A Divergence at Autumn's End

To ease the fatigue accumulated from a short turnaround, Poetic Banquet would not race again that year.

Meanwhile, Sawin, also from the two-year-old generation, was steadily approaching his debut race.

As he effortlessly thundered up the hill at Ritto Tracen and smoothly completed every training drill alongside Jockey Duman Lai, the stable reached a consensus—

Even as a Sea City Star colt racing in Japan, this youngster could make something of himself.

Since their run together at Kyoto Racecourse not long ago, the paths of the two-year-olds who had debuted in the same year had split again like tributaries of a great river.

The final Sunday of November, the day of the Japan Cup.

The Japan Cup had been founded with the goal of bringing Japanese Racehorse racing up to world standards. Its original purpose was to invite world-class Racehorses to Japan first, giving the country's top Racehorses a chance to compete against the very best in the world.

In its early days, there had been strong opinions that "Japanese horses had virtually no chance of winning over 2,400 meters," and some had argued that the Japan Cup should instead be a shorter 2,000-meter race.

But in the end, they adopted the then-standard 2,400 meters on turf—the exact same 2,400-meter Fuchu course used for the Tokyo Yushun—Japanese Derby.

Behind that decision lay a powerful shared desire within Japanese Racehorse racing—

They hoped to breed Racehorses capable of establishing themselves on the world stage over the mile-and-a-half distance known as the classic distance, the most valuable trip in racing worldwide.

Carrying the second-favorite status befitting that year's Derby winner, Chongli would start from gate nine among the eighteen runners.

The favorite in this clash between Japan and the world was Jade Record, winner of that year's Spring Grand Prix and runner-up