An August morning, at the former Takeda Club office.
"Ring, ring."
Still in bed, Takeda Makoto turned off the alarm and opened his phone with heavy eyelids.
Hanshin: August 6, 1985. It had been over half a month since he arrived in this world... and Tama's special endurance and Grit training had also been going on for half a month.
He clicked on the Uma Musume game and opened Tamamo Cross's personal information.
The results of half a month of training.
Speed: 83 increased to 97.
Stamina: 94 increased to 126.
Power: 105 increased to 130.
Grit: 83 increased to 114.
Constitution: 54 increased to 61.
Intelligence: 84 increased to 89.
Thanks to the effects of the Support Cards, the training results were very optimistic. After all, Tamamo Cross was a late-blooming Uma Musume.
This meant her training efficiency in the early stages wouldn't be great, but with the help of the Support Cards, she barely managed to reach a normal level.
After half a month of testing, Takeda Makoto was now able to correlate these values with actual abilities.
To understand the meaning of these values, one must first understand Uma Musume races. Regardless of the distance or track, they are generally divided into three phases.
These three phases are the Opening Leg (phase 0), Middle Leg (phase 1), and Final Leg (phase 2 + phase 3), accounting for 1/6, 1/2, and 1/3 of the track length respectively. Phase 2 of the Final Leg is called the Early Spurt, and phase 3 is the Final Spurt, each accounting for 1/6 of the track.
Speed: Speed is the most important attribute for an Uma Musume. It determines her maximum and cruising Speeds and is a Final Leg attribute.
During the opening and Middle Legs, an Uma Musume does not run at her maximum Speed. Only in the Final Leg, and if she has enough Stamina left, will she accelerate to her maximum Speed to decide the outcome. Thus, Speed is the winning attribute—the higher, the better.
Stamina: Specifically, this is the Uma Musume's physical endurance. Sufficient Stamina is required to challenge long-distance tracks. The higher the Stamina, the longer the Uma Musume can maintain her spurt Speed.
In a race, Stamina can be consumed during the Opening Leg to seize a favorable position, or it can be conserved to start accelerating early from the Wide Outer Turn in the Final Leg to complete a limit-breaking pursuit. An Uma Musume with enough Stamina has more tactical options and a higher margin for error.
Power: Power determines an Uma Musume's explosiveness. This explosiveness affects maximum Speed, acceleration, positioning, breaking through clusters, and climbing hills. These four abilities are all crucial.
An Uma Musume with high Power can accelerate to maximum Speed faster, gaining an advantage in the Final Spurt. During the start of the Opening Leg, high-Power Uma Musume find it easier to snatch a good lane, and in the Final Leg, it's easier to break through the pack.
Uma Musume tracks aren't just flat ground; many major racecourses have uphill and downhill sections. An Uma Musume with high Power will lose less Speed when encountering slopes.
A popular saying in the 80s racing world was: "Kansai Uma Musume aren't fast, and Gray Mane Uma Musume are slow." The latter half was about to be proven as total nonsense by two Gray Mane Uma Musume.
The culprit behind the first half of the saying was the lagging Hanshin Tracen Academy at the time. Most of their racecourses lacked specialized uphill training, Leading to poor performances by Kansai Uma Musume in major races.
Grit: Also known as guts. For a long time in the Uma Musume game, it was called the most useless attribute. In reality, it is the most important mental attribute in real horse racing. The first rule of the Trainer's Manual: A horse without guts can never reach the top.
The reason for this misconception was that in the game, guts only functioned to reduce Stamina consumption during the Final Spurt and increase minimum Speed.
While those are indeed functions of guts, they are the two most meaningless ones. Unless exhausted, the minimum Speed never comes into play. If she's already exhausted, what's the point of a higher minimum Speed? She'll still lose. And Uma Musume with high Stamina already have enough for the spurt, so they don't need to reduce consumption. It's a completely useless setting.
In reality, guts should be described as resilience or a competitive spirit rather than just perseverance. The higher the guts, the less likely an Uma Musume is to give up her desire for victory.
In races, there are often moments where two Uma Musume are far ahead of the rest, which spectators call a "duel to the finish." Usually, the one with higher guts wins.
guts affects an Uma Musume's Speed at critical moments, even allowing them to surpass their original maximum Speed.
Simply put, when a high-guts Uma Musume is Leading, she is harder to overtake; when she is trailing, she can tap into an extraordinary state of Speed to complete an overtake.
Constitution: This attribute doesn't exist in the game, and Takeda Makoto isn't sure of its specific role yet. However, looking at Tamamo Cross's poor Constitution data, it might be a physical health attribute. After all, Tama's small frame is certainly a disadvantage on the track from a normal perspective.
Finally, there's Intelligence. Intelligence is like "football IQ" in soccer; it's the ability to read the race.
Besides learning running theory, Intelligence is more about allowing an Uma Musume to learn and accumulate experience during a race.
An Uma Musume with higher Intelligence is less likely to make mistakes at the start, lose her breathing rhythm in the Middle Leg, or suffer from common stress-induced errors like stalling.
Furthermore, highly intelligent Uma Musume are more precise in changing lanes and timing their spurts. They won't fail to find a path and get boxed in by the crowd during the Final Leg, nor will they commit the blunder of reaching the finish line before they've even hit top Speed.
Lastly, the most important factor of Intelligence in the game is the trigger rate for skill activation. However, in the real Uma Musume world, there doesn't seem to be a concept of "skills" yet—at least, Takeda Makoto hasn't discovered any.
After a quick wash, Takeda Makoto saw Tamamo Cross in the drawing room, using a small wooden hammer to fit horseshoes to her running shoes.
The exaggerated leg strength of an Uma Musume and the explosive Power when running can stomp craters into the ground. These horseshoes, or Plates, are iron attachments specifically for an Uma Musume's racing shoes.
Nailing them to the soles reduces the burden on the feet, protects the ankles, and enhances the ability to grip the ground while running.
Since the condition of the Plates has a huge impact on running, clubs usually have specialized Farriers responsible for maintenance, replacement, and crafting suitable Plates for specific Uma Musume and tracks.
A complete club includes staff like Trainers, Farriers, nutritionists, data analysts, and so on. But currently, as the small, broke Cinderella Club, Tamamo Cross had to handle the maintenance and installation of her Plates herself.
It's normal for conditions to be tough during the startup phase. They'll get everything eventually—Farriers and whatever else. As long as Tamamo Cross can run with pride, Takeda Makoto will find a way to bring them all in.
"Need some help?"
Although he didn't know much about horseshoes, Takeda Makoto could still help with simple tasks. He helped steady Tamamo Cross's tiny racing shoes.
He wanted to comment on how they were the size of children's shoes, but he held back to avoid making Tama angry. While Tama was seriously hammering the Plates, Takeda Makoto carefully examined the shoes in his hands.
This pair of blue and white running shoes looked quite old. Although their owner kept them clean, the cracked patterns and the unsightly lines where the peeling soles had been glued back together showed the marks of time.
She couldn't have been wearing these since elementary school, could she... Takeda Makoto's gaze couldn't help but drift to Tamamo Cross's bare feet. Her small, pinkish feet were twitching playfully in rhythm with her hammering.
Such small feet, yet they could explode with such terrifying energy. Even with daily running, they hadn't developed calluses or become deformed. Uma Musume really are miraculous. While Takeda Makoto was marvelling in his heart, Tamamo Cross finished her work on the Plates.
"Done! Mr. Trainer, you can give the shoes back to me now. What are you looking at?"
"Uh, nothing. Are you ready?"
Feeling guilty, Takeda Makoto looked away and changed the subject.
Tamamo Cross sat on the sofa, put on her white socks and the racing shoes with the Plates, and took a few light steps in place (afraid of smashing the floor). The Plates clattered against the ground with a crisp, loud sound.
"All good! Let's go, I can't wait! The training race!" Tamamo Cross said with satisfaction.
As the saying goes, practice without racing is like not practicing at all.
Only through racing can training results be put into practice and weaknesses discovered. Tracen Academy's racecourse held regular training races. These were joint applications by Trainers and required advance notice. Once approved, the school would post a notice, and any interested Uma Musume who met the criteria could sign up.
Usually, these were races for Pre-debut Uma Musume.
On the day of the race, training would not be allowed on the racecourse. There would even be some spectators—aside from curious Little Uma Musume students, there were also fans drawn by the reputations of certain Pre-debut Uma Musume.
The training race held on August 6th, on a 1600-meter turf track, clockwise, in good weather, with 12 participants. Although there was no popularity poll, the most popular was undoubtedly #5, Eishin Flash... right next to #6, Tamamo Cross.
Yes, that hot-tempered, short-haired Uma Musume who is set to race against Tamamo Cross in half a month.
As the saying goes, "enemies are bound to meet." Takeda Shinya didn't expect them to be assigned to adjacent positions.
Before the race even began, the spectators in the final straight stands could already feel the thick scent of gunpowder at the starting gates.
"It's that one, the Takeda Family's Uma Musume, the little one from Ritto."
"Humph, let her see how formidable the Hanshin Uma Musume are."
"How tragic, being placed next to Eishin Flash. She'll be left so far behind it'll be painful."
Eishin Flash had been training at the Hanshin Tracen Academy racetrack for some time now. Many Uma Musume knew her, and she was considered one of the best among the un-debuted girls. Naturally, no one favored Tamamo Cross.
Takeda Makoto sat leisurely in the front row of the stands. He ignored the chatter of the others; more than the result, he cared about the process of the run. If Tamamo Cross ran well, a victory was entirely possible.
Inside the starting gate, Tama took a deep breath and got into her starting stance, waiting for the moment the gates would open.
"Shorty, are you ready to watch my back?" Eishin Flash taunted through the mesh from the next stall.
"Huh!? I'm gonna show you... Ah!?" Just as Tamamo Cross was about to retort, the gate in front of her suddenly swung open. Visibly startled, she took off half a beat late.
Eishin Flash took off a step ahead, leaving behind a sneer.
"Ah... the race has begun! All contestants have exited the gates cleanly. A beautiful start... Ah, wait, #6 Tamamo Cross had a late start."
Matching the training race was a trainee race commentator who wasn't very professional. The young woman with glasses seemed nervous, making disjointed and strange sounds as it was her first time commentating a training race.
Damn it! That girl did it on purpose!
Tamamo Cross bit her lip and desperately chased the figures ahead. With her excellent acceleration, she quickly moved into the middle of the pack.
"Leading the pack are #1 Sunday Silence and #5 Eishin Flash. Behind them is #2 Blanc Cake on the inside. Oh, Tamamo Cross, who started a bit slow, has caught up and is now in fifth place."
After her initial panic, the commentator regained the composure from her daily practice and simply reported the current situation.
Soon, the first corner arrived.
"Entering the first corner now! #5 Eishin Flash isn't slowing down; she's still accelerating! She's passed #1 Sunday Silence to take the lead!"
"Wow! After seizing the lead, Eishin Flash didn't choose to conserve her strength. She continues to accelerate, pulling away from all the other contestants. She's far in the lead! Is she using a Runner strategy?"
After the first corner, the race entered the Middle Leg. Most Uma Musume chose to maintain a comfortable Speed, saving their Stamina for the Final Leg sprint. Eishin Flash, Leading from start to finish, pulled far ahead. Tamamo Cross could only watch as her back grew smaller and smaller.
"Shorty, are you ready to watch my back?"
Eishin Flash's words from before the start seemed to ring in Tamamo Cross's ears.
"Damn it, damn it! Damn it!! I won't just watch your back!"
Tamamo Cross roared inwardly. Her stride frequency became faster and faster as she broke out from the pack.
"#5 Eishin Flash continues to lead. Following close behind is... it's Tamamo Cross! She's catching up! Is this Uma Musume from Ritto also using a Runner tactic?"
In the stands, Takeda Makoto felt a headache coming on. Tamamo Cross's original plan was to run as a Betweener, staying in the middle-rear of the pack during the early and middle stages to conserve energy before sprinting with everything in the final stage. However, she had started bursting with Speed early on. It was obvious her emotions were affected by the Runner, disrupting her own rhythm.
"Eishin Flash and Tamamo Cross are neck and neck, leaving the other contestants far behind. Are we about to see a thrilling head-to-head duel?"
"The contestants behind seem to have been influenced by the Runners and are starting to accelerate, but they can't come close to catching the two in front. We're about to enter the corner; will Eishin Flash and Tamamo Cross settle this?"
On the track, Eishin Flash and Tamamo Cross ran almost side-by-side, maintaining an extremely high Speed as if competing to see who would give out first. This high-tension, exciting spectacle drew bursts of exclamations from the audience.
Tamamo Cross couldn't hear any sound. Aside from the whistling wind, she could only hear the angry roar in her heart.
"Win... win... win...! I absolutely have to win here...!!"
The two Uma Musume maintained a Final Leg sprint Speed all the way into the latter half of the Middle Leg. Tamamo Cross could hear Eishin Flash's breathing getting heavier beside her, and her own breathing was becoming labored as well.
"The two Leading contestants are slowing down! Is their Stamina starting to fail? The contestants behind are catching up!"
"This is bad..." At this moment, Takeda Makoto and Tamamo Cross seemed to be of one mind, both muttering the same thought in their hearts.
Tamamo Cross had forcibly changed her running rhythm, consuming too much Stamina, and her Speed inevitably began to drop.
Commentator: "The final corner is here! Leading is #5 Eishin Flash, followed by #6 Tamamo Cross. She doesn't look to be in good shape. #2 Blanc Cake is catching up fast..."
After the final corner came the home straight in front of the stands—the moment to sprint with all remaining Stamina.
Tamamo Cross tried her hardest to accelerate, but her legs felt as heavy as if they were in shackles. She could only see Eishin Flash's back ahead of her.
Commentator: "The sprint has begun! Eishin Flash actually saved some Stamina; she's working hard to keep Blanc Cake from catching up. #1 Sunday Silence is also starting to accelerate. Can she catch the two in front?"
It was as if Eishin Flash had been playing with Tamamo Cross earlier; she began to accelerate once more. In the blink of an eye, the figure wearing the number 5 bib pulled further and further away.
"Damn it... why...! My legs are so heavy...! How can I... lose like this...!!"
Watching one figure after another pass her, Tamamo Cross's heart was roaring.
Commentator: "Tamamo Cross is trying to accelerate! But she can't catch up! Has she reached her limit!? Eishin Flash continues to maintain her lead. She's going to lead all the way to the end! The race is decided—!!"
The training race ended. Tamamo Cross, who had originally been in the lead, lost Speed due to insufficient Stamina and ultimately finished in 7th place.
After the race, the racetrack returned to training. On the grass on the southeast side of the track, Tamamo Cross stood before Takeda Makoto with furrowed brows and clenched fists.
"Why... why do I still run so poorly...!!"
Tamamo Cross wasn't getting angry at Takeda Makoto; she was blaming herself. Takeda Makoto could feel it because she wasn't looking at him when she spoke, but was staring down at her own feet.
A strong competitive spirit can fill a person with fighting intent, but everything has two sides. If one cannot control their competitiveness, they will often fail due to impatience.
"Tama... you were too impatient. You lost your rhythm."
Tamamo's perked-up ears drooped limply.
"I'm sorry, Trainer. I think I need to cool down."
Takeda Makoto nodded. After an intense race, one should indeed relax. On the other hand, Takeda Makoto felt quite satisfied with the race.
This was the first time he had seen Tama race. That drive to catch up even after a late start—if saved for the final moment, what a magnificent sprint it would be.
The significance of this race was far greater than winning. He needed to carefully plan the training schedule for the remaining half month.
Of course, the most important thing right now was to stabilize Tama's mood. This was something an excellent Trainer had to do.
"Tama, don't worry too much about winning or losing this race. Adjust your mood well. There's no training for today; go do something to relax."
"Yeah, I'll go for a walk."
Tamamo Cross nodded and slowly walked out of the racetrack alone. After watching her leave, Takeda Makoto went to the Tracen Academy library to redraw the training plan.
Relying on the training effects boosted by the Support Cards, Tamamo Cross's stats had gradually improved. What she needed now was the ability to read the race.