After translating the long string of titles she had just said aloud, Maruzensky chuckled lightly."You can just call it the UAA — the Umamusume Annual Awards. This is an invitation."
Kitahara had already read through the contents of the invitation, including a rough description of the event.
The UAA is held once a year, on New Year's night in Tokyo. Its purpose is to honor the best-performing horse girls, trainers, and other industry professionals of the year. Some of URA's important policy decisions are also discussed in meetings around that time.
Awards like "Horse Girl of the Year," "Best Overseas Expedition Horse Girl," "Best Rookie Horse Girl," and, most prestigious of all, the "Hall of Fame Horse Girl" award are all announced at the UAA.
There are also equivalent honors for trainers.
Kitahara had watched this awards show before and knew all about it — but what surprised him was that he had actually received an invitation.
"So…"
Pointing at his own name on the invitation, Kitahara asked, a bit uncertain,"Are you saying I'm supposed to attend this gala on January 1st?"
Kitahara had assumed an invitation like this was something you simply had to accept. This was arguably the single most important annual event in the horse-girl world. Refusing could even risk sanctions from the URA.
But Maruzensky only shrugged casually, spreading her hands."If you don't feel like going, it's no big deal."
She gave a playful smile. "One person has already decided not to attend anyway."
"Oh — and if it's okay with you, just call me Maruzen. My full name's fine too, but I'm not fond of titles like 'Vice President.'"
Kitahara hadn't expected Maruzensky to be so approachable. After a moment's thought, he nodded. "Alright then, Maruzen. You can just call me Kitahara."
Unlike the staff at Kasamatsu Academy, he wasn't awestruck by big names.
Then, curiosity got the better of him.
"You said someone's already decided not to go — mind telling me who?"
He was just genuinely curious.
Maruzensky gave him a sidelong glance, a faint curl at the corner of her mouth.
"Sirius Symboli — ever heard of her?"
"Mmm, twenty—"
Instinctively, Kitahara almost blurted out the mare's 26-race, 4-win career record — but he caught himself. Sirius Symbol was likely still active and hadn't raced that many times yet.
He cleared his throat awkwardly, then corrected himself:
"Uh… wasn't she the one who's been overseas all year?"
A glimmer of amusement flickered in Maruzensky's eyes, and she nodded lightly.
"Ten races abroad. Third in the G1 Oaks, second in the G3 Prix Foy, fourth in the Baden-Baden Grand Prix. Even ran in the Arc — only finished 14th, but… hey, it's still the Arc."
Impressive… no, very impressive.
Kitahara nodded to himself silently.
In all those races, Sirius Symboli hadn't won first place — but compared to the international standard, Japanese horse girls just weren't on the same level yet.
Looking further back, there were two who'd gone overseas before: Speed Symboli and Takeshiba Ou. Both were absolute top-tier at home — with stellar records of 42 starts, 17 wins, 5 seconds, and 29 starts, 16 wins, 10 seconds, respectively.
And yet even they had only attempted four and two overseas races — with no victories.
Such outcomes could be attributed to differences in racing schedules, training, track conditions, even time zone fatigue, dietary changes, and general adjustment issues between Japan and Europe or America.
But nowadays, even the "Japan Cup" was basically dominated by foreign horse girls. Environment and acclimatization simply weren't sufficient excuses anymore.
From that perspective, Sirius Symboli fighting through ten overseas races — and still earning multiple top-five finishes — clearly made her one of Japan's strongest horse girls.
In a way, while Speed Symboli and Takeshiba Ou had ventured abroad, they hadn't participated in as many events. Sirius Symbol's ten races were an invaluable trove of experience for Japanese horse girls — she could rightfully be called a pioneer of expeditions.
Given all that, the "Best Overseas Expedition Horse Girl" award was almost certainly hers — except…
Kitahara hesitated, then asked instinctively:
"So, is Sirius Symboli… embarrassed to accept the award because she didn't win first place?"
Maruzensky didn't answer right away. Instead, she regarded Kitahara with a sly, faintly amused expression.
She hadn't come with the inspection team to sightsee in Kasamatsu. Her apparent lack of interest during the earlier negotiations had only been because she had her own mission.
URA officials, the Central Tracen Academy board, even her friend and colleague Symboli Rudolf — all had wanted her to observe Kitahara up close: this "rising star" of a trainer who was now on the industry's radar.
He was far too composed for his age. Usually, trainers his age — no, not just trainers, anyone his age — upon hearing "Central Tracen," or seeing her or Rudolf, would at least show some sign of awe…
His principal certainly did. So did the members of the inspection team.
But Kitahara treated her like… like he'd known her for years.
Heh… interesting…
Suppressing a laugh, she timed her reply perfectly — just before Kitahara could feel uncomfortable from her silent scrutiny.
"Ah… it's not just that she feels awkward about not getting first abroad."
A slender, pale finger twirled a smooth chestnut lock as Maruzensky smiled faintly.
"She came back mid-year, you know. Her first race back — a G2 — she placed eighth. Then in the Autumn Tenno Sho, only ninth. She's probably embarrassed because of that… no, wait—"
Suddenly she laughed, shaking her head.
"She's not embarrassed. She's angry. At herself. So now she's sulking — throwing a little tantrum, refusing to accept the award."
Uh… sulking instead of accepting the award…
That did fit Sirius Symbol's personality, actually. She'd always been a bit hot-tempered.
Kitahara gave a wry smile, then after a moment's thought, spoke casually:
"Can't say I blame her. If I remember right, Sirius Symbol's been active for quite a while now — she's about at the end of her 'prime window.'"
"If she hadn't gone overseas, her record probably wouldn't look like this. The fact that she could face off against European and American horse girls and finish second or third proves her strength."
"I'd wager that if she'd stayed domestic, her races would've been about as suspense-free as yours."
"And the slump since coming back is probably just readjustment."
…Just as the dossiers had said — this Kitahara trainer's knowledge of both domestic and international horse girls was far beyond what one would expect from someone his age…
Maruzensky cast him a sly glance, her lips curving into a quiet, knowing smile.
(End of Chapter)