Ever since Yasui Makoto first encountered Special Week—whether hiding clumsily in the bushes outside the tunnel exit, or through her various reactions in the stands afterward—his impression had remained consistent:
She seemed exactly the type who’d arrive late for her school debut or nearly get herself locked out of the dorms.
However, that impression began shifting just before the race began.
Initially, when he saw Special Week help Kitasan Black adjust her number cloth, he hadn’t realized anything was off.
Only later, recalling the paddock livestream, did he notice the black-haired girl had indeed pinned her number upside down.
Since the digit was a “1,” easy to overlook when reversed, Yasui himself had failed to catch the mistake at first.
The fact that Special Week noticed revealed she wasn’t quite the carefree airhead she appeared.
Her insightful analysis just moments ago further proved this point.
Though perhaps lacking deeper theoretical knowledge about training, as a top-tier Uma Musume, Special Week possessed a racing intuition many professional trainers could hardly match.
With such intuition, even without deep theory, she could still glean countless insights simply from watching a race—
Just like how she had recognized Kitasan Black’s strategy in the opening segment.
Realizing this, Yasui Makoto fell silent for a moment, thoughtfully watching the race unfold.
The Uma Musume had passed the first turn, approaching the exit of the second corner now.
Positions remained largely unchanged. Susan Muse led comfortably by about three horse-lengths, Kitasan Black held second, and the rest of the field trailed behind in a single-file line.
The commentary accurately reported:
“They’re approaching the backstretch now; the overall pace has slowed down.”
“200 meters in 12.7 seconds, 400 meters in 24.3, and 600 meters in 36.7 seconds—quite steady. It’s likely to remain slow approaching the 800-meter mark.”
The commentator quickly added analysis:
“Susan Muse isn’t the type to run at high speeds early on. This pace suits her perfectly.”
“But at this pace, runners like Unyielding True Steel, known for strong late kicks, can conserve their stamina. If Susan Muse maintains or further slows the pace, the closers could dominate the home stretch.”
“Let’s hope Susan Muse has prepared some counter-strategies.”
Hearing this, Yasui glanced thoughtfully toward Special Week standing beside him.
Even before qualifying as a trainer, Yasui had clearly understood his situation.
No matter how much knowledge of the future he possessed or how thoroughly he’d prepared beforehand, his lack of practical experience was inevitably a disadvantage.
At first, he hadn’t worried much about this.
With the advantage of limited foresight and careful preparation, he’d assumed he could guide any Uma Musume to decent results.
Reality, however, proved different.
After coming to Tokyo and facing continuous rejections for months, he had been left to rely solely on books, research, and limited resources. Many training strategies and race preparations simply couldn’t be done smoothly…
That was his reality.
Experiencing these setbacks gradually made him realize that his value—as with the Uma Musume themselves—depended heavily on concrete results from actual races.
Recently, his interactions with prominent figures like Daiwa Scarlet, Vodka, Tokai Teio, Mejiro McQueen—and now Special Week—reinforced this understanding.
If not for Kitasan Black’s back-to-back victories, these renowned Uma Musume likely wouldn’t have paid him much attention. At most, they’d offer the basic courtesy due to his status as Kitasan’s trainer or his exam results, nothing deeper.
But those consecutive wins changed things entirely.
Uma Musume like Daiwa Scarlet didn’t just notice Kitasan Black; they also began noticing him, willingly sharing their past training experiences, advice, and practical tips to support him in both training and racing.
These interactions prompted Yasui to consider the future in more detail, eager to learn even more from such top-tier Uma Musume.
Carrying this thought, he was just about to ask Special Week for her thoughts on the current race when she once again began muttering thoughtfully to herself.
“Susan Muse’s pace… really feels a bit too comfortable.”
“Yeah, the early pace was pretty slow. Ah, 800 meters in 49.8 seconds—that’s even slower.”
“But only a three-length lead at this stage? Trying to fend off closers with that…”
After muttering to herself, Special Week frowned briefly, then turned curiously toward Yasui.
“Trainer Yasui, Kita-chan isn’t planning to keep leisurely trailing like this forever, right?”
Hearing this, Yasui silently nodded to himself.
Special Week had guessed correctly—Kitasan indeed planned to accelerate soon. Her question indicated clearly that she thought such a move necessary.
If a front-runner aimed to win, opening a decisive gap early was crucial, buying time to conserve stamina later on.
Naturally, this also opened opportunities for counters, leading to a tactical battle of minds.
One such tactic was “position pressure.”
By carefully managing distance and rhythm when trailing behind, a pursuer could prevent the leader from relaxing their pace—this was precisely “position pressure.”
Yet this tactic wasn’t easy to execute.
Many racing strategies were double-edged swords, disrupting the opponent but inevitably affecting the user as well.
Take Mynah Major’s actions at the start: by trying to pressure Kitasan, her own focus had also faltered.
Similarly, if Kitasan Black wanted to restrict Susan Muse’s strategy using “position pressure,” she’d need multiple carefully timed accelerations to threaten the leader.
And every time Susan Muse detected footsteps behind her, she’d have to judge and decide quickly:
Was Kitasan Black genuinely attempting to take the lead? Or was it just “position pressure,” or perhaps another kind of tactical acceleration?
If she judged it to be either of the latter two, she’d either have to accelerate to maintain distance or relinquish her lead—both scenarios consuming precious stamina, typically scarce for front-runners.
Susan Muse certainly wouldn’t enjoy that experience.
And the tactical clash between these two front-runners would inevitably influence the decisions and judgments of all the racers behind them as well.
They’d have to determine if the two in front were genuinely fighting for position or merely increasing the pace.
The former was excellent news for the trailing pack—infighting among front-runners meant excessive stamina loss, allowing the rest to comfortably adjust their strategies.
But if the latter, the trailing runners would be forced to increase speed. After all, everyone knew that once front-runners opened a sizable lead, overtaking them later became extremely difficult.
Having previously simplified these complex strategies, Yasui had already thoroughly briefed Kitasan Black before the race.
Previously lacking advisors, he’d learned most of these strategies through books, magazines, research papers, and past racing videos.
Thankfully, during recent conversations, Daiwa Scarlet and Vodka had both enthusiastically approved of this approach.
And now, observing Special Week’s affirmation, Yasui felt even more confident.
“I’ve instructed Kita-chan to use ‘position pressure’ tactics,” he explained.
Quickly running through the scenario in his mind again, he turned toward the straight stretch across the stands and nodded solemnly:
“From my memory, Special Week-san, you often raced using sen-sashi (stalking then overtaking) tactics. You’re probably quite familiar with this approach.”
“Yeah, that’s exactly right. Otherwise, front-runners would just comfortably control the race to the finish line—”
Special Week had barely nodded in agreement when she suddenly shifted, eyes widening in excitement as she grabbed the railing and leaned forward toward the racetrack.
“There! Kita-chan’s making her move!”
—
This is a fan translation of 赛马娘：从被撞飞十米开始 by 百升飞上天 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!
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