The Tenno Sho!
This was the Tenno Sho!
Oguri Cap winning a G3 race had definitely caught Sakuraba Ryo off guard, but Tamamo Cross winning the G1 Tenno Sho—that was the thing that dealt the biggest blow to his entire worldview!
Wasn't a G1 supposed to be on a whole different level?
So how had Tamamo managed to win it?
With that slim little frame of hers, she did not even look like she had that much power—so what the hell was that win?!
Gray-haired Umamusume can't run fast—
"FUCKKKKKKK!"
"Hot takes really do ruin lives!"
The moment he thought about how Tamamo's Tenno Sho victory had proven that gray-haired Umamusume could win G1 races too, it occurred to him that Oguri Cap might just go and win a G1 for him next.
The instant that possibility crossed his mind, Sakuraba Ryo could feel his blood pressure shooting through the roof.
Today my heart aches…! Today my hands tremble…!
"Damn, looks like I need to go to Central and see what's going on!"
There was something seriously wrong with Tracen Academy!
How had they trained a bunch of Umamusume who could not even stop Oguri and Tamamo?
If Tracen was this useless, did it even need to exist?!
...
Nishikino Academy.
Those four words had become famous all across Hokkaido.
Thanks to Sakuraba Ryo's all-out investment, Nishikino Academy had developed by leaps and bounds.
As things stood now, in terms of facilities and material conditions, Nishikino Academy ranked among the very best of all the academies in Hokkaido.
Even Tracen Academy in Central came up a little short compared to the current Nishikino Academy.
After all, Sakuraba Ryo had been mercilessly pouring money into this place!
And over the past few months, Nishikino Academy's principal had not been idle either.
He had directly opened ties with Hokko Academy and Daikō Academy in Hokkaido and struck deals with them.
As long as Hokko Academy and Daikō Academy sent over part of their student pool, Nishikino Academy would return the favor with a corresponding share of investment.
Hokko Academy and Daikō Academy were both regional academies. Their situations were nowhere near as dire as Nishikino Academy's had once been, but if ready-made investment was on the table, they were more than happy to accept a proposal like that.
As for the remaining one of the three major academies, Versailles Academy…
It seemed to have connections to that student council president in Central, and it apparently also had key support from Tracen Academy's resources behind it, so it did not think much of Nishikino Academy's offer.
Still, Versailles Academy rejecting them was not that big a deal for Nishikino Academy's development.
The main reason for pulling those academies in to begin with was to help Nishikino Academy gather as many promising Umamusume prospects from Hokkaido as possible.
Even without Versailles Academy's student pool, the prospects provided by Daikō Academy and Hokko Academy were already more than enough.
At the very least, Nishikino's principal was confident that under their current conditions, they could absolutely raise Umamusume who would not lose to the ones from Central!
"It really is all thanks to Sakuraba-san."
In the principal's office at Nishikino Academy, the principal could not help sighing with emotion.
In his eyes, Sakuraba Ryo's help to Nishikino Academy went far beyond mere financial support.
He had proven that a certain possibility existed.
He had proven that if the resources were there, Umamusume from the regional circuit could stand completely on equal footing with Umamusume from Central!
"Now that Nishikino's Tamamo Cross and Kasamatsu's Oguri Cap have both gone into Central and stirred things up, you could say the regional Umamusume finally have a name worth putting on display."
"However…"
Tamamo Cross winning the Tenno Sho alone was still not enough to prove that regional Umamusume had truly risen.
The regional side still needed one more victory to prove its level!
"The Japanese Derby…!"
On the principal's desk lay a set of materials on the Japanese Derby.
The Japanese Derby.
One leg of the Classic Triple Crown, and also the leg with the highest prize money.
The winner would receive 200 million yen.
It was also one of the most prestigious races in Japan.
To win this race was to be recognized as an Umamusume at the very top of her generation! The unquestioned bearing of a king!
That was the value of the Derby.
If a regional Umamusume were to win the Japanese Derby, then no matter what, the perceived value of regional Umamusume would rise dramatically!
And when that happened, Nishikino Academy—already the dominant force in Hokkaido—would surely profit from it as well!
But could a regional Umamusume really win the Japanese Derby?
"As expected of Sakuraba-san… Had he already foreseen a situation like this all the way back then?"
Who would win this year's Japanese Derby?
Sakuraba Ryo had already given his answer.
Oguri Cap.
From the regional circuit to Central, still undefeated to this day!
Now that the media had branded her the Gray-Haired Monster, this girl's presence in Central racing was overwhelming.
If there was any regional Umamusume who could win the Japanese Derby, Nishikino's principal would cast his vote for Oguri Cap without hesitation.
Last year, Tamamo Cross had registered for the Classic season early on, but because of her losing streak, she had ultimately been unable to run in that year's Japanese Derby.
Oguri Cap was different.
This year, she had registered for the Classic races. Unlike Tamamo back then, she had a full chance to contend for the Japanese Derby title!
The more he thought about it, the more Nishikino's principal felt how formidable Sakuraba Ryo really was.
How had he managed to pick out a prodigy like this from among the regional Umamusume?
After all, as one of the most prestigious races in all Japan, the Japanese Derby came with a saying: only the luckiest Umamusume could ever win it.
In other words, even if you had the ability, that still did not guarantee victory in the Japanese Derby.
And yet the Oguri Cap Sakuraba Ryo had chosen gave him the feeling that this year's Derby champion could be no one else.
That was an incredibly rare thing!
And on top of that, Sakuraba Ryo had already placed Oguri Cap in Central…
He had planted our regional champion right in the enemy's camp ahead of time!
The higher Oguri Cap's results climbed, the more glaring and unbearable her existence would become in the eyes of those lofty people in Central!
Letting a monster like that rampage through Central might even shake the confidence of Central's own Umamusume!
Meanwhile, the Umamusume they raised here would only become more driven by Oguri Cap's success!
It was a strategy with benefits on every side!
"Sakuraba-san truly does have extraordinary vision."
Nishikino's principal sincerely marveled at Sakuraba Ryo's ability, and felt all the more fortunate that partnering with him had been such an unquestionably right decision.
"We can't afford to keep waiting passively anymore."
The principal rose to his feet and walked to the window, looking out at the young figures running across the training grounds. He knew Sakuraba Ryo had already opened the way, and Nishikino Academy had to keep pace with him.
Here on Hokkaido soil, he would raise more Tamamo Crosses and more Oguri Caps, until the strength of the regional circuit became a current no one could ignore.
"What we need to do next… is consolidate resources, strengthen training, and even… take the initiative."
A clear strategy gradually took shape in his mind.
Not only did they need to keep bringing in Hokkaido's best prospects, they also needed to use Sakuraba Ryo's funding and eye for talent to establish a training system that would not lose to Central's.
At the same time, he had to build momentum in public opinion, turning every victory from the regional circuit into a revolution.
"Sakuraba-san is laying out pieces in Central. We'll put down roots in the regional circuit."
A sharp gleam flashed through Nishikino's principal's eyes.
"One day, we'll make the entire racing world see it—regional is no longer here just to make up the numbers!"
"No doubt Sakuraba-san has been hoping for this from the bottom of his heart all along!"
...
And at that very moment… someone in the middle of buying a plane ticket to Tokyo suddenly sneezed.
"I've got a bad feeling about this…"
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T/N: ..............................................................
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