Wonderful. Throughout the race, right up to the last ten meters before the finish line, I had watched and prayed, Just a little more. When the results appeared on the board, relief outweighed joy.
Why did I still keep pursuing horse racing? Was it because the system I had awakened by chance had given me an opportunity to uncover the romance buried in bloodlines, dreaming of striking it rich?
Or was it something simpler: enjoying horse racing itself as my life gradually became intertwined with it?
Of course, it was not all beautiful.
Most wishes and prayers remained beyond reach, even with extraordinary efforts from everyone involved.
There were encounters that set the heart racing, and partings that tore it apart.
The future we envisioned would not come easily.
But that was precisely why we had to keep pursuing it.
Then, when "that moment" occasionally arrived, we could leap and cheer from the bottom of our hearts.
Even as we grew older, even after devoting ourselves to horse racing for years, the emotion that swept through our hearts in that instant never changed.
Outside the owners' enclosure, and within it.
At this moment of mingled sorrow and joy, with glory and disappointment only a hair's breadth apart.
Mr. Sasaki slapped his thigh so hard it hurt just to watch, then graciously gave a thumbs-up.
Mrs. Marnier pressed her lips tightly together without a word.
Mr. Shimokawabe looked over immediately after seeing the finish and offered a friendly smile.
And Mr. Katsumi rose to applaud, then deliberately put on a rueful expression.
"Congratulations, Kitano."
Beside Mr. Katsumi, Mr. Shunsuke also offered his congratulations with a smile.
The owners might have been offering sincere congratulations or merely being polite, but the breeders each had their own plans.
Of course-
We were no