Chapter 98: Toward Dreams and Goals

Several weeks had passed since the Dubai meeting, and it was now mid-April. With the early April Australian G1 rush—The Championships—as well as the Takamatsunomiya Kinen and Osaka Hai concluded, a brief mood of relaxation had settled among us.

Though "relaxation" was fleeting, and we were still training pretty hard.

...Now, the first thing we did after returning to Japan was analyze our rivals. The main targets were Special Week, Seiun Sky, and Kayf Tara, among others. We needed to know what changes they had undergone since the Arima Kinen and what obstacles we’d face when challenging them.

Lounging on the sofa in the trainer’s room while working on something, I called out to Tomio.

"Let’s start the meeting soon~!"

"Just a little longer!"

"I heard that earlier… Is the data still not ready?"

This had been going on for about five minutes now. What in the world was he doing?

Puffing out my cheeks, I got up from the sofa and approached the desk. Placing a hand on his shoulder, I peeked at the screen—only to see headings labeled "Tenno Sho (Spring)" and "Gold Cup", along with a densely packed list of countless faces and profiles.

Just as I was taken aback, Tomio dramatically slammed the Enter key with an exaggerated flourish. Stretching his back and cracking his shoulders, he let out a tired sigh and declared, "Done~!"

"Good work! So, this is the data on our rivals, right?"

"Yep. I figured it’d be better to compile it early, but… it took longer than expected."

"Ooh… Running style, distance suitability, preferred race tactics, even favorite foods… You’ve covered everything down to the smallest detail."

"Right?"

"Good job~!"

"Stop patting my head."

"Ehh~"

Since he complained, I moved my hand from his hair to his shoulder instead. While kneading his stiff shoulders, I skimmed through the detailed data sheets. Special Week, Jarajara, Mejiro Bright, Seiun Sky, Kayf Tara… Just at a glance, there were profiles for at least 50 horses.

No wonder it took so long to compile all this. Half-convinced, I started preparing for the meeting. The coffee was already ready, so I just grabbed a notepad and writing tools—now we were set. Seeing that, Tomio promptly took the lead.

"Alright, let’s begin the meeting."

"Sure thing~!"

"Today is April 14th. Globally, the Dubai World Cup meeting and Australia’s The Championships have ended, while in Japan, the Takamatsunomiya Kinen and Osaka Hai are over… meaning we’re in what you’d call a 'gap period.' So, I want us to take this chance to return to basics and reaffirm a few things."

Putting down his laptop, Tomio wheeled over a whiteboard and started writing. In bold letters, he wrote the heading: "Goals and Dreams."

Goals and dreams. Honestly, these two things didn’t need reaffirming at this point—they were foundational. But Tomio must’ve had a reason for revisiting them, and I wasn’t about to argue. These things were surprisingly important, so I quietly prepared to listen.

"Obviously, my dream is to raise the strongest stayer. And Apollo, your dream is to become the strongest stayer, right?"

"Yep."

"Good. But that raises a question: 'What exactly makes someone the strongest?' and 'What does "strongest" even mean?'"

This was starting to feel more like a lecture than a meeting, but I nodded along. For a horse girl, the word "strongest" was something you heard so often it practically gave you calluses… but actually defining it was tricky.

Especially since the path to it was surprisingly mundane for such a flashy term. You needed luck, the right environment, relentless self-improvement, and an ultimate battle against your own laziness. The pinnacle of steady accumulation—that was the realm of the "strongest."

Tomio asked me, "What does 'the strongest stayer' mean to you, Apollo?" Without hesitation, I answered, "A horse girl who dominates long-distance races and achieves great feats!" Simple and vague, but that was the gist of it.

Seemingly satisfied, Tomio nodded and wrote on the whiteboard.

"To reach a dream, we need to set step-by-step goals… That’s how I see it. Start with relatively simple objectives, then gradually raise the difficulty—until the final goal connects directly to the dream."

Under the heading "Apollo Rainbow’s Path to Becoming the World’s Strongest Stayers", he listed "Goal 1," "Goal 2," and so on.

—Goal 1: Advance to the Open class.

—Goal 2: Win a stakes race and reach G1 level.

—Goal 3: Win a long-distance G1.

And the final goal… Achieve some kind of historic feat in long-distance racing. Tomio drew a line under Goals 1–3 and circled "Goal 4."

"Goals 1 through 3 are already done. See? Looking at it like this, you can tell we’re way closer to the dream than back in the junior grades."

"Isn’t the last one the hardest by far?"

"Well, yeah… But since 'historic feat' is too broad, let’s break it down into smaller milestones."

Under "Goal 4," he wrote the subheading "Sub-Goals."

Even among historic long-distance feats, there were plenty of unprecedented records lying around. Sweeping Japan, Europe, and Australia’s long-distance G1s, completely conquering the Stayers' Million, and more…

Among them, the feat we were aiming for was "Complete Conquest of the Stayers' Million." Listed as sub-goals were "Conquer Europe’s long-distance stakes," "Win a 4000m-class G1 in Europe," and "Complete the Stayers' Million."

Though divided, achieving all of these would finally complete the Stayers' Million. Seeing it written out like this made the sheer scale of the challenge painfully clear.

"Our 'Goal 4' is the complete conquest of Europe’s 'Weatherbys Hamilton Stayers' Million'—the ultimate test for stayers. Accomplish all the sub-goals, and it’s done. By the way, the Stayers' Million is relatively new, and to this day, no one has fully conquered it."

"So if I become the first to complete it, that’d count as achieving a historic long-distance feat, right?"

Double Trigger came close by winning the Sagaro Stakes → Gold Cup → Goodwood Cup → Doncaster Cup, but for a true complete conquest, the Doncaster Cup would need to be replaced with the Lonsdale Cup. Since the Stayers' Million didn’t exist back then, there was no reason to run the Lonsdale Cup—but even so, Double Trigger was the closest in recent years.

"Exactly. Being the first to conquer the Stayers' Million would have huge impact, and no Japanese horse girl has ever won a European long-distance G1. If you keep delivering flawless results, you’ll undoubtedly be hailed as the new era’s strongest stayer."

As a stayer, my biggest achievement so far would probably be conquering the Kikuka Sho (Japanese St. Leger) in under 2 minutes 30 seconds. Moreover, if I were to win the Kikuka Sho → Arima Kinen → Tenno Sho (Spring) long-distance G1 races consecutively, it would be the first such feat since Chairman Rudolf. Add a Stayers Million victory to that, and I could confidently call myself the strongest stayer.

On the other hand, if I can't succeed in Europe, I'll remain stuck as just Japan's strongest stayer—an expensive but ultimately limited title. In this one life we get, that thought leaves me frustrated. Is it greedy to want to reach heights no one has ever seen?

"—And so, winning the Stayers Million is both a dream and a goal I must achieve. Be prepared—every race from the Tenno Sho (Spring) onward will be a battle I can't afford to lose."

Tomio paused there and sighed deeply for some reason. I tilted my head, wondering if he was that tired from earlier work, but apparently there was another reason—he lowered his gaze and began speaking haltingly.

"...Well, I've been preaching like I'm some expert, but compared to you, I'm terribly inexperienced. Apollo might deny it, but the Dubai Gold Cup made me painfully aware of my shortcomings. Had I been more competent, at least I wouldn't have let that contact incident happen. I must have gotten careless without realizing it."

"That's not—"

"No. It's true I was distracted—both by adapting to foreign turf and by other matters. That's why from now on, I want to thoroughly plan out even the smallest countermeasures."

Tomio began briskly erasing the whiteboard. I'd vaguely sensed he was bothered by the Dubai loss, but hearing him say it aloud made my heart clench. Tomio had taught me so much, yet I was the one who actually raced. If anything, I wanted to apologize for losing.

But...when we lose, it's Tomio—my trainer—who faces public criticism. In fact, some critics specifically named him after Dubai.

Wins bring praise, but losses bring criticism to those you care about. Then we have no choice but to win. I must fight carrying not just dreams, but many other burdens too.

Oblivious to my thoughts, Tomio wrote "Countermeasures for Victory Against Rabbits!" on the freshly cleaned board, flashing a confident, toothy grin. The earlier solemn mood vanished, replaced by palpable confidence and expectation. What's he planning now? I have a bad feeling...

"As we challenge European races, Apollo the frontrunner will face unavoidable obstacles—these 'rabbit' horse girls. ...You know what I mean, right?"

"Basically pacemakers to help teammates win, right?"

"Exactly. A key difference from Japan."

Rabbit horse girls—sacrificial frontrunners common in Europe, named after the mechanical rabbits in greyhound racing. In horse girl races, they lead to control the pace, creating favorable conditions for teammates with closing running styles.

For example, when a top horse girl is a closer but there are no frontrunners risking a slow pace (which would favor forward runners), teammates may enter as rabbits to force a faster pace. Conversely, when too many frontrunners might create an excessively fast pace, rabbits may be deployed to seize the lead early and suppress the pace.

This doesn't happen in every race, but in stamina-critical long-distance races, rabbits can't be ignored. While such tactics would draw criticism in Japan, in Europe it's perfectly acceptable—just part of their racing culture.

"Rabbit horse girls will attack at full power to steal the lead from you. Their goal isn't to win, but to manipulate the pace for their teammates."

I've never faced true rabbit horse girls, but they'd likely come at me with Seattle Charming-level determination. I have experienced worst-case scenarios—being matched stride-for-stride late race by overwhelming power and acceleration, wasting precious stamina...only to be overtaken by top horse girls like Kayf Tara. Seattle and Kayf Tara aren't teammates, and Seattle isn't a rabbit, but...similar scenarios in major races wouldn't surprise me.

Had they actually been rabbit and star teammates? That would've been disastrous. Considering that, we can't afford to ignore rabbit countermeasures.

"Frankly, wasting stamina battling frontrunners for the lead just creates unnecessary paths to defeat. So—I've devised a plan!"

Saying this, Tomio suddenly leaned toward me as I balanced a pen on my lips. Caught off guard, I recoiled so hard I nearly flipped over the sofa back.

"Theoretically, there's a strategy to avoid interference from other frontrunners! A way to fight top horse girls head-on without such disadvantages—I call it! The one-and-only frontrunning style that surpasses even extreme pace-setting: 'Ultra-High-Speed Breakaway Running'!!"

I nearly fell over. What is this trainer saying with such a straight face?...Yet it resembles the strategy I'd considered to beat Kayf Tara. To repel rabbits and force a pure endurance battle, there's really no option but extreme pace-setting beyond normal frontrunning.

But commanding me to surpass extreme pace-setting? Easier said than done. My current frontrunning style already pushes me to the limit—I thought we'd need grueling training to level up further...but Tomio seems to have something else in mind.

"To master pace-setting beyond extreme frontrunning, I've arranged for a special instructor."
"An instructor?"

Tomio glanced toward the trainer room door. Following his gaze, I could make out a mosaic-like silhouette through the frosted glass. Most telling were the two distinctive triangular shapes visible through the haze—proof that our "instructor" was unmistakably a horse girl.

"Since they've been waiting outside, I'll have them come in now—"

"YES!!! SAKURA BAKUSHIN O, REPORTING FOR DUTY!!!!"

——And once again, I went flying backward into the sofa