With an escaping uma musume up front, the race pace quickened considerably.
Biwa Hayahide, who didn't plan to continue accelerating to take the front position, was soon overtaken by others. Not only that, but three more uma musume passed her one after another. She fell back to midpack position.
"Are these uma musume crazy? Do they think she's Silence Suzuka? Forget the late phase, she'll lose speed on the mid-race turns." She still insisted on maintaining her normal pace. She didn't care about the escape strategy at all.
Trying to imitate Silence Suzuka at this level? Not even close.
Many uma musume thought the same. But when you encounter an escaping uma musume, you can't just ignore it. Think about it. If your opponent led by eight lengths in the late phase, would you have the confidence to catch up within 400 meters?
Unless some of them have the talent to overtake the front runner, they still have match the front runner's pace.
Biwa Hayahide glanced backward. Unfortunately, she only saw King Halo sneering coldly, while Winning Ticket's face showed some anxiety but remained calm nonetheless.
"You dare call this an escape strategy?" King Halo's gaze held pure contempt. She followed Hayato's advice and moved toward the inside track. She didn't plan to exert herself in the early or mid phases, just watching the show.
Even if Silence Suzuka used escape tactics on medium-long distances, she was confident she could win.
After all, during training, without using her unique ability, she could match Silence Suzuka on medium-long distances. For this distance's escape strategy, she could only laugh.
If it affected the others, she'd actually be quite happy about that.
"Inside track?" Narita Taishin observed very carefully from behind, keeping her eyes locked on King Halo.
Seeing King Halo enter the inside track puzzled her somewhat. She was also on the inside track now, just behind King Halo.
The inside track could shorten the distance on corners, but being in the middle of the pack on the inside would make breaking out quite difficult.
After King Halo entered the inside track, the uma musume ahead took the opportunity to block her exit route, thinking they'd already dealt with the biggest problem.
The current midpack positions were Biwa Hayahide, Winning Ticket, and King Halo. After Biwa Hayahide glanced at King Halo once, she chose to ignore her.
But those on the outside naturally kept blocking King Halo's path. This way, King Halo lost the possibility of a breakthrough to the outside.
"I wonder what King Halo is up to?" Biwa Hayahide's face showed some displeasure. Whatever, why worry about others? Just take care of yourself.
"Is it the same as the Satsuki Sho?" Winning Ticket felt somewhat uneasy. She soon understood. "No, it's the inside track. Different from before."
King Halo on the inside track was like getting on the highway, looking ready to charge straight to the finish line. Her momentum and speed were completely different from usual.
The speed achievable during unobstructed training versus the speed with obstacles during a race was definitely different. Yet the current King Halo had achieved a state of completely disregarding her opponents.
After Biwa Hayahide looked closely and thought briefly, she also felt something was off about King Halo right now.
"I see." She quickly understood, too. King Halo's current condition, the uma musume technical term: "Composure."
Many uma musume had experienced it. Even she had. But the method to trigger "composure in the middle of the pack" had never been found.
"So that's it? That trainer..." She remembered some things Hayato had said before that she couldn't understand at the time.
"Things I couldn't comprehend, he knows them all?" Even she was getting interested in consulting Hayato for advice.
Since interacting with Hayato, she'd always admired him. From the moment Hayato could produce those incredible tactics, she knew he wasn't an ordinary trainer.
"It's just one more unknown variable. Solve for it, and that's that."
With multiple blue skills and sufficient endurance, Biwa Hayahide wanted to use Biwa Heidi as a fake great escaper to drain the other uma musume's stamina. Currently, the plan was only half successful.
Even the easily impulsive Winning Ticket was now maintaining a calm pace, not rushing to push forward.
"Running in first place is Biwa Heidi. She's eight lengths ahead of the pack and two lengths ahead of Galeon in second position!"
"Winning Ticket and King Halo are in the middle positions. No movement from them yet. Will they continue staying calm and waiting for the right moment?"
"Uhhhh..." Winning Ticket's heart burned with anxiety, the feeling almost unbearable. The Derby track she'd dreamed of, for this day, the days working hard shoulder-to-shoulder with her companions, replayed in her mind.
Biwa Hayahide suffered from the reputation of being inferior to her little sister, Narita Brian. Taishin was shunned by Uma Musume and trainers...
Those days, those hardships, those difficulties, hadn't they all been overcome one by one?
The Japan Derby, what exactly am I... running for?
She lifted her already moist eyes, looking at Biwa Hayahide ahead.
That's not right. It's not for the Japan Derby. I didn't come here for the Derby. I came for... my companions. Because they're here, I could make it this far!
Having figured all this out, Winning Ticket's heart suddenly cleared. All the uma musume before her eyes disappeared, leaving only BNW.
She remembers the scene of charging toward the finish line shoulder-to-shoulder with Biwa Hayahide and Narita Taishin from before race.
All this time, this had been her dream.
"As expected, she will use that thing," Hayato muttered with some emotion.
Hayato sighed sincerely. The protagonist's treatment really was different.
With the protagonist's luck for this race, Winning Ticket was the one with the best fortune. Having this kind of power wasn't strange at all.
With her fate in this race, Winning Ticket should have been invincible.
Were the previous four consecutive wins all fake? Was breaking the Yayoi Sho record just a coincidence? Besides the zone, Hayato also saw something above her head like a fire candle, phantom flames flickering.
"It's exactly the same sacrificial-type zone as Rice Shower in anime, huh?"
It only triggered when the desire to win became strong enough to a certain degree. Once triggered, it couldn't be stopped. Even if someone wanted to stop, it would burn through all her guts to reach those speeds.
In other words, this was a zone that could only be used once and could never be used again afterward.
Frankly speaking, this was the type of zone Hayato liked least and most hated encountering on the race track. Because it would not only make it difficult for King Halo to win, but Winning Ticket's future after this race would also be ruined.
"So you're here!"
Hearing that voice, Maruzensky very familiarly came to Hayato's side, one hand shamelessly resting on his shoulder.