"Ah!! I wish I could go with all of you to the JRA museum!! I would love to see your reaction to this world's version of yourself!!"
The family returned to their base at dusk, just as Mirai got home from work. The daughters were excited to tell Mirai about their views of themselves in this world.
"I managed to enter the Hall of Fame with Prez in this world!! I won't be defeated and will enter the Hall of Fame when I get back!! Trainer!!"
"Make sure to train properly. Don't hold back, or that will just be a dream."
"Okay!! Ah!! Miss Mirai, we want to visit a farm where we can ride a horse!! Do you know any?"
"Well… Southern Hokkaido has Lake Toya Ranch, where you can ride a horse while enjoying the view of Lake Toya. That should do it, no? I can put some words in to get you a good horse to ride on."
"Lake Toya… Can we visit the Mejiro Mansion, or whatever its equivalent is in this world, while we are there? Is there any administrative work that needs to be done first, Miss Mirai?"
"..."
"Miss Mirai?"
"Sigh… Something happened to the Mejiro, right? I assume, from your reaction, that it is not good."
"Gulp… Yes…"
*BAM*
"What do you mean?! What happened to the Mejiro Family?!?!"
McQueen slams her hands on the dinner table and stands up in panic. Cold sweat ran down all over her body, and her entire body turned tense as her trainer researched the answer on his phone. In reality, the young man has a gist of the answer as it's one of the tragic tales that many umamusumes players know–a giant fall from grace.
"Trainer… What happened?"
"They went through bankruptcy in two thousand and eleven. They are now active under the name of Lake Villa Farm."
"What!?!?! How?!?! What went wrong?!?!?"
"The main reason is that their business model could not sustain the farm. They rely heavily on the prize money from winning races. The model managed to sustain them when there were only a few players in the racehorse scene, but that is another story in the modern era."
"It can't be…"
"The arrival of Sunday Silence is said to be one of the biggest blows to the Mejiro Ranch."
"Sunday?! What did she do?!"
"His children are all monsters who completely dominated the racehorse scene. This would mean that the Mejiro Ranch wouldn't be able to win as much as they used to before Sunday Silence."
"Sunday…"
"Well, she is also a monster in our world that you have very little chance of defeating, McQueen."
"That doesn't make me happy, trainer…"
"Didn't mean to. I was simply stating the fact of the current you. If I have to bet between the two of you whose children will be stronger, I would put money on Sunday Silence. Her genes would be more developed compared to yours."
"...So it's all her fault."
"She is the biggest contributor, yes. There's also their business model that doesn't fit the current era. In this world, the horse racing scene is separated into two: breeding and racing."
"Pervert."
"The breeding companies would produce children that would be auctioned to the companies that do the racing. The racing companies train and race the horses. When the racehorse retired, it would then be bought by the breeding companies to make, hopefully, strong offspring who would carry their parents' genes. This is how this world works."
"...We should never put ourselves in their cleats. That sounds horrible if I imagine that happening to me."
"I can always make you my breeding farm, Rudolf."
"Trainer!!!"
"Just saying…"
"...what does the Mejiro Ranch do now?"
"They become the breeding part of that equation. Mejiro Dober is amongst the mares under their care."
"Dober is still alive!!?!? We should go now, trainer!!"
"Tomorrow. Finish your dinner and go to sleep. The earlier you wake up, the sooner we go."
"Okay!!"
The elegant young umamusume throws away all of her polite mannerisms as she gorges on her entire meal like an actual animal. Not even Oguri Fat was this disgusting when it came to food. That's just how desperate the young lady is.
"I'm done!! Let's go, Teio!!"
"Wait!! Wait!! I'm not done yet!!"
The rushed young umamusume drags her friend, who has not finished her dinner yet, upstairs. The former completely ignored the latter's pleas as she is entirely focused on making sure tomorrow comes as fast as she can.
"That must be hard to hear… Does the Symboli Family follow the same fate, Miss Mirai?"
"Ah!! No! The Symboli Ranch is still active under the Wada Family."
"Haaah… I was prepared for the worst… I'm glad that it is still alive."
"Mejiro Ranch's stubbornness in trusting their own breed is their downfall. The gene pools at their disposal are extremely limited compared to those of the other farms that welcome foreign racehorses like Sunday Silence. At least Symboli Ranch still buys horses from outside like Symboli Kris S to help them with their talent pools."
"Reality is so harsh… One's hard work can be easily thrown away by someone else's talent."
"Hard work alone is nothing, Rudolf. Everyone works hard, but only a few work smart."
"I suppose you're one of those few, darling."
"I work hard and smart. It's the only way I could ever hope to reach my dream. Also, don't ignore reality. Talent matters, regardless of what anyone says. Hard work could close the gap, but what happens when the talented also work as hard? That is how it usually is in the real world."
"...What if I work twice as hard?"
"Can you sustain the motivation to work twice as hard for a long time, Rudolf? Many people can barely sustain working with their full power for an entire day. You would need to sustain that motivation for years."
"I guess that's why you're a stubborn man, darling. Hahahaha!!"
"Yeah…"