"Duramente Breaks Through takes the lead, Duramente Breaks Through takes the lead! She's right behind Adayar, right behind Adayar!
"Wanlai Zhengming is charging up too! She's on the Inner Lane, on the Inner Lane!
"Koushou Hayate is boxed in, but she's right up front! She's clinging tightly to the leading contenders!
"300 meters! 300 meters!
"Golden Lyric! Futanari Shingang!
"They've latched on too! They've broken through too, surged up too, latched on too!
"There's absolutely, absolutely no lead to speak of! The chasing battle from the Tenno Sho Autumn hasn't appeared—this Japan Cup is an incredibly tense free-for-all!
"200 meters! 200 meters!
"They're still locked together!
"They're still locked together!
"They're still locked together!
"Is there not... even the slightest sign of a decisive lead?!
"By any contender?!
"There's still..."
As if an invisible hand had clutched his throat, the commentator's voice paused eerily for an instant.
Along with it, the boiling Tokyo Racecourse fell into a baffling, vacuum-like silence for a moment.
Then, in the next instant, all that pent-up energy erupted at once!
"...Kitasan Black, Kitasan Black! It's Kitasan Black, Kitasan Black!
"She's broken out, she's broken out!
"It's only a tiny, tiny, tiny gap, but she's broken out, she's broken out!
"Kitasan Black has taken a slight lead, Kitasan Black has taken a slight lead!
"Can... can she hold on?! Can she hold on?! Hold on!
"The glory of the Japan Cup champion is right before her eyes! The honor of the second leg of the Autumn Triple Crown is right before her eyes! The glory of a name that will define an era is right before her eyes!
"Hold on!!
"Kitasan Black!!!"
The venue had never truly fallen silent.
It was simply that the chaotic roar from before had already converged into a single unstoppable torrent,