Many Umamusumes on the track stopped upon seeing the race in progress.
They quickly made way, their eyes fixed intently on the hooded figure leading the way.
"What kind of speed is that?! Is she running a middle distance at the speed of a short distance?!"
"She's insane!"
Experienced Umamusumes can judge the race distance simply by the starting position.
Because no matter where she starts, the finish line is the same.
But Sakura Baimu's starting position was clearly on the 2400-meter middle-distance track.
However, her sprint speed was as exaggerated as if she were running a short distance.
Sakura Baimu's initial speed was so high that she deliberately chose to take corners on the outside of the track.
While this increased the distance slightly, it avoided the centripetal force of cornering on the inside, allowing her to corner at a near-straight-line speed.
Soon, Sakura Baimu had completed the first and second corners and entered a long straight.
Although Golden Crown Eagle considered Sakura Baimu's running style reckless and impulsive, she couldn't afford to fall too far behind Sakura Baimu in the early stages, so she increased her own speed considerably.
Beep
Symboli Rudolf pressed the timer button on her phone, her eyes filled with shock.
"55.1 seconds?! Is Ogura insane?! Even Silent Suzuka hasn't run this fast in the 1000-meter race!!"
Previously, Silent Suzuka's record for the 1000-meter race at the Autumn Tenno Sho, using a runaway style, was 57.4 seconds.
Sakura Baimu, however, had drastically improved that time by more than 2 seconds.
This speed didn't impress Symboli Rudolf at all; instead, it made her increasingly worried.
After all, only the first to cross the finish line is the winner.
What's the use of running fast at the beginning?
"How long can she maintain this speed? Maybe she won't even make it to the third turn?" Obey Your Master was equally surprised by Sakura Baimu's speed.
However, she wasn't too concerned. What difference did it make how fast she ran at the beginning?
Golden Crown Eagle had already fallen far behind Sakura Baimu.
Although she had been waiting for her moment to unleash her power, the huge gap Sakura Baimu had built up early on was undeniably humiliating.
After all, this kind of situation usually only occurred in matches where the skill difference between the two was significant.
Golden Crown Eagle felt that continuing like this wasn't a sustainable strategy. Sakura Baimu's speed was simply too outrageous, and she didn't think it would be a good thing if Sakura Baimu continued to be so arrogant.
So, Golden Crown Eagle steeled herself and suddenly accelerated after finally reaching the 1000-meter mark.
The acceleration was so rapid that it still created a white mist around her.
She finally began to gradually close the gap with Sakura Baimu.
The pace of this race was incredibly fast; Sakura Baimu reached the steep slope in the blink of an eye.
Then, she changed her stride, maintaining her speed as she climbed the slope.
Golden Crown Eagle's eyes narrowed sharply upon seeing this.
She'd seen that posture that afternoon!
"How can she maintain that speed for so long without slowing down?! We're already on the steep hill; how can she still run so fast?!"
At this moment, not only Golden Crown Eagle, but also Obey Your Master and Symboli Rudolf, among others, gradually realized something was wrong.
Sakura Baimu's opening speed was incredibly high.
The race was already halfway through, and they'd already encountered that notoriously difficult steep hill. Sakura Baimu's runaway speed at the start was simply impossible and shouldn't have been able to be maintained.
Many people stared blankly at Sakura Baimu as she entered the third turn, their minds unable to comprehend what was happening before them.
How fast was Ogura? Words alone might not be enough to grasp it.
Mejiro McQueen and Mihono Bourbon broke the spring Tenno Sho record with a speed of 58.8 km/h.
Ogura reached a speed of 65.3 km/h when crossing the 1000 Meter mark.
Sakura Baimu maintained this speed until the middle of the course, even traversing a steep climb twice the gradient of the Kyoto Racecourse at Tenno Sho in the spring.
Such speed cannot be simply described as fast.
It was truly breathtaking.
Obey Your Master was startled and stood up upon seeing Sakura Baimu maintain her pace uphill.
"Who is this? Why don't I recognize her at all?! How could I not have a record of an Umamusume who can run at this speed?!"
Obey Your Master was momentarily confused.
Meanwhile, Symboli Rudolf and Maruzensky, watching from another vantage point, also had astonishment in their eyes.
"The 'heart killer' of Tokyo racetracks—maintaining speed inevitably puts even more pressure on the heart."
"But she's already run over 1700 meters at this speed; how can she maintain it?"
Symboli Rudolf no longer bothered to check her phone's timer.
She had initially thought Ogura was just an Umamusume with exceptional raw power and momentum.
But at this moment, she realized she had underestimated Ogura.
"Rudolf… do you think it's possible…"
Maruzensky's blue eyes showed obvious hesitation, and her speech even became somewhat slurred.
Seeing this, an extremely absurd idea suddenly sprouted in her mind.
"No… this is impossible, right? This kind of thing has never happened before!"
Symboli Rudolf categorically denied it, but her tone didn't seem entirely firm.
What she and Maruzensky were speculating about was a situation they hadn't even considered in their initial discussion—
Could an Umamusume without a Zone defeat an Umamusume who had mastered a higher-level Zone?
While it was rare for an ordinary Umamusume to defeat a Zone Umamusume, such occurrences had been happening intermittently since four years ago.
They were still surprised each time it happened, but it wasn't entirely incomprehensible.
However…
The strength of Golden Crown Eagle's Zone was completely different from that of other Zone Umamusumes.
This was a Zone on a completely different level.
Let alone Umamusumes without Zones, even those like Mihono Bourbon who have broken through Zones are no match for her.
Now, after witnessing Sakura Baimu's speed, their unwavering resolve has finally begun to waver.
Perhaps, tonight, they will witness history.