Nakayama Racecourse, 2000 meters. The Satsuki Sho.
The first stage of the Classic Triple Crown had gathered the absolute finest runners of this generation.
"Ranked number one in popularity, competitor number six, Mejiro McQueen..."
The moment she stepped onto the turf, deafening cheers erupted across the entire stadium.
This was the sheer popularity that came from capturing a G1 victory immediately after a Debut Race. Winning a G1 straight out of the gate was nothing short of the birth of a new legend. When the fans saw Mejiro McQueen register for the Satsuki Sho, they knew immediately she was gunning for the glory of the Triple Crown.
Down on the track, Mejiro McQueen was busy evaluating her fated rival, Tokai Teio.
Even though the girl had only recently made her debut, McQueen could sense her raw physical attributes were barely a step behind her own. She truly was a natural-born genius.
Tokai Teio, who was currently performing her signature warm-up routine, noticed the stare. She flashed a provocative smile.
"I am going to win this race."
"..."
McQueen turned her head away. A provocation of that level didn't even register on her radar.
She wanted to win?
She could talk after she actually caught up during the race.
Seeing McQueen's indifferent reaction, Tokai Teio didn't push the issue. She had paid close attention to this rival and thoroughly researched McQueen's past races. She knew exactly what she had to do to force McQueen to look her in the eye.
She had to crush her fair and square on the track!
While Teio stared passionately at McQueen, several other Uma Musume were watching the two of them from behind. As the brightest geniuses of their generation, it was impossible to ignore them. To the other competitors, McQueen and Teio were both monsters blessed with flawless, innate running forms.
McQueen's elegant footwork and the famous Teio Step looked like two sides of the same coin.
In reality, they weren't that different.
The only distinction was that McQueen possessed a massive arsenal of mechanical skills. Tokai Teio currently only had her Teio Step.
As the warm-up period ended, the horse girls entered the starting gates.
The countdown began. Three, two, one!
The runners burst from the gates.
Just like always, Mejiro McQueen instantly claimed the absolute front. Empowered by her acceleration skills, her opening sprint was simply too explosive for any of the other runners to intercept.
Falling a step behind, Seiun Sky's expression darkened. She had fully intended to fight McQueen for the lead position.
She had a terrible feeling about letting McQueen dictate the pace of this race. After studying the footage of McQueen's previous matches, she understood the strategy perfectly. McQueen would execute a Grand Escape to build a massive lead, recover her stamina during the middle leg, and then unleash a terrifying final spurt.
To stop that Grand Escape, she needed to shatter McQueen's rhythm right out of the gate.
But attempting it in reality proved to be impossibly difficult.
Is that kind of acceleration even biologically possible for a horse girl?
Seeing Seiun Sky fail to disrupt McQueen's pace, the expressions of the trailing runners shifted drastically. Realizing McQueen was about to establish another insurmountable gap, every single competitor collectively chose to accelerate.
They absolutely could not let her dominate the early game like she had in her previous races!
If they allowed her to slip away now, catching up later would be a nightmare. The middle leg might offer a slight window of opportunity, but a 2000-meter track was simply too short to overcome a massive lead!
Everyone is incredibly tense.
Running in the middle of the pack, Tokai Teio quietly observed the condition of the other racers. It was painfully obvious how much psychological pressure McQueen was exerting on the entire field.
"The current leader is number six, Mejiro McQueen! The runners behind her seem to be heavily influenced by her blistering pace!"
"In second place is number three, Seiun Sky. She is currently trailing the leader by six lengths."
"Following closely are number eleven, Biwa Hayahide, and number one, Tokai Teio."
Passing through the corner, Mejiro McQueen frowned.
The advantage she had built in the early stage wasn't large enough. She was distinctly unsatisfied.
However, this wasn't a 3000-meter endurance test. She didn't need to conserve a massive amount of stamina for the middle leg. She had run her previous races so conservatively precisely because her opponents were weak. She had intentionally hidden her true mid-race stamina capacity just to prepare for a scenario exactly like this one.
As they entered the middle leg, every runner waited for the white figure ahead to finally decelerate.
But McQueen didn't suffer the dramatic drop in speed they expected. While she was slightly slower than her opening sprint, her pace remained terrifyingly fast.
How is that possible?!
The chasing pack was completely stunned.
Even Tokai Teio, who had come prepared, felt completely blindsided.
Her original strategy was to close the distance during the middle leg, overtake McQueen on the second corner, and then use her final burst to secure the victory.
But at this rate, if she didn't burn her energy now, she wouldn't even be able to catch up before the final leg began.
Damn it!
Up ahead, a flash of blue light ignited in Seiun Sky's eyes. She decisively activated a skill and surged forward.
McQueen's performance had completely shattered her predictions, but her instincts screamed that this was her one and only chance to win!
McQueen felt the sudden wave of pressure closing in from behind. Seiun Sky's burst of speed was slightly unexpected, but she wasn't surprised the runner possessed a skill.
It is already too late.
Entering the final corner, McQueen triggered her own skill, and her velocity spiked.
Seeing the explosive shockwave of air forming around McQueen, Seiun Sky completely lost her composure.
No!
She absolutely had to overtake her on this bend!
She pushed herself to the absolute brink, her silent screams echoing in her mind.
"Aaaargh!"
Two overlapping shouts shattered the air. Seiun Sky watched in sheer shock as two runners blew right past her, her own scream choking in her throat.
Biwa Hayahide and Tokai Teio had both erupted with their own violent shockwaves. They instantly eclipsed Seiun Sky and charged aggressively toward McQueen's back.
Ten lengths!
Seven lengths!
Three lengths!
The two of them were burning their latent potential to the absolute limit. The physical auras radiating from their bodies were absolute proof.
The announcer screamed into the microphone. "Tokai Teio! Tokai Teio! Biwa Hayahide! They are closing in! They are actually catching up!"
Hearing the broadcast, Mejiro McQueen ground her teeth.
Curse it all. Relying on a single skill to hold the lead really wasn't safe enough.
Her final leg spurt could activate as long as she was in the front pack. She didn't technically need to be in first place. But she had absolutely no intention of surrendering the lead!
Besides, if Tokai Teio and the others could manifest this level of acceleration through sheer willpower, did they really think she couldn't do the same?
Her eyes turned glacially cold.
A flicker of deep purple flame flashed briefly in her left eye.
Up in the stands, several seasoned horse girls suddenly sensed a terrifying shift in the atmosphere.
Bang!
With the sound of an exploding shockwave, McQueen's speed spiked once again.
Her pure white silhouette practically left afterimages on the turf. In the blink of an eye, she tore open another full horse length between herself and the two pursuers.
Tokai Teio's expression blanked in pure shock. Her footing faltered for a fraction of a second, allowing Biwa Hayahide to instantly overtake her.
But her hesitation was only momentary. Stomping her foot violently against the earth, she detonated a third stage of acceleration!
Tokai Teio burned brighter than ever!
A violent streak of crimson flame seemed to ignite within the aura surrounding her body. Pushed to the brink by her fated rival, Teio's latent potential was blooming prematurely on the track.
Up in the VIP viewing box.
Symboli Rudolf watched Teio's figure with a deeply grim expression.
Tokai Teio hadn't actually touched the threshold of the Zone.
But the way she was aggressively cannibalizing her own potential looked identical to it. In fact, what Teio was doing right now was far more lethal than properly opening the Zone's gates.
Rudolf was powerless to stop the race. All she could do was pull out her phone and order a medical team to stand by.
Down on the turf, Biwa Hayahide felt like she was chasing two absolute psychopaths.
McQueen's explosive burst wasn't entirely surprising. The girl's track record spoke for itself.
But Tokai Teio's sudden resurgence was completely illogical. Hayahide had clearly sensed Teio hitting her physical limit just moments ago. Teio had even stumbled. On what physiological basis was she drawing this impossible power?
Mejiro McQueen had subconsciously brushed against the threshold of the Zone.
But she hadn't opened the door. She hadn't even found the handle. Her current burst of speed was fundamentally inferior to Tokai Teio's self-immolating sprint.
The scorching heat radiating from behind her nearly twisted McQueen's expression into a snarl. Teio's sheer tenacity was genuinely terrifying.
Don't even think about it!
Staring at the exit of the final corner, McQueen forced a cloud of deep purple energy from her body and surged forward.
But the crimson aura burning around Tokai Teio was vastly more aggressive than her own purple energy.
Teio closed the gap to half a horse length.
They were only two or three strides away from exiting the bend. If Teio managed to overtake her here, McQueen had zero confidence she could reclaim the lead against an opponent burning this brightly.
But in the end, Tokai Teio fell just one or two strides short.
McQueen maintained her lead as they cleared the final corner.
Brilliant, iridescent light erupted from beneath her feet. Radiant white energy wrapped around her body. In a fraction of a second, she shot forward like a bullet fired from a sniper rifle.
Victory belongs to me!
In the blink of an eye, the gap widened. One length! Three lengths! Five lengths!
McQueen was still accelerating!
On the final two-hundred-meter straight, the distance Teio had bled to close was instantly torn open once more.
And as McQueen continued to accelerate, that gap only continued to multiply!
Until she finally crossed the finish line.
"She crosses the line!"
"The conqueror of the first stage of the Classic Triple Crown is Mejiro McQueen! What an absolutely breathtaking race! Let us give her our loudest congratulations!"
"Following closely behind to cross the line is Tokai Teio!"
"The match is over!"
Slowing to a halt, Mejiro McQueen turned around. She looked at Tokai Teio, whose face was dreadfully pale, yet still forcing herself to wave at the cheering crowd.
"Hmph."