Grass Wonder's answer didn't surprise Yasui Makoto at all. Or rather, it confirmed what he had already suspected.
This Uma Musume had raced Special Week twice before, and her performances in both races were somewhat unusual.
The first time was the Takarazuka Kinen in June. That year, summer had arrived early, and Grass Wonder had been in poor condition for a while after being affected by the intense heat during training.
However, when she saw Special Week on the track the next day, it was like she'd become an entirely different person, her fighting spirit visibly surging.
With this complete transformation, she ultimately defeated Special Week by three lengths, leaving the third-place Dream Journey trailing far behind by a massive ten lengths.
The second occasion, at the Arima Kinen at the end of the year, was much the same.
That time she wasn't ill, but injured. As a result, Grass Wonder withdrew from the Japan Cup and spent the following period recovering, only to once again defeat Special Week at the Arima Kinen, having fully regained her momentum by race day.
With these memories in mind, Yasui Makoto instinctively wanted to confirm Grass Wonder's current condition when he heard her name mentioned.
If her performances in those two races had been due to deliberate training or strategy, it would be perfect for Kitasan Black's current training goals.
For Kitasan, the more experience she gained handling late kicks and chasing situations, the better—there could never be enough.
And if it was simply as described in interviews, then normal arrangements would suffice.
Quickly comparing his memories with Grass Wonder's reply, Yasui nodded knowingly.
"Your situation…is indeed quite unique. We definitely shouldn't force anything. Regarding whether to use a chasing strategy or not, I'll first confirm your current physical condition, then we can discuss it further. Is that alright?"
Training races required clear goals set in advance.
Examples included handling specific gate positions, cornering strategies, or how to respond when facing a chasing opponent.
Ideally, different goals were handled by different Uma Musume, optimizing the results and enabling data-driven improvements for future training.
To achieve that, naturally, it was essential to confirm each assistant's condition beforehand to ensure they could meet the requirements.
Special Week and the others had already been confirmed—the only one left was Grass Wonder, who'd just joined the session.
Experienced with training races herself, Grass Wonder quickly grasped Yasui's intention. Without hesitation, she nodded with a gentle smile.
"No problem at all. I'll leave the arrangements entirely up to you, Yasui-san."
...
Early Saturday morning, Central Tracen Academy's training grounds.
As always, Yasui Makoto spotted Kitasan Black warming up on the track from a distance before even approaching.
The difference today was that beneath Kitasan Black's feet was not the familiar turf, but the woodchip track.
The woodchip track was located at the outermost edge of the grounds, generally used for adaptive and high-intensity training.
The surface consisted of about five centimeters of woodchips mixed with adhesive over a hybrid rubber foundation, effectively reducing joint impact during running.
Slopes here were also specially designed.
Directly opposite the stands, a roughly 1200-meter segment of combined slopes was perfect for improving adaptability to elevations, explosive strength, and cardiovascular endurance.
Since the track's texture was distinctly different from grass, Kitasan had previously used it occasionally, though not often.
Recently, however, it had become ideal for simulating the complex slopes of the Japanese Derby, thus chosen for today's training race.
After observing Kitasan's warm-up briefly, Yasui nodded to himself and turned his attention elsewhere.
Dozens of meters away, near where the woodchip track bordered the grass, Special Week, Grass Wonder, and Vodka ran side-by-side, seemingly re-familiarizing themselves with the track's surface.
Farther out, on a wide patch of grass, Deep Impact lay alone on her back atop a balance ball, performing crunches.
Parallel to her, also alone, Orfevre was doing push-ups on a training mat.
Everyone's here so early. Guess I'd better hurry and set things up…
Confirming each Uma Musume's status, Yasui began unloading all the equipment he'd brought.
This training race lacked the liveliness of the previous one. Besides the participants, the grounds held only a few other Uma Musume training on their own on this weekend morning. The stands were practically empty.
Both student council presidents, Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen, were occupied and couldn't attend.
Thus, laser sensors for start, cruise, and finish-line data collection, drones for filming, and loudspeakers for instructions—Yasui had to handle setting all these up himself.
After a busy stretch, just as everything was roughly set up, a commotion gradually approached from the edge of the training grounds, accompanied by shouting and a loud metallic rumbling.
"Heeey—anyone free to help push a little?"
Instantly recognizing Gold Ship's voice, Yasui instinctively turned toward it and froze in surprise.
In the Twinkle Series, the starting gates used for races were specially made to exact specifications.
From the base wheels to the frames and hydraulically controlled gate mechanisms, the entire device was made entirely of metal, the full gate assembly weighing over six tons.
Outside races, Uma Musume needed these gates for specialized start training sessions as well.
Whether at the racetrack or training grounds, these gates were usually moved in and out using tow trucks.
Yet at this moment, Gold Ship had a thick rope wrapped around her waist, pulling behind her—unbelievably—an entire gate assembly.
So, when she said she'd handle the starting gate…this is what she meant?
Yasui was simultaneously amused and dumbfounded.
Since Gold Ship was busy preparing for the Tenno Sho (Spring), she wasn't participating in today's race. However, at the post-race celebration last time, she'd enthusiastically volunteered to help out.
Yasui hadn't thought much about it and readily agreed. Gold Ship had happily claimed responsibility for setting up the gate as part of the preparations.
But never in his wildest imagination did Yasui expect something this absurd.
Well…that's just Golshi-sama for you. And also, the strength of an Uma Musume really is beyond comparison with humans…
Chuckling softly with both amusement and admiration, Yasui and Kitasan Black—who had stopped warming up—hurried together toward Gold Ship's direction.
Approaching closer, they discovered Gold Ship wasn't pulling the gate alone; Daiwa Scarlet and Silence Suzuka were behind, helping push.
When Special Week joined in, she naturally stood next to Silence Suzuka, grabbing hold of a metal support rod and asking amusedly:
"Suzuka…? How come you ended up messing around with Golshi-sama?"
Similarly confused, Vodka moved alongside Daiwa Scarlet, assisting in pushing, but not without questioning:
"Yeah, Golshi-sama acting like this is normal enough, but Daiwa, Suzuka…what happened to you two?"
Even Orfevre couldn't help complaining out loud.
"Hey, you…what exactly are you thinking? Couldn't you just bring it normally on a truck?"
"How is this my fault?"
Before Silence Suzuka or Daiwa Scarlet could respond, Gold Ship immediately shot back indignantly.
"We originally planned to drive a truck, but when we asked around, we found out none of us actually have a driver's license, so we had no choice but to drag it here.
"And also, what do you mean 'what am I thinking'? Just tell me if you're gonna use the gate or not!"