medical capability that good?"
But as he asked, he became confused.
"It wasn't cooperation with Epsom Academy."
Miyamura Kyoko shook her head.
"It was cooperation with Dancing Brave, or rather with Prince Khalid and the team under him."
"You need to understand something: the average medical level of Tracen Academies in each country is directly related to the country's level of development."
"Simply put, compared with Britain, Japan still has some gaps in medical care."
"These differences appear in horse-girl hospitals and departments."
"But that gap isn't very large."
"The bigger gap lies in the medical resources available to different teams and trainers."
"Don't forget—Prince Khalid… oh right, since I'm calling him 'Prince,' you haven't forgotten he's actually a real crown prince, have you?"
"If something unfortunate happens to his father, he will truly become the emperor of that Middle Eastern nation."
"Do you think someone with that identity would have the same medical technology as ordinary teams and trainers?"
The office immediately filled with a sense of realization.
"I see! So through cooperation with Dancing Brave and her trainer's team, our academy obtained some top-tier technologies?!" Komiyama exclaimed excitedly.
"Exactly."
Miyamura Kyoko nodded firmly, her eyes shining with longing.
"Genetic engineering, stem-cell transplantation therapy, 3D-printed tissue repair technology, nanobiotechnology…"
"Just hearing the names, you probably don't feel how incredible these technologies are."
"But as a medical graduate student and prospective PhD candidate, I can say this clearly."
"If I casually published a paper in any one of these fields, I could directly obtain a doctoral degree."
"No—even skipping the doctorate and going straight to post-doctoral entry might be possible."
"Because these technologies are the absolute cutting edge, capable of causing major sensation in any country."
After her excited explanation, she sighed with some regret.
"However, technologies like these can't become widespread quickly."
"With current medical conditions, usually only a small group of people in each country can access them."
"For example, if you're curious, you can ask Mr. Kurokawa or Mr. Satomi. The top members of their conglomerates can enjoy such technologies."
"But even technologies they don't have, Prince Khalid still possesses."
"That… might be the difference between a financial conglomerate and a true Middle Eastern royal family."
After saying this with a sigh, Miyamura Kyoko shook her head.
"But let's not dwell on that."
"In short, if the negotiation partner had been a Middle Eastern government or academy, we definitely wouldn't have obtained those technologies."
"Because those institutions don't have them either."
"Even Epsom Academy doesn't have much."
"But the negotiation partner happened to be Crown Prince Khalid."
"It can only be said that he truly cares about Dancing Brave."
"In another field, he might not have been willing to exchange these technologies for Dancing Brave's treatment plan."
"But when it comes to Dancing brave… he really was willing."
"So now you understand."
"In a sense, Central Tracen Academy's medical biotechnology has quietly become top-tier."
"As a result, Japan's horse-girl medical level has actually improved tremendously recently."
"In that case, Sakura Star O not only could have fully recovered—she might have regained racing ability long ago."
"And she may even have quietly completed a lot of training."
"At least from a medical perspective, I suggest everyone believe what Brother Kitahara said—never underestimate a horse girl who has won both the Satsuki Sho and the Kikuka Sho."
After giving this firm conclusion, as if worried people still wouldn't believe her, Miyamura Kyoko added:
"Oh right—I mentioned earlier that I never had a chance to introduce these technologies before."
"The reason is that our training system never really required medical technology at that level."
"Our training intensity and race intensity have always been well controlled."
"The longest recovery period we had was only the relay race and the educational race some time ago."
"And in those two races, Oguri Cap and the others faced opponents like President Rudolf, Ms. Tegami, and the Secretary-General Director."
"Those were opponents far beyond the level of the Twinkle Series."
"In other words, within the Twinkle Series alone, they wouldn't encounter health problems."
"That's why I said there was no chance to introduce it."
"Of course, if you want to read the related materials, I have plenty."
"But the medical-biological terminology is extremely specialized—you probably wouldn't understand it and would find it very boring."
The office fell silent again.
It wasn't because they doubted Miyamura Kyoko's explanation.
On the contrary, from the beginning until now, everyone in the team had always trusted their chief physician.
What everyone was thinking about now was how to analyze and respond to Sakura Star O and Gold City after confirming their physical condition for the race.
However, someone raised an unexpected question.
"Um… I have a small question. Maybe it's because I don't know much about your trip to Europe before…"
After attracting everyone's attention, Akashi Tsubaki thought for a moment and said:
"So… if that Crown Prince really possesses such amazing medical technology…"
"Why would he be willing to give those technologies to us…?"
"Ah! I'm just confused about the situation. If there's any secret that can't be revealed, you can pretend I didn't ask!"
"…It's not really a secret," someone replied.
"It's just that since you and Junko joined not long ago, there are some things you don't know yet."
While Miyamura Kyoko was talking about medical matters, Kitahara had been quietly listening. When he heard Akashi Tsubaki's question, he took the initiative to explain.
The arrival of new members wasn't something that could be settled simply by chatting or holding a welcome party.
Things like the team's past history, habits in race planning, training methods and styles—all of these required time to adapt to.
In order to achieve that, Kitahara had intentionally arranged some suitable occasions.
For example, the increasingly relaxed atmosphere of their discussions recently was partly for this purpose.
He knew his own personality was rather old-fashioned, and in the past that had caused communication oversights between him and the horse girls.
That was only what he had noticed. There might also have been similar situations with colleagues that he hadn't noticed.
To avoid small details accumulating and eventually causing problems, he believed it was necessary to make some changes in style and approach.
With that in mind, he looked at the expectant Akashi Tsubaki and Hosoe Junko, and began to explain.
"Because of 'Marie' Disease.'"
"Although we're trainers, you probably haven't heard of this illness."
"Don't worry about it too much. In fact, Kyoko didn't know about it either before—she only learned about it after asking her supervisor, Dr. Kuko."
"As for me, I found out about it by coincidence."
"Huh? Even Sister Kyoko, who's so capable, didn't know about this disease?"
Akashi Tsubaki looked surprised. Hosoe Junko didn't say anything, but she also looked astonished.
"Uh… I think I should explain this part…"
Perhaps worried about appearing ignorant in front of the newcomers, Miyamura Kyoko smiled a little awkwardly and raised her hand like she was asking to speak.
"Prince Khalid really is a genuine Middle Eastern crown prince."
"Someone like that naturally has an extremely powerful team. Their medical facilities and talent reserves are first-class."
"But there are some things that money alone cannot solve."
"Marie' Disease is one of them."
"That's the illness Dancing Brave contracted."
"This disease is caused by a bacterium carried by birds. Under very rare circumstances it infects a horse girl, and then—through another extremely unusual situation—the bacteria invade the bone marrow."
"Normally birds rarely even carry this bacterium. The transmission route itself is rare, and infection reaching the bone marrow is even rarer."
"So this infection created a disease with no existing treatment methods, no specific medication, and extremely few cases."
"Including Dancing Brave, there have only been five cases worldwide."
"If Brother Kitahara hadn't known about this disease, Khalid's team might spend a lifetime and still fail to find a direction to tackle it."
"And with President Rudolf's coordination, our two teams—including the two academies—reached many cooperative agreements and business projects."
"One of the major reasons the negotiations progressed smoothly was our analysis and explanation of Marie' Disease, which was far ahead of current medical understanding."
"For Khalid's team, this was tremendous news."
"With a clear direction, and with their financial resources and technology, developing effective drugs and treatment plans is only a matter of time."
"That's probably how medicine—or science—normally works."
"Without direction, no matter how hard you try, the effort is wasted."
"But once there's a clear direction, solving the problem becomes possible as long as you're willing to invest enough money."
"With that explanation, you two should understand the situation now, right?"
"Yes, yes, yes! I understand perfectly! Thank you so much, Sister Kyoko!"
Akashi Tsubaki said excitedly.
"So amazing! Following all of you seniors, it feels like we can learn so much knowledge that we could never learn in school!"
At that moment, the somewhat introverted Hosoe Junko also nodded in agreement.
"Yes. Being able to join the Eisei Club really is incredibly fortunate."
Seeing that both Akashi Tsubaki and Hosoe Junko—and the other colleagues—no longer seemed to have questions, Kitahara confirmed:
"Alright then. If that's the case, I think we've reached a consensus about the situation for this race, correct?"
After receiving responses with no objections, he nodded.
"Then comparatively speaking, Creek and Ardan's races—the St. Leger Memorial and the Kobe Shimbun Cup—don't have any special changes."
"For those races, we'll just follow the preparation plans we designed earlier."
"The only race with variables is the Mainichi Okan."
"Gold City's situation is actually manageable. We have quite a lot of training data about her."
"With President Rudolf's training adjustments included, some simulation and modeling should handle it."
"Sakura Star O's situation is more troublesome."
"When she was active, we didn't yet have the training system we have now, so we'll need more time to analyze race footage and data."
"So let's temporarily set her aside and use Gold City's data as a base, and see what adjustments we should make to our preparations."
They had spent some time analyzing opponents and helping the team adapt to one another, so this preparation meeting had started later than usual.
But after so many races, both Kitahara and the others had accumulated a great deal of experience.
Although Akashi Tsubaki and Hosoe Junko lacked experience, their professional knowledge and talent were excellent, and they were fully able to follow the seniors' thinking during the discussion.
As a result, this type of discussion actually progressed faster than before, since they had more people contributing.
"It should be either front-running or stalking—one of the two. I'm talking about Gold City."
After the analysis, Taro was the first to state his conclusion.
"In some ways, Gold City is similar to Inari. Both started their early careers racing on dirt tracks, and both had somewhat unstable temperaments."
"But there are clear differences."
"Before Inari's temperament was corrected, her instability appeared regardless of opponent, track, or race."
"Gold City isn't like that."
"One obvious point is that if there's an opponent she especially values in a race, she becomes extremely stable—sometimes even more stable than most opponents."
"Especially when her close friend Sakura Star O is also competing."
As he spoke, he casually organized a chart on the computer and projected it on the screen.
"Look. Whenever Sakura Star O is present, Gold City tends to choose the safer 'orthodox racing style.'"
"But if that's not the case, even when she wins, her tactics sometimes look completely random—almost like she's just messing around."
"The clearest example is the Hanshin Championship."
"Her adaptability to a front-running style isn't particularly strong, yet she chose to run in the lead that time."
"Maybe she thought Meisho Matsukaze was a strong opponent, but personally I think she just wanted to run casually that race."
"Otherwise she wouldn't have slowed down mysteriously after tightly chasing Matsukaze and even taking the lead at the fourth corner."
"So even though she accelerated again and won by a head, I still stick to my earlier opinion."
"She only uses the orthodox style against special opponents. Otherwise she runs however she feels like."
"Brother Kitahara, since she's your uncle Roppei's horse girl, you should know this situation best, right?"
The "orthodox racing style" Taro referred to usually meant stalking near the front.
Statistically, this style had the highest win rate.
Unless there was a special reason, both horse girls and trainers preferred it.
"Stalking" could also transform into mid-pack chasing depending on race pace.
Generally speaking, the stronger a runner is, the more advantageous it is to secure a position closer to the front.
Letting the pacemaker set an acceptable pace, conserving energy, then launching a decisive burst at the right moment—this was the reality behind most victories.
If the pacemaker ran too fast, following the front could waste too much stamina, preventing a final sprint. In that case, runners would shift to a more energy-saving mid-pack style.
Thus sometimes the "orthodox style" also included that variation.
The other two styles—leading from the front and late chasing from behind—often appeared because a horse girl couldn't effectively run the orthodox styles.
Personality traits, inability to secure position, lack of explosive finishing speed, poor gate starts—these issues could force a runner into those tactics.
For example, Silence Suzuka, one of the most famous front-runners, had traits such as excessive energy and extreme gentleness.
Too much energy meant suppressing speed would disrupt acceleration.
And her gentle nature made her easily influenced by the pace of others if she got trapped in a pack.
These kinds of "forced tactical choices" were even more obvious for late-chasing runners.
Simply put, they didn't choose that style—they had no other option.
Almost all late-chasers had problems at the starting gate.
Examples included CB, Tokai Teio, Deep Impact, and Gold Ship.
No matter the reason for their slow starts, spectators often felt heart attacks coming whenever those runners left the gate late.
Against that background, Gold City's situation was extremely unusual.
She had perfectly normal starts and race ability. Running near the front or switching to mid-pack posed no problem.
But if she felt like it, she might suddenly choose to lead or chase from the back on a whim.
Tahara's analysis sounded reasonable to the others.
But when he asked for confirmation and everyone looked toward him, Kitahara smiled helplessly and shrugged.
"Well… yes. Gold City really is like that."
Rubbing his temple as if with a headache, he sighed.
"My uncle has said the same thing. When she becomes stubborn, she completely ignores the trainer—doesn't listen to a single word."
"And she still has the ability to win major races."
"So my uncle hasn't really found a good way to deal with it."
"And because of that…"
His expression suddenly became serious.
"With Sakura Star O racing, I actually don't think Gold City will definitely choose the orthodox style."
"Huh? Not necessarily?"
Tahara looked puzzled.
"In races where she faced Sakura Star O directly—especially the Satsuki Sho and Kikuka Sho—Gold City ran both front-stalking and mid-pack styles."
Kitahara nodded.
"But the result was second place."
"Think about it from her perspective."
"If you were the horse girl—someone with an unpredictable personality—and you lost narrowly to the same opponent even after giving it your all…"
"Wouldn't you consider trying a different approach?"
"For example… leading from the front?"
Kitahara's analysis reminded the others of something.
Leading or late chasing were usually last-resort tactics.
But in certain situations, they could produce surprise victories.
For example, the Japan Cup track:
2400 meters long
a 525-meter final straight
wide track
a 2-meter uphill near the finish
This layout was extremely unfavorable for high-pace front-runners.
The long straight gave trailing runners more time to accelerate.
The wide track allowed flexible positioning.
The uphill drained stamina from leaders.
So normally even front-runners wouldn't try an all-out breakaway.
But if someone unexpectedly blasted ahead early, it might disrupt everyone's rhythm and create a winning chance.
This kind of gamble had a low success rate, but it wasn't impossible.
Similarly, late-chasing could also succeed in special cases.
By staying behind the pack and benefiting from slipstream energy savings, then unleashing a massive final sprint.
As long as the runner had enough strength and explosive finishing speed, it could work.
In the current timeline, Tahara and the others didn't know these historical race examples.
But they understood the core point: overconfidence in assumptions could make their tactics rigid.
"In that case," Taro said after correcting himself, "we should probably evaluate Gold City and Sakura Star O separately, and analyze the remaining opponents as we originally planned."
"Without those two new entrants, the rest is easier to analyze. We've already done enough preparation."
"At the moment, the opponents Oguri Cap needs to watch in the Mainichi Okan are fairly obvious."
"The one setting the pace will probably be Track King."
"She's famous as a front-runner and usually wins that way. We can use her races as a reference for the race tempo."
"The remaining key opponents are Free Running, Brave Viking, Dyna Actress, and Sirius Symboli."
Tahara's expression grew serious.
"Free Running performed excellently in long-distance races. Even though she didn't beat Tamamo in the Spring Tenno Sho, she can't be ignored."
"Brave Viking has a record of five wins in seven races."
"Dyna Actress broke the Nakayama mile record."
"And Sirius Symboli—although she spent a long time racing overseas—still achieved one second place and two third places, which proves her strength."
"As long as she has enough time to readjust to Japanese tracks, her condition should be fine."
"These opponents were already strong."
"And now they've received targeted training from President Rudolf."
"So if we compete with them directly for front positions, we might waste too much stamina."
"In that case, it might be best for Oguri Cap to give up the front position and stay mid-pack, waiting for the final sprint."
"Brother Kitahara, what do you think of this approach?"
This time, unlike before, Kitahara answered immediately.
"Yes. I think the same. And I have another reason."
"Another reason? Like what?"
"It's actually about the two opponents you just set aside—Gold City and Sakura Star O."
Everyone looked puzzled, so Kitahara patiently explained.
"I admit we don't fully understand those two opponents yet."
"Once we analyze them properly, we might have to adjust many details."
"But there's one thing we can already be certain about."
He suddenly smiled.
"That is—we're not the only ones analyzing them."
"Sirius Symboli and the others will be doing the same."
"That means they originally might have focused only on Oguri Cap."
"But now they'll have to divide their attention."
"And when that happens…"
"They may actually overlook Oguri Cap."
He paused, watching as his colleagues gradually showed expressions of agreement. His smile widened.
"Just like we imagined Gold City's thinking earlier, imagine the perspective of Sirius Symboli and the others."
"Gold City facing Sakura Star O might try a completely different tactic."
"And Sirius Symboli and the others are facing two unexpected strong opponents from the same older generation."
"Even though Oguri Cap is extremely strong for a Classic-year runner, long-held beliefs about strength differences between generations don't change overnight."
"So imagine you were Sirius Symboli—or President Rudolf training them."
"You're facing Oguri Cap, who keeps winning…"
"Sakura Star O, last year's Satsuki and Kikuka champion…"
"And Gold City, whose strength is comparable."
"Which one would you think is the greater threat?"
Kitahara expected the answer to take time.
But as soon as he finished speaking, someone excitedly replied:
"Definitely Sakura Star O and Gold City!"
Akashi Tsubaki exclaimed with delight.
"So race planning can be analyzed like this too?!"
"That's so cunning!"
After shouting, she suddenly looked embarrassed.
"N-no, I'm not calling you cunning, Senior Kitahara! I mean—"
"In any case! Even if President Rudolf understands Oguri Cap's strength and pays attention to her…"
"When the race actually starts, Sirius Symboli and the others will focus more on Sakura Star O and Gold City!"
"In that case, we can just let them compete with each other and wait for the perfect moment to defeat them all in one burst!"
"There's a saying for that… oh right!"
"When the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman profits!"
"As expected of Senior Kitahara—your title of 'Master of Stratagems' really fits!"
…
Wait a minute. I was only analyzing horse girls' psychology normally—how did that become cunning?
This is just a normal and reasonable tactical arrangement, right?
Kitahara felt somewhat powerless to complain, but he didn't doubt his judgment.
Perhaps it was because during the previous vacation he had communicated more deeply with his horse girls.
Now he could increasingly think from their perspective, rather than only from a trainer's viewpoint.
And precisely because of that, he clearly sensed something.
In the Mainichi Okan, if they wanted a greater chance of victory, they could absolutely take advantage of the subtle psychological tensions among Oguri Cap's opponents.
(End of Chapter)