Chapter 55. Eclipse First, The Rest Nowhere 3
After Teio completely overtook Mejiro Palmer, she widened the gap between them, then cut directly to the inside lane, hugging the rail.
Although the turf on the inside lane was so ruined that the mud underneath was exposed, looking from afar, the inside lane appeared as a mottled yellow with bits of green.
Mejiro McQueen herself was aware of this problem, so she chose not to stick close to the rail but moved outwards. Even if it created a space wide enough for Tokai Teio to pass through horizontally, Mejiro McQueen didn't see any issue with it.
"The inside track conditions are too bad. If Teio wants to ensure her full burst of power, she'll definitely have to take the outside."
Under normal circumstances, Tokai Teio would indeed think that way. But after smoothly unfolding her "Zone." an endless surge of heroic spirit rose in the Undefeated Triple Crown's heart.
"Do I need to run on the same turf as McQueen to catch her?!"
"Do I need to?"
"I don't need to!"
With this thought, Tokai Teio lowered her center of gravity, hugging the rail. The mud splatters kicked up with each step splashed onto her racing uniform, but Tokai Teio seemed oblivious, merely accelerating, and accelerating again, swiftly and fiercely eroding Mejiro McQueen's lead.
"So fast!"
When she was about 50 meters from exiting the bend, Mejiro McQueen habitually looked back, utilizing the terrain.
The scene that met Mejiro McQueen's eyes left her momentarily speechless—Teio, with a ferocious expression like a demon, swept in from her right side with an aura that threatened to devour her alive.
With each stride, Tokai Teio's momentum intensified.
With only Mejiro McQueen ahead of Tokai Teio, she alone was under the influence of Tokai Teio's "Zone." and thus, bearing this oppressive feeling in solitude, more sweat unconsciously beaded on Mejiro McQueen's temples.
"Can such a lead not even be maintained for 300 meters?!"
She turned her head back, no longer having time to look at Tokai Teio's situation.
McQueen only knew that her pre-race estimates had a major error, and now she had no choice but to fight Tokai Teio even before fully entering the final straight—whereas in McQueen's original calculations, the true close-quarters combat should have happened only in the last 50 meters.
The final straight of 50 meters versus 350 meters is a sevenfold difference in distance, but the additional pressure and wasted stamina are far more than seven times. Mejiro McQueen knew this, but her fighting spirit was still burning.
"I cannot give up!"
"I am the Uma Musume who won the Spring Tenno Sho twice in a row, the pride of my family, and so many fans support me! I will not surrender!"
With this belief, Mejiro McQueen gritted her teeth, her limb muscles tensed. She vigorously swung her arms, enduring the soreness to quicken her stride, feeling a burning sensation in her legs with every step.
Mejiro McQueen was convinced that her current state surpassed her final sprint in the Spring Tenno Sho.
"If that's the case!"
A flame named "hope" ignited in her heart.
The next second, the figure that attacked from Mejiro McQueen's right side, carrying a surging wave, mercilessly extinguished Mejiro McQueen's hope—
"TOKAI TEIO HAS CAUGHT UP WITH MEJIRO MCQUEEN! SHE CAUGHT UP HERE?! TOKAI TEIO, ARE YOU GOING TO RUSH TO THE FRONT OF THE PACK RIGHT HERE?! ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DO THIS?!"
The live commentator clutched his head, watching Tokai Teio smoothly overtake Mejiro McQueen at the boundary between the final bend and the final straight.
Although Tokai Teio did not use a pace-chaser strategy today, everyone was transported back to that night at Meydan Racecourse.
In the eyes of the commentator who also covered this year's Dubai Sheema Classic, Tokai Teio's aura at this moment was several times stronger than it was in late March.
"IN JUST THREE MONTHS, TOKAI TEIO HAS PROVEN THAT HER GROWTH HASN'T STOPPED! AND THIS GROWTH RATE..."
The live commentator was at a loss for a suitable analogy.
But Teio didn't care about any of that. After overtaking McQueen, Teio immediately opened up a gap with her friend, leading the way into the final straight.
Despite shaking off McQueen, Teio didn't consider moving to the outside for better turf. She continued to hug the rail, dashing towards the finish line.
The mud splatters kicked up along the way didn't affect any opponents behind her, because by the time she was about to step onto the steep Slope Road of Hanshin Racecourse's final straight, McQueen, in second place, had already been left far behind by the Undefeated Triple Crown.
—
Mejiro McQueen looked at her opponent, who was almost a dot in her vision, her heart feeling as if it were burning in flames. She could feel that she could no longer accelerate.
"But I still have to catch up, I must catch up!"
Mejiro McQueen's thoughts were a tangled mess, only this one idea remained firm.
As firm as Teio's lead at this moment.
Two seconds after Tokai Teio stepped onto the Slope Road, Mejiro McQueen, in second place, finally stepped onto the Slope Road. At this point, the length gap between Mejiro Palmer, in third place, and Mejiro McQueen was already difficult to calculate with the naked eye.
"Teio-senpai is serious; she really wants to send all opponents except McQueen-senpai to overtime!"
Kurofune exclaimed excitedly, watching Tokai Teio's commanding lead.
On the track, Tokai Teio looked at the Slope Road she was about to conquer, a smile playing on her lips.
"McQueen, let me give you another surprise!"
Two seconds later, the on-site commentator's excited shouts echoed throughout the Hanshin Racecourse.
"TOKAI TEIO IS STILL ACCELERATING! SHE'S GETTING FASTER AND FASTER! IT'S AS IF SHE'S GOING TO FLY TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH! THIS IS OUR UNDEFEATED TRIPLE CROWN! IF YOU EVER DOUBTED HER FOR EVEN A MOMENT, NOW IS THE TIME TO BOW YOUR HEAD AND OFFER YOUR SINCERE APOLOGIES!"
—
With only 50 meters left to the finish line, when Tokai Teio reached the decisive distance McQueen had anticipated, she didn't slow down, she didn't even strike a celebratory pose; Tokai Teio even wanted to accelerate.
Originally, Shuta should have frowned at this scene, preparing to scold her after the race—she had already secured the win, so conserving energy to avoid overexertion and reducing the chance of injury was the most important thing to do.
But the young man looked at Teio's figure, which should have been getting clearer, and involuntarily superimposed Tokai Teio's figure with the figure that had destroyed everything in the Belmont Stakes race of his childhood—
"SECRETARIAT IS GOING TO BECOME A TRIPLE CROWN UMA MUSUME! UNBELIEVABLE! SHE'S SIMPLY A MIRACULOUS UMA MUSUME!"
Watching all her opponents being left far behind, Shuta An unconsciously tightened Mejiro Dober's wrist. Only at this moment did he vaguely understand his father's feelings at Belmont Park Racecourse that year.
The next instant, Tokai Teio's figure flashed past the finish line. Even then, she still didn't turn her head to look at the side of the Racecourse celebrating her victory.
On the scoreboard behind Tokai Teio, the completion time "2:13.9" hung there all alone.
It wasn't a Race Record, nor a Racecourse Record; if only looking at the text, this completion time wasn't particularly outstanding historically.
But Hanshin Racecourse fell into an absolute, deathly silence. Even Tokai Teio's most fervent fans, seeing Mejiro McQueen, who was in second place, still not having crossed the finish line, temporarily lost their speech function—no, their ability to make any sound at all.
Fortunately, the commentator in the commentary box was still diligent.
He looked at the Undefeated Triple Crown's back, his tone even carrying a hint of sorrow born from sympathy for the other Uma Musume—
"TOKAI TEIO! SHE CRUSHED THE DREAMS OF ALL HER OPPONENTS IN THE SAME RACE!"
"AND SHE WOULDN'T EVEN TURN HER HEAD!"
—
According to the general rules of the Japanese Twinkle Series, a gap exceeding 10 lengths is directly referred to as "Distance" and the specific length difference is not written.
However, some curious media outlets obtained the footage and calculated the length difference between Tokai Teio and Mejiro McQueen at the finish line—20 lengths.
Mejiro McQueen, in turn, pulled away from Mejiro Palmer by 15 lengths.
In other words, Tokai Teio beat the third-place Mejiro Palmer by a full 35 lengths. Not only that, the fourth-place Kamino Cresse was further separated from Mejiro Palmer by 3 lengths, and was 5.2 seconds behind Tokai Teio.
Therefore, starting from Kamino Cresse, all 12 Uma Musume behind her received a overtime penalty for exceeding the time limit.
Public opinion was in an uproar.
As one of Japan's two Grand Prix races, the first half of the Twinkle Series decisive race, the Takarazuka Kinen, saw the vast majority of its participating Uma Musume getting penalty for exceeding the time limit.
For Tokai Teio's fans, this was an interesting topic of conversation, but for the Uma Musume and fans who received the penalty, it was not funny at all.
Led by Kamino Cresse's Trainer, the Trainers of the other Uma Musume who received the time-out overtime penalty also joined in the protest.
The URA Association, upon receiving their statement, held a meeting to discuss the matter and ultimately concluded—
"This time-out penalty remains in effect, but future time-out penalties for G1 and other major stakes races will be revised to avoid such controversies again."
—
Honestly, Shuta An didn't care at all what the other Uma Musume and Trainers thought.
When Tokai Teio simply waved to the audience, he asked Mejiro Dober to look after the other Uma Musume of Team Sadalsuud, and then he went alone to the exit of the underground passage.
As expected, a few minutes later, Tokai Teio, who finally couldn't hold back her radiant smile, appeared in the young man's line of sight.
The Undefeated Triple Crown, who had just ruthlessly crushed her opponents on the Racecourse, came to Shuta An in quick strides, swayed her head playfully, and asked.
"Trainer, how was my performance today?"
"Too strong."
Shuta An pulled Tokai Teio patted and wiped, not minding her sweaty appearance.
"You remind me of how I felt watching Secretariat's Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park Racecourse when I was a child. What Mejiro McQueen? Middle distance is no match for our Teio!"
Noticing her Trainer's choice of words, Tokai Teio was even more pleased—
'Our Teio,' you're absolutely right, Trainer and I are in this together."
After rubbing against her Trainer slightly, the Undefeated Triple Crown looked up.
"Trainer, let's leave for Ascot tomorrow! I can't wait to start adaptation training there!"
"No rush, Teio still has a winning live performance later, doesn't she?"
Shuta An pinched Tokai Teio's cheek.
"Then we'll go to the hospital for a post-race check-up. If everything's fine, we'll meet at the main gate of Tracen Academy tomorrow morning. I've already booked the plane tickets. We'll fly from Haneda Airport, it's about a 14-hour flight to Heathrow Airport. After that, the hotel will have a dedicated car to pick us up and take us to the hotel. Then, we'll adjust to the time difference, and Teio can have 20 days off to explore before starting preparations for the race."
After outlining the upcoming plans, Tokai Teio was very satisfied with all the arrangements.
She glanced at the time, estimating it was about right, and slipped out of her Trainer's vicinity.
"I need to get ready for the winning live performance! Trainer, I got a new song from the URA Association! You must listen carefully later!"
"Then I'll look forward to it."
Shuta An also smiled—Tokai Teio getting a new song meant a new single, a new single meant a release, a release meant revenue, and as a Trainer, he also had a significant share of the profits.
"I feel like it'll at least cover the plane tickets."
He thought to himself. It was worth noting that to ensure Mejiro Dober and Tokai Teio felt good during the long flight, the three one-way tickets this time cost the equivalent of the prize money from a single debut race victory.
—
After seeing Tokai Teio off, Shuta An went to the media area alone. The young man estimated the number of reporters present in the media area today was roughly equivalent to the combined total of reporters from the two interview sessions for the Yasuda Kinen and Victoria Mile.
"Is this what a Grand Prix is? Or do Japanese people really love middle-to-long distance turf Twinkle Series?"
Shuta An personally leaned more towards the latter. After all, there were also many reporters at the Arima Kinen post-race interview last year.
However, he quickly stopped dwelling on it because the interview session was about to begin—
And facing the formulaic first question, Shuta An replied.
"Winning by so many lengths was completely unexpected. I didn't think Tokai Teio would hit her stride in the later stages. To be honest, the pace of the first two stages of this race was too slow. If a standard pace had been set, I believe Teio would have had a real chance to set a Race Record, so I personally feel a bit regretful about that."
"How do you evaluate the other Uma Musume in this race?"
"Given this result, I don't think it's appropriate for me to comment on the other Uma Musume."
Shuta An shrugged.
If he were to praise them, most of them would be sent off with a time-out penalty package by Tokai Teio. If he were to belittle them—that would be even more impossible.
Shuta only liked to play defensively and counterattack; he generally wouldn't actively step on an opponent when he was ahead.
"Belittling defeated opponents also indirectly belittles the abilities of our team's Uma Musume."
This was Shuta An's personal thought.
And when reporters asked about Team Sadalsuud's summer plans, Shuta An reconfirmed with them that he would be taking Mejiro Dober and Tokai Teio to Europe.
"Then, does Miss Tokai Teio have plans to challenge the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe?" another reporter asked.
After El Condor Pasa's dream was shattered at Longchamp, the Japanese watched as their local Uma Musume came within a step of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, their enthusiasm high. Unfortunately, all the Uma Musume who attempted it in recent years met with failure.
Now, Tokai Teio is considered the most highly anticipated—but Shuta An had not yet publicly stated that he intended for Tokai Teio to challenge the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
But today, watching her "publicly execute" all her opponents at Hanshin Racecourse, Shuta An was truly tempted.
"We want to first see her performance in Europe this summer, and then make a decision. If she can perform well in the Epsom Derby, I think entering the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a possibility."
Shuta An's response quickly sparked a frenzy of public opinion.
Everyone believed that Tokai Teio would fulfill their expectations.
Because she is the Teio of this generation.
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