Technically speaking, placing fourth in the Satsuki Sho would still qualify her for the Derby.
But if that happened, Hayato wouldn't just lose mission rewards, he'd be raising a "support character King Halo" instead of a champion.
That was the absolute last thing he wanted to see.
Improving her stats wasn't a huge problem. Distance aptitude was the real nightmare. The longer the distance, the more those aptitude differences showed.
If King Halo didn't raise her long-distance aptitude to B before the Kikka Sho, she'd have zero chance of winning. Even with B rank, claiming first place wouldn't be simple.
Hayato's plan was to somehow help King Halo acquire one or two red interference skills before the Kikka Sho. Only then could they be truly confident about pulling this off.
"Trainer, just tell me straight." King Halo leaned forward, elbows on the table. "What should I do next?"
King Halo paused, then added with more intensity, "What do I need to do to claim the Triple Crown?"
Hayato met her gaze head-on. "Increase the training load and add targeted exercises."
"Pfft." King Halo actually laughed out loud. "And here I thought Trainer was going to tell me something serious. I've been thinking your training regimen had issues from the start. How could training be this easy? We get way too much rest time."
Training for an hour and a half followed by thirty minutes of rest was practically a vacation. How could such a comfortable training method even exist?
Other Uma Musume trained almost the entire day without breaks like this.
Hayato looked directly into her amber eyes. "No regrets?"
"What's there to hesitate about?" King Halo's confidence was absolute. "Whatever training you throw at me, bring it on. Who do you think I am? I'm King Halo, a first-class Uma Musume."
Since King Halo had put it like that, Hayato had nothing to hold back either. He pulled out the training schedule and started marking it up.
As their wisdom increased, training efficiency also improved, so the content naturally needed periodic adjustments.
The changes he made looked like he was reducing training quantity while compressing rest time even further.
One hour of training per activity, followed by 15 minutes of rest. Lunch break compressed to one hour. Dinner in the evening, same deal, one hour.
All the extra training time would go toward stamina work, with targeted adjustments based on results.
After six in the evening, they'd keep practicing and developing new skills until they were too tired to continue. Only then could they finally bathe and sleep.
Even so, King Halo waved dismissively. "Trainer, can you just remove the rest time? We Uma Musume don't need rest at all."
Hayato shook his head firmly. Did she think she was some kind of monster like Oguri Cap? How could anyone complete training without proper recovery?
"Rest is also part of training. This isn't a joke." His tone went serious. "Please take my proposed training plan seriously, and don't do extra training during the process. That could lead to overtraining and completely wreck your progress."
Hearing that it might actually backfire, King Halo's tone softened immediately. "Fine, let's do it that way then. I have no objections."
"Trainer, I don't have to follow this training schedule, too, do I?" Seiun Sky looked at the paper with a frown. Her sleep time was getting cut again.
"Up to you." Hayato's voice was completely neutral. "If you're not motivated, I won't force you. After all, you're the one racing, not me."
"Well, in that case..."
"Oh my, Seiun, are you scared?" King Halo's mockery came at exactly the right moment. "Let me tell you, I'm going to train seriously. When we meet on the racetrack, you'd better not start crying."
"Who's scared? Bring it on! I'm not afraid of you!" Seiun Sky fired back without missing a beat.
It was just sacrificing a bit of rest time. She could totally handle that much.
Under Hayato's training, she could feel her abilities clearly improving anyway.
Winning a race by twelve lengths? In the past, that was something she wouldn't have even dared to dream about. She'd actually looked it up. In history, the only one who'd achieved this kind of result was someone named Maruzensky.
Since Maruzensky had debuted before foreign Uma Musume could participate in classic races, she'd crushed the competition multiple times with results like these.
She held the title of "Super Car."
Pretty cool title, honestly.
"Then I'll also—"
"Suzuka, you don't need to force yourself." Hayato interrupted gently. "I have an easier plan for you."
The easier plan meant Silence Suzuka only needed to dedicate one day per week to developing skills.
"Ehhh~~" Both Seiun Sky and King Halo let out simultaneous, exaggerated protests. "Trainer's playing favorites! Total favoritism!"
Suzuka looked flustered, waving her hands. "N-no, I can do the same training—"
"See? Even Suzuka wants to work hard!" Seiun Sky pointed accusingly at Hayato.
Hayato rolled his eyes mockingly, "Stop fooling around, she's just about to make her debut!"
After everyone had their laugh, training officially kicked off.
Since they'd just switched to the new training, Hayato kept constant watch on everyone's condition. The last thing he needed was someone pushing too hard and getting injured.
After one day, the training schedule got modified again. Training time became one hour and twelve minutes. Rest time shifted to eighteen minutes.
Wisdom training moved to midday chess, reading, riddles, educational games, that kind of stuff. This way, it wouldn't be too exhausting while still getting optimal training effects.
The new training schedule looked like this:
Morning:
Fast-paced running: treadmill set to 40 km/h, or 45 km laps at the training grounds. Swimming: freestyle, butterfly stroke, breaststroke, rotated daily.
Midday:
Learning: chess, reading, riddles, educational programs, and interchangeable Hill training.
Afternoon Block:
Tire dragging runs, sand runs, weighted runs, Swimming (second session)
Evening:
Developing new skills, currently focusing on hill training
Besides training time, everything else was for rest or meals. Rest was part of the training too, Hayato had to keep reminding them of that.
In reality, dedicating one or two full days to skill development would be way more effective, but that approach was a gamble.
If several days are wasted without developing the skill, the lost time would be too costly. So he could only use this slower but steadier method.
Hayato wrote up a registration form for the Spring Stakes and submitted it.
"King Halo, I'm throwing away my conscience for you, so you better win against them when four of you meet."
Having King Halo face the BNW trio right now carries a high probability of losing. He had to dodge that matchup for the moment.
King Halo needed a big victory to build momentum, not a defeat that'd shake her confidence.
The higher the winning probability, the better. On the path to the Triple Crown, momentum was everything.
"Hmm..." Hayato bit his pen, thinking hard. Right now, everyone thinks all my Uma Musume are front-runners...
Hayato could definitely work with that perception.
Until the Uma Musume were fully developed, meaning until their wisdom hit 200, he planned to stick with front-runner tactics.
Only by front-runner style could they have the best chance of winning right now with their stats.
The Spring Stakes was GII level. Not too many Uma Musume would participate. Usually, even unqualified substitutes could enter, though that wasn't guaranteed.
"Just to be safe, let's add one more race for King Halo." Hayato tapped the pen against his notebook, calculating the schedule.
Build momentum and avoid the experienced monsters. Get her ready for the real fights within another race.
That was the plan.
Simple, but effective.