The following day, Sakura Baimu searched online for information about "Golden Crown Eagle" and found some information about this Umamusume in the United States.
"She achieved a winning streak in G2 matches in the US and also has a G1 championship record..."
Looking at the information she found about Golden Crown Eagle, Sakura Baimu indeed discovered that this Umamusume was quite strong.
Compared to the American Umamusume who won the Japan Cup last time, Obey Your Master's record was much better.
"So she's really going to participate in this year's Japan Cup? McQueen is also participating this year, and she'll be facing her..."
Sakura Baimu muttered to herself, suddenly feeling a bit uneasy.
Based on Golden Crown Eagle's numerous mistakes and underestimation of her opponent last night, while her performance was among the top active duty Umamusumes in Japan, she certainly wouldn't be able to reach the very top.
If Golden Crown Eagle's strength was only what it was last night, Sakura Baimu wouldn't need to worry about Mejiro McQueen.
Mejiro McQueen could easily win using sheer raw power.
But the key was—
Golden Crown Eagle must have held back last night.
Sakura Baimu didn't know Golden Crown Eagle's true strength.
"Assuming this Golden Crown Eagle is the Umamusume who taught Rice Shower advanced Zone knowledge, then her strength would rank her first among active duty Umamusumes in Japan."
If it was just the level of Rice Shower from last spring's Tenno Sho or Mihono Bourbon from this spring's Tenno Sho, Mejiro McQueen and Tokai Teio wouldn't have much difficulty defeating her.
But if it was a higher level of Zone, then it was a completely different story.
"Even with her physical limitations, Rice Shower was able to easily defeat McQueen and Teio using her Zone... So if an Umamusume who has fully mastered a higher level of Zone were to compete, McQueen and Teio would definitely have no chance of winning..."
Last night, Golden Crown Eagle's deliberate act of letting herself be overtaken before unleashing her Zone was clearly an attempt to intentionally injure herself.
Sakura Baimu had no objection to this.
The problem was that Akikawa Yayoi had told her that Umamusumes from Pluto Academy had a terrible reputation internationally.
Take Obey Your Master, for example. This was the Umamusume who dared to drive diagonally on the final straight during the Japan Cup competition against Tamamo Cross and Oguri Cap.
This should have been a foul, but Obey Your Master not only escaped punishment but also won the Japan Cup.
Sakura Baimu looked at the live stream of that Japan Cup match between Tamamo Cross, Oguri Cap, and Obey Your Master on her computer.
Suddenly, she became inexplicably angry.
"Pah! Why was I disqualified and banned for diagonal movement? The American Umamusume got away scot-free!"
The rule regarding diagonal movement was added by URA after Sakura Baimu's ban.
So it is fair to say that Obey Your Master only benefited from her own actions.
Retired Umamusumes are all like this. Considering Golden Crown Eagle's behavior last night, Sakura Baimu felt that Pluto Academy might be entirely composed of weaklings.
Therefore, it wasn't too hasty to conclude that Golden Crown Eagle was the culprit who harmed Rice Shower.
Of all the active duty Umamusumes in Tracen Academy, besides Rice Shower, there were no other Umamusumes who had mastered a higher level of skill.
Sakura Baimu looked at it for a while and decided to take Golden Crown Eagle's photo to Rice Shower that night.
"If it's not the Zone knowledge she taught Rice Shower, then there's no need to follow her. With a little more training, McQueen should be able to beat her."
"If it really is her…" Sakura Baimu muttered, her narrow blue eyes narrowing, "then we must confirm her true abilities."
--
After the Umamusumes from Pluto Academy arrived at Central Tracen Academy, the morning cultural classes remained largely unchanged.
However, during the afternoon training session, the track was essentially in a race-like state.
Several Pluto Academy Umamusumes had already applied to the active duty Umamusumes for friendly matches.
With the exception of President Symboli Rudolf, almost all student council members were involved in guiding the friendly matches.
After the incredibly boring morning classes, Catttleya, with her long snow-white hair and a sexy, glamorous style, found Obey Your Master, who had been forcibly grouped with Tamamo Cross and others, in the cafeteria.
"Hey, Obey Your Master, tell me about the teams in Tracen Academy. Our match against Canopus is almost over."
"Wow? Your schedule is packed." Obey Your Master looked at Catttleya and said with a smile.
"Of course! Now that we're in Japan, we're definitely going to show the Japanese Umamusume how good Abyss (team name) is!" Catttleya chuckled mischievously, sitting down next to Obey Your Master.
Her comment drew glares from Tamamo Cross and Belno Light, while Super Creek maintained a constant smiling expression.
As for Oguri Cap, she was still happily devouring her mountain of lunch, completely ignoring everyone around her.
However, Catttleya ignored the stares from the two Umamusumes and looked at Obey Your Master, awaiting her answer.
Catttleya was the team leader, responsible for finding opponents and arranging friendly matches for her team.
"Do you want the strongest or the weakest?" Obey Your Master asked.
"Tell me your thoughts."
"For teams with a larger number of members, the overall strongest is definitely Rigil, followed by Spica, then Canopus (who are currently playing), and finally TCB," Obey Your Master said.
"Okay, then it's TCB." Catttleya nodded and got up to leave the cafeteria.
"Wait, you said TCB is the weakest?" Belno Light looked at Obey Your Master in disbelief. "TCB has two of the strongest active duty members. How can you say they're the weakest?"
"Didn't they just add two new Umamusume members to their team, and another Umamusume who's been running for years without any results? So their overall strength is the weakest. Is there a problem?"
Obey Your Master, biting her fork, looked at Belno Light with a smile, her blue eyes sparkling with gold.
"But new Umamusume members aren't allowed to be challenged! She wants to compete against the weakest person, but you…"
Belno Light was interrupted halfway through her sentence by Obey Your Master's smiling wave.
"Catttleya's team is too arrogant. Someone has to teach them a lesson, right?"