The track was 25 meters wide overall, using the longer 1,600-meter outer course. It ran right-handed, clockwise, and after completing one lap, they still had to sprint forward another roughly 400 meters.
After exchanging a few brief words with the male jockeys beside him, the betting notification period ended, meaning the race was about to begin.
In the end, Ogura Asahi's popularity ranking settled at third.
After finishing the mutual encouragement with his "colleagues," he bent down to reassure "Bay Romance," telling it to stay ready to burst forward at any moment. At the same time, he felt both wary and nervous.
He was wary of the other jockeys on both sides. He did not know whether jealousy or caution would make them squeeze and surround him right from the start, leaving him unable to find an opening to seize a favorable position before the turn.
What made him nervous was that, even though he had plenty of confidence in himself, he could not guarantee that his cross-species partner would be capable enough.
He had said it before: although he could make up a gap of more than a dozen lengths, in a major race, a difference of more than a dozen lengths between first place and last place was also common and perfectly normal.
Bay Romance... surely it would not rank so badly among the horses today, right?
Another reason was that, strictly speaking, this was his first night race.
Those previous races had technically been "night races," but the events he entered had all taken place in the afternoon.
It was already eight o'clock at night. Even though summer days lasted longer, it was completely dark outside by now.
Yet inside this enormous racing stadium, the lights still blazed brightly!
There was not only the countless ordinary lights