Chapter 17
After understanding his horse girl's fighting spirit and determination, Yasui Makoto thought for a moment and decided to compare her with Satono Crown's situation.
First race (debut): Grass 1800m, finishing time 1:50, average speed 16.36 m/s.
Final 600m: 33.5 seconds, nearly 18 m/s.
Second race: Also grass 1800m, faster finish at 1:47.9, average speed 16.68 m/s.
Final 600m was slightly slower at 38 seconds — probably because the cruising speed affected her finishing stamina. Otherwise, it might have been even faster.
For a horse girl who had just debuted, this level was genuinely strong — especially when compared to the Satsuki Sho data from the past five years.
Looking only at finishing times, the Satsuki Sho (a G1) champions in the last five years recorded times between 1:58 and 2:00.
The slowest was two years ago, when Gold Ship won in 2:01.3.
The Satsuki Sho is 2000m long, so Gold Ship's average speed that day was 16.48 m/s.
Meanwhile, Satono Crown's two races were both in Pre-OP — the lowest tier. Running 16.36 m/s, and even 16.68 m/s in such entry-level races, made her a strong favorite for the Satsuki Sho championship.
In comparison, Kitasan Black's average training speed over this period was just over 15 m/s, with her best runs reaching around 16.2 m/s.
Perhaps because he had secretly compared these numbers, his horse girl was feeling the pressure.
However, Yasui Makoto didn't explain any of this to Kitasan Black.
Compared to training, actual races were far more complex.
Weather, track condition, crowd, physical state on the day, opponents, race atmosphere… all of these could affect the result.
If pre-race predictions could be treated as the final outcome, they might as well skip the race and just hand out awards based on predictions.
To truly win a race, the trainer and horse girl had to work perfectly together with seamless coordination.
With that in mind, Yasui Makoto submitted the race applications for Kitasan Black while explaining:
"One race per month is the ideal rhythm in my opinion, which is why I arranged the schedule like this before the Satsuki Sho.
"The reason I chose the Spring Stakes is simple — the Yayoi Sho is on March 8th, which is too early.
"The Spring Stakes is on the 22nd, giving us more preparation time.
"I didn't choose the Wakaba Stakes because that race is held at Hanshin Racecourse in Kansai.
"The Satsuki Sho is at Nakayama Racecourse, which, like Tokyo Racecourse, is in the Tokyo area. The track conditions at Nakayama and Tokyo are relatively similar, at least much closer than Hanshin.
"So unless the horse is from Kansai, we usually pick the Yayoi Sho or Spring Stakes as prep races at Nakayama instead of the Wakaba Stakes."
After giving his horse girl a proper crash course on Classic route常识, Yasui Makoto watched Kitasan Black's face light up with understanding and changed the subject.
"However, all of that is still more than two months away. Right now, what you need to focus on is your imminent debut race."
"Okay! I'll do my best!"
Kitasan Black nodded vigorously on reflex, then suddenly froze.
"Wait… imminent…?"
"You didn't check the date? It's this Saturday, on race day."
Pointing at a line of race information, Yasui Makoto reminded her:
"In my opinion, your current condition is more than enough for a debut race. There's no better time than now, so let's go with this Saturday.
"Tokyo Racecourse, grass 1800m, Race 5.
"That will be your debut race."
...
On the morning of race day, Yasui Makoto felt for the first time that he might need to find a way to move into the academy trainer dormitory.
Perhaps it was the same in every version of Japan — every industry placed heavy emphasis on seniority and hierarchy.
As a rookie trainer, he had no right to live in the academy dormitory, no matter how good his exam results were. Priority was given to senior trainers.
In the past, he hadn't cared whether he lived in the academy or not. He didn't like interacting with others anyway.
But this was his horse girl's very first race. It was impossible not to feel nervous and excited. He was eager to see how Kitasan Black was doing today.
Even though he was anxious inside, he still patiently washed up, had breakfast, packed everything needed for the race, then went downstairs, got on his motorcycle, put on his helmet, and headed for Tracen Academy.
Central Tracen Academy and Tokyo Racecourse were both located in the western part of the 23 wards, in Fuchu, only a few kilometers apart.
Without special permission, horse girls and trainers with races were transported by school bus.
Kitasan Black was already waiting at the academy parking lot entrance. Beside her stood a horse girl with light brown long hair and pale golden eyes.
Yasui Makoto quickly recognized her from the files — it was the other young lady from the Satono family, Kitasan Black's roommate, Satono Diamond.
Then, Yasui Makoto looked strangely at Kitasan Black's feet.
She was wearing her usual sportswear — a crimson top and crimson long pants — and had changed into running shoes.
The problem was…
"Kitasan, when you left the dorm, didn't you feel that something was off with your shoes?"
"Morning, Trainer… Huh? Off? No… Wait?! Why are my shoes on the wrong feet?!"
Today was race day at Tokyo Racecourse. There were 12 races throughout the day, with an average of 15 entrants per race, meaning over 200 horse girls from Central Tracen Academy were participating.
Many students were arriving at the parking lot. Those in sportswear were the ones racing today.
Beside them were friends like Satono Diamond who came to accompany them — all fellow academy horse girls.
Kitasan Black's loud cry of surprise immediately drew a lot of attention.
The horse girls looked over, saw her shoes on the wrong feet, and many covered their mouths and giggled.
"How did this happen… S-Sorry, Trainer! I-I'll go find somewhere to change my shoes right now…"
With a bright red face, Kitasan Black turned to run away.
Satono Diamond also looked surprised and a little guilty.
"Kitasan, I'll help you… I'm very sorry, Trainer Yasui. I should have checked Kitasan's shoes for her…"
Yasui Makoto felt a bit speechless about Kitasan Black putting her shoes on the wrong feet, but he could understand it.
If you counted his actual age, he was more than twice as old as he appeared, yet he still felt nervous about the upcoming race. It was only natural that Kitasan Black would be even more anxious.
Due to Proper Maturation, horse girls developed differently from humans, but it could roughly be compared.
Having just entered Proper Maturation, Kitasan Black's mentality was similar to a 15- or 16-year-old human girl. Facing her very first race in her career, it would be strange if she weren't nervous or anxious.
"There's nothing to apologize for. This should be my responsibility as her trainer."
After quickly explaining to Satono Diamond, Yasui Makoto raised his voice.
"Hey— Kitasan! Stop running! Come back!"
Horse girls were indeed fast. In just a few seconds, Kitasan Black had already dashed dozens of meters away.
But when she heard Yasui Makoto's voice, she quickly slowed down, stopped, turned around in a daze, and awkwardly ran back.
"I'm back, Trainer… but my shoes…"
"Just change them while sitting on the motorcycle."
Nodding at the embarrassed Kitasan Black, he watched her obediently sit on the parked motorcycle. Then Yasui Makoto squatted down.
"Ehh?! Trainer, you… you…"
Under Kitasan Black's startled cry, Yasui Makoto naturally squatted down, untied her shoelaces, and removed the pair of shoes she had put on the wrong feet.
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Bonus chapters
200 Stones - 1 chapter
400 Stones - 2 chapter
600 Stones - 3 chapters
And so on