At the trainer's office, Hayato had been waiting for quite a while.
The other two horse girls arrived shortly after King Halo.
Hayato was organizing information for everyone's debut race registration. Papers and forms covered his desk.
While filling out the content, he looked up at King Halo. "King, this year's Classic Triple Crown challenge registration is about to close. Although it's somewhat sudden, I still need to ask your intentions first. Are you planning to pursue the Triple Crown Classic this year, next year, or even later?"
The Classic Triple Crown referred to the Satsuki Sho, Tokyo Yushun (Japanese Derby), and Kikka Sho.
The rules for winning were: could only participate once in a lifetime, and must complete within one year.
So if any horse girl didn't plan to participate this year, you could wait and register next year.
Triple Crown race registration needed to be done in advance. Because Oguri Cap once missed the Triple Crown Classic, the committee caved to pressure from multiple sides.
This rule had now been reformed. After the registration deadline, you could still register by paying more cash.
Someone could cancel after registering, but the registration fee wouldn't be refunded.
The registration fee was currently paid by the Tracen Academy. As long as horse girls could place in the top five in races, the registration fee could be waived. Otherwise, the registration fee would be deducted from the trainer's salary.
Yes, deducted from the trainer's salary.
Small races were fine. For big races, if you lost, no amount of salary would be enough to cover it. Without absolute certainty, trainers generally wouldn't register their horse girls for classic races.
If the team registered after the deadline, the registration fees were over a million yen. Unless it was a guaranteed win, you'd lose big. With such expensive fees, ordinary people wouldn't be willing to pay.
Additionally, some necessary classic races were also best registered for in advance.
The benefit of early registration was that, as long as you passed the entry qualifications, you could participate. Late registration could only become entry substitutes, meaning you could only participate if not enough qualified people signed up.
"What does trainer think?" She threw the question back to Hayato. She wanted to hear his opinion first.
"In my opinion, this year is when you have the best chance of achieving the Triple Crown Classic. After next year, it's absolutely impossible."
King Halo's ears perked forward. "Hah? Why?"
Hayato stood up and started pacing. "Because of the Golden Generation. In the coming years, wave after wave of strong competitors will appear. Each generation stronger than the last. If you give up this year, you'll truly have no chance at the Triple Crown Classic."
Speaking of the Golden Generation, it referred to Seiun Sky, Special Week, Grass Wonder, El Condor Pasa, and others.
People gave them the nickname "Four Dining Tables."
They had wins and losses among each other in the Golden Generation.
By record, Special Week was the strongest, but Grass Wonder was also called Special Week's killer. Seiun Sky had also beaten Special Week multiple times in the beginning. As for El Condor Pasa, needless to say, she later went on to challenge the Arc de Triomphe. Many people said she was the strongest of the Golden Generation.
'In my opinion, El Condor Pasa would become a very strong opponent. After all, based on the records, El Condor Pasa's wins were far more consistent than Special Week's, who was known to be quite inconsistent.'
It was hard to say who was truly stronger when they actually faced off.
Facing these four, Hayato really couldn't think of what hope King Halo had to stand out. The odds were stacked too high.
Right now, Seiun Sky and Grass Wonder had already come to his side. El Condor Pasa hadn't arrived yet. If she came, Hayato could try to recruit her.
Special Week also hadn't come. This one was simple, just grab her with a sack faster than Gold Ship could.
Thinking this, Hayato glanced around the room.
'Speaking of which, the trainer's office seemed to be missing a sack. I need to get one soon.'
Actually, even without a sack, he shouldn't need to worry. Because he had a Special Week trap already in place.
His gaze shifted to Silence Suzuka, who sat quietly in the corner.
With this trap here, everything was ready. Just waiting for Special Week to show up.
"Then, if I register now, how confident is trainer-san in making me achieve the Triple Crown Classic?" King Halo leaned forward slightly, watching his face.
"To be frank, barring any accidents, under normal training conditions, only the 3000-meter Kikka Sho at the end has some difficulty. But it's not impossible. I just like challenging this kind of impossible. Do you trust me?"
King Halo didn't even hesitate. "Then what else is there to say? Register. I'll listen to trainer-san." She nodded, smiling as she could already see herself standing on that winner's podium.
Seiun Sky had been quiet up until now, but Hayato's words made her breath catch. Her eyes went wide.
The Kikka Sho has some difficulty? Challenge the impossible?
This guy was really talking big.
"Trainer, isn't your tone a bit too big?" Seiun Sky couldn't help herself. "The Classic Triple Crown is GI-level races. The Derby is the dream of countless horse girls. You say only the Kikka Sho has some difficulty... Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?"
Several thousand horse girls debut each year. Only a few hundred manage to debut. Only about ten were truly able to challenge the Triple Crown.
Just participating alone shattered countless horse girls' hopes.
Saying only the Kikka Sho had difficulty was borderline delusional.
King Halo's chin lifted. "Hmph, my trainer should speak with this kind of tone."
No trainer had ever dared say their horse girl winning the Triple Crown was as simple as eating and drinking. Just this attitude alone, King Halo felt she'd chosen the right person.
"Seiun, you take the 'Spring Triple Crown'. As long as you don't encounter freaks like Super Creek at long distance, you should have no problem with the Tenno Sho Spring."
"Tenno Sho is a prestigious race for long-distance specialists. Unlike the Classic Triple Crown, which is limited to the same year generation or below, Tenno Sho is open to senior racers." Hayato pulled out another form.
With Oguri Cap retired, Super Creek probably wouldn't come out to cause trouble either. The timing was perfect.
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There's no official Spring Triple Crown or Autumn Triple Crown, but fans often refer to some major G1 races that way.