As soon as the opening ceremony ended, it was time for the horse girls' introduction segment.
As the top favorite, September Sea naturally took the stage first.
She was dressed in a crisp white blouse with a white ribbon tie at the collar, a light-colored waistcoat layered over it, white riding pants below, and pale racing shoes styled to resemble leather dress shoes.
Her long golden hair was tied into a high ponytail, and her emerald-green eyes shone with a blade-like clarity. From head to toe, she gave off an air of gallantry that called to mind an early Victorian gentleman.
But Xingyun Liuge disliked both her personality and her behavior, so she muttered under her breath:
Flat as a board. Massive point deduction.
At the same time, Liuge noticed something else: most of the horse girls in the Hong Kong Gold Cup were British-born, and perhaps because of that, their popularity rankings were generally quite high.
It was one thing for girls who had already won GII or GI races to rank above her.
The real problem was that even one girl with a record of only four races and two wins—who had not even taken a GIII—was still ranked ahead of her.
She, Xingyun Liuge, was undefeated in every single race she had entered, with no mishaps even in her debut.
And yet she was ranked below that kind of horse girl?
Were the locals not being a little too rude?
At last, the announcer's booth called out her name to the crowd.
"The seventh favorite, the grey horse girl Xingyun Liuge from Japan's Tokai region! Though only a regional runner, she has yet to taste defeat since her debut race, and has repeatedly won by overwhelming margins. Her record can only be described as dazzling!"
"This is her first graded race, and also her first overseas campaign. Can this white horse, dominant on dirt, adapt to Hong Kong's soft turf? Let us wait and see!"
Although Xingyun Liuge had won turf races back in the regions, Japanese turf and the turf used in international competition were very different things, so the announcer deliberately emphasized her reputation as a dirt specialist.
The Hong Kong Gold Cup was a GI event, so Xingyun Liuge was no longer dressed in gym clothes or a tracksuit. Instead, she wore a special outfit more akin to a stage costume.
Supposedly, this attire had received the blessing of the Three Goddesses, and absolutely would not interfere with a horse girl's ability to run.
Liuge waved toward the stands. Today, her silver-white hair still fell loose down her back, though now it was adorned with star-shaped hair ornaments.
She wore a light, flowing red dress that left her rounded shoulders exposed, with the faint line of her delicate collarbones visible.
A fluffy white shawl sat over her left shoulder, accompanied by another white silk accessory that draped diagonally from that shoulder down to the right side of her waist. Seen from above, it almost looked like a tiny pair of white wings unfurling from her back.
The hem of the skirt only just covered her knees. Whenever the breeze stirred the fabric, one could catch a glimpse of those soft, fair, gleaming knees beneath.
Though, of course, she was wearing white pantyhose.
In front of television screens, the horse girls of Kasamatsu Tracen stared at Xingyun Liuge—who seemed as if she were literally glowing—and for a moment forgot how to breathe.
This had been the chairwoman's arrangement. She wanted the school's horse girls to "learn from Xingyun's overseas spirit."
Not only had she shortened it into the slogan "The Xingyun Spirit," she had also demanded that every horse girl, trainer, and even every faculty member hand in a study report of no fewer than ten thousand words.
Apparently, the other regional Tracen academies in Tokai had been ordered to do the same thing, so this was clearly the Tokai Regional Racing Association's idea.
One could only hope that whoever had to grade those reports would not end up screaming, What the hell, it's all written in katakana, who can even read this?
Norn Ace was furious with this utterly ridiculous popularity ranking. She even raised her middle finger at the big screen.
"So being undefeated in every race still only gets her seventh favorite? That's blatantly rigged!"
After all, the only horse girls ranked below Xingyun Liuge were two British runners. Everyone else below her was either from China or from Southeast Asia.
Meanwhile, Rudolf Symbol—temporarily staying in Aiming City—was also seated in front of a television, watching the live broadcast together with Maruzensky.
In her soft voice, Maruzensky asked,
"Rudolf, you personally examined that girl's ability. What kind of strategy do you think she'll use in this race?"
Rudolf Symbol was, after all, the undefeated Triple Crown winner. Even though she had stepped away from active racing, her instincts were as sharp as ever.
"Given the difference in turf and the special character of the course, the optimal answer is definitely a stalking strategy."
This was not just intuition. It was also a sound conclusion drawn from hard data: based on the Hong Kong Gold Cup's historical results, both front-running and late-closing styles had win rates of only a little over ten percent, while the win rate for stalking runners was close to seventy percent.
A proper horse girl, of course, had to learn how to adapt her style to changing courses. Only then could she take victory into her own hands.
"As expected of you, Rudolf. Your nose is still as sharp as ever~"
As they spoke, the horse girls had already settled into their stances.
[2000m Hong Kong Gold Cup. Turf. Cloudy. Good going.]
The gates burst open, and the crowd's roar exploded with them.
The voices of tens of thousands could outstrip thunder itself, and that sheer sound alone was enough to shake a horse girl's focus.
"Ah! Two horse girls stumbled out of the gate! I suppose they were swept up by the crowd and felt the urge to rush headlong into the heart of this grand occasion," the host said, trying to patch over the awkwardness.
The commentator, however, kept his attention on the high-profile runners.
"But most of them held fast to themselves. To win the championship, one must indeed possess the mental fortitude to remain unmoved even if Mount Tai collapses before them. At present, the top favorite, September Sea, is in third place. In second is the second favorite, World Conquest. And in first is—ah? What is Xingyun Liuge doing?"
"Xingyun Liuge, having seized the lead, is actually accelerating at this moment? What exactly is this horse girl from Japan's Tokai region trying to do?!"
The commentator's voice rose sharply with shock, tinged with tension. He had raised it so much that even he failed to notice it had gone slightly off-key.
And it was not just him. The horse girls and staff watching from television screens also turned pale at Xingyun Liuge's astonishingly bold move.
The reason was simple.
The first straight on Sha Tin's A Course was very short, only four hundred meters. If you entered the first sharp turn at high speed—
No, this was not even a matter of high speed anymore. Even entering that bend at an ordinary pace could send a horse girl crashing into the rail under the pull of centrifugal force. They had to slow down. This was the most basic respect one could show the great laws of physics.
A horse girl who lacked that respect would pay in blood.
Without exception.
And yet what was Xingyun Liuge doing?
For a moment, the entire venue erupted in alarm.
Join here to read ahead.
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