Chapter 6. Rice Shower's Yayoi Sho
On March 8th, after seeing off Tokai Teio and Mejiro Dober on their flight to Dubai the day before, Shuta An arrived at Nakayama Racecourse today.
Today's main race at Nakayama Racecourse was the Yayoi Sho, a G2 grade turf 2000m stakes race that Oguri Cap once won, a prelude to the Satsuki Sho. With the same venue and course as the Satsuki Sho, it was a perfect warm-up race.
The reason Shuta An chose this race as a warm-up for Rice Shower was also to let Rice Shower get used to Nakayama Racecourse.
The terrain of Central Tracen Academy's first training ground almost perfectly replicated Tokyo Racecourse, so as long as one had trained there for a period, it would be impossible not to adapt to Tokyo Racecourse; at most, it would be due to tactical issues that they couldn't show competitiveness there.
As for Nakayama Racecourse, although the Slope Road within the Academy was not less steep than Nakayama Racecourse's Slope Road, it couldn't be used for regular training programs, and no Trainer would let the Uma Musume he trained use that Slope Road as a practical training ground—at least, none of the colleagues Shuta An was very familiar with would do such a thing.
That would cause too much physical damage to the Uma Musume.
Of course, everyone training an Uma Musume hopes for results, but everyone knows the importance of ensuring health. Without a healthy body, achieving results is just empty talk.
Shuta did not choose to go to the Box for those involved today, but instead went to the top floor of the Nakayama Racecourse stands.
Before Rice Shower's presentation segment, the young man had no intention of going down.
Sitting in his seat, sipping mineral water he got from Kitahara, the young man was in a good mood.
Before the race, Rice Shower had undoubtedly secured the first popularity. Even without looking at her previous results, as an Uma Musume from Team Sadalsuud, the audience and experts had very high initial expectations for Rice Shower.
"But to be honest, I'm not expecting Rice Shower to necessarily win today," the young man muttered to himself.
Rice Shower's talent and ability were evident.
Shuta An believed that Rice Shower should be the least talented Twinkle Series Uma Musume in Team Sadalsuud, excluding Berno—oh, and long-distance races must be excluded here.
Although everyone still says "the strongest Uma Musume wins the Kikuka Sho" now, if you look at Shuta An's race schedule arrangements for Mejiro Dober and Tokai Teio, you can see that he doesn't have the "middle-long distance soul" that Japanese Trainers often have; the Spring Tenno Sho basically never appears in his race planning.
Of course, when asked why he didn't enter Team Sadalsuud's Uma Musume in the Spring Tenno Sho, Shuta An's reason would naturally not be that he wasn't interested in long-distance races; he would honestly say,
"The Uma Musume in my team are not good at long distances."
As for why Tokai Teio, who was "not good at long distances," could still win the Kikuka Sho, the young man did not explain.
Including Rice Shower, there were a total of 10 Uma Musume participating in today's Yayoi Sho, a number by no means large.
Shuta An's requirement for Rice Shower was to finish in the top three, securing a ticket to the Satsuki Sho.
"It's understandable if her performance isn't enough to contend for victory in her first run at Nakayama Racecourse," the young man had said.
However, upon hearing this, Rice Shower felt immense pressure.
With her predecessors' brilliant achievements, although Rice Shower herself hadn't been directly compared to them by her Trainer, she had seen the comparisons made outside.
She knew in her heart that she couldn't measure up to her senpais. Rice Shower even felt that Admire Vega and Kurofune, who hadn't even fully developed yet, had more talent than her.
But this pressure did not crush Rice Shower. Precisely because she clearly knew the gap between herself and her teammates, she wanted to push further, to achieve greater honors to prove herself.
Standing on the display stage, listening to the cheers of the audience, and looking at the human wave in the stands, Rice Shower pursed her lips and bowed deeply.
During the Arima Kinen last year, she had been in the stands, experiencing the thunderous applause when Teio-senpai went on stage. That shock still lingered in Rice Shower's mind.
She was certain she would never forget the shock of being enveloped by that cheering.
Now it was Rice Shower's turn to go on the display stage. The cheers she received were far less enthusiastic than those for Tokai Teio at last year's Arima Kinen.
"I will work hard, work hard to make the audience give me increasingly enthusiastic cheers. Rice Shower also wants to become the protagonist on the racetrack!"
Rice Shower clenched her right fist to her chest, then straightened up, her eyes resolute.
"She looks very spirited, Rice Shower." Shuta An, standing behind the railing, was quite satisfied with Rice Shower's displayed mental state.
Rice Shower was assigned to the outermost gate for this race—Shuta An specifically complained about this draw on Twitter, stating that he hoped Rice Shower wouldn't have all outside gates this year like Tokai Teio.
As for the fact that Tokai Teio's final Arima Kinen was not an outside gate, the young man simply ignored it.
As an Uma Musume assigned to the outermost gate, Rice Shower was the last to enter the gate.
Starting from gate 9 was Dash Fudo, and Shuta An had not let Rice Shower focus on other opponents before the race.
Because the lineup for this year's Yayoi Sho was really mediocre; before the race, only Rice Shower and Yahwen Kiseki had won stakes races.
And the stakes race Yahwen Kiseki won was a 1400m course; directly extending the distance by 600m to challenge the Yayoi Sho, Shuta An frankly said that her Trainer's consideration was somewhat problematic.
"Unless it's a schedule like the Japanese Derby followed by the Kikuka Sho, how could anyone think of increasing the distance by 600m all at once?"
Shuta An had complained like this after seeing Yahwen Kiseki's race schedule.
Because she was the last to enter the gate, Rice Shower had already prepared herself before entering.
Therefore, even though only a few seconds passed after she entered the gate before all the gates opened with a "click," Rice Shower didn't panic and make a mistake like a slow start or missing the gate.
Instead, she smoothly burst out.
When she passed the finish line for the first time, Rice Shower had gradually cut inside to the outside of the third layer of the pack, reaching sixth place.
To her right, sandwiched between her and the rail, was Asaka Regent.
"Trainer told me when he laid out the tactics before the race that I should maintain this position for the first 1000 meters, and then gradually move up in the latter half of the race, closing the gap with the Uma Musumes ahead,"
Rice Shower recalled Shuta An's guidance after securing her pre-planned position.
"Just do that!"
Shuta An was also satisfied with Rice Shower's initial positioning—although Asaka Regent, for some unknown reason, left a gap between herself and the rail, forcing Rice Shower, who was positioned there, to run a little extra distance.
But he didn't think running that extra distance was too big of a problem, so he was quite unconcerned.
After turning into the long straight opposite the stands, Rice Shower consciously began to accelerate slowly.
Long acceleration capability was a skill Shuta An intentionally gave Rice Shower special training for.
The young man didn't need Rice Shower to have the ability to maintain full speed for a long distance; he only needed Rice Shower to be able to maintain a continuous acceleration state for a long time—even if the acceleration was very small, it didn't matter.
After all, in Shuta An's vision, Rice Shower's main battlefield was never middle distance; super long distances of 3000 meters and above should be her main battlefield.
The Dream Trophy Series also includes long-distance races; if Rice Shower can demonstrate her top talent in long-distance races, it will be easy for her to enter the Dream Trophy Series in the future.
Matikane Fukukitaru, the Kikuka Sho winning Uma Musume of Silence Suzuka's generation, chose to pursue fortune-telling after retiring from the Twinkle Series instead of entering the Dream Trophy Series.
Although she is doing well now, her income is definitely not as good as the Uma Musume who entered the Dream Cup.
"The Twinkle Series is a year-round selection process for the Dream Trophy Series." Shuta An was very clear about this.
Shaking his head, he cast away the complex thoughts and continued to watch the big screen.
Peerless Crown, leading the pack at the very front, had already run past half of the straight opposite the stands.
"The passing time for the first 1000 meters of this race was 60.4 seconds, which is not fast. Considering the good track conditions, it's a standard pace, which Rice Shower should be very accustomed to," the young man murmured to himself.
In fact, Rice Shower, who had gradually started to accelerate, did feel very comfortable running now; the rhythm didn't make her feel difficult.
"Sure enough, I can adapt to this long-distance acceleration tactic!"
She was very excited.
Also due to excitement, Rice Shower slightly increased her speed again, reaching third place as she was about to enter the final bend.
At this point, the leading Peerless Crown was still trying hard to maintain her lead, but Palace Fontaine, who was previously in second place, had already dropped to the latter half of the pack.
And now, Stant Man was running ahead of Rice Shower.
"Stant Man is an opponent Trainer seriously reminded me to watch out for. No matter what, I have to stick to her, mark her; the pressure will be immense once the race enters the final straight,"
Rice Shower thought to herself, staring intently at Stant Man's back.
Remember how Shuta An previously emphasized that among the Uma Musume participating in the Yayoi Sho, apart from Rice Shower, only one other Uma Musume had won a Graded Race?
In fact, it can be further said that only these two Uma Musumes had participated in Graded Races.
Whether one has experience participating in Graded Races is often very important in these Classic Race prep races—the atmosphere of Graded Races is very different from ordinary class races.
Of course, G1 races are even more different from ordinary Graded Races; they are a stage where one can become famous in a single battle.
So, Rice Shower staring so intently at Stant Man would naturally not bother an Uma Musume with rich race experience, but Stant Man, unfortunately, did not have the qualification to participate in Graded Races.
Therefore, Stant Man, who had been marked by Rice Shower throughout the entire bend section, made a forced error under the immense pressure as she was about to exit the final bend—she failed to counteract the centrifugal force, directly swinging out a distance wide enough for two Uma Musume to pass through.
Noticing that Stant Man had presented her with such an obvious gift, Rice Shower readily accepted it.
She accelerated again, forcefully charging past Stant Man from her right side, and using the gap she created, directly cut in.
At this moment, Rice Shower and Stant Man were running side by side, and the two Uma Musume exchanged glances simultaneously.
"I won't lose to you!"
With just that one glance, Rice Shower and Stant Man both understood the message conveyed by the other.
"To prove that Rice Shower is a qualified Sadalsuud team member, I must advance to the Satsuki Sho as a victor today!"
Regardless of whether the leading Peerless Crown was currently losing speed, Rice Shower knew that her biggest opponents right now were Stant Man and Asaka Regent, who was relentlessly pursuing her from behind.
If Rice Shower had hesitated even slightly when Stant Man presented her with that big gift, Asaka Regent would have rushed up to snatch the opportunity—so after Rice Shower accepted the gift, Asaka Regent could only follow behind Rice Shower, waiting for Rice Shower to widen the gap with Stant Man before she could violently overtake Stant Man using that window.
Asaka Regent had considered going wide around the outside of the pack, but her sixth sense told her that if she did so, she would indeed overtake Stant Man, but she could forget about catching up to Rice Shower.
Asaka Regent was not here for second place.
"I want to be the winner of the prep race! To become a favorite for the Satsuki Sho!"
Asaka Regent clenched her fists and vigorously swung her legs.
Although Rice Shower had accelerated sharply to seize the opportunity Stant Man had just given her, she hadn't entered full acceleration mode yet.
It wasn't until she stepped onto the Slope Road section of the final 200 meters of Nakayama Racecourse that she unleashed her full power, betting everything she had, lowering her center of gravity, and sprinting forward.
In just a few strides, she violently overtook Peerless Crown, and then pulled away from Stant Man—Asaka Regent's eyes lit up, and she immediately prepared to burst out of the pack through the gap Rice Shower had created.
But as Asaka Regent achieved her wish, Rice Shower, now in full sprint, had pulled ahead of Asaka Regent and Stant Man by one and a half lengths, thanks to her more ample stamina reserves.
"RICE SHOWER HAS SHAKEN OFF ALL HER OPPONENTS! RICE SHOWER! THE FINAL 100 METERS! ASAKA REGENT IS STILL IN PURSUIT!" the live commentator shouted loudly.
But in the eyes of Shuta An, who had rich experience watching races, the outcome of this Yayoi Sho was already decided.
He smiled and turned to the stands, bowing deeply.
"IT'S RICE SHOWER INDEED! SADALSUUD TEAM'S CLASSIC RACE NEW STAR HAS APPEARED THIS YEAR! FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MEJIRO DOBER AND TOKAI TEIO, CAN RICE SHOWER BECOME ANOTHER BIG WINNER IN THE CLASSIC RACE?!"
Facing the commentator's question, the audience in the stands fell into fantasy.
Mejiro Dober the year before last, Tokai Teio last year.
Sadalsuud Team had delivered good results in the Classic Race for two consecutive years, and as a recognized prestigious team, Rice Shower now seemed destined to make a name for herself in the Classic Race.