True to her word, after Zhou Tai'an brought Oguri Cap back, Tamamo Cross offered to treat them to kishimen.
"It seems Northan Ace taught you well. Your winning live performance this time was much better than last time, Oguri Cap," Zhou Tai'an was praising his gray-coated Horse Girl's performance in the recent winning live.
Then he turned to face Tamamo Cross. "Why don't we just forget it? The last time my colleague made a bet with me, it was also for a meal, and he ended up spending 50,000 yen."
"Uh—" Tamamo Cross flinched at the figure. She only had three 10,000-yen bills in her wallet, two short of 50,000.
"Then let's exchange contact info," Tamamo Cross said after a moment's hesitation. "I'll owe you this meal for now. I'm going to Hokkaido this summer to challenge the 1-win class race. When I get back, I'll definitely treat you."
Zhou Tai'an raised an eyebrow, thinking to himself, "She has three A-ranks, just like Oguri Cap, but she's only just broken her maiden at Central?"
He quickly corrected his own misconception.
"No, that's not right. Based on what she said before, she seems to have been running on dirt and from the front. Her aptitude for both of those is very low, so it's not surprising," Zhou Tai'an breathed a sigh of relief and then gave Tamamo Cross his home phone number.
"Okay, I've got it," Tamamo Cross committed it to memory, nodded, and then turned to Oguri Cap. "Oguri Cap, remember my name, Tamamo Cross—I'm looking forward to seeing you on the tracks at Central."
"I will be there!" Oguri Cap's tone was firm, her gaze unflinching as she met Tamamo Cross's. "I'll go challenge Central with my trainer and Brand New Shine-chan!"
"Good luck~" Tamamo Cross waved, brushing past Oguri Cap. "I hope we meet on the track in the future."
"We will," this time, Zhou Tai'an answered for Oguri Cap. "In the second half of next year, we will."
Tamamo Cross said nothing more and walked away alone.
She didn't really believe Zhou Tai'an's "second half of next year," but she had a vague feeling that the future might really unfold as this country trainer had said.
Since he hadn't fleeced Tamamo Cross, Zhou Tai'an decided to pay for a meal for his two Horse Girls at a nearby restaurant himself.
Looking at the mountain of dishes in front of Oguri Cap and the already green-faced waiter, Zhou Tai'an felt calm. On one hand, he was used to it. On the other hand, he would get a 600,000-yen cut of the prize money from today's Wakakoma Sho, so the cost of this meal was completely acceptable.
Brand New Shine glanced at Oguri Cap, who was busy devouring her food, and then met her trainer's gaze. "Trainer, is it time to start preparing for the Hokkaido Yushun Championship now?"
"Yes," Zhou Tai'an said, picking up a sweet shrimp and popping it in his mouth, his words muffled. "Next, I need you to prepare horseshoes for Oguri Cap to adapt to different track conditions, get a few pairs of spare shoes, and help me organize what we need to bring to Hokkaido."
"I'll handle the race data and everything myself," he continued after swallowing. "If all goes well, we'll leave Kasamatsu as soon as you're done with these tasks."
"So early? Isn't the race at the end of August?" Brand New Shine was taken aback, not understanding why Zhou Tai'an was in such a hurry.
"Going early will give us a good chance to acclimate to the environment," Zhou Tai'an said, turning to Oguri Cap. "And we'll also pay a visit to Oguri Cap's home and have a talk with her mother."
Hearing her trainer mention her, Oguri Cap quickly looked up. "Huh?"
"We're going to Oguri's house?!" Brand New Shine got excited. "I want to go too!"
"Of course I'm taking you," Zhou Tai'an rolled his eyes. "We're all going to Hokkaido this time. We're not leaving you behind in Kasamatsu."
"Going home..." Oguri Cap was surprised, her chewing even slowing down. She really hadn't expected her trainer to suggest this.
"Yeah, it's been almost half a year since you've been home, right, Oguri Cap?" the young trainer raised an eyebrow and continued. "Since we're going to Hokkaido anyway, you must want to go home and see your family, right?"
"And I remember you said your family's financial situation isn't great," Zhou Tai'an tapped the table. "If you win the Hokkaido Yushun Championship, the prize money will be enough for your mom to move to Kasamatsu and get a better house."
"A better house..." Oguri Cap repeated, her eyes lighting up.
Seeing Oguri Cap's expression, Zhou Tai'an was sure he wouldn't need to give her any more encouragement.
"Just for this, Oguri Cap will definitely be in her best condition for this trip to Hokkaido," he muttered to himself.
After dropping Oguri Cap and Brand New Shine off at the academy, Zhou Tai'an planned to call it a day early.
Staying at the academy would just mean writing post-race reports, and he felt more comfortable writing them at home. As for training... surely no trainer would demand their Horse Girl continue with daily training right after she had just competed in a race, right?
After repeatedly reminding Oguri Cap not to do any morning training tomorrow and to wait for him to come to work to arrange her recovery training, and giving Brand New Shine an advance on her activity funds, he leisurely drove back to his apartment.
But even though he had left work early, his day's work was not yet over when he got home.
He took a shower, rested on the sofa for a while, and then sat back down at his desk to start writing the post-race report for Oguri Cap's Wakakoma Sho.
After objectively describing the gray-coated Horse Girl's performance at Nagoya Racecourse, Zhou Tai'an casually added a sentence, as if it were an afterthought: "In this race, Oguri Cap displayed outstanding speed talent. Perhaps she can try challenging a Central turf Graded Race next year."
And in the strengths and weaknesses section, just like the last report, Zhou Tai'an wrote extensively in the strengths column, while the weaknesses section contained only a simple sentence—
"Insufficiently clear understanding of the opponent's strength, slightly hesitant in timing her acceleration."
-------
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