Following behind Silent Suzuka, Zhou Tai'an arrived at Monbetsu Racecourse.
There were no races being held at the racecourse today, but it was not deserted. There were still many local residents and tourists enjoying themselves here. Although they couldn't enter the racecourse itself due to maintenance, the various amusement facilities around the racecourse were open for business early.
But Zhou Tai'an was different from these tourists and residents. He had permission to enter the racecourse—because he was a trainer.
Of course, this permission only allowed him to observe the track from the stands and didn't grant him any more authority today.
After showing his trainer's license to the racecourse staff to prove his identity, Zhou Tai'an was allowed to enter.
As he was about to step forward, he caught a glimpse of an envious look in Silent Suzuka's eyes.
Noticing this, he unhesitatingly asked the staff, "The young lady behind me is a Central Horse Girl here for a summer training camp. I can vouch for her identity. I was wondering if she could come in with me to see the inside of the racecourse? I'll keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't wander off."
The staff at Monbetsu Racecourse were quite accommodating and didn't make things difficult for them, readily agreeing.
…
As the two of them passed the staff and entered the racecourse, Zhou Tai'an heard the chestnut-haired Horse Girl behind him thank him in a low voice. "Thank you, Zhou-kun. Otherwise, I really wouldn't have been able to get in."
Zhou Tai'an waved his hand, his tone a little nervous. "You're not planning to actually run on the track while it's under maintenance, are you, Miss Silent Suzuka? I'd get chewed out by the staff."
"I won't," Silent Suzuka quickly explained. "I'm not good at running on dirt."
"I see..." The young man wasn't surprised. He had known since his first day here that Horse Girls in Japan valued turf more.
At this thought, an idea came to him. He decided to use his Stat Viewer to check the chestnut-haired Horse Girl's stats.
"Her preferred distances are mile and medium, and her favorite running style is 'Escape' (lead)... no wonder she was so sensitive about me overtaking her," he muttered to himself. "After all, she's an 'escape' Horse Girl."
He completely ignored data like B70-W53-H79.
Because the presence of "???" in the skills section had caught his attention.
"What is this?" He focused on it, but found there was no reaction.
In the end, he had to give up. "Forget it. It's probably Silent Suzuka's secret. I won't pry. It's not like she's a Horse Girl I'm training."
He refocused his attention on observing the Monbetsu Racecourse track.
As one of Hokkaido's local racecourses, it had the largest grounds in all of Japan—the outer loop was a full 1600 meters in circumference, and the inner loop was 1300 meters.
The Hokkaido Yushun Championship that Oguri Cap was to challenge at the end of August was an 1800-meter race, which would naturally use the outer loop.
When running the outer loop, the final straight was 330 meters long. Although it was much longer than a certain racecourse's 140-meter final straight, in Zhou Tai'an's opinion, this track was still not suitable for a "Closer" strategy.
Because it was a right-handed track, Horse Girls with outside gates had an advantage. They could easily get to their desired position on the long straight.
After 270 meters, they would enter the first turn, which was flat and not too sharp. When they came around and were about to enter the final straight, the Horse Girls on the inside would have to exert themselves earlier to avoid being blocked by their opponents on the outside. And very few local Horse Girls could sustain a 330-meter high-intensity sprint. Therefore, the outside gates, which allowed for a freer choice of acceleration route, had an overall advantage.
The average temperature in Monbetsu in August was between 18°C and 26°C. According to the meteorological data he had collected for the past ten years, there was an average of 8 rainy days in August.
And because of the lower climate, the track at Monbetsu Racecourse would dry very slowly after it rained.
This also meant that he had to prepare Oguri Cap to fight on a heavy dirt track.
"Good thing I bought styles suitable for rain and heavy tracks when I was buying shoes and horseshoes. Otherwise, I'd have to allocate part of the budget to buy them now," Zhou Tai'an thought, secretly glad that he hadn't been stingy with Oguri Cap's equipment to save money.
He had collected more than just meteorological data.
He had also compiled data from ten years of 1800-meter races at Monbetsu Racecourse and had come to a frustrating conclusion—on this kind of track condition, the historical data showed that Horse Girls using a "Lead" strategy had the highest winning rate.
"But I can't have Oguri Cap lead," Zhou Tai'an hadn't forgotten her stats. Facing his first G3 Graded Race in Hokkaido, he didn't dare to have her risk trying something new.
He glanced at Silent Suzuka, who was curiously looking around beside him. "If this were a turf track, it would be very suitable for her."
Just as he thought this, he heard Silent Suzuka sigh. "I really can't bring myself to like this kind of track."
"Hm?" Zhou Tai'an was taken aback and quickly asked, "The track at Monbetsu Racecourse favors Horse Girls who use a 'Lead' strategy. Don't you like that, Miss Silent Suzuka?"
"So you figured out I'm an 'escape' Horse Girl, Zhou-kun."
As Silent Suzuka thought this, she also explained honestly, "Because I'm not good at right-handed tracks. In tests at the academy running the same distance on the same type of track, there's a clear difference in my times between left-handed and right-handed tracks. So my trainer told me to focus on left-handed races in the future."
This also meant that for Silent Suzuka's future Twinkle Series career, the Takarazuka Kinen and the Arima Kinen, the two Grand Prix races, were likely out of reach.
"But just slightly weaker on right-handed tracks doesn't mean you can't run them, right?" This question was buried in Zhou Tai'an's mind. The young man chose not to say more.
The lesson he had learned at the West Coast Tracen Academy was too profound.
"Besides, that Tojo-san seems very serious. I'd better not provoke her," Zhou Tai'an secretly reminded himself not to meddle.
So he put on a brilliant smile. "If Tojo-san says so, she must have her reasons. I believe that under her training, you will definitely become a G1 Horse Girl in the future, Miss Silent Suzuka!"
"Then I'll take that as a good omen, Zhou-kun," Silent Suzuka's gaze fell on the floor tiles of the Monbetsu Racecourse corridor as she replied in a low voice.
Perhaps it was his imagination, but Zhou Tai'an thought he heard a hint of regret in her tone.
-------
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