The entertainment race has also come to an end. There's nothing particularly busy to do next, if I had to say... it's probably preparing for the Tenno Sho.
Shiro Hito and Heavy Gun have also recovered their bodies. Through their conversations, I learned that they will participate in the Tenno Sho and Arima Kinen next.
And this year's Japan Cup, she can still only rely on Ling-sama.
Although it's frustrating, right now, Ling-sama is the only one who can truly compete in the Japan Cup. The others are somewhat unable to bear such a heavy responsibility.
The competitive environment for those Uma Musume abroad is much harsher than it is here. There are almost no perfect turf tracks there, and track conditions often drop to heavy ground. At the same time, the running distances there are far, far greater than here.
The longest distance of 3200m domestically is considered child's play there. While Uma Musume here strive to run 3200m from 3000m, common long-distance races there are usually around four to five thousand meters.
And if they frequently run on such tracks, without a doubt, if nothing else, their stamina would absolutely be top-tier domestically, of course, referring to those junior-level Uma Musume.
Under these circumstances, the excellent turf tracks and the 2400m Japan Cup course are like heaven to them. They can generally perform at their absolute best. Therefore, the Japan Cup champion is often won by foreign Uma Musume, until the arrival of the Emperor and Representative Chiaki's generation. But after their retirement, it returned to the original state. At this time, Ling-sama debuted, competing against those foreign adult Uma Musume in her classic year and winning in one fell swoop, which is also one of the reasons for her absurdly high popularity now.
As of now this year, she has already won 15 G1 championships. Such an impressive record inspires admiration, and naturally, some want to challenge her, especially those foreign Uma Musume who can hardly run with her. Moreover, this year is her last year of the classic three years, so it might be the strongest Japan Cup ever participated in by foreign Uma Musume.
Recently, it's unclear where the rumor came from, but there's talk that Secretariat, who retired many years ago, also has the idea of participating in this Japan Cup. The problem is, she's pregnant right now, so it's unclear who was so blind to spread such a rumor.
However, Ling-sama actually hoped it was true, but unfortunately, she couldn't participate due to her physical condition. She could only wait until she went abroad in the future to see if she could challenge her, even if it was privately. This was an opponent she had to face no matter what.
After all, she still needed a bit of growth. To challenge the Three Goddesses, she had to be fully prepared.
Uma Musume, like humans, will see their competitive state decline if they don't run for a long time. But even the Emperor takes time to privately hold competitions within the Student Council, not to mention Secretariat.
Uma Musume love to run by nature, especially those who have won glory in competitions. Unless it's an incurable serious injury, they will continue to run even after retirement. It is precisely because of this that both domestically and internationally, there are races like the Arima Kinen and the Dream Cup that allow "retired" Uma Musume to participate.
However, those are all matters for the future. For now, the focus is on preparing for the Tenno Sho.
The Autumn Tenno Sho is a middle-distance race of 2000m on turf, left-handed, held at Tokyo Racecourse.
The terrain of Tokyo Racecourse has many slopes, which is also a good place for Ling-sama to perform. The race starts with a relatively long downhill, then faces a steep uphill again between the second and third turns, followed by a downhill, and after a relatively gentle uphill, faces another steep uphill on the final straight after the fourth turn.
However, there is an urban legend here, which is the third turn.
At the third turn, a large zelkova tree obstructs the audience's view, but for various reasons, it has never been cut down. This large zelkova tree, which obscures the third turn, prevents the audience from seeing what is happening, and often causes Uma Musume coming out of the third turn to fall or suffer fractures, thus earning it the name "Demonic Third Turn."
However, it's not actually that spooky. Firstly, intense competition begins at the third turn, and coupled with the fact that the third turn is a bend + steep downhill, accidents occurring in such a place are to be expected. In reality, there are many racecourses with higher accident rates than this third turn; it's just that the races at Tokyo Racecourse are more high-profile and attract more spectators, making it seem so terrifying.
However, according to the Three Goddesses, her jockey in her previous life, not long before meeting her, had lost his best friend, Silent Suzuka, at this very third turn.
Coupled with the subtle connection between Uma Musume and their prototypes, Ling-sama has recently adjusted Suzuka's training quite a bit, and bone strengthening has also been consistently maintained.
She has run at Tokyo Racecourse many times, from the NHK Mile Cup and Japanese Derby to the Yasuda Kinen and Japan Cup, and... [Veteran, Undefeated (Green): Possessing this skill means having the highest level of adaptability to all tracks. No matter what track it is, one can perform far beyond their usual strength.]
Her skill, which comes from her prototype, coupled with the memories of that time that indeed exist in her mind, gives her an unparalleled understanding of any racecourse.
To use the Three Goddesses' words, if this skill were to be acquired with PT, it would probably cost around 500, which is ridiculously expensive.
Other things to do include preparing for the Trainer's assessment to handle team divisions next year, as well as Special Week's increased training.
Since Special Week spent a day doing the 'Five-Three' during the training camp... emmmm... at least when going to visit A-Hua at Rigil next door, she often heard Grass Wonder lecturing El Condor Pasa, "Little Special can even do her homework by herself recently, why do you still need to copy mine?" such words.
As expected of the 'Five-Three' from China, it can be trusted in any timeline!
Anyway, Special Week's academics are not a concern for the short term, and thus, her training focus is more on speed training and tactical planning.
Her stamina and power are already high enough, but her speed still needs improvement.
After all, raising the upper limit will also make acceleration faster. Currently, Special Week's Late Charge speed is forcibly stacked by her own strength, and this cannot continue indefinitely.
Suzuka is also continuously doing slope training, but unfortunately, Ling-sama's own training methods cannot be used by Suzuka, or perhaps not many people could endure them?
Moreover, she can only train like this because of the system's healing and her inexplicably growing recovery ability; neither can be lacking.
"Z-chan, how exactly did you train back then...?" Slope training consumes a lot of stamina. At this moment, Suzuka was panting, resting with her hands on her thighs.
"Well... you don't need to rush. This kind of training doesn't show results in just a day or two. Rather, you've been a bit too eager for quick results lately."
Too impetuous? Perhaps.
Regarding Special Week, Suzuka wasn't sure what her feelings were.
A junior to look after? A teammate and roommate?
But at this moment, seeing the other party grow rapidly, while feeling relieved, she also felt a hint of unease, just like when she was arranged to run as a Chaser at Rigil and watched her opponents ahead get further and further away.
Everyone in the team, except for Gold Ship whose depth was unfathomable, seemed to be making steady progress. Only she seemed to be treading water.
Seeing Suzuka's slightly dejected expression, Ling-sama roughly understood her thoughts. It seemed it was time for her, the psychological doctor, to step in, wasn't it?
Uma Musume, stepping in... Pfft.
I'll find an opportunity to tell the Emperor, she'll probably like it.
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