Although he now had a higher goal, Zhou Tai'an didn't plan to change his training regimen for Oguri Cap just yet.
Before that, there was one thing he needed to clarify first—what exactly did "conquering all of Japan" mean?
Was it winning the "Japan Derby," the highest honor for a generation?
Was it winning the Arima Kinen, the race that all of Japan watched every year?
Was it achieving seven G1 victories, like the "Emperor"?
Was it becoming the most popular Horse Girl of her generation?
Or some other achievement?
Zhou Tai'an didn't have a definitive answer himself, but a crazy idea had taken root in his mind.
"If Oguri Cap can win a G1 in Japan, maybe I can take her on an expedition to America... If she were to win there, that would be a feat that not even the 'Emperor' Symboli Rudolf accomplished." The thought almost made Zhou Tai'an laugh out loud.
Although Symboli Rudolf's expedition failure was objectively "not her fault," when he thought about the hype the American media had built up before the race, and then the final result where she didn't even place in the top five, it was hard for him to keep a straight face.
"If I had been training Symboli Rudolf..." he muttered to himself, "I would never have let her challenge a turf race in America... And even if I did, at the very least, I wouldn't have had her run the darn San Luis Rey Stakes at Santa Anita Park. Wouldn't it have been better to run the Sword Dancer Stakes at Saratoga, which is more suited for a Horse Girl like her?"
With this in mind, Zhou Tai'an was even more reluctant to let another trainer take over Oguri Cap.
"Letting that bunch of incompetent fools train her will only dim her future," he clenched his fist and muttered.
"Trainer?" Oguri Cap, having finished her warm-up, came over to Zhou Tai'an and gently roused the young man from his thoughts. "What should I do next?"
Zhou Tai'an looked up, squinting at the vast, clear sky. He recalled the morning's weather forecast and made a decision.
"Let's go for a swim in the pool," he said, his gaze falling on Oguri Cap's face. "The academy's swimming pool is open today."
Swimming could train a Horse Girl's cardiopulmonary capacity, and the load on her legs was much lighter than running the slope. If it weren't for the fact that Horse Girls had to run, Zhou Tai'an believed swimming was more effective than slope training.
But in response to his instruction, Oguri Cap, who had never shown any resistance before, showed a reluctant expression for the first time.
"You don't want to go to the pool?" Zhou Tai'an caught the detail in her expression and asked.
"I'm not very good at swimming..." Oguri Cap explained in a low voice. "I've been bad at it since I was little. I never went in the water back home, I just stayed on the beach."
Zhou Tai'an was genuinely surprised that the gray-coated Horse Girl, who was from Hokkaido, couldn't swim. This new discovery stunned him.
But he couldn't just have Oguri Cap, who was in recovery training, continue to run laps. After thinking it over, he came up with a good idea.
"The academy has kickboards. It would be good for you to just hold onto one and do a few laps in the pool, Oguri Cap," he proposed as a compromise.
"Hmm... okay." Oguri Cap was sure she couldn't escape the pool today.
Although the pool was open, it was filled with Horse Girls, making it a "forbidden zone" for male trainers.
Even under the guise of "guiding training," male trainers couldn't enter the pool area—not even to watch from the sidelines.
So even though Oguri Cap had just said she couldn't swim, Zhou Tai'an could only have Brand New Shine look after her. He couldn't go in himself.
"If only we had a private pool," Zhou Tai'an muttered to himself, standing by the training track. "Then I could carefully observe Oguri Cap's training condition."
He swore to the heavens, he had no other intentions.
At the swimming pool, Oguri Cap held the kickboard Zhou Tai'an had brought and floated on her back.
"Oguri, you can't just float like that! It won't have any training effect!" Brand New Shine was quite helpless.
Oguri Cap heard her friend's call and began to haphazardly splash her legs in the water, moving in clumsy circles.
Brand New Shine, also in an academy swimsuit, covered her face, unable to bear watching her friend's "pathetic" display.
"Hey, Brand New Shine..." Northan Ace, who was also planning to cool off at the pool, couldn't help but comment on the scene. "Oguri Cap is struggling so much. Instead of just watching from the side, you should get in and help her fix her form."
"Oh, right," Brand New Shine, only realizing this after the suggestion, jumped into the water, easily swam to Oguri Cap's side, and began to correct her flawed swimming posture. Even with the backstroke, because she was holding a kickboard, it wasn't difficult for Oguri Cap to correct her form.
After a few minutes of obediently following Brand New Shine's instructions, Oguri Cap finally looked less pathetic.
"Thanks, Northan!" Brand New Shine said, wiping the water Oguri Cap had splashed on her face and shouting her thanks to Northan Ace on the poolside.
"Don't mention it," Northan Ace waved her hand and turned her head away. "It's just that I'm getting in later, and I don't want to get soaked by her splashing."
"Mmm..." Oguri Cap, holding the kickboard, pouted at Northan Ace's teasing, but lacked the confidence to retort.
After floundering in the pool for a few laps, Oguri Cap came to the side, climbed out, and sat down. She then spoke to Brand New Shine, who had gotten out with her. "It seems like someone wants me to go to Central."
"Huh?!" Brand New Shine was so startled she almost fell back into the water. "Did someone invite you, Oguri?"
"No, I heard it from Fujimasa March," Oguri Cap shook her head. "But according to her, Trainer doesn't seem to want me to go to Central."
"Then do you want to go to Central, Oguri?" Brand New Shine bit her lip and asked cautiously. "If you go to Central, you can compete against stronger opponents."
"But I would have to leave you and Trainer, right?" Oguri Cap pointed out.
"Yes, but if you go to Central, it's okay to leave me behind," Brand New Shine bit her lip. She had only ever imagined Oguri Cap retiring; she had never considered the possibility of her friend being poached by Central Tracen Academy.
"Then I'd rather not," Oguri Cap said, lying down by the pool and looking up at the summer sky. "Trainer has so many expectations for me. If I go to Central by myself, it feels like I'd be betraying him."
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