"Eek!"
A groom's scream suddenly rang out from inside the stable. Clutching his shoulder, he staggered back out over the railing.
"Oh wow, Dyna bit you again? Hah." Iwamoto chuckled. He had just finished dealing with another horse under an owner's commission, and when he returned to the barn, he found his assistant scrambling miserably out of Dyna's stall.
Rubbing at the shoulder of his shirt, torn open yet again, the assistant laughed helplessly with a plastic feed bucket still in hand. "Honestly, this little filly won't let anyone touch her except Mr. Iwamoto, Mr. Takezono, and Mr. Wada."
All he had wanted was to take advantage of mealtime to brush out Dyna's mane. But the instant the currycomb touched her neck, the little mare whipped around and sank her teeth into him.
Never mind the ruined clothes. She had also sprayed hay from the feed trough all over him. The poor assistant looked ready to cry.
"Just handle her more often and she'll get used to you. Glittering Dyna is shy, and easily spooked. If all else fails, bring a few carrots and hand-feed them to her. She needs to grow some more anyway." Iwamoto patted the assistant on the shoulder, then slipped into the stall under the man's envious gaze. There, in the corner, Glittering Dyna was pawing irritably at the bedding with one hoof.
"Well now, good girl." Iwamoto came up behind her.
The assistant nearly fainted as Iwamoto casually reached out and smacked Dyna on the rump.
If literally anyone else had done that, Dyna would have launched them skyward with a double-barreled kick. Broken ribs at best, an ICU stay at worst.
But because it was Iwamoto, Dyna only snorted, then turned and rubbed herself against him, smearing the wood shavings and hay stuck to her nose all over his clothes.
"It's unbelievable... such a difficult filly, but only with outsiders. Mr. Takezono really does have the strangest luck." The assistant shook his head. After all, Dyna was Iwamoto's assigned horse. Other assistants could only sneak into her stall for chores when she happened to be in a good mood.
That was a lie, really. Even when Dyna wasn't in a good mood, they still had to do the chores. It was their job. Which was why the assistants had started using a shared public vest every time they entered her stall. By now, the shoulders on it had been patched more than ten times.
Inside the stall, Iwamoto gently patted Dyna's neck. From the end of her debut race until now, Takezono still hadn't arranged her next start, which surprised him. Back when it was Opera O, there had been a real sense of turning him into an iron horse and running him into the ground.
Maybe this time, Takezono thought Glittering Dyna had been badly rattled in her debut by the pairing of Iketoe Kenichi and Orfevre.
Dyna needed a good stretch of rest. The post-race veterinary check had found nothing wrong, but better to let her settle down and grow gradually through stable training.
And over these past two months, Dyna's development had been a pleasant surprise for Iwamoto. Normally, when a horse enters the barn, her weight drops and then fluctuates. But even while training, Dyna kept steadily putting weight on, which was excellent news.
When Glittering Dyna had first come into the barn, Iwamoto had thought she looked far too slight. Even against other fillies, that wouldn't have been an advantage. But when her mixed-field debut was finally set, her fighting spirit turned out to be remarkably good, which eased his worries a little.
Today was Glittering Dyna's turf solo workout—one strong push piece over the course. Soon an assistant would come saddle her up. As for how she'd get to the training center, that would have to wait until Wada Ryuji arrived.
Because besides Wada, Glittering Dyna absolutely refused to let anyone else ride her.
That gave Iwamoto a headache too.
It wasn't polite to think this way, but as someone working in racing, he had to be prepared for every possibility. If Wada were ever injured in a fall and Dyna needed a substitute rider, then what?
It couldn't possibly turn into a situation where they found one rider, got him bucked off, found another, got him bucked off too, right? If that happened, then while Wada was recovering, Dyna's racing schedule would be forced completely open.
"What a headache you are." Iwamoto rubbed Dyna's nose, and she gave a snort and turned her head away, refusing to humor the old man anymore.
"Heh, what a temper." Iwamoto didn't linger and left after teasing her enough.
When the assistant later went in to saddle Glittering Dyna, unexpectedly, she didn't bite at all. She just stood there quietly, not even lifting her head.
The assistant blinked in surprise and reached out to stroke the muscles of her cheek. She didn't react.
"Huh? Did she suddenly turn over a new leaf in the last half hour?" he muttered to himself.
Dyna heard him. Her ears pricked forward, and she lifted her head to give a little shake.
Forward ears meant she was in a very good mood. The assistant took hold of her lead rope, and without even needing to tug, Glittering Dyna followed him out of the stall. Her gait lacked that usual stubborn, contrary awkwardness.
"If only you were this obedient every day. We'd all rest easier." The assistant muttered under his breath while stroking her cheek again and again. Better to build goodwill while she was in a good mood. If he could just get to the point where she stopped biting him, that would already count as a great victory.
Thump!
Suddenly the assistant, walking in front, felt a force slam into his back and nearly stumbled. He looked over his shoulder to find Dyna tossing her head up and down. That had been a headbutt.
"I've got nothing left... sigh. What a little lady." Most two-year-old fillies were lively, unruly little girls. Usually they settled down once they turned three.
But in Glittering Dyna's case... the assistant reserved judgment.
For now, her composure only ever appeared around Iwamoto, Takezono, and Wada.
"Thanks for the handoff. She didn't bite you, right?"
"No, not while I was saddling her. She was surprisingly good. But then I muttered a couple things on the way over, and she nearly bowled me over with a headbutt. This little girl has one hell of a temper."
The assistant handed off the lead rope to the staff assigned to the workout, then immediately dodged another headbutt from Dyna.
"See? She understands what we're saying."
"Well, of course she can tell when you're talking smack about her. Hahaha."
After the handoff, the other assistant led Dyna to the entrance of the training track. Wada had been delayed by traffic that morning, and combined with the time it took him to change, by the time they entered the training area, they were already a little later than the others.
"Sorry I'm late." Holding a whip in one hand, Wada jogged up, apologized, then planted a foot in the stirrup and swung himself onto her back in one motion.
As soon as Dyna felt the familiar weight settle onto her, her ears gave a twitch.
The burden felt a little heavier. She thought it was probably just her imagination, but Wada really did seem heavier.
"Thanks. We're counting on you, Mr. Wada." The assistant led Dyna to the turf training entrance, and from there it would be Wada alone handling the workout.
"You all too." Wada patted Dyna's neck and asked her forward, but she only ambled along the turf at a leisurely walk.
She was moving, technically, but only just. It looked more like a stroll.
Wada let out a helpless laugh from the saddle. That issue left over from her debut still hadn't been solved. So he lightly tapped Dyna on the shoulder with the whip.
It was a shoulder tap.
In overseas racing, that kind of strike generally didn't count toward the official whip tally, but it was still enough to remind a horse she ought to be entering her final drive. In foreign jurisdictions, whip use was regulated very strictly. Some places capped it at five strikes total, and even limited where on the course they could be used. For instance, before the final 200 meters, riders might be prohibited from striking the horse.
That said, all of those rules referred to actual strikes on the hindquarters. Shoulder taps and waving the whip near the horse's eye were treated differently.
Normally, after the shoulder tap, the rider would start flicking the whip near the horse's eye to keep her competitive instincts boiling. But that was for races. In training, all Wada needed to do was let the rather dull-minded Dyna know that now was the time to start running.
"Dyna, Dyna, let's go. Run."
Maybe the shoulder tap really did work. From walking, she shifted into a trot, and Wada began flipping on the devices attached to his helmet before settling properly into a riding posture.
Up in the observation stand, Iwamoto tracked them through a pair of binoculars. Once they hit the 600-meter marker, he started timing them, and when he saw that Glittering Dyna's response to Wada's acceleration cue had clearly improved, both he and the assistant felt a surge of satisfaction.
As long as all the work they were putting in translated into visible progress, that alone was enough to make them happy.
On Dyna's back, Wada only struck her hindquarters twice, then spent the rest of the run pressing forward on her neck.
The assistant beside Iwamoto noticed it too. "Mr. Iwamoto, looks like Wada is being really conservative with the whip?"
Because normally, in this kind of final three-furlong work, you'd use all five strikes if necessary. But Wada had only used two.
"Every horse is different. Looks like Dyna's unusual point is her neck. Some horses are extremely sensitive to the whip, others are dull to it." As a veteran horseman, Iwamoto could tell from Wada's actions exactly what was special about Dyna. A sensitive neck was good. It meant she responded sharply to rider communication, because in the race, that was where most of the dialogue happened.
"Looks like there's still more potential in Glittering Dyna than we've managed to uncover. We'll need races to bring it out of her." Iwamoto had come to think that Dyna wasn't the kind of racehorse who would make her name through training alone. Her learning ability was exceptional. From stride mechanics to pace, she could absorb training quickly and fix it firmly into memory. He'd only managed to catch up to Takezono's demand that she face Orfevre in her debut because of how fast Dyna learned.
"But Mr. Takezono still hasn't decided her next race, right? Should we make the call for him?"
"No, let Takezono decide. But I'll bring it up with him. If he insists on taking on the colts in the Classics, then he'll have to go down roads other people don't have the nerve to choose." That was how Iwamoto saw it. Over the years, only Vodka had won the Japanese Derby as a filly in mixed company. If Glittering Dyna intended to beat the colts in the Satsuki Sho too, then they'd have to take a sharp, unconventional path.
Why had Takezono suddenly lost the courage he used to have when laying out Opera O's campaign? Watching Glittering Dyna flash past with that hard edge in her eyes, Iwamoto genuinely didn't understand.
"Glittering Dyna looked really good today. Her response to the ride was a lot quicker—I barely had to push her before she understood to hold top speed." After dismounting, Wada kept patting Dyna's neck. The hard six-furlong solo work had left traces of foam at the corners of her mouth, and she tossed her head.
"This time, if she meets Orfevre again, I can fully trust that she'll beat him clean. Nothing like the debut will happen again."
Iwamoto was very pleased with the work too. After instructing the assistants to take Dyna through her cooldown routine, he left alongside Wada.
Of course, this was Ritto Training Center.
And one of the horses training here happened to be called...
Orfevre.
Glittering Dyna and Orfevre finished their training at almost the exact same time and were led by their respective handlers to the wash area.
Since in past years there'd never been problems with two-year-old colts and fillies getting bathed in neighboring facilities, the two-year-old area was all shared.
But Glittering Dyna and Orfevre, these two sworn enemies, were a little different.
Orfevre had just had a bucket of cold water dumped over him when he suddenly caught a scent from next door—a scent that felt intensely familiar.
He'd smelled it months ago.
A filly.
And not just any filly. The very same filly who had once been pressed close, with that especially distinctive scent.
On Dyna's side, the assistant had only just fastened her bit when they heard a wildly excited neigh from the next stall over, accompanied by violent hoof-scraping and the sound of chains yanking tight.
"Hey, hey, what's going on over there?" Dyna had clearly been startled. She hadn't started thrashing yet, but the sound of her snorting had grown much louder.
"Sorry! He just suddenly got worked up! Really sorry!" Orfevre's handler hurriedly apologized. After giving Orfevre a rushed bath, he quickly dragged him away. But Orfevre fought the lead rope the whole way, and the situation below his belly wasn't exactly subtle either. It looked like he was dragging a stick around.
Both assistants saw the horse on the other side.
And immediately understood what had just happened.
"That idiot Orfevre really has rocks for brains." Dyna's assistant dumped another bucket of water over her, patting her neck. "You absolutely have to beat him on the track. If he keeps losing to you, then maybe you won't have to keep seeing this horny idiot who only thinks about mating with you."
Dyna: >皿<
She hadn't understood a word he'd said, but she definitely still hated that annoying chestnut horse from just now. Especially that smell of his. Absolutely disgusting.
Compared to that, even the scent of the two-legged creature beside her was far more pleasing.
So she nudged the assistant gently with her nose, quietly finished her bath, and then went back to her stall to enjoy her meal in peace.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 139)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter171)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter100)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter184)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 168
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 156
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 105
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 185
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 160
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 150
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 76
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 97
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 66
Uma Musume: From Beginner 116
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 75
Uma Musume: I Want All 93
I Can Copy Unique Skills 79
Summoning an Evil God, but the 55
Supernatural Multiverse 75
My Harem Is Indescribable 68
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 70
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 66
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 69
Still playing traditional Honk 49
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 53
What Should I Do After Switchi 42
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 50
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 38
Transmigrated as Sukuna 35
Checking In in Demon Slayer 40
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 55
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