"Welcome to Hanshin Racecourse, where the sixtieth Hanshin Daishoten is about to begin."
"Three thousand meters on turf. The going is slightly heavy."
"Number twelve, Golden Masterpiece, has entered the stall safely. The final preparations for the race are underway."
The commentator spoke as he watched the staff step away from the starting stalls.
Everyone had been looking forward to this race for a long time.
The gates opened!
The instant the gates opened, Golden Masterpiece surged out.
But it was clearly slower than the horses in the middle stalls. Aside from numbers eight and seven, which ran into a little trouble, all the other horses got away smoothly.
"Number nine, Rich Royal, is out in front, followed closely by number ten, Defeat Black, and number one, Gustav."
"The favorite, Golden Masterpiece, is currently in the middle of the pack."
"Running alongside Golden Masterpiece is number four, Network Email."
Although there was no front-runner, the field was spread out this time.
Gustav, which had originally intended to take the lead, had failed to break away either.
Koichi naturally kept Golden Masterpiece at its original pace.
Over three thousand meters, they had to conserve enough energy in the early stages, but this position was simply too good for him.
Before long, they moved up from the middle of the pack into a favorable fourth position.
Ryuji Wada, farther back, had other ideas.
Since there's no front-runner setting the pace, I'll take a gamble!
Getting a good result naturally meant paying a price.
His opponent in this race was the Golden Tyrant, after all.
"Number six! Number six, Namura Shingetsu, has charged up from behind in one burst!"
Seeing the sudden change in the field, the commentator abruptly raised his voice.
They had only covered about a thousand meters of the three-thousand-meter