Don Fortis's insult wasn't wrong. Because she had been following behind several other Horse Girls, Oguri Cap's tracksuit and face were splattered with mud, making her look particularly disheveled.
But the sheer force of her explosive surge from the back was terrifying enough to make Don Fortis quickly refocus on the race. As a transfer from Central, she had no intention of being overturned here by a Horse Girl from Kasamatsu. Kasamatsu Tracen Academy had been around for over 50 years, and no Horse Girl from there had ever won a national local exchange Graded Race. They had even won very few of the lower-tier Tokai regional exchange Graded Races. Even if the "dirt rabbit" behind her got second place, it would still be making history for Kasamatsu.
On the other hand, although Don Fortis had focused her attention, she did not choose to move to the inside to try to block Oguri Cap's acceleration path. Because in her experience, the inside of Monbetsu Racecourse was not suitable for sprinting. The sand was very thick, and stepping on it would only slow you down.
Even her trainer at this moment thought the same. "Just hold the best sprinting line. If Oguri Cap sprints on the inside, her finishing kick will definitely not be able to match Don Fortis's."
But Zhou Tai'an didn't think so. "Under the effect of these few days of continuous heavy rain, there's really not much difference between the inside and outside of Monbetsu Racecourse. Running on the inside even saves energy."
"You could say the home team has fallen into a common sense trap," Tojo Hana added.
"Something like that?" he grinned. "As a trainer, if you don't understand astronomy and meteorology, don't know the geography of the track, and can't adjust the mentality of your Horse Girl, then you're a failure—at the very least, you should be able to do one of the three, right?"
Tojo Hana, who had been caught in the crossfire, her mouth twitched.
With 200 meters left to the finish line, Oguri Cap had already caught up to Don Fortis.
The two Horse Girls from different regions were side by side for the first time outside of the starting gates.
Oguri Cap could see the ferocious expression on the face of the top favorite beside her from the corner of her eye. She also knew that her own expression probably didn't look very good right now, but there was no solution. Because no Horse Girl would relax in the final moments... probably?
Her center of gravity continued to lower, her body almost parallel to the ground. The cells in every muscle were screaming, but she couldn't care less.
"I said, I want to see my trainer's smile as the ending to this summer!" she gritted her teeth, her increasingly fast stride frequency helping her overtake Don Fortis by a head.
But Don Fortis did not give up. "I came back to Monbetsu from Central to get enough capital to represent my hometown and challenge Central! How could I lose to a dirt rabbit from Kasamatsu today!"
She tensed all her muscles, even willing to pay the price of injury from overuse, and with a desperate courage, she slowly but surely made up the gap with Oguri Cap.
"Oguri Cap overtakes Don Fortis! But Don Fortis doesn't give up! She catches up again! The two are neck and neck! The third-place Murcielago has been left five lengths behind!" the on-site commentator stood up in excitement. "It's come down to a final one-on-one showdown!"
For the audience, there were two of the most exciting scenarios in the final stage of a race. One was a "solo journey," where a Horse Girl left all her opponents far behind on the final straight and crossed the finish line with a huge lead. The other was the current one-on-one "duel." If it continued until the finish line, it would be even more exciting.
In the stands, his heart was in his throat, as if he himself were the one dueling with Don Fortis on the track.
"Oguri Cap..." he bit his lip. He had done everything he could before the race. Now, with only 150 meters left, everything depended on her own fighting spirit, guts, and ability.
"The horse is seventy percent, the jockey thirty..." he once again recalled the lesson his teacher, Saginomi Masao, had taught him in the dream world. "It's true... Even with all my effort, I can only do my thirty percent best. The rest must be left to her."
"I believe in her," he bit his lip again, so hard that he didn't even notice he had drawn blood. "Go for it, Oguri Cap. Overcome people's prejudices."
…
With 120 meters left, she was still neck and neck with Don Fortis. Neither was willing to give up the victory that was so close.
Don Fortis wanted the capital to challenge Central.
Her needs were more complex—her trainer's smile, improving her mother's living conditions, not letting her friend's summer efforts be in vain...
But all these things had been pushed to the back of her mind.
Now, there was only one thought in the gray-coated Horse Girl's mind—"I want to win!"
She glanced at Don Fortis to her left. Although because of the heavy rain, she couldn't see her opponent's expression even though they were so close, she was sure that her opponent's condition was definitely not as good as hers.
The next second, just as she refocused her attention, she suddenly remembered something—
"I had a dream before. In the dream, I was also sprinting side by side with an opponent on the track, and then..."
She remembered the voice she had heard in her dream that time. "Use Head-to-Head Showdown...?"
Just as the thought formed, she found her speed suddenly surging.
In the blink of an eye, she had forcefully pulled one length ahead of Don Fortis.
"What's going on?!" Don Fortis was stunned as Oguri Cap's figure became clearer and clearer in her vision. "Don't tell me my explosive power is even weaker than a Horse Girl from Kasamatsu?"
In that brief second of her distraction, Oguri Cap had completely shaken her off.
"50 meters from the finish line! Oguri Cap takes the lead again! Don Fortis on the outside is desperately trying to catch up, can she make it?!" the commentator frowned. He had already forgotten about local or out-of-town Horse Girls. All he wanted to see was the finish.
"She can't make it!" he made his judgment based on his professional instinct. "Oguri Cap's speed is increasing! The gray lightning is about to strike open the gate of victory at Monbetsu Racecourse in the heavy rain!"
This was not a jinx, but a heartfelt assertion. The commentator at Monbetsu Racecourse had already seen the future of her crossing the finish line first in a few seconds.
At the same time, he, who had the same thought as the commentator in the stands, also broke into a brilliant smile, his body relaxing slightly.
Brand New Shine beside him also became excited. The chestnut-haired Horse Girl unconsciously hugged his right arm tightly and shook it. "Are we going to win? Is Oguri going to become a Graded Race Horse Girl!"
Shiraishi's gaze also fell on him. Noticing Brand New Shine's action, a strange look flashed in her eyes.
The young trainer didn't notice this. He first nodded at Brand New Shine, then turned to look at Oguri Cap's mother and said, "Thank you, Mrs. Shiraishi."
"I should be the one thanking you, Zhou-kun," Shiraishi understood what he was thanking her for. She tried her best to force a smile. "To be able to turn Oguri, who had stiff legs as a child, into a Graded Race Horse Girl... it's all your doing."
He was just about to reply when the commentator's roar interrupted him—
"Oguri Cap crosses the line! A flash of lightning on the final straight! The first local new horse queen of Kasamatsu in 50 years is born!"
He turned his gaze back to the track. Oguri Cap, who had pulled 3 lengths ahead of Don Fortis at the finish line, had already slowed down. She stood in the rain, looking at him from a distance.
The gray-coated Horse Girl squinted, broke into a brilliant smile, and gave a thumbs-up to the supporters' section.
He stood by the railing, also gave a thumbs-up, and showed it to her.
Then he turned around, whispered an instruction to Brand New Shine, and gave a greeting to Tojo Hana. "I'll go ahead and meet Oguri Cap."
With that, without waiting for Tojo Hana's reply, he hummed an unknown tune and jogged out of the supporters' section.
-------
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