The White Star

The second Saturday of September.

Since it was Pegasus's first race as a central racing horse, I made a day trip to Honshu to cheer him on.

With Atalanta's Sankei Sho coming up soon, plus the preparations before Baozuo went abroad, the schedule from September onward would probably be something like "Kansai-Hokkaido-Kanto-Hokkaido."

This year's Star Jockey Race Japan Round was, as usual, sponsored in Mejiro Trading's name, but the guest appearance was left to President Fujita, who somehow always managed to squeeze out free time.

--It was a relief that he didn't have to make time for an auction at a moment like this, too.

Once the flight landed, the familiar exhaustion flooded through my body again.

Even so, my desire to cheer was as strong as ever.

It was the Challenge Cup, a graded 2,000-meter turf race at Hanshin, Pegasus's first start as a central racing horse.

Mr. Yokoyama had been booked for the ride well in advance.

Although it would be their first partnership in an actual race, horse and rider had already worked together during training at Miho Tracen.

"That horse really is smart. If he's going to race, how about letting me ride him?"

"Then I'll be counting on you."

After hearing Mr. Yokoyama's half-joking suggestion, I accepted without hesitation.

The camp had initially considered the Keisei Cup at the beginning of the month as an option, but taking Nakayama's steep uphill stretch into account, we chose the Challenge Cup at Hanshin instead.

And so, this race came to be.

When I got off at Yodo Station, I moved with the crowd pouring from the ticket gates, surprised by the outrageous number of attendees today.

Even though I was finally about to squeeze into the racecourse, the passageway was still packed solid.

From the horse fans'