By the time the pack made it through the corner, Seiun Sky had already opened up a ten-length lead. None of them had the guts to accelerate through the corner as Air Groove had done in Silence Suzuka's race. They played it safe, and now they were paying for it.
And the gap just kept growing. The question burning in everyone's mind was simple: do we chase or not?
"Move aside, everyone move aside." An orange-haired Uma Musume broke through the pack first. She was calm, unnaturally calm, and that clarity let her read the race for what it really was.
Seiun Sky's great escape still had juice left even this late. Not chasing wasn't an option.
Number 14, Murotamura Isshin, pushed through and started chasing Seiun Sky with everything she had.
One uma musume setting the pace was all it took. The rest started picking up speed, too.
"One thousand meters! The race hits the thousand-meter mark! Seiun Sky's time for the first thousand meters is 59.1 seconds!"
For a mid-to-long distance race, that speed was insane. Only a front-runner going all out could hit times like that.
After passing the corner, Sakura Eiko O started adjusting her mindset and her stride. She still hadn't given up on chasing Seiun Sky. If anything, having Seiun Sky out front only made her competitive fire burn hotter.
"Woooh!! Sakura Eiko O passes Murotamura Isshin again! Two of them neck to neck! Seiun Sky's dominating with a ten-length lead! Can anyone catch up to this?"
When Seiun Sky passed through the corner and hit the uphill section, she'd already activated Corner Recovery. Even so, her condition wasn't great. The great escape had eaten through most of her stamina. Sweat beaded on her forehead, her breathing was heavier, but her eyes stayed sharp and focused.
She glanced back, calmly adjusting her pace.
Her hometown of Nishiyama had never produced a single Grade race winner. Even Grade race winners were rare there. Nishino Flower was still in elementary school back in Nishiyama and hadn't come to Tracen Academy yet.
For the GI Tenno Sho Spring, Seiun Sky was dead serious. And she sure as hell wasn't handing over victory in this Osaka Hai G2 either.
"That was a bit of a miscalculation," Seiun Sky muttered under her breath. "Should've listened to Trainer..."
Seiun Sky knew this great escape was a gamble, too much of one. But she couldn't change course now. She was committed.
"Then let this great escape come even more fiercely!"
She gritted her teeth and raised her speed again.
The uma musume behind saw her condition, and their first thought was immediate: She's exhausted!
Then reality kicked in. Wait, we can't fall for this!
Seiun Sky had pulled this trick twice already. She'd act exhausted to make them drop their guard, then explode forward the moment they got close enough to taste victory.
This trick didn't work anymore. The more exhausted Seiun Sky looked, the more careful they'd be.
"Does she think we're idiots?" one of them muttered. "Using the same move three times? Trying to bait us into burning out early?"
Not only did they refuse to chase harder, but they actually slowed down to conserve stamina. Only a handful of Uma Musume believed the current Seiun Sky could actually be caught easily.
If they burned their stamina chasing her now, they'd have nothing left for the final sprint. Then their defeat would be guaranteed. At least, that's what they told themselves.
"Not chasing anymore?"
Seiun Sky found it strange. Why did the Uma Musume behind give up after chasing for just a bit?
Seiun Sky was actually tired. Like, genuinely exhausted. If someone pushed her now, she really didn't have the strength to keep accelerating. That would've been serious trouble.
But if no one was chasing... she could use Straight Recovery to slowly get her stamina back.
She didn't know what was going on in their heads, but since no one was pursuing, she simply eased her rhythm a bit. If they weren't going to chase, her stamina would recover completely.
As her stamina slowly climbed back up, her confidence returned with it.
"Grade 2 uma musume? That's it?"
A smile tugged at her lips. "Too bad... You missed your chance to catch me!"
The uma musume behind each had their own strategies running through their heads. Let Seiun Sky escape for now. After the corner, that's when the real showdown would begin.
Whether Seiun Sky was faking or not didn't matter. They weren't planning to accelerate in the corner anyway. They'd wait until the final phase to decide everything.
Honestly, it was solid thinking. The kind of mental fortitude Uma Musume should have. Not panicking when facing a front-runner was the right call.
So what if she opened up a massive gap at the start? In the end, it all came down to who had the most stamina left.
Even in a two-thousand-meter race, stamina management was everything.
"It's time to enter the final corner! Still in the lead is Seiun Sky! Her condition looks really poor right now, but except for Sakura Eiko O and Murotamura Isshin, not a single Uma Musume is choosing to chase her!"
"Have they given up on the race?"
Even the announcer could see it. If just one Uma Musume sped up slightly, they could end Seiun Sky's winning streak right here. So why wasn't anyone chasing?
The weird part was that the worse Seiun Sky looked, the less the pack pursued. They all had these "you can't fool me" expressions plastered on their faces.
"It must be the influence of her previous two races!" the commentator chimed in. "They're wary of Seiun Sky's tactics from those matches! She disrupted their rhythm before!"
That one comment made everything click for the entire audience. They finally understood what was happening in this race.
"Was this your idea?" Maruzensky asked with clear interest in her voice. "You even thought of this situation?"
Seiun Sky had earned a reputation as a tactical uma musume in her previous races, and now it was working in her favor because no one dared to chase.
No, it wasn't. Definitely not my plan. Don't make random assumptions... Hayato steadied his breathing and smiled. "Yeah, I didn't expect it would actually come in handy."
"Seiun Sky is the first to pass through the corner! All the Uma Musume have built up their momentum! Who will be the first to break through into the corner?!"
Seiun Sky safely cleared the corner and felt genuine surprise wash over her. At this point, she laid all her cards on the table and officially launched her charge.
"Seiun Sky is the first to launch her sprint!"
The uma musume behind her all wore expressions that screamed, "Just as I thought." Good thing they didn't accelerate early and waste their stamina.
"Sakura Eiko O passes Murotamura Isshin, she's taking second place! Murotamura Isshin doesn't seem to have any power in the final corner! She's being passed by other uma musume one by one!"
Just when everyone thought things were going exactly as expected, the distance between Seiun Sky and the pack visibly lengthened again.
"What?!"
Angling and Scheming activated!
With those skills firing, there was no way Seiun Sky's speed could lose to theirs.
"Seiun Sky is displaying unmatched speed! Six lengths! Seven lengths! She's opened up an eight-length gap!"
Seiun Sky was completely dominated with almost the same explosive acceleration as her previous two bursts.
After that acceleration finished, she activated Moxie, preparing to tackle the slope ahead.
The uma musume behind chased with everything they had left, but closing a ten-length gap wasn't that simple. Their desperate pursuit came too late. They barely covered any ground.
"The final two hundred meters! Seiun Sky is beginning to climb the slope! She still maintains an eight-length distance from the pack! Can she hold on to the end?"