Minutes had passed as I waited in Grand Ekinoks's waiting room for her to enter. The fact that Koşturan had won still ticked me off. Even after winning, he hadn't smiled.
Most likely that was her character. I suspected she had been raised in strict discipline, marching in the paddock like a soldier and saluting like one. She must be following Melisa's instructions as if she were a soldier. Probably even before Melisa, she had been following orders like a soldier.
While I was thinking about these things, I kept waiting for Grand Ekinoks to enter but minutes passed as if they were hours and I couldn't hear the door opening.
I couldn't wait any longer.
When I opened the door, Grand Ekinoks stood in front of the door and looked down at the floor.
"Losing is something extremely frustrating, trainer."
For some reason I didn't want to look at her and turned my face away.
There was no point in her taking such early action merely because she didn't want to lose the race.
She simply wanted to win. If she won, she would think that the thing she didn't want to lose would remain unfelt.
Now that she had lost, the urge to win burned even more fiercely inside her. Her eyes began to water as she stared at me, and I could almost predict what she would say.
"Even Gazi Derby doesn't matter to me anymore. I want to beat Koşturan in the Uma Trial Stakes."
Umamusumes love to run. It is in their nature. But they aren't living beings who only care about running.
They are all beings who think they are the best. No umamusume is merely someone who runs toward a goal and competes with others just to race.
Wanting to surpass everyone is in their genes, and everything that fuels this "desire to win" motivates them to run.
The Uma Trial Stakes would begin in 1.5 months. Until then, Grand Ekinoks wouldn't participate in another race. It was clear she would be fully focused on training and would want to use all her spare time to win this race.
From that day, I didn't need to say that our training had become quite heavy.
Grand Ekinoks pushed herself seriously. When I asked her to run 3 laps, she ran 4. When I asked her to do 50 push-ups, she did 70.
At first I wanted to get mad at her. But I didn't. As training continued, I wanted her to learn that excess could hurt her, and I wanted her to enter the lessons herself. If she really wanted to beat Koşturan, the person who should learn from what she experienced would be herself.
In short, I want to say that one calamity is better than a hundred admonitions.
And indeed that proved true. A few days later, she paid the price for her unsteady footing and fell face-first to the ground. In an examination by one of the doctors at TJC Academy, she had cracked one of her rib bones.
Though this kind of injury worried me, I knew Grand Ekinoks would be fully recovered within a few days.
From that moment, she stopped pushing herself unnecessarily. If anyone had to be ruthless at this point, it should be me.
Even though I couldn't be completely merciless because of her injury and slight hunch causing her pain, I had some ideas to turn this situation to her advantage.
For someone used to tasting pain, what hurts us is normal for them.
Umamusumes use every muscle in their bodies when they run. As running continues, their bodies warm up. Umamusumes try not to dwell on this feeling; they try not to mind the pains that will intensify after the race. Instead, they focus on the race.
The rate at which they can do this is generally 70%. My aim is to raise it to 90%.
As the Uma Trial Stakes drew near, there was one more very important problem regarding the race.
A racewear had to be tailored for Grand Ekinoks.