Kazuo and Kitamura continued to study the platform website.
It must be said that although Kitamura appeared incredibly aloof, he answered Kazuo's questions with great patience, pushing up his glasses and shaking his head as he spoke.
With a good mentor, Kazuo humbly sought knowledge about various Trainer-related matters.
He was currently a new Trainer, and compared to veterans who had already coached a group of team members, there was a significant gap in both experience and insight.
"By the way, once the Debut Race is completed, will the competitor's information be entered into it?"
Kazuo posed his question, and Kitamura reached out and tapped the tablet a few times before continuing:
"That's actually a bit inaccurate. In reality, on the Horse Racing website, there are archived records for all students. After they enroll, the Academy registers an information file for them. If I had to say… you could understand it as something similar to an academic record."
"This actually exists even before an Uma Musume contracts with a Trainer. If we had to be precise, after the Debut Race, it will be re-archived under the Trainer's roster with whom she registered to participate in the race, meaning she will be entered as a member of his team."
"Oh… so that means the Debut Race itself is registered by the Trainer for the competitor, and then it's automatically recorded here. Once the race is completed, she will automatically be assigned to the Trainer's team, right?"
"Yes, exactly," Kitamura nodded and continued.
Kazuo, however, pressed on: "By the way, the Debut Race should have a promotion system, right?"
"Yes, you could say that. Each Uma Musume's first Debut Race will have a presentation segment, and only the first-place finisher in the Debut Race can successfully advance and qualify for formal races. Other Uma Musume who do not win the race will continue to participate in the maiden races, just without the presentation segment; all other steps are the same."
"But—wouldn't there be competitors who never qualify?"
Kazuo was concerned about this because his goal was to prepare Oguri Cap for her Debut Race. However, in the prior qualification process, the Debut Race was only discussed conceptually, without much in-depth explanation of its mechanics. So now, Kazuo was humbly seeking guidance from Kitamura.
"There are competitors who continuously fail to win in the Debut Race. Each month, Debut Race competitors have two opportunities to participate in races at a local Racecourse. There are no strict requirements for the venue; both Central and regional Racecourses have their records entered. If a competitor fails to win first place in six Debut Races, arbitration will intervene, and a review will be conducted based on the results of those six races. Through this review and their popularity value, a decision will be made, and qualified competitors can also advance to the next stage of the race system through this method."
"I see…"
Kazuo was clear on the race system. Aside from the Debut Race, the Horse Racing series actually included various types of events: open races, invitationals, training races, unofficial open races, cup races, and G3, G2, G1, and other G-grade races. Accumulating popularity by participating in races and gaining qualification for G-grade races through preliminary races was something competitors and Trainers needed to weigh and consider.
"However, even with that, there will still be competitors who completely fail the Debut Race. These competitors typically fall into three situations."
Kitamura continued to explain with examples: "First, if a competitor's Debut Race performance is completely unsatisfactory, and she is registered with Central, she will be transferred to a regional Horse Racing Association, which is what we often refer to as the National Horse Racing Association (NAR)."
"The second situation is if a competitor has genuinely high popularity, and both the Trainer, the competitor herself, and the school have the willingness for it, the competitor can exceptionally advance and continue participating in races. Although it's said this way, achieving such conditions is by no means easy."
"And the third situation is more realistic—"
Kitamura didn't continue, but Kazuo already understood the meaning of his words.
Survival of the fittest, especially in competitive sports… If even the Debut Race is a complete failure, it's highly likely that retirement awaits the competitor… "…"
"Incidentally, the Debut Race typically begins in June each year and continues until December. So, don't use up your entry rights too easily if you're not absolutely confident. That being said, students from our Academy don't seem to need to worry too much about this situation."
At this point, Kitamura changed the subject again, which made Kazuo pause, staring at him as if he hadn't quite caught on.
"We are Tresen Academy, and our students are the best from various places. It's actually rare for a Debut Race to go wrong. If it does happen, it's most likely the Trainer's own problem…"
Kitamura shrugged and continued:
"After all, the selection of the race system and various other considerations are actually left to the Trainer. This also means that the competitor's race schedule is arranged by the Trainer, and there are simply too many intricacies in this area, you know?"
Seeing that Kazuo still looked a bit confused, Kitamura added:
"For example, the competitor's desired promotion route for G-grade races, the chosen venues and Racecourse tracks, the scheduling of race dates, whether there are inter-regional competitions causing travel factors. The competitor's flexibility for rest between races, whether there are strong competitors to avoid, whether to compete for the top seed in preliminary races, and various other things to consider. Especially as your team grows with more competitors, balancing all of this and planning a reasonable race schedule for each competitor is what a competent Trainer should do."
"And this—is just one of the many essential tasks of a Trainer."
Supporting competitors, how to support? Off-track, outside the track, on the track, how to do it, what to do—
These are all profound subjects.
Kazuo knew very well that what he had obtained was merely a qualification certificate. At most, he had received the key to open the door to a new world, and what was currently revealed to him was still just the tip of the iceberg.
The topic that stemmed from the Debut Race issue truly made him realize that the Trainer's job is far, far more demanding than anyone imagines!
"So that's how it is… I've learned a lot…"
Kazuo nodded, genuinely impressed. Kitamura was indeed much more professional than he was, and his explanation of the mechanisms clarified many things for Kazuo.
"At our academy, many Trainers choose to start signing up their Uma Musume for Debut Races as early as June. Firstly, it's to test their skill level, and secondly, to understand their situation relative to other Uma Musume of the same age and type. If they can successfully qualify in June, they can then prepare for the Asahi Hai and Hanshin Hai in December of the same year."
"Asahi Hai… Hanshin Hai. If I'm not mistaken, aren't those two cup races G1 events specifically for Elementary School Division students?"
"That's right. These two races are considered the most significant events for first-year students. However, the entry requirements are quite stringent. Not only is the popularity requirement very strict, but the eligibility to participate is also limited to Uma Musume who have won a G3 race in their first year. Because of these two points, no more than thirty Uma Musume participate in these two events each year. This can be understood as a rookie battle, and the winner is crowned the Rookie King of the year."
At this point, Kitamura shrugged his shoulders and said, "However, in recent years, this has become just an indicator. After all, there are Uma Musume like Symboli Rudolf who are qualified but choose not to participate. Calling it the Annual Rookie King is just a label that varies from person to person."
"It definitely has value, but not to the extent that everyone is convinced. These are just tactics used by the media to create a buzz. However, the Uma Musume who participate in these events don't do it just for the title… Most of them do it to accumulate popularity and to gain automatic entry into the following year's major stakes races."
"Automatic entry?"
This was the first time Kazuo had heard that term.
"For various G1 races in the following year, there is usually direct entry qualification, which means not having to participate in preliminary races. This mechanism is mainly for the first and second-place finishers, but many Uma Musume simply use their direct entry qualification for the first G1 major stakes race of the following year, which is the Satsuki Sho in the Classic Triple Crown."
The Satsuki Sho in the Classic Triple Crown only has eighteen slots, and the Asahi Hai can secure two of those slots, making it a very worthwhile race to strive for.
Kazuo specifically checked the race schedule, and the information about the Asahi Hai clearly stated "1600m Turf Mile Race."
And just as Kitamura had said, the entry requirements for this first-year-only event were indeed very strict. Kazuo read through them carefully and understood their meaning.
For Uma Musume who have participated in a Debut Race, to achieve 10,000 popularity points means that in addition to winning the Debut Race, they must also secure victories in at least a few open races or G3 races to be eligible to participate.
As Kazuo thought, he couldn't help but put himself in that situation.
In his imagination, Kazuo tried to simulate Oguri Cap's participation in races—
If it were him, what should he do to properly plan Oguri Cap's future race schedule?
However, just as Kazuo was lost in thought, Todo also leaned over. He had probably overheard Kazuo and the others talking about this, and he clicked his tongue, saying,
"Kitamura probably doesn't need to worry about this, right? Also, Kitamura, are you going to recruit any new Uma Musume this year?"
"I don't have any plans for that this year, unless I meet an Uma Musume I feel is worth signing. My focus is still on the second-year Uma Musume in my team."
Upon hearing this, Todo "tsk-tsked" and said, "How enviable! Why can you recruit eight Uma Musume, while I'm currently only in charge of one Uma Musume…"
Todo had always wanted to sign an Uma Musume in the independent selection race, but to be honest, probably no one could endure his kind of "offense."
To date, the number of Uma Musume he had contracted this year was still "0."
"Even, even that kid Asama signed someone! And it was a reverse nomination!!"
As he spoke, his eyes, filled with undisguised jealousy, envy, and hatred, stared intently at Kazuo, muttering incessantly, "Why doesn't anyone do that for me, why?!"
Ignoring his complaining senior, Kazuo wiped the sweat from his face and continued to ask,
"Senior Kitamura, regarding the team issue, I'm still not very clear on how to form a team."
After much deliberation, Kazuo had actually decided to establish his own team, but merely talking about it was useless. Kazuo hadn't had the chance to ask Koji and Tojo about the specific methods at the party.
Kitamura operated on his tablet for a bit, then opened an interface and showed it to Kazuo.
This was the registration portal under his personal page. After clicking in, there were instructions for uploading various documents and a full page of information to fill out.
"As you can see, this is the team registration form. If a Trainer wants to form their own team, they need to apply to two parties: one is their academy, and the other is to register with the association. What you are seeing now are the relevant documents from the association. Generally speaking, after obtaining a Trainer qualification certificate, you have the opportunity to choose to form your own team."
"However," he paused deliberately here, "here, you can see that it says that for a team to be officially recorded by the association, it requires five Uma Musume. Similarly, the academy also requires a contract with five Uma Musume to form a team."
"Trainers who haven't contracted with five or more Uma Musume can still create their own team, but they won't receive subsidies or policy support from the academy. Only after officially establishing and getting approval from the academy will the academy allocate a separate training room and team funds."
In this regard, Tracen Academy actually strongly supports Trainers forming more teams.
After all, with over a thousand Uma Musume in one academy and only over two hundred active Trainers, it often requires forming teams for management and training.
However, this condition—
Five… Uma Musume… Kazuo murmured softly, and the candidates that came to mind were—
Oguri Cap, Narita Taishin, Bimyo Shisei, and Rice Shower… only four people?
He was still one person short of Kitamura's requirement… But this one person, it's easy to say, but hard to find, isn't it?
Not to mention the previous few, Kazuo hadn't properly discussed it with them yet; they were only temporarily counted as part of his team.
Choosing one's team members is a particularly serious matter.
Especially under Yoshida's guidance, Kazuo was well aware of how important promises and being promised are to both Uma Musume and Trainers.
Kazuo couldn't just pull someone into his team just to form it; that would completely put the cart before the horse and neglect the important for the trivial… It seems that forming his own team is, for now, something that needs long-term planning.
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