Farewell in the Setting Sun

Atalanta, winner of the Arima Memorial, returned to her stable on Honshu nine months later.

The fatigue accumulated from her front-running charge in the Arima Memorial, as well as any lingering injury concerns, had been completely erased during her long layoff. She was ready to make her first start after returning with a fresh new look.

However—

Before the Sankei Sho, Majima unexpectedly adopted an attitude as pessimistic as Trainer Arayama's.

Although both her post-examination condition and training performance could be called encouraging, the report from the Trainer carried an uneasy prediction.

"I just feel like Ata-chan has been a little restless, especially when she runs alongside other horses."

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Even Sasagawa, her Jockey, agreed.

"She's become like she was as a two-year-old. Even during training, she sticks out her tongue and shakes her head from side to side. Her concentration has clearly dropped. And after uphill training, she refuses to stop easily."

Half a month before the Sankei Sho, she clocked roughly 46.9 seconds over three furlongs at Kobayashi, with the final furlong in 15.7 seconds—the so-called "15-15."

But that had not been an official Timed Workout. A week before the race, she used Miho's all-weather track for her true final workout, covering five furlongs in the 63-second range and the final three furlongs in approximately 37.2 seconds.

Was it because she still had something left in the tank? She looked like she had run a little too hard—that was the first thought that came to mind while watching the workout video sent by the stable.

"I did consider whether we should make Ata-chan a little sharper, but this was her first proper workout after such a long break. If we forced her in the final stretch and caused irreversible consequences..."

As the owner, the explanation Majima