The world record for becoming a GI champion in the shortest time!
Without a doubt, either one of those achievements would have made headlines in newspapers all over Japan.
But now, both had happened in the same Oaks—and both had been accomplished by the underestimated newcomer, Heavenly Horse Platinum!
As Platinum crossed the finish line in a dazzling display, could anything less than "earth-shaking" describe the scene?
A dominant victory! Undeniable strength!
Looking Back at the Moon—absolute confidence and strength.
Let us celebrate! At last, a runner had emerged on the Classic circuit who could stand alongside "Superluminal Particle, Agnes Tachyon"!
Platinum truly lived up to the name Heavenly Horse. She was practically flying!
The tens of thousands of spectators couldn't help but shout Platinum's name together. Even many who had come to cheer for Mejiro Dober and Kyoei March before the race were caught up in the excitement, calling out jubilant congratulations.
"Platinum! Platinum!"
"The strongest! The strongest! The strongest!"
"That's the strongest Heavenly Horse! What a shame she didn't run in the Japanese Derby."
"Even the genius from a prestigious family couldn't stop the Heavenly Horse. She'll definitely win the final race of the Fillies' Triple Crown, the Shuka Sho, and claim the Fillies' Double Crown!"
"Such a shame she arrived too late. She clearly has what it takes to compete for an undefeated Fillies' Triple Crown, or even... the Classic Triple Crown, but now she can only take the Fillies' Double Crown."
"I'm a Mejiro... I'm Miss Platinum's dog!"
Shouts, cheers, and exclamations of amazement filled the air. The spectators were clearly in an indescribably feverish state.
After all, Platinum had become the fastest Uma Musume ever to win a GI!
Meanwhile, at the edge of the stands,
a scientist in a white coat had an astonished look in her eyes. She had already left her seat and was preparing to go after watching the race.
Before turning away, Agnes Tachyon couldn't help offering a word of praise.
"What a terrifying body."
Even Agnes Tachyon, hailed as the "Phantom Triple Crown" and recognized as a talent on par with Emperor Symbol of Rudolf, could only describe Platinum's physical abilities as monstrous!
For an Uma Musume, talent was one thing and physical condition another. Both were indispensable: one set the theoretical limit, while the other was the bridge that carried her toward it.
When that bridge wasn't sturdy enough and gave way too soon, even the greatest talent couldn't reach its full potential.
Agnes Tachyon was a case in point. She was immensely gifted, but her body couldn't keep up. Her injuries had brought her close to retirement, long before she could reach her peak.
When the body couldn't measure up, it kept talent from being realized. The runner had to leave the stage in regret before reaching her full potential.
But Platinum seemed terrifying in every respect! She hadn't even reached Full Bloom, yet she'd matured early enough to run with such astonishing speed, command an aura, and dominate race after race!
She had both tremendous talent and a phenomenal physique, and she wouldn't be easily sidelined by injury. How enviable.
She was exactly the kind of genius Uma Musume who belonged at the top of Agnes Tachyon's research priorities, right alongside Doctor Lin!
There was no need to spend so much effort collecting information on overseas monsters anymore. This Heavenly Horse... was no less impressive than those foreign monsters!
Although, for some reason, Platinum still hadn't joined Tracen Academy, and her whereabouts remained mysterious...
But if she was in Japan, surely she'd be easier to find and observe than those monster Uma Musume overseas?
"Perfect in every respect, from talent to physique to aura."
"She's practically... the Three Goddesses' favorite!"
Just before leaving, Agnes Tachyon suddenly had a thought.
"With a body that exceptional... she probably has no reason to visit the infirmary and see the school doctor, right?"
After all, that Heavenly Horse would hardly ever get injured.
On the other side of the stands,
two little Uma Musume were still sitting in their seats. Their young faces were full of delight, as if they'd never imagined they'd get to see such an incredible race.
"That, that was... Looking Back at the Moon?!"
"I can't believe we got to see that in an Uma Musume GI race."
"Even the strongest, Miss McQueen, has never done that!"
Both the lively Kitasan Black and the calm, elegant Sato no Diamond were overcome with excitement.
The petite Kitasan Black's eyes shone as she clenched her fists.
"That was... so cool!"
To Kitasan Black, the Heavenly Horse was practically perfect—so cool!
If she had to find a flaw in that Heavenly Horse, she could probably only nitpick... that final Looking Back at the Moon.
In a race, even slowing down for an instant could let the other Uma Musume close the gap by quite a bit, given the incredible speed they were running at.
"If she hadn't looked back and slowed down at the very end, Miss Platinum could've won by an even bigger margin."
"And Miss Platinum changed her running style. She didn't decide to take the lead from the start, so she lost some time."
If Platinum had run at full strength, she might have won by twelve or thirteen lengths, or even more!
But she'd already won by a huge margin. It was an absolute rout, and winning by a little more wouldn't have made much difference.
Some people might criticize her for being "talented but lacking character," having "too little desire to win," or showing "poor competitive spirit."
But being cool was a lifelong affair!
That Looking Back at the Moon was enough to go down in the history books!
And Kitasan Black was completely stunned by the cool display of Looking Back at the Moon and that crushing victory!
Kitasan Black wasn't the only one left in awe.
Beside her, Sato no Diamond had completely forgotten that she'd come to watch the race of her idol, Mejiro McQueen's sister, Dober.
But none of that mattered now, because...
Diamond had found a new idol to look up to!
The next moment, Sato no Diamond lowered her head and altered the cheer sign she'd been holding. It had originally read, "Mejiro Dober, You've Got This!"
Then she changed it to: Heavenly Horse Platinum!
The racetrack, just past the finish line!
Mejiro Dober, who had come in second, stared blankly ahead, her pretty face slack with shock.
Her mind kept replaying the image of the Heavenly Horse far ahead, looking back at her before the finish line and gazing down at her!!
Without a doubt, that moment was worthy of being named the year's most memorable image in Japanese Uma Musume racing—and of going down in history!
Humiliation! Unprecedented humiliation!
She'd been so weak that her opponent hadn't even taken the race seriously, casually looking back as if she were practically letting her win.
After who knew how long, Mejiro Dober finally came to her senses. She gritted her teeth and stared at the silver-white figure ahead.
"Sorry I couldn't make you give it your all."
The next moment, the silver-white Heavenly Horse calmly turned to look at Mejiro Dober behind her and gave her a faint smile.
"That was a wonderful race."
"I don't think I'll ever forget you."
An unknown nobody had made a name for herself!
At the training grounds,
Tokai Teio and Daiwa Scarlet had paused their training for a break. They stared at their phone screens, dumbfounded.
Looking Back at the Moon?
A dominant victory?
This was just... too ridiculous!
Even someone as strong as Tokai Teio had never seen anyone pull off Looking Back at the Moon in a race, nor had she ever won by such a huge margin.
The talent in that Heavenly Horse was so... blindingly obvious!
It was easy to imagine that, in the short time after the Oaks ended, news of the race would sweep across all of Japan!
She'd been an unknown nobody just a month ago, but now she was famous throughout the land!
"Gulp..."
Daiwa Scarlet, still hung up on how Platinum had beaten her in the Debut Race and longing for a chance to get revenge, wore a complicated expression.
That kind of strength—and she was a newcomer like Scarlet, someone who should have been running in Classic races next year, yet she'd managed to dominate her more mature rivals by such a huge margin!
How incredibly strong was she?
Even Daiwa Scarlet, who idolized Agnes Tachyon, had to admit that even her idol wouldn't have been guaranteed a win against Platinum. It would probably have been anything from an even match to a seven-to-three advantage.
Unfortunately...
They were unlikely to ever get the chance to race against each other. A legendary showdown would never happen.
Unless the tendinitis that the Uma Musume feared as an incurable disease could somehow be completely healed!
But the odds of that were practically nonexistent—about as likely as a miracle, right? Even internationally renowned Uma Musume doctors wouldn't have any confidence in treating it, would they?
"Hey, Scarlet, didn't Platinum beat you by five lengths?"
Tokai Teio, as if she'd just thought of something, suddenly spoke up.
She wasn't trying to rub salt in the wound. After witnessing that Heavenly Horse's imperious victory and Looking Back at the Moon, she simply couldn't help thinking of it.
In the GI race, Platinum had won by ten lengths!
In the Debut Race, Platinum had won by five!
Obviously, ten was greater than five!
Looking at it that way, losing to her in the Debut Race wasn't shameful at all. It was... an honor, wasn't it?
Perhaps years later, once Platinum had climbed to even greater heights, people would still talk about that Debut Race and marvel at how strong her opponent had been for the Heavenly Horse Platinum to have "won by a mere five lengths"!
Daiwa Scarlet's reputation would rise along with that Debut Race result. In a way, it could even count as a stroke of good luck.
Though... it was obvious that Platinum hadn't been giving it her all in the Debut Race. She hadn't even mastered the starting gate or her running style.
But if she could help it... Daiwa Scarlet didn't want that kind of luck. She had no desire to run into that terrifying Heavenly Horse!!
At least, judging by the result, Daiwa Scarlet hadn't lost nearly as badly as those senior runners in the Oaks, a full-fledged GI race! That was already an enormous blessing!
"Yeah."
What an unprecedented monster!
Daiwa Scarlet's expression turned relieved. She let out a small breath.
"If Platinum looked back at me like that during a race..."
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