Chapter 69. Yorkshire Oaks Part 2
"Click!"
The starting gates sprang open in perfect unison once again, without the slightest issue.
Breaking from the outermost gate, Mejiro Dober did not do what most of her rivals had anticipated before the race. Rather than deliberately restraining her speed and dropping toward the rear, she sharply increased her stride frequency the moment the race began. Forcing her way ahead of Whitewater Affair in gate eight, she immediately adopted a posture as though she intended to cut toward the rail.
The move forced Whitewater Affair, who had originally planned to advance gradually, to accelerate at once and seize the lead before Mejiro Dober could shut the door on her path. After reaching the front, Whitewater Affair quickly moved over to the inside rail and assumed control of the pace.
Meanwhile, My Emma in gate seven noticed Mejiro Dober's aggressive opening maneuver and wisely chose not to contest the position. Instead, she remained close to the rail, clearly showing no intention of engaging in an early battle.
Seeing My Emma yield, Mejiro Dober did not press the issue.
Whitewater Affair surged forward to claim the lead, while Mejiro Dober calmly followed behind and slipped into the inner lanes.
After the start of the Yorkshire Oaks, the field faced roughly four hundred meters of straight running before reaching the first bend. By the time they approached it, the race order had already become clearly defined.
"Whitewater Affair is leading at the front, with Crown Of Light two lengths behind her."
Standing in the grandstand, Shuta An frowned slightly.
"Is Whitewater Affair's role simply to establish a suitable pace and break the wind for Crown Of Light? But if that's the case, there's no reason for Crown Of Light to be sitting in second. Was that Stoute's instruction, or is there information I don't know?"
Two lengths behind Crown Of Light came this year's Epsom Oaks winner, Reams Of Verse.
Behind her was the main body of the field: Attitre, Squeak, Mejiro Dober, and My Emma, running in sequence.
A further two lengths back, Alcalali and Papering traveled side by side.
When the timer on the giant screen ticked to 0:33, WhitewaterAffair entered the bend still holding the lead.
The corner itself was short, and none of the participants attempted anything ambitious through it. When they emerged onto the next section of the course, neither their positions nor the spacing between them had changed.
"The truly critical sections are still the next sharp turn and the final nine-hundred-meter straight."
Shuta An narrowed his eyes.
"Let's see what Stoute is really planning."
What he did not notice was that Stoute's expression had already become exceptionally grim.
"What is Crown Of Light doing?"
The veteran Trainer's face darkened.
"Didn't I tell her to stay on Mejiro Dober's outside and be ready to box her in at any moment?"
Annoyance surged within him.
He could not understand why Crown Of Light had completely ignored his instructions and instead chosen to sit directly behind Whitewater Affair in second place.
With only nine Uma Musume in the race, Stoute had originally believed that Whitewater Affair and Crown Of Light working together would give them an excellent chance of trapping Mejiro Dober.
Now that possibility had vanished entirely.
Crown Of Light had completely disregarded his pre-race orders.
And that made him furious.
Yet Crown Of Light had her own reasoning.
"What I'm best at isn't sitting in the middle of the pack. I'm strongest when I'm applying pressure to the leader."
Her dissatisfaction had been building for some time.
"Trainer telling me to mark Mejiro Dober just means he doesn't want me to win."
Although her achievements were not as extensive as Whitewater Affair's, Crown Of Light's Classic campaign had been considerably stronger. She had finished third in this year's Epsom Oaks, while Whitewater Affair had managed only sixth in the previous year's edition.
Crown Of Light had no intention of becoming a sacrifice.
Even if, objectively speaking, Whitewater Affair appeared to be the one carrying that burden.
In her eyes, being ordered to suppress Mejiro Dober was simply a way of reducing pressure on Whitewater Affair.
"And if it comes to the worst, I can always change teams."
With that thought in mind, Crown Of Light ignored the original plan and continued following directly behind Whitewater Affair of her own accord.
Shuta An knew nothing about the internal friction between the two stablemates.
However, he immediately recognized that what he was seeing could not possibly be a coordinated team tactic.
"What exactly is Stoute doing?"
The young man muttered under his breath.
"He didn't even resolve the psychological issues within his own team before trying to implement team tactics?"
At the same time, Whitewater Affair had already completed the second straight and entered the next sharp bend.
Historically, this was the section where races often began to transform.
Some weaker runners would start losing momentum and dropping away, while others lurking behind would begin their advance.
Fixing his gaze on the giant screen, Shuta An quietly waited to see whether today's race would unfold as he expected.
As Mejiro Dober entered the sharp bend, Attitre, who had been hugging the rail on the inside, suddenly began to lose speed.
The development immediately forced Papering, running behind her, to check and reduce speed as well.
There was simply nowhere else to go.
Alcalali was positioned directly to Papering's outside, preventing any diagonal movement to avoid Attitre.
The moment Attitre vacated the inner path, Mejiro Dober reacted.
She shifted inward by two strides.
The move immediately forced My Emma to accelerate and move forward in order to occupy the opening Attitre had left behind.
The cost, however, was obvious.
My Emma suddenly found herself boxed in on all sides.
To her left was the rail.
Ahead stood Attitre.
Outside were Squeak and Mejiro Dober.
There was no escape route whatsoever.
"If everything had gone according to the original plan, Mejiro Dober and My Emma should have been the ones swapping positions right now."
Watching from the stands, Stoute felt a headache coming on.
"What's the point of trapping My Emma?"
His fists clenched.
"Target Mejiro Dober! Mejiro Dober!"
His frustration reached its limit.
"Is My Emma the biggest threat in this race? No! The biggest threat is Mejiro Dober!"
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
Unable to contain himself, Stoute stamped his feet repeatedly in irritation, watching helplessly as the race drifted further and further away from the script he had so carefully prepared.
After entering the sharp bend, My Emma immediately realized that she had been boxed in.
Given the section of track they were currently navigating, she did not hesitate for even a moment. Taking a step to the right, she adopted an aggressive posture, clearly intending to force her way out.
Mejiro Dober was the first Uma Musume to notice the movement.
For a brief instant, she considered moving outward and directly giving MyEmma room to escape. In the end, however, she chose otherwise.
Instead, Mejiro Dober gradually increased her speed and advanced forward. As she moved up, she slowly relinquished the position she had occupied, effectively inviting Alcalali, who was eagerly advancing from behind, to inherit the problem in her place.
Attitre continued to lose ground.
Papering slipped around her and moved forward, only to immediately notice the predicament that Mejiro Dober had casually passed on to Alcalali.
"Good thing I didn't charge straight ahead," Papering thought with relief. "Otherwise, I'd be the one fighting My Emma for position right now."
Mejiro Dober paid no attention whatsoever to the thoughts of those behind her.
After advancing, she drew level with Squeak.
Although running on the outside slightly disadvantaged her stride efficiency, Mejiro Dober's exceptional leg strength easily compensated for it. Within moments, she surged past Squeak and continued forward.
Shuta An immediately noticed that Mejiro Dober had climbed into third place.
Only Whitewater Affair and Crown Of Light remained ahead of her.
"If they're planning to use team tactics, this is their last opportunity."
The young man narrowed his eyes.
"Dober needs to be even more vigilant now."
Stoute was also staring fixedly at Whitewater Affair and Crown Of Light.
He understood the situation just as clearly. If they intended to target Mejiro Dober, this was their final chance.
Once the field entered the enormous nine-hundred-meter home straight, any opportunity to trap her would disappear completely. Even if they managed to create an obstacle, the sheer length of the straight would provide Mejiro Dober with ample room to solve the problem herself.
Mejiro Dober understood this as well.
Despite not having reached the home straight yet, she had already raised her concentration to its peak. Every muscle in her body was energized, and her attention remained fixed on Crown Of Light.
As for Whitewater Affair, the front-runner had little reason to concern herself with such matters.
Knowing that her team mate was directly behind her, she had never felt particularly pressured. While she found it strange that Crown Of Light had not followed the planned tactics, Whitewater Affair understood that her teammate was not her true rival.
Even if Crown Of Light harbored her own intentions, Whitewater Affair paid them little mind.
"APPROACHING THE FINAL STRAIGHT, MEJIRO DOBER HAS ALREADY ADVANCED INTO THIRD PLACE AND APPEARS READY TO OVERTAKE CROWN OF LIGHT AT ANY MOMENT."
The commentator's voice echoed across the course.
At the same time, My Emma finally escaped from the box she had been trapped in.
The moment she broke free, she stopped searching for angles and drove directly forward.
Her intention was obvious.
She planned to force her way through the gap between Mejiro Dober and Crown Of Light.
But before she could close the distance to Crown Of Light, Mejiro Dober moved first.
After completing her overtake, Mejiro Dober immediately followed the natural line of the bend and cut sharply toward the inside.
In a single movement, she completely shut down My Emma's intended route.
Now there were only two choices.
Either My Emma collided directly with Mejiro Dober, or she abandoned the route entirely and searched for another way through.
"Damn it!"
MyEmma cursed inwardly.
"Why does it feel like Mejiro Dober can predict every route I want to take?"
Watching from beside the track, Shuta An's lips curved upward.
Mejiro Dober's block had not been an improvised decision.
It was something they had prepared beforehand.
During tactical discussions, Shuta An had carefully reviewed the running styles of every participant in the Yorkshire Oaks with her.
Regardless of the individual, most Uma Musume would prioritize conserving energy whenever possible. Even if that meant engaging in physical contests for position, they would usually refuse to give up ground. Only when a collision would clearly result in a foul would they willingly seek an alternative route.
Because of that, if one wanted to block a path, hesitation was unacceptable.
The move had to be decisive.
Mejiro Dober executed the lesson perfectly.
Just before exiting the sharp bend, she decisively sealed off My Emma's preferred inside route.
"Dober really is obedient."
Shuta An raised an eyebrow and glanced toward Stoute.
Noticing the subtle expression, Stoute immediately turned his head away in irritation.
He had no desire to see Shuta An's smug face. Especially not after entering the race with so much confidence, convinced he could challenge Shuta An and Mejiro Dober, only to watch the entire plan collapse because of the very Uma Musume under his own management.
Meanwhile, far away in a hotel at Hoshino Tomamu Resort in Hokkaido, Tokai Teio and several other Uma Musume sat together on the cloud-shaped sofa in Curren Chan's room.
"From the looks of things, is Dober-oneesan basically guaranteed to win?"
Curren Chan tilted her head as she asked the others.
Although she had entered Central Tracen Academy and eagerly studied racing knowledge, her current year level still left many aspects of race strategy beyond her understanding.
"If I had to say, it's pretty much decided."
Tokai Teio answered first.
"Dober-senpai is already about to catch Whitewater Affair. As long as she keeps gradually increasing her pace, Whitewater Affair won't be able to stop her."
"For a Triple Tiara-restricted race at this distance, Dober-senpai is practically in her ideal environment."
Kurofune spoke with admiration.
"I don't know if you've noticed, but every time Dober-senpai enters a Triple Tiara-restricted race, her condition always seems noticeably better."
"That's true."
Tokai Teio nodded in agreement.
Across from them, Rice Shower and Curren Chan wore similarly bewildered expressions. Neither of them fully understood how the others could draw such conclusions from the race.
When Whitewater Affair entered the final, sweeping home straight, the timer displayed 1:37.66.
Shuta An glanced at it once.
His expression remained calm.
"The pace is completely normal."
There was not the slightest hint of concern in his voice.
"Dober can unleash her full finishing burst from here."
Around him, however, the Trainers from the other stables were visibly tense.
Everyone could see the same thing.
If Mejiro Dober simply performed according to her usual standard, victory was almost already within her grasp. Yet despite what their eyes told them, they continued to cling to a faint hope.
A hope that, somehow, during these final nine hundred meters, Mejiro Dober would fail to perform as expected.