Chapter 45. The Unrivaled Japanese Derby Part 1
As the Uma Musume departing from starting gate 20, Tokai Teio was naturally the last to enter the starting gate. That meant the time left for her to adjust her condition inside the gate would be razor-thin—very, very short. But Tokai Teio had anticipated this long ago. She adjusted her condition in advance while the other 19 Uma Musumes were still filing into their gates. When she finally stepped into the starting gate, she snapped into her starting posture instantly, ready to wait for the crisp, explosive sound of the gate opening.
"The cheers are shaking the racetrack! The annual stage of dreams! Twenty of the top Uma Musumes of their generation are about to battle for the once-in-a-lifetime Derby crown! WHO WILL BE CROWNED THIS YEAR'S DERBY UMA MUSUME HONOR??" The live commentator roared as the last few Uma Musumes slipped into their starting gates.
"Will it be Leo Durban, the Aoba Sho champion, surging from behind?"
"Will it be Shako Grade, second in the Satsuki Sho, finally getting her revenge?"
"Or—as more people expect—will the holder of the Satsuki Sho's Crown, inheriting the Emperor's will, be crowned with two crowns?"
"Which one is your dream? Sa~ Let's witness the final answer in two minutes! The race begins!"
The commentator's voice faded. The starting gates opened cleanly, in perfect unison.
Tokai Teio, aiming to seize a strong forward position in this race, showed no hesitation. She burst forward instantly.
Tsurumaru Mochi O, who started from starting gate 19, was slightly stunned—her direct path was immediately blocked by Tokai Teio, who angled two steps sideways. But Tsurumaru Mochi O quickly regained her composure. She wasn't the only one whose acceleration path had been cut by Tokai Teio. Tai Concerto from starting gate 17 and Ibukino Unkai from starting gate 16 were all blocked by Tokai Teio's line.
Only Hokusei Ciboulette from starting gate 18 was let through—Tokai Teio followed her Trainer's pre-race instructions.
Hokusei Ciboulette, unaware she had been intentionally let through, felt quite pleased.
"It's a good thing I've been practicing my starts lately. I actually managed to escape from Tokai Teio's grasp this time. It must be the result of my practice, right?"
Hokusei Ciboulette's pre-race tactical plan was simple: follow After Me—who was sure to lead—and without pressuring her, accelerate to the front of the pack on the final turn.
This was the stage of the Japanese Derby. Even Hokusei Ciboulette, who had the lowest popularity and was basically not favored by anyone, still burned with the desire to contend for victory.
As Hokusei Ciboulette followed behind After Me, Shuta An sighed.
"What's wrong?"
Kitahara, standing beside the young man, quickly turned her head to look at her close friend.
"Are you not satisfied with Tokai Teio's start?"
"It shouldn't be, right?"
Nishizaki Ryu raised an eyebrow. "Tokai Teio is about to secure a good forward position; her initial strategic goal should have been achieved. Does Ann-san have even higher demands?"
"No." Shuta An shook his head. "I just realized that both Teio and I made a small mistake."
"It won't affect the race, will it?"
Kurofune was quite nervous upon hearing this. Rice Shower's ears also perked up—speaking of which, her ears were already quite large, and perking them up like this made them even larger than Kurofune's, who was born and raised in America.
"It definitely won't affect it." Shuta An waved his hand to reassure those around him.
He muttered to himself,
"I had thought about winning all rivals to the point of losing their fighting spirit in the Satsuki Sho. But now it seems—even Hokusei Ciboulette harbors the belief that she can win the race."
"I still underestimated the allure of the Derby for the Uma Musume of Japan." The young man silently reflected.
As she crossed the finish line for the first time, Tokai Teio was in sixth place—exactly the good forward position Shuta An had hoped for her before the race.
Tokai Teio cut slightly to the inside, running behind One More Live, letting One More Live break the wind for her.
To Tokai Teio's left, Leo Durban glanced at her. As the Aoba Sho winning Uma Musume, Leo Durban also had her pride and a challenging trial she wanted to overcome—the Aoba Sho had been established for over forty years, and in those four decades, despite being a precursor to the Japanese Derby, not a single Aoba Sho winning Uma Musume had ever won the Japanese Derby.
Leo Durban, of course, wanted to overcome this "curse." In her heart, she believed that Tokai Teio's starting gate 20 was a very favorable opportunity for her.
"But it's only been about 200 meters since the start, right? How did Tokai Teio get to this position already?"
Leo Durban started from starting gate 11, which naturally gave her an advantage in securing a good forward position compared to Tokai Teio—but now Tokai Teio had directly caught up, which truly startled Leo Durban.
Tokai Teio could feel the emotional fluctuations of her rival on her left side were quite intense. But she didn't care. Leo Durban? Has she won a G1? Not really familiar.
For Tokai Teio, her objects of pursuit were Symboli Rudolf, Oguri Cap, and the famous seniors. Although Leo Durban was the second favorite in the eyes of the Japanese Derby audience this year, Tokai Teio absolutely did not consider her an opponent—especially after watching Leo Durban's Aoba Sho in the clubroom. Tokai Teio became even more convinced of this.
"A final 3F of 34.5 seconds achieved by staying at the back throughout under a standard pace rhythm." Tokai Teio felt she had seen through Leo Durban's limit.
"Then let me see what kind of final burst you can deliver when we both use a forward-running strategy."
She paid no more attention to Leo Durban and continued to maintain her cruising state.
Meanwhile, Seto Horai, who was following behind Tokai Teio, dared not slack off. She hadn't originally planned to mark Tokai Teio, but upon noticing Tokai Teio appear in front of her, she made a spontaneous decision to mark the top favorite.
"Running at Tokai Teio's pace will definitely be better than me improvising." Seto Horai thought so.
"Tokai Teio is in sixth place, and After Me at the very front is about to enter the first turn. It looks like the pace of this race won't be too fast, and the spread of the pack also seems quite compact," the live commentator explained.
"Although Tokai Teio started from the outermost starting gate 20, she secured a good forward position before entering the turn section, so the gate position shouldn't be too much of a concern—the only worry is that pushing for position might waste too much stamina," the guest commentator added.
—
Evidently, Tokai Teio was absolutely confident in her endurance reserves.
Entering the first bend, she didn't cut diagonally into the main group to save ground. Instead — she held her original position, unmoving.
Both Seto Horai and Leo Durban stared. Surprised.
"She's not even considering cutting in front of me to block my position? She's staying on the outside?"
Leo Durban frowned hard.
"What is Tokai Teio thinking? She started from gate 20. She already wasted endurance to reach the same position as me. Isn't she going to make up for it here?"
Seto Horai had planned to accelerate slightly, filling the position Tokai Teio would leave when she cut inside. But Teio had no intention of saving ground there. Seto Horai could only obediently stay behind the top favorite Uma Musume, eyes locked on her back.
—
"It is most correct for Teio not to make any extra moves here."
Shuta An explained from the stands, calm and certain. "For an Uma Musume with superior strength, if the race plan is going exactly as expected, there's no need to overcomplicate. Simply executing her race plan steadily is enough to secure victory."
"Sometimes I overthink things." Sabuno Hana Park sighed after hearing the young man's explanation. "In this year's Al Quoz Sprint, I tried to interfere with my opponents in the middle and ended up losing my position."
"That was my fault too." Kitahara defended the Uma Musume he trained. "I told you before the race to cause as much trouble as possible for Regally Ready and them. Who would have thought Regally Ready, despite looking small, would have such strong Stress resistance that it unsettled you instead."
Since Team Sadalsuud didn't embark on a Dubai expedition this year, Shuta An only knew the results from that side. This year, none of the Central Tracen Academy teams that went to Dubai won a single race. Sabuno Hana Park's second place in the Al Quoz Sprint was the best result.
So when Kitahara took responsibility, Shuta An didn't interject.
Turning out of the bend — Tokai Teio entered the long straight opposite the stands in sixth place.
Then the live commentator announced the 1000-meter split time for this Japanese Derby — "One minute and zero point three seconds! After Me learned her lesson after the Satsuki Sho and decided to set a slower pace in the Japanese Derby! And Hokusei Ciboulette also seems very satisfied with this pace!"
Tokai Teio estimated the pace herself when she passed the 1000-meter marker.
"Around 62 seconds for the kilometer—So, as Trainer expected, vying for a good early position is indeed the most correct tactic."
At this moment, Tokai Teio felt greatly relieved.
"Next, I'll continue to wait in this position — until we turn into the final straight."
And Tokai Teio wasn't the only one who discerned the pace. Leo Durban also realized the rhythm of this Japanese Derby was slow.
But she didn't feel as relieved as Tokai Teio — because compared to Teio, who was on the outside of the group, Leo Durban was surrounded by the group and the rail.
Though a slow pace benefits Uma Musume employing leading and early strategies, Leo Durban's position meant she could only accelerate later than Tokai Teio and the other opponents ahead. Not to mention — Leo Durban had been reminded by Trainer many times before the race what it meant to accelerate later than Tokai Teio.
"My burst power is definitely not as good as Tokai Teio's, so I can only compensate with endurance!"
So after turning into the straight opposite the stands, Leo Durban slowed down slightly.
Tokai Teio didn't understand why Leo Durban would slow down to conserve energy so soon after passing the 1000-meter marker. She speculated in her heart:
"It must be residual fatigue from the Aoba Sho, right? After all, that Aoba Sho was also a 2400-meter race on the Tokyo Racecourse turf. It's understandable that Leo Durban's endurance reserves aren't sufficient."
However, even though Leo Durban's slowdown opened up the inside position, Tokai Teio had no intention of cutting in.
"If I go in, I'll be the one surrounded." She certainly didn't want to be 'imprisoned' on the Racecourse.
Noticing Tokai Teio's wise choice, the young man nodded in satisfaction.
"That's right. Since she's secured a satisfactory position, there's no need to change places again. She can plan her acceleration route right here. If she cuts to the inside, she'll have to depend on After Me and Hokusei Ciboulette's whims later. In her current position, she just needs to do her own thing to break out of the group."
Nishizaki Ryu also turned to explain to the Uma Musume in his team why Tokai Teio wasn't filling Leo Durban's position here — the active Uma Musume of Team Spica's Twinkle Series naturally understood, but Uma Musumes like Gold Ship, Daiwa Scarlet and Vodka, who hadn't yet fully debuted, required Nishizaki Ryu to fulfill his responsibility as a Trainer.
Leo Durban didn't feel disappointed when Tokai Teio didn't fill the position she had voluntarily yielded. She focused intently on pressuring Seto Horai, who was marking Tokai Teio, forcing Seto Horai to move outwards — from directly behind Tokai Teio to her right rear.
Leo Durban 'escaped' from the Box.
The Uma Musume who had been following behind Leo Durban — whose rhythm had just been disrupted by Leo Durban's slowdown — seeing the space open up ahead, joyfully filled it without a second thought.
Big Fight turned her head, wanting to gauge who her opponent was now running on her right — she regretted it after one look.
"WHAT?! How could it be Tokai Teio!"
When she saw it was Tokai Teio, the Uma Musume already regretted moving up to this position,
"Leo Durban, you set me up!!"
And the Big Fight's Trainer also had a grim expression: "For the Big Fight to break out, she'll have to contend with Tokai Teio, but can she really do it?"
Although the Uma Musume's name implied a strong sense of confrontation, unfortunately, Big Fight was not an Uma Musume who was particularly skilled at confrontation.
And Tokai Teio sensed the unsettled emotion emanating from the opponent who had newly arrived on her left — so she simply ignored it, instead diverting some of her thoughts to what was behind her.
"Leo Durban has come behind me and started marking me."
As she turned into the final bend, Tokai Teio looked back, using the terrain to her advantage.
Leo Durban could clearly see Tokai Teio's lips curving upwards — as if pitying her.