Chapter 20
Seeing the confusion in the Satono girls' eyes, Yasui Makoto knew they didn't fully understand what he meant.
He smiled slightly but didn't explain. Instead, he raised his binoculars again and focused on his own black-haired horse girl.
Escape , Leading , Tracking , and Chasing, these are the four mainstream running styles in races.
Escape means taking the lead right from the start and maintaining first place all the way, controlling the entire race's pace.
Leading means staying right behind the leader, using the opponent's rhythm to adjust yourself, then overtaking in the final stretch.
Tracking stays further back, using the horses in front to block wind resistance and conserve stamina through the low-pressure pocket, then surging forward from the final turn.
Chasing starts from the very back and begins accelerating earlier than the others — usually from the third turn. Stronger horses can even start their move in the middle stages.
There are also more detailed variations such as Great Escape, Free Leading, Free Tracking, and Great Chase.
All running styles must be adjusted according to the horse girl's condition and the specific race situation.
Normally, many trainers decide on their horse girl's main running style around the debut race. Yasui Makoto had also determined the two styles that best suited Kitasan Black.
Great Escape and Escape.
After that came Free Leading — the ability to switch smoothly between Escape and Leading.
This judgment came from years of study and reflection, as well as the experience his father had passed on to him.
The same applied to tactics.
Since the pressure in a debut race wasn't too high, it was the perfect opportunity to test certain possibilities.
Training could confirm things too, but it was ultimately different from real competition. Conclusions drawn from actual races were clearly more accurate.
Moreover, future races would only get more important. Once an opportunity like this was missed, similar chances might not come again.
His father had also taught him a technique regarding temperament.
Horse girls have extremely strong competitive instincts. When they first experience racing, they can't help but want to run forward.
But looking at all races, falling behind is inevitable. No horse girl can stay in first place all the time, and sometimes tactical lagging is necessary.
Without enough experience, if a horse girl follows her instincts and suddenly gets overtaken, she can easily panic.
The first few races after debut have relatively low intensity, making them perfect for running from further back and accumulating valuable pressure-resistance experience.
This kind of insight only comes from veteran trainers with rich experience. His father had learned it from one of his own seniors.
Of course, there were risks involved.
When running from further back, the overtaking phase would face intentional or unintentional blocking from the horses ahead.
Without real-race experience, novice horse girls often didn't know how to handle it. At critical moments, they couldn't accelerate properly and ended up blocked.
Yasui Makoto wasn't worried about this.
Since he dared to use the debut race as practice for Kitasan Black, he naturally had enough confidence and assurance.
His black-haired horse girl was a classic late-bloomer type.
The flip side of her poor force control was that she instinctively avoided running at full power.
Her body hadn't fully developed enough yet. To avoid injuring herself with her own talent, she unconsciously held back from using her full strength.
Most trainers, upon encountering this situation, would choose to avoid full-power running.
Yasui Makoto did the same, but he offered a more clever solution.
Start the sprint earlier and spread the force and explosiveness over a longer distance.
This not only reduced the physical burden of going all-out, but also ensured she would keep accelerating throughout the later stages of the race, making it very difficult for others to block her.
This was a tactic that only veteran trainers and experienced horse girls would choose, and it required many conditions to be met.
However, the most important condition, Kitasan Black had already begun to grasp.
That was rhythm.
Over the past month of training, his black-haired horse girl had done rhythm training every single day.
Now, when she ran, she carried a natural musical cadence.
Prelude, verse, chorus, interlude, climax, outro.
Of course, the melody played by a girl who had just begun her career couldn't be called perfect yet.
But in this little tune called her "debut race," it was more than enough.
Reviewing the entire plan, Yasui Makoto kept his eyes glued to the binoculars. The moment the marker for the third turn flashed past and the black-haired girl familiarly lowered her posture in that subtle way, the corners of his mouth unconsciously lifted.
…The interlude was over. It was time for the climax.
Let everyone see it, Kitasan.
Let them see just how extraordinary a horse girl you are.
As the race approached the final stretch, the commentator's voice grew more and more excited.
"Only 500 meters left to the finish! The leader is now Mejiro Joie!
"As expected of the top favorite!
"Cosmic Hainer fell behind slightly in the mid-stage battle.
"But she isn't too far back — only half a length behind Mejiro Joie.
"Running alongside her is Eden! Both are desperately trying to catch up to Mejiro Joie!
"The three leaders are clearly ahead. The fourth place is a full 3 lengths behind!
"400 meters left! It looks like the champion will be decided among these three!"
One length is a standard racing term — said to be the length of the first Three Goddesses statue with arms spread wide, roughly 2.5 meters.
Half a length is a little over 1 meter. This gap wasn't too big. The second and third place horses were very close to the leader and seemed like they could overtake with one more push.
The gap further back, however, was much more obvious.
The 7+ meter gap looked like a chasm, seemingly cutting off any chance for the horses behind to win.
The audience also erupted with the loudest cheers of the day, and the commentator's voice grew equally excited.
"They've reached the straight in front of the grandstands. The three leaders are still battling at the front, while behind them…"
The commentator suddenly paused.
Then came an incredulous shout.
"Kitasan Black!
"Kitasan Black is charging forward!
"300 meters to the finish!
"But! But!
"Kitasan Black is catching up!
"200 meters!
"She's passed Cosmic Hainer and Eden!
"She's closing in on Mejiro Joie!
"She's overtaken Mejiro Joie!
"Kitasan Black is now in the lead!
"Kitasan Black has completed the overtake!
"Now in first place is Kitasan Black!
"Can Mejiro Joie overtake her back?!
"100 meters!
"Mejiro Joie is accelerating desperately! Mejiro Joie is accelerating desperately!
"But!
"Kitasan Black is still leading!
"Mejiro Joie seems to be fading!
"But Kitasan Black is still sprinting!
"After 1700 meters she's still sprinting!
"50 meters!
"Finish line!
"1 and a half lengths!
"Coming from behind!
"She overtook everyone in one breath to take first place!
"Winning the debut race by 1 and a half lengths!
"Splendid!
"Truly splendid!
"What a magnificent overtake!
"Let's congratulate Kitasan Black!"
For a brief moment, when the commentator realized Kitasan Black was charging forward, the cheers in the stands dipped slightly.
It wasn't because the race wasn't exciting.
On the contrary, after a momentary stunned silence from the surprise, the cheers became even more frenzied.
After the frenzy peaked, the cheers dipped again for a moment, then mixed with good-natured laughter that echoed across Tokyo Racecourse.
Because after bursting across the finish line in one go and continuing another nearly 100 meters, the black-haired girl who had just won suddenly dove forward in a dramatic "tiger pounce" and crashed onto the ground in a big "大" shape.
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Bonus chapters
200 Stones - 1 chapter
400 Stones - 2 chapter
600 Stones - 3 chapters
And so on