As they approached the final straight, Sabuno Hana Park began to show clear signs of losing speed. Super Dress and Kyoei March, while still contesting each other, moved past her almost at the sa ti.
"That's as far as she goes." Kitahara let out a long breath and shook his head. "I really overestimated things. From here on, I'll just have Sabuno Hana Park focus on short-distance turf races in the Twinkle Series."
"Short distance, huh…" Fujimasa March narrowed her eyes slightly. "Then if she wants to accumulate enough honors, she definitely can't stay only in dostic races."
"I've already prepared for that," Kitahara replied with a faint smile as he turned back. "I talked it over with Ann-san beforehand. He plans to take Silence Suzuka to Australia for a long overseas campaign in the latter half of the year—and I'll be bringing Sabuno Hana Park along as well."
Fujimasa March understood imdiately.
"With Taiki Shuttle in her final year, avoiding a direct clash isn't anything to be ashad of. After all, with her result she's destined to enter the Hall of Fa, just like Oguri Cap."
"So the only option left is to go abroad," Kitahara continued. "In any case, I already agreed with Sabuno Hana Park before the race that no matter the result today, our next target will be the Aoi Stakes. So if she realizes she's running out of stamina, I just hope she prioritizes her health."
"That's only natural," Fujimasa March nodded in agreent.
—
While the two of them were talking, jiro Dober had already begun preparing to accelerate.
"I really dislike this kind of track," she muttered under her breath. "Good thing I'm on the outside. If I were on the inside, my face would probably be covered in mud by now."
Even as she thought that, the rhythm of her strides didn't falter in the slightest. The mont she exited the final bend, she imdiately exerted herself, her speed rising in an instant as she overtook She's Princess.
She's Princess was visibly startled.
"I knew jiro Dober was behind but she can unleash that kind of burst at this pace?!"
Her thoughts raced as she tried to comprehend what she had just seen.
"No adjustnt? No buildup? Did she just switch into full sprint the mont she hit the straight? What is that—does she have catapults on her legs?!"
Behind them, Hornet Pierce had been tracking jiro Dober closely the entire ti, witnessing everything firsthand.
"She drifted outward on the turn, I thought she couldn't handle the centrifugal force," she muttered. "So she was already preparing to accelerate back then?"
Her eyes sharpened.
"Then I can't fall behind either. She's already opened a path—I won't waste it."
—
With 400 ters remaining, Super Dress finally began to lose ground to Kyoei March.
"She's stubborn!" Kyoei March gritted her teeth slightly. "She stuck with for over a thousand ters and only now I can shake her off!"
She had anticipated that SuperDress would run aggressively, but she had never expected such relentless pressure from start to sprint.
"I need to accelerate now! Good thing I held back a bit earlier. If I'd burned everything fighting her, I'd be the one fading right now—and I'd end up as a stepping stone for jiro Dober."
Thinking that, she felt a brief sense of relief. Although the race had unfolded differently from what her Trainer had envisioned, Kyoei March herself remained composed.
"No problem… even if things didn't go as planned, it doesn't matter."
In the stands, her Trainer clenched her fist tightly.
In her original plan, once Kyoei March secured the lead, she would maintain a fast pace of around 59 seconds for the first 1000 ters, widening the gap and simply holding on through the final stretch. Given Kyoei March's experience on dirt tracks, she had been confident she could handle the poor conditions today.
"jiro Dober has never raced on a heavy track before."
That, in her eyes, was jiro Dober's weakness—her Achilles' heel.
And she wasn't the only one who thought so. Many experienced spectators in the stands shared the sa belief: this rain-soaked race favored Kyoei March.
—
As for Shuta An, while he acknowledged that the heavy track was indeed unfavorable for jiro Dober, he did not see it as purely negative.
"This is a chance to test her adaptability in advance," he thought. "If she can't handle it, then there's no point even considering Europe. But if she wins—"
His gaze sharpened slightly.
"then winning the Japanese Oaks again would put the Yorkshire Oaks within reach."
—
On the track, jiro Dober's acceleration was clearly stronger than Kyoei March's—but there was no trace of excitent in her expression. Instead—
A faint, uneasy premonition lingered in her mind.
"If it's only this level of acceleration…"
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"I might not catch her."
Super Dress had pressured Kyoei March relentlessly, and Sabuno Hana Park had dragged the race into an extre pace. Yet even so, the overall tempo still aligned with the kind of race Kyoei March had envisioned.
At the mont they entered the final straight, the gap between them remained—
Nearly ten lengths.
On a track so heavy that even maintaining footing was difficult, closing that distance was no easy task.
—
From the VIP box, Shuta An noticed it imdiately.
His brows furrowed.
"Should I have let her take a more forward position?"
He clicked his tongue softly.
"I underestimated Kyoei March's adaptability to heavy track—I didn't expect her to still have this kind of resilience after being pressured like that."
His hands tightened slightly against the railing.
"Dober… go."
There was nothing else he could do now.
He hadn't used any external support—no adjustnts, no intervention. All he could do was stand there and watch, cheering silently for the Uma Musu he had trained with his own hands.
Even though—
She would never be able to hear him.
—
And yet—
Almost imdiately after those words left his lips—
Shuta An's eyes widened in shock.
"jiro Dober! jiro Dober accelerates again—what speed! She's completely pulling away from the pack!" the comntator exclaid in disbelief. "What is this?!"
Ti rewound a few seconds—to the mont jiro Dober realized she might not be able to catch up to Kyoei March.
An emotion nad anxiety quietly welled up in her chest.
Before the race, everyone had called this Oka Sho a head-to-head duel between the two of them. And in her own mind, jiro Dober had simulated the final straight of Hanshin Racecourse countless tis. In every one of those imagined scenarios, there had only ever been one outco—
She would catch up.
She would overtake.
She would win.
Never—not even once—had she considered the possibility that she wouldn't be able to reach her.
"How can I not catch up!?"
Rain-soaked bangs clung to her forehead, blurring her vision. Ahead of her, Kyoei March's silhouette seed almost unreal—wavering, distant, as though it might dissolve at any mont.
But jiro Dober knew—
That wasn't an illusion.
It was reality.
If she couldn't close the distance before the finish line— if all she could do was watch that retreating back— if she couldn't beco faster—not just a little faster, but enough to surpass everything—
To catch up to her sister Ramune's legacy.
To stand at the pinnacle of the jiro Family's history.
To et the expectations of her fans.
"And to beco the Trainer's first Triple Tiara Uma Musu—"
Then everything—Would shatter here.
This wasn't a ga.
There were no warning signals.
No chance to reload.
Even if the Three Goddesses were kind, they would never grant soone the luxury of starting over.
The stage of the Classics only ca once in a lifeti.
Miss it—and all that remained would be regret, carved permanently into one's heart.
jiro Dober understood that better than anyone.
And yet—
At this mont, her thoughts drifted.
She, who loved reading shōjo manga and playing oto gas, suddenly felt as though she had stepped into one herself. As if she were the heroine, cornered at a dead end—one without a solution.
If she failed here—there would be no "perfect ending."
"What should I do—?"
Her breathing tightened.
"What can I still do—?"
Her thoughts raced, turning inward.
"Dober— think carefully. What do you still have left?"
What weapon—
Had she not yet used?
—
In the next instant, sothing surfaced.
A mory.
A conversation.
Sothing she had nearly forgotten.
It was after the Hakodate Nisai Stakes, when Shuta An had suddenly asked her a strange question—
Had she experienced anything unusual in the final stretch?
At the ti, jiro Dober had answered honestly.
"When I made my final burst, everything felt normal at first—but in the last few dozen ters, it suddenly felt like there was a wall in front of . When I chased it, it moved further away—no—it's more like it kept moving away, and I kept chasing it."
She still rembered clearly—
The expression Shuta An had shown when he heard that.
But more than that—
She rembered the feeling itself.
Because that hadn't been the first ti she had experienced it. The first ti had been when she was rushing a deadline for Comic Market. Yet after that, in several official races, that sensation never appeared again.
She had wanted to ask Trainer about it.
But before she could, she had gone to soone else.
Oguri Cap.
To her surprise, the usually airheaded senior had explained everything in detail—what that feeling ant, and how to respond to it.
"Zone."
And now—
"This is the mont to use it."
Her thoughts sharpened.
Following Oguri Cap's guidance, jiro Dober focused her entire being, lowering her center of gravity, driving her legs forward with unwavering intent.
One step.
Two steps.
Then—
On the next step—
Her pupils contracted slightly.
It was there.
That shimring "wall," which had not appeared for so long, stood once again before her.
But this ti—
She was ready. Without hesitation, she adjusted her state—
And charged straight into it.
—
This ti, it did not retreat.
It did not slip away.
It shattered.
—
There was no pain.
No resistance.
No stumble.
Instead—
The mont she broke through, her entire body felt lighter. Her speed surged forward in an instant—yet her stamina did not drop.
On the contrary—it felt as though everything she had consud over the past thousand ters had been restored.
"So this is what Oguri-senpai ant…"
Her voice was almost breathless.
"'Zone'"
Her gaze locked forward. Then there was only one thing left to do.
"Catch her."
"I will not lose here!"
—
Ahead, Kyoei March felt it imdiately.
A pressure—
So Sudden. Overwhelming.
"What—?!"
Her eyes widened slightly.
"I had a ten-length gap—how is she still putting pressure on from that far?!"
It made no sense.
Her experience had never prepared her for this.
In both races and image training, her strongest opponent had always been Sabuno Hana Park—a front-runner who had once faltered at the start.
But jiro Dober—
She sparred daily with G1-level Uma Musu like Silence Suzuka, and had already faced powerful mile specialists like Seeking the Pearl.
These experiences—was not on the sa level.
Kyoei March didn't dare look back.
But she didn't need to.
The sound of footsteps behind her—
Was getting closer.
And closer.
"Damn it!"
She gritted her teeth, forcing her legs to move faster. If she could just hold on— Just a little longer— Maybe jiro Dober would run out of stamina first—
—
But only a few seconds later—
That hope shattered.
"jiro Dober has caught up! They're side by side—she's overtaken her!" the comntator roared, unable to contain his shock. "jiro Dober's final burst has torn through the rain over Hanshin Racecourse!"
In the stands, Kyoei March's Trainer bit down on her lip, completely stunned.
"How…? How can she accelerate in three stages like that…?"
No one had an answer.
—
On the other side—
Shuta An's eyes widened as well.
"DOBER!"
Even he hadn't expected such a sudden reversal.
"GO!"
His voice rose instinctively.
"Push forward! Don't leave any chance behind!"
—
And in the next instant—
The jiro Family's young lady crossed the finish line.
"jiro Dober crosses the line!" the comntator shouted. "With her three-stages acceleration, jiro Dober firmly said "The Classic stage welcos no new heroine today!"
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