The First of Three

The second Saturday of May.

The colors in sight had grown brighter.

The drab, monochrome coat had been put away, replaced with lighter colors.

The temperature was gradually rising too. On a day like this, standing in the sun would probably leave one drenched in sweat, and the train's air conditioning had been running at full blast since boarding.

On this day, he had come to Tokyo.

More precisely, Tokyo Racecourse in Fuchu City.

After landing at Haneda Airport, he took the airport shuttle to Shinjuku, then transferred to the Keio Line for Fuchu Station.

During the swaying ride, his free hand did not rest either. He kept scrolling through information about the upcoming race.

Today's eleventh race at Tokyo Racecourse was the G3 Epsom Cup, an 1800-meter turf graded stakes race scheduled for 3:45 p.m.

Although it was Pegasus's first turf expedition, according to Teacher Tanaka's report from a few days ago, Pegasus had adapted quickly after arriving at Miho Training Center.

Neither his appetite nor his spirits had been affected in the slightest. During training, he had immediately gotten along with the Central horses based at Miho.

Last week, during a paired workout on the hill with another three-year-old colt targeting the Classics, he had held on until the very end before finally being caught.

Even jockey Ishikawa, who had not held much confidence in this turf attempt, said that Pegasus had taken another step forward both physically and mentally.

Of course, his hindquarters still looked weak compared to Central-level opponents. That was why the stable had chosen the Epsom Cup at Tokyo rather than another race for this turf-route experiment.

As for the other major reason he had not entered the Aoi Stakes—

Noah, who was also trying turf for the first time, would be running in