About half a month had passed since her maiden race victory, and it was now early November. The mornings and evenings were getting colder, and the temperature difference from the daytime was increasing. It was more comfortable than the middle of summer, but it was also a time when I had to be careful so Urara wouldn't get sick.
Just because Urara won one maiden race didn't mean she could immediately jump into the higher classes.
I wanted her to run in as many races as possible, but of course, if no races were being held, there was nothing I could do. In maiden races, there was an opportunity to run once every half a month, but for open races and above, the dates were fixed, though they varied slightly from year to year.
Most of the time, they were held on either a Saturday or Sunday, but sometimes there were age restrictions. For example, some races were only for Classic or Senior grade Uma Musume, some were only for Classic, and some were only for Senior. There were also various other conditions, such as needing to have a certain amount of prize money to participate, being selected through a lottery for popular races, or even having to be in the top ranks of a popularity poll to join.
From that perspective, Urara had a lot of strict limitations compared to other Uma Musume. She could only run on dirt courses, and so far, she had only run short-distance races.
When it comes to short-distance dirt races, there are very few major races that Urara could potentially participate in before she retires. There's only one GI race, the JBC Sprint. There are zero GII races. The number of GIII races increases slightly, but there are only three: the Negishi Stakes, the Procyon Stakes, and the Capella Stakes. The number of open and pre-open races below the major races suddenly jumps to over 20, but if we're unlucky, we might not be able to participate at all if we lose the lottery. So, it was possible that we might not be able to participate in a major race because we lost the open race lottery, and we didn't have enough prize money.
Because of this, I plan to adjust her training to include running mile-long races in order to increase her options.
If we also participate in mile-long races, we could aim for three more GI races: the February Stakes, the JBC Ladies' Classic, and the Champions Cup. The number of GII races is still low at just one, the Tokai Stakes, but the number of GIII races increases by seven.
Including races below the major ones, the number of races Urara could participate in would increase by nearly three times. With that many options, we could be selective about which races to aim for, and even if we lost a lottery, we could participate in other races to earn prize money.
However, the difference between "won prize money" and "earned prize money" was tricky.
Urara had participated in her debut and three maiden races, and she had received prize money not only for finishing in the top five—5th place in her second race, 3rd place in her third race, and 1st place in her maiden race victory—but also special appearance money.
All of these are called won prize money, but the condition for being able to participate in a race is based on earned prize money, not won prize money.
While a 1st place finish in a debut race gets you 6 million yen, and a 1st place finish in a maiden race gets you 5.1 million yen in prize money, only 4 million yen is counted as earned prize money. Also, for prize money, the 1st place finisher gets 100%, 2nd place gets 40%, 3rd place gets 25%, 4th place gets 15%, and 5th place gets 10%. However, only 1st place finishes or a top-two finish in a GI race count as earned prize money.
So, to participate in a major race, we have to win a few open or pre-open races and earn prize money.
For example, Kiryuin-san's Happy Meek won her debut race, the pre-open Saffron Prize, and the Artemis Stakes in late October. This makes a total of three wins, and she's now qualified to participate in the GI race, the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, in early December. The Artemis Stakes is a GIII race, and normally, she wouldn't be able to participate, but since the only condition for entry was being a junior, Happy Meek was able to race and won by three body lengths.
As a side note, the prize money for 1st place in the Artemis Stakes is 29 million yen. The Saffron Prize is 10 million yen, and the debut race I just mentioned is 6 million yen. In other words, Happy Meek has won over 45 million yen in prize money from her three wins in three races.
If she wins the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, she'll get 65 million yen in prize money. Added to her previous winnings, that's a whopping 110 million yen.
The earned prize money changes depending on the class of the race, but even if Happy Meek doesn't win the Hanshin Juvenile Fillies, she's already earned enough prize money to participate in most major races. She's a true prodigy, as expected from an Uma Musume raised by a prestigious trainer.
However, she doesn't get all of that huge prize money herself. 70% of the prize money is distributed to Tracen Academy, 20% to the Uma Musume, and the remaining 10% to the trainer.
It might seem like a lot of money goes to Tracen Academy, but the academy has a lot of financial burdens, such as the Uma Musume's living and school expenses, maintenance fees for the academy and training facilities, costs for training supplies, and the salaries paid to trainers.
When you think about all that, I think 20% to the Uma Musume and 10% to the trainer is a pretty big share.
Happy Meek, who is in middle school, has already earned 9 million yen in prize money alone. Kiryuin-san has probably received 4.5 million yen, which is not an insignificant amount even though trainers at Tracen Academy are highly paid.
Thinking about that, it's no surprise that many trainers try to take on multiple Uma Musume. Money isn't everything in the world, but many things can be solved with money. It's not strange for a trainer to want to be in charge of as many Uma Musume as possible, race them as much as possible, and earn as much money as possible.
I'm one of those people, too. Since Urara won her maiden race, I got 10% of the prize money, 510,000 yen, as a bonus. Payday at Tracen Academy is the 25th, and since I was so happy about Urara's win, I completely forgot about the prize money. When I saw my pay stub, I was so surprised my legs almost gave out. When Urara got 5th in her second race, it was a few tens of thousands of yen, and when she got 3rd in her third race, it was a little over 100,000 yen. My pay stub suddenly jumped to more than double the amount, and I couldn't help but smile. I'm just that much of a money-hungry person to feel the result of Urara's hard work in the form of a bonus.
But then, the face of Trainer Tojo from Team Rigil came to mind, and I immediately sobered up. She's a monster who's constantly getting 1st place in major races with the Uma Musume in her team. I wonder how much of a bonus she's getting. I'm curious, but it's a scary thought.
As someone who just barely got Urara to win a maiden race, Trainer Tojo's monstrousness is on a whole other level. She's training over ten Uma Musume at the same time, and most of them are GI winners.
The fact that she's also in charge of the legendary 7-crown winner, Symboli Rudolf, is just insane. I'm sure there are better words to describe it, but it's so insane that my vocabulary just disappears. If I'm a slime as a trainer, Trainer Tojo is like a Demon Lord. I feel like I'd disappear with just one puff of her breath.
Putting aside Trainer Tojo's exceptional skills, most trainers do train multiple Uma Musume at the same time.
The only oddballs who only train one Uma Musume are me, who couldn't even get noticed by a single one, and Kiryuin-san, who seems to come from a rich, prestigious family.
Being in charge of only one Uma Musume means that I can pour all my love, time, and effort into her. I think this is an advantage that trainers who raise multiple Uma Musume don't have, but since a crazy person like Trainer Tojo exists, maybe I'm just making excuses for my failure. The Demon Lord is seriously insane.
(I hope at least one of the new students next year will agree to be scouted... I got my Uma Musume to win a maiden race, and Urara will get even stronger, so my reputation as a trainer is... wait, do I really need a new student? Isn't it fine to just have Urara?)
I thought about that as I was writing today's work report in the shared space for trainers.
This is my second life, but seeing Urara train and do her best, I honestly feel like I don't need money or fame that much. I'd be satisfied if I could just raise an Uma Musume like Urara and see her get 1st place in a race and dance in the center of the winning live performance. The winning live performance I saw in the maiden race the other day was worth feeling that way.
And if I get a bonus on top of that, that's even better. It's not a problem to have a lot of money, but it's often a problem to have too little.
The money I'm talking about here isn't for my own entertainment. I was honestly happy about the bonus this time. I was happy, but—
(I'll use half of it... no, seven-tenths of it for Urara's training...)
Sadly, as a rookie trainer without a team, the budget I'm allocated from Tracen Academy is small, and I have to pay out of my own pocket to give Urara satisfying training. So, I plan to set aside some of it as a training fund for any emergencies.
There's a lot of money involved in training an Uma Musume.
There are costs for their clothes, shoes, horseshoes, and food outside of the cafeteria. When there's a race, I need to pay for travel and accommodation, and if an Uma Musume gets injured, there are medical fees. It's too early to think about this, and it's not needed yet, but if Urara gets strong enough to participate in a GI race, I'll need to get her a custom-made racing outfit.
I have to cover these expenses from my allocated budget, sometimes by applying for them as expenses, and if that's not enough, I have to pay for them out of my own pocket. Most of the time, the costs are covered as expenses, but there are some limitations, such as only one pair of shoes per month, or not being able to get money for a training camp if the Uma Musume or trainer doesn't have a good track record.
Of course, paying out of my own pocket isn't mandatory. Some trainers cover all expenses within their allocated budget and don't spend any of their own money. I've heard a story about a senior trainer who spent almost two months' worth of salary to let the Uma Musume in his team eat and drink as much as they wanted, and it's a common joke among trainers.
However, trainers with families are more strict about money. They see training Uma Musume as just a job and prioritize their own lives, so they don't spend their own money on training Uma Musume.
I've heard that some married trainers still pay for their Uma Musume's training out of their own pockets, but some of them have been confronted by their wives about who they care about more, the Uma Musume or their family. Since Uma Musume are all beautiful, some families have even almost gotten into a knife fight because the wife suspected infidelity.
Because of these circumstances, there's also the aspect that some trainers give up on Uma Musume who don't show any promise early on, but that depends on the trainer's stance. In that regard, I'm single and only in charge of Urara. So I can pour all my money into Urara's training without anyone getting in the way. If she gets stronger because of it, the chances of her getting a rank in an open or major race and getting even more prize money will increase.
In other words, it's a win-win situation for both Urara and me. I buy her snacks, carrots, and make her carrot hamburger steaks when she asks me to, but that's also an investment in the future.
By the way, it's common for the money paid to Uma Musume who get a rank in a race to be saved for their future. No matter how strong an Uma Musume is, the time will come for them to retire, and sometimes they have to retire due to a sudden injury, whether they want to or not.
With money, they can choose what to do with their lives after retirement. So, it's also a trainer's job to put the money they earned into an account for the Uma Musume and not let them spend it. That's why it can't be helped that I give in to Urara's requests.
Making an excuse that I don't know who it's for, I finished writing today's work report on my computer.
For about a week after her maiden race victory the other day, I was giving Urara a light training menu. I still think Urara's run in the maiden race was wonderful, but I decided that since she ran better than usual, there might be some strain on her body somewhere.
I think Urara's body is more durable than other Uma Musume, but just because she's durable doesn't mean she can't get injured. Also, even though she's durable, she's smaller than other Uma Musume, so I had to be careful about her stamina.
It took me a week to confirm that there was nothing wrong with Urara's body. From there, I gradually increased the training load over a week, and I summarized in my work report that I had decided there were no issues.
In Urara's case, if we're going for short-distance races, there's the pre-open race, the Kantō-ba-shō, in early December or the open race, the January Stakes, in early January of next year. If we're going for mile-long races, I plan to focus on training this year, so we had time to confirm and adjust.
However, if we're going for mile-long races, strengthening her stamina is a must.
The longest distance Urara has ever run in a race is 1300 meters at the Tokyo Racecourse. If we're going for mile-long races, the minimum is 1600 meters, and in long races, it can be 1900 meters. The Fukushima race was 1150 meters, so if we're going to run 1900 meters in a mile-long race, the distance she's running will nearly double. You can't just double her stamina to solve that problem.
The longer the distance, the more the race unfolds differently. The position where she starts her final spurt will change, and the longer she runs, the more tactics she'll have to use against other Uma Musume.
Her body and mind will get tired, so strengthening her stamina is a must. And we'll also need to practice saving her legs so she doesn't use up too much of her stamina during the race. We'll need to increase the percentage of the training menu we've been doing in small amounts and also add new ones.
All of the opponents Urara will be fighting from now on have at least one victory in their debut or a maiden race. In some races, she might even face Uma Musume who have won two or three races or even a major race.
But Urara's record-breaking run in the maiden race the other day. I think if she can do that in a mile-long race, she can definitely compete.
(But all of her opponents from now on are Uma Musume who know the taste of victory... Not just the usual training, but Urara's mindset is also important...)
I think a mindset of "I'm going to win no matter what," "I'm going to be in the winning live performance again," and "I'm not going to lose to other Uma Musume" will be more important than ever.
"...Hmm?"
As I was about to send the work report I had created to the chairwoman, my email app showed that I had received a new email. The recipient was all of the trainers at Tracen Academy, so I opened the email, thinking it was some kind of announcement.
The sender was a senior trainer whose name I had heard before, but I couldn't immediately recall her face. She wasn't a part of a famous team, so she was the kind of senior who never came up in conversations with my colleagues.
To put the email in a nutshell, she was taking a leave of absence for personal reasons. The senior trainer was a woman, so maybe she had some kind of good news, like a pregnancy.
I thought that maybe in a few days, all the female trainers would start a collection to send her a gift, and I sent the work report. I started writing the report after Urara's training was over, so when I looked outside, the sun had already set, and it was pitch black.
I turned off my computer, said goodbye to the other trainers in the shared space, and left the room. When I first became a trainer, I would go to and from work in a proper suit, but now I was lazy and just wore a jersey.
"Oh... it gets pretty cold at night this time of year..."
I couldn't help but say that. The temperature goes up during the day, but it drops sharply when the sun goes down. If it's this cold in November, this winter might be pretty harsh.
I took out my smartphone and sent Urara an instant message telling her to take a long bath to warm up and to stay warm when she sleeps. I got a reply right away.
"Got it! I'll sleep with King-chan then! We'll be all toasty warm!"
"Who's King-chan... A king, but with '-chan' attached to it..."
I muttered, but I smiled wryly, guessing she was talking about King Halo, who was in the same dorm room as Urara and was her friend. It's a good thing they're close.
I put my smartphone in my pants pocket and started thinking about what I should have for dinner tonight. I just told Urara to be careful, so it would be a shame if I got sick. How about a single-serving hot pot that's nutritious and warms the body?
Maybe it was a mistake that I was thinking about that.
As soon as I turned a corner in the Tracen Academy building, I was late to realize that the sound of footsteps was getting closer at a very high speed.
From the way she was running, I instinctively knew it was an Uma Musume, but it was too close for me to avoid her, and she seemed to be running straight at me without noticing.
But my body, which was used to catching Urara's sudden charges, naturally lowered my hips and gracefully caught her.
"Gah!?"
Just kidding. I caught her, but I was knocked down by her momentum. Still, I was able to break my fall so I wouldn't hit my head, which was a result of my daily interactions with Urara. The ground was asphalt, so it hurt a lot even with the fall.
"Ouch... Hey! It was my fault for not noticing you sooner, but what are you going to do if you get hurt in a place like this!?"
I warned the Uma Musume who had run into me. It's a given to be careful about injuries during races and training, but I thought it would be too sad for an Uma Musume to get injured in her daily life and not be able to participate in a race.
The Uma Musume I caught was small, but not as small as Urara. She had a beautiful black hair that seemed to melt into the night, with a frizzy shape that bounced outward, and her black Uma ears were perked up. The color of her tail was also black and long.
She was wearing a uniform that proved she was a Tracen Academy student and a hat that was tilted to the side on her head. For some reason, there was a blue rose on the hat, and even though I wasn't knowledgeable about flowers, it was a beautiful rose.
The Uma Musume's eyes went wide at my words, and she probably realized that she had run into another trainer. Her already bad complexion turned even paler.
"Ah... I-I'm so-sorry... I-I guess Rice is a bad girl... She always causes trouble for everyone... Sniffle... Ugh..."
The Uma Musume was mumbling something to herself. I felt that something was off about her, but first, I got up and helped her to her feet.
"Honestly... Here, are you hurt? Are your legs okay?"
I checked the Uma Musume's legs, but I didn't see any bleeding. Since she could stand straight, she probably hadn't sprained anything.
After I decided that, I looked up and was surprised. The Uma Musume had bangs that covered her right eye, but her left eye, which I could see, was red and swollen from crying, and now, a new stream of tears was overflowing from it.
"Whoa!? Huh!? Why!? A-are you hurt somewhere!? Did you hit something!? L-let's go to the infirmary for now! Can you walk!?"
I don't know which Uma Musume she is, but I can't just leave a girl who's sobbing and crying like that. From her appearance, she's probably a middle school student like Urara. Even if she wasn't hurt, it's so dark outside that it would be better to take her to the front of the dorms.
I don't know what happened, but I thought I'd take her to the infirmary first, which is open late for Uma Musume who are doing late training.
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