The horses entered.
As the lead horses at the front began moving, the other racehorses followed in post-position order.
Dominant Position and Gentildonna, who had drawn outside gates, naturally stayed on the outside.
But there were always horses that behaved differently during the entrance. Gold Ship, for instance, was supposed to be near the back, yet would occasionally charge all the way to the front.
Since this was the last race of the day, Koichi saw the sunset glow as he entered the course.
The sky really was beautiful today.
Neigh-seeing the horses ahead break into a run, Gentildonna gradually picked up speed too.
In all the years since the Japan Cup had been established, no three-year-old filly had ever won it.
If she won, this year's best three-year-old filly award would be settled as well.
As for the best four-year-old male horse and best three-year-old colt awards, those had already been decided earlier, with practically no room for debate.
The Filly Triple Crown did not carry quite as much weight as people might imagine against mixed competition, but Gentildonna's popularity this time showed how much everyone expected of her.
Once Gentildonna got moving, the horses behind her followed one after another.
"As the Filly Triple Crown winner, Gentildonna is carrying some very high expectations."
"This is also an excellent opportunity for a filly to prove herself."
"You can tell from the crowd's cheers. If she wins this race, father and daughter will have successfully conquered the Japan Cup."
"I'm still really looking forward to Eishin Flash's performance this time. Japan Jordan completed back-to-back wins last year."
"Thinking about that makes it a little unfortunate. This year's Japan Jordan clearly hasn't been as dominant as last year, and the Autumn Emperor's Cup performance was fairly average. But this time, the