Morning training over, Dyna returned to the shop.
After taking a quick warm shower, she changed into a loose coat, tied on her apron, and got busy inside the store.
As the sun climbed higher, Oguri Cap was the first to come on shift. After putting on the shop apron, she sat at the front counter, endlessly poking at a roly-poly doll and a beckoning cat with her finger.
Dyna told her about running into Wada and Kireijun during her morning training. After listening, Oguri Cap thought for a short while before answering:
"Trainer Wada... I've heard Kitahara mention him before, and I've met him too. He's one of the academy's nice guys, but a very rule-bound kind of nice. Not like Alrasha. Wada's kindness toward horse girls is built on the condition that it won't interfere with proper training or racing."
"And Trainer Wada also won't refuse. If Boss Lady really wants a trainer to arrange a training plan, then I recommend Kitahara and Wada. Mm."
As expected, Oguri Cap recommended Kitahara too. Dyna kneaded dough while nodding thoughtfully. It seemed she could ask Oguri Cap to look into things at the academy a bit.
The academy...
Dyna's hands paused for a second.
Suddenly, she thought of the Triumphal Ballet and Nakayama Festa cards.
If using a card really could give her that cosplay-like ability, then didn't that mean she could use it to sneak into the academy herself and take a look around?
It seemed like a workable plan.
But...
The only card Dyna could actually choose at will was Triumphal Ballet. That would make it way too easy to get exposed, wouldn't it? And with the deeply tangled mortal-enemy relationship between Red Apple and Orfevre, stepping into the academy would probably trigger some sort of random Orfevre spawn nearby mechanic on the spot.
"Why couldn't it have been a card like Equinox or Liberty Island? At least then I could muddy the waters and sneak around a bit."
With a quiet sigh, Dyna shelved the idea for now. Of the cards she could freely call on, she only had those two. As for Sea Bird and Cody's Wish, she still had no clue how their cards were meant to be used. Most likely, they required a powerful surge of conviction to activate.
Thinking about other stronger horse girls who would join Tracen in the future, the only names Dyna could come up with were people like Equinox.
Then again...
If she really could disguise herself as Equinox, and then ran into Kitasan Black, wouldn't that make the son older than the actual father?
How weird.
There were very few customers in the shop that morning, but Dyna wanted to slack off a little today, so lunch was delivery. By the time the horse-girl courier dropped it off, the boxes were still hot to the touch. Dyna flipped the shop sign over to On Break and lined the lunch boxes up neatly on the table.
Gold Ship had not come in today. The reason Dyna had ordered so much was entirely because of Oguri Cap. You could not estimate the amount of food a glutton needed using ordinary human standards. As for herself, Dyna had only bought one rice bowl.
The two of them sat facing each other, eating in silence without saying a word. By the time the food was gone, Oguri Cap rubbed her still-not-even-half-full stomach and let out a belch. As for the rest of the food she would need today, she would just go make up for it after work. She was already used to that.
After cleaning up the table, Oguri Cap started to get up to return to the front counter—
Only for Dyna to press her right back down into her seat.
"?"
Oguri Cap's eyes filled with confusion at the boss lady's sudden move. Then Dyna set a tablet down on the table, pointed at the screen, and asked:
"Look, these are the rookie-stakes races Japan will be holding over the next two months. Which one do you think I should enter?"
"Next year, I want to keep my promise and challenge the Classic Triple Crown!"
Classic Triple Crown.
Those four words brought a trace of regret into Oguri Cap's eyes.
Back then, because of her own circumstances and a whole chain of related reasons, even though she should have been able to contend for the Triple Crown, she had instead been forced to challenge open mixed races as a classic-year horse girl. Her results had still been excellent, but missing out on the one-and-only Japanese Derby entry of her life had left her privately miserable for a very long time.
She had not run in the Tokai Derby with Kitahara.
After transferring to Central, she had enthusiastically prepared for the Japanese Derby, only to find she had never been entered in the first place, and had ended up running instead in the G2 New Zealand Trophy as a stand-in for the Derby.
The two great goals of her horse-girl career had both slipped through her fingers. In a sense, it was the kind of cruel bad luck that came attached to overwhelming talent.
Oguri Cap's regret over that later pushed the JRA to introduce a supplementary registration system for Classic races, allowing another future legend—the Tyrant of the Century's End, Opera O—to enter that year's Satsuki Sho and begin her own road of domination.
"The Classic Triple Crown... Boss Lady, what we know already is that 1600 meters is within your reach. Your debut race and the French G1 both prove your dominance in that range. Since you want to prepare for the Classic Triple Crown next year, then during your rookie period you need to choose a 2000-meter race."
Oguri Cap's usually slow-looking head was now running at high speed. Her finger hovered indecisively over the list of eligible stakes races.
Boss Lady absolutely could not afford to wait until Classic year to test whether she could handle 2000 meters.
The G2 Keio Cup at 1400 meters was too short.
The G3 Tokyo Sports Novice Cup at 1800 meters was still not long enough.
Finally, Oguri Cap pressed her finger down on one G3 race.
"The Shortwave Cup Novice Stakes. A G3 2000-meter race run at Hanshin Racecourse."
The distance was just right, and Hanshin was not a particularly hard course either. The only drawback was probably that a G3 like this would not have especially strong opposition, so Boss Lady might not truly get to feel the level of competition that belonged to Japanese horse girls in graded stakes.
But considering she had already managed to win in France, she should not do badly here either.
Holding up the tablet and staring at the Shortwave Cup Novice Stakes, Dyna began circling the table clockwise.
"That's weird... there's no Hopeful Stakes?"
She had originally wanted to enter the Hopeful Stakes herself, but after searching for it directly and finding absolutely nothing, she had ended up asking Oguri Cap instead.
"Hopeful Stakes? I've never heard of a race like that at all. Where did Boss Lady hear about it?"
Oguri Cap answered Dyna's muttering honestly.
"Ah, it's nothing. I was just thinking... after the Shortwave Cup, should I go for the Yayoi Sho Deep Impact Memorial? Or maybe the Spring Stakes..."
Oguri Cap was now completely lost.
She could only think one race ahead. Anything beyond that had to be handed over to a trainer. So finding Boss Lady someone who could analyze races, plan nutrition, and structure training had become urgently necessary.
Who can I get for Boss Lady... Kitahara... seems too specialized in dirt. He wouldn't suit her.
Oguri Cap unconsciously bit at her nail.
Then she suddenly thought of the team that had benefited because of her.
Wada!
At present, Wada only had one dirt-track horse girl under him—Kireijun—leaving a huge vacancy on the turf side. And Wada would absolutely agree to give Boss Lady outside guidance, wouldn't he?
That way, she could use this favor to help Boss Lady achieve her dream.
Oguri Cap felt tremendously noble.
One horse girl walked in circles clockwise around the room. The other bit her nails. Neither said a word, and things stayed that way until afternoon business began.
Of course, if Dyna had looked just a little more carefully and opened the list of already confirmed entries, she would have spotted one very familiar horse girl.
Triumphal Ballet, currently sitting on a perfect record of two starts, two wins since debut.
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 115)
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 (Chapter108)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter82)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter144)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 99
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 95
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 99
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 92
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 47
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 44
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player 43
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 26
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 32
Uma Musume: From Beginner 26
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