Accompanied by the commentator's gradually steadying voice, the pack on the track surged through the right-hand bend at high speed and began entering the backstretch.
Compared to the opening phase, the gaps between the Uma Musume in the pack had clearly lengthened on the straight.
Seiun Sky was the first to round the bend. Less than half a second later, Special Week followed closely in second.
Nearly two seconds after that, Mejiro Bright, who had been at the very back since the start, finally rounded the bend at a noticeably more measured pace.
Just as they had at the start, the dozen or so figures moving at extreme speed seemed to share a silent, rehearsed understanding. There were no eye-catching confrontations as they came through the bend.
The commentary grew even calmer, and the roar from the stands seemed to drop a degree or two.
"No head-to-head confrontation at all? It seems…"
Leaning on the railing in front of her, Almond Eye's excitement wasn't quite as high as before.
"The seniors must be planning to settle it at the final bend or on the final straight…?"
Beside her, Kitasan Black and Duramente kept their eyes fixed on the pack. Both nodded in unison when they heard Almond Eye's words.
As she nodded, though, Kitasan Black felt something was off and couldn't help frowning slightly.
"The final bend and the final straight… that doesn't feel like Special Week-senpai's or Grass Wonder-senpai's style…"
Surprised by her own thought, she began replaying past training races in her mind, trying to pin down where the strangeness came from.
"Your feeling is correct."
Still watching the race, Yasui spoke abruptly.
"It's not that there's no head-to-head confrontation. The battle began long ago…"
"No. The battle hasn't stopped since the start!" he added, unable to keep the emphasis out of his voice.
Three startled pairs of eyes turned toward him at once. Before any of the three Uma Musume could speak, the commentator's voice suddenly rose.
"The pack passes the 600-meter marker! The time is… 34.4 seconds!"
Compared to the previously steady tone, the exclamation was clearly abrupt.
The stands buzzed for a moment, then filled with gasps and hurried discussion. The atmosphere was mostly one of surprise and confusion.
"34.4 seconds…?"
Instinctively sensing that the number meant something important, and hearing someone nearby shout "So fast!", Almond Eye's eyes widened. She thought quickly while whispering to herself.
"Is this… really that fast?"
"Yes! Very fast!"
"…Extremely fast."
Speaking almost at the same time, Kitasan Black and Duramente both nodded. Yasui made a sound of agreement as well.
"For the opening phase, that's incredibly fast."
As if influenced by the current speed of the racing pack, he quickened his own speaking pace.
"Last year's Tenno Sho (Autumn) last three furlongs was 33.7 seconds. The year before was 34.6. The year before that was 33.1…"
"In other words, the average speed of the last three furlongs in the Tenno Sho (Autumn) over the last three years is only about 17.7 meters per second!"
"Right now, at only 600 meters, they've already hit a speed of 17.4 meters per second…"
"As expected… are you trying to pull the same old trick, Seiun Sky…?"
The same question appeared in the minds of the three Uma Musume beside him—including Kitasan Black and Duramente, who could already sense the pacing situation through the 600-meter split.
Before they could ask, the commentator continued after his previous exclamation.
"A very familiar tactic! Seiun Sky seems to be planning to replicate her approach from the Kikuka Sho, but will her opponents let her have her way? After all, this is a tactic that's been used before!"
Reminded by the commentator, waves of realization rippled through the stands. Kitasan Black slapped her forehead and cried out.
"I remember now! Trainer mentioned it—Seiun-senpai's 'Pace Fraud'!"
Then she grew puzzled again.
"But if Senpai really wants to use this tactic… doesn't the commentator's mention count as a warning to the other seniors? And… the other seniors should already know about this tactic, right…?"
"That's why I said the confrontation began long ago."
Yasui answered directly.
"I did tell you about the 'Pace Fraud' tactic, but don't forget that was the 3000-meter Kikuka Sho. This race is a 2000-meter race, the same distance as the Tenno Sho (Autumn)."
"Seiun Sky must have taken those circumstances into account. More importantly…"
He pointed toward the position just behind the light-blue figure on the track.
"She used this tactic in front of Special Week before. Unless she doesn't want to win, it's impossible for her to simply repeat the exact same old trick."
"Also, why do you think Special Week is chasing so closely? It's because she's been trying to figure out exactly what Seiun Sky plans to do since the very start!"
Besides these points, Yasui had many other things he wanted to remind Kitasan Black about.
Not long after the start, he had already noticed Seiun Sky's pace.
One hundred meters, two hundred meters, three hundred meters… whether or not there were markers, he could tell through experience and intuition that this Uma Musume's pace was steadily accelerating.
For other Trainers—especially novices—pace is a crucial competitive factor, yet it is also the easiest to overlook among factors of equal importance.
Compared to the mostly steady numerical changes of pace, things like reaction time at the start, speed through the bends, and the last spurt on the final straight are more likely to create an intuitive sensation, get the blood pumping, and therefore get noticed more easily.
But Yasui had experienced many high-stakes races and understood the importance of pace very well.
In any contest of speed, top speed is indeed important.
The competitors, however, are ultimately flesh and blood with limited stamina. Under that premise, the skill of combining pace with stamina distribution is exactly one of the standards that separates ordinary ability from exquisite craft.
The tactic that Seiun Sky and her Trainer had used in that year's Kikuka Sho could be called textbook-level.
She had abandoned her previous slow-lead approach, taken a significant lead right from the start, and passed the first 1000 meters at high speed, forcing her opponents to match the rhythm and not dare hold anything back.
In the middle section she had suddenly slowed, exquisitely keeping her pace right on the edge of stalling, making her opponents believe she was running out of stamina.
Then, in the final 1000-plus meters, she had used up all the stamina she had secretly conserved, suddenly accelerating to a level that exceeded even the first 1000 meters and crossing the line with an absolute advantage of five lengths.
That was the "Pace Fraud" Yasui had described to Kitasan Black.
Explaining the tactic is simple. The real difficulty lies in exactly how much to slow down in the middle section so that stamina is perfectly conserved while every opponent is made to miscalculate.
The difficulties involved can certainly be proven by many theories.
It requires combining performance data from previous races, special training during preparation, the condition of the track and opponents on the day, and on-the-spot judgment… gathering all of that is naturally extremely difficult.
But the most intuitive proof is that since Seiun Sky, no other Uma Musume has successfully replicated the tactic in the Kikuka Sho and won the championship.
When he first noticed Seiun Sky's unusually high early speed, Yasui's first reaction had been the same as Kitasan Black's and the commentator's. He had subconsciously thought she was going to use the same old trick.
Special Week's performance, however, made him change his view instantly.
Two and a half lengths. Special Week and Seiun Sky had maintained that exact distance from start to finish.
With that level of pressure, it was impossible for Seiun Sky to have any chance of using the same old trick—unless, as he had just said, this Uma Musume simply did not want to win.
Since she clearly did want to win, she must have a follow-up move ready.