(This chapter covers the criteria for awarding Local Hall of Fame Horse titles, the established speed benchmarks and comparisons between Central and local races, and finally some transitional plot about heading to the capital. Skip it if you are not interested.)
As for the local circuit, aside from the information Zhang Jun already knew, the most important matters were the requirements for Local Hall of Fame Horses and Huaxia's minimum requirements for stallions.
A Huaxia stallion either had to stand out among 660,000 horses and win a Grade One Race to become a Central Iron Hall of Fame horse, or win three CN1 or G2 races during its career.
(Approximately one out of every 1,060 active racehorses could achieve this. With 200 to 210 stallions entering or retiring each year, plus those still active, mares that received the corresponding honors, and horses whose extra wins offset one another, this estimate should be about right.
The total number of stallions remained around 3,250, with each one breeding an average of sixty broodmares.
This figure was extrapolated from Japan's 9,196 active racehorses this year, the 177 stallions in Derby Stallion, and the 189 stallions in Winning Post 2025. [I could not find the number of active stallions in Japan, but it should not differ too much. I had only played from 2025 to 2028.]
On average, each stallion bred forty-eight to fifty-one mares a year, which felt a little low. Since I set an age limit for active stallions and broodmares in Huaxia, I raised it to sixty.)
If they failed to meet the standard, then unless their ancestors were Gold Hall of Fame horses and the Central authorities personally preserved their bloodline by selecting them as stallions, they could only breed at their own ranches. They could not be registered as stallions and offered for outside breeding.
Local Hall of Fame Horses did not have the authority to freeze their names and were divided only into Gold, Silver, and Bronze tiers.
A Bronze Hall of Fame horse only needed to win three CN1 races, the same requirement as for stallions, or three Central Grade Two exchange races.
A Silver Hall of Fame horse needed at least six CN1 or G2 wins, including at least one Huaxia Breeders Series victory. Alternatively, a single win in a Central-local exchange G1 race would directly qualify it as a Local Silver Hall of Fame horse.
A Gold Hall of Fame horse needed more than ten CN1 or G2 wins, more than three Grade One exchange race wins, or one Founding Celebration Series victory.
However, almost no one met the latter two conditions. Most became Hall of Fame horses by winning more than ten CN1 or G2 races.
After all, local racehorses had been filtered out from the start. Few could seize a G1 victory while surrounded by powerful Central horses.
Zhang Jun learned quite a bit of knowledge he had not known before from Luo Fei. Feeling that he had benefited greatly, he arranged a time to meet Luo Fei again the next day and took his leave.
On the way back, Zhang Jun silently compared Shadow Hunter's peak attributes with those of Jianzhou Swift Cavalier, Jianzhou Senior General, the other two stallions at Jianzhou Ranch, and several mares that had won Grade One Races.
He suddenly felt that Shadow Hunter would already be doing quite well to earn a Local Bronze Hall of Fame title. There was no need to hope for Central exchange races; the gap in the most crucial speed attribute was simply too wide.
Jianzhou Swift Cavalier had a B+ in speed, and all its other visible attributes were above B as well, yet it had only won three Central Grade One Races. Jianzhou Senior General had A-rank speed, but it had only achieved five Central Grade One victories.
The other two stallions at Jianzhou Ranch were both Central Iron Hall of Fame horses. Their speed ratings were C and B respectively. Jianzhou Vanguard, the one with C-rank speed, had only won one short-distance Grade One Race, and that had come from an upset as the twelfth favorite.
Jian'an Flying General, with B-rank speed, had only won two Grade One Races. Both had come as one of the top three favorites, but its luck had been poor. It had lost several races by a nose, a head, or a neck.
Princess Jian'an, a broodmare who was also a Central Bronze Hall of Fame horse, likewise had B-rank speed and had won four G1 races. However, her visible burst speed was an S-rank, the highest Zhang Jun had seen so far.
Working backward from this, Zhang Jun concluded that winning a Central Grade One Race in Huaxia required at least C-rank speed, and even then it was only possible. C+ was needed to reliably secure a victory.
B-rank speed could guarantee multiple G1 wins, but to achieve the results needed for a Bronze Hall of Fame title, either the horse needed B+ speed and a sufficiently high ceiling, or its other attributes had to be high enough to compensate for its lack of speed.
To win a Founding Celebration Series race and earn a Silver Hall of Fame title, speed had to be at least A-rank. For a Gold Hall of Fame title, it likely required A+ speed, or A-rank speed paired with several attributes at A+ or above.
As for the Rainbow Hall of Fame title that no one had obtained yet, Zhang Jun felt that it might require S-rank or even S+ speed.
Extending his reasoning to lower-level races, Central G2 and local CN1 victories probably required D+ speed. C-rank speed could guarantee a Local Silver Hall of Fame title—several Local Silver Hall of Fame horses at Jianzhou Ranch had C-rank speed.
Following that logic, champions of G3 and CN2 races needed D-rank speed, the same as Shadow Hunter's current speed. However, Shadow Hunter's growth pattern was most likely Early Maturity. After entering its peak in the latter half of its three-year-old season, its speed could rise to D+, with a small chance of reaching C-rank.
In other words, Shadow Hunter had an extremely high chance of winning a CN1 race and earning a Local Bronze Hall of Fame title at its peak. There was also a small chance it could accumulate enough achievements for a Local Silver Hall of Fame title or a Central Iron Hall of Fame title.
Central open races and local CN3 races corresponded to E+ speed, while E-rank was the level for local open races and Central three-win races.
F+ was the level for local Class A races and Central two-win races. F-rank was the level for local Class B1, Class B2, and Central one-win horses. G+ corresponded to local Class C1 and Class B3, as well as Central maiden races, while the lowest G-rank represented local Class C2 and Class C3.
Thinking this through, Zhang Jun suddenly felt that the horses at the auction had actually been quite good. Several had E+ speed, enough to win CN3 races in the local circuit with total prize money of 1.8 to 2.4 million, yet their auction prices had only been two or three hundred thousand.
After returning home, Zhang Jun sorted out his feelings and went to bed. He secretly swore that he would breed a racehorse with S-rank speed himself, make it a Huaxia Rainbow Hall of Fame horse, and accomplish a feat unprecedented in history, with no telling whether anyone would ever match it.
Early the next morning, just as the clock struck seven and a thin mist still hung in the sky, Zhang Jun got out of bed and headed for Jianzhou Ranch.
The flight Luo Fei had helped Zhang Jun book was scheduled to depart at eight thirty. Factoring in the trip from the school to the ranch, from the ranch to the airport, the waiting time at the airport, and the time needed to wash up, seven o'clock was just right.
After washing up, Zhang Jun rode the small electric scooter he had specifically bought and kept at the school to Jianzhou Ranch.
Liu Li had already prepared breakfast for the four of them: food they could eat in the car, including buns, steamed bread, soy milk, and some pickles. She was packing them into separate portions when Zhang Jun arrived, and she greeted him.
Zhang Jun returned the greeting, then greeted Luo Heng, who was coming downstairs. After sitting on the sofa and exchanging a few pleasantries, he took the breakfast Liu Li handed him and got into Luo Fei's car with the others to head for the airport.
As for Luo Yong, he had already gone to the capital to make preparations after the competition two days earlier.
The flight from Mindu to the capital would take three hours. Luo Fei had bought four adjacent business-class seats. He and Liu Li sat together, while Zhang Jun sat with Luo Heng.