On a Pale Horse (Umamusume/Youjo Senki)

[WrandmWaffles]

Also it's been noted that once he was being taken on a walk and he came across a pasture with some ponies and he got excited, apparently from seeing some horses the same size as him.

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"See, I'm not really the tiniest!"

Poor Stay Gold, having to deal with mares that didn't like him because he was too small.

Though that shouldn't be as much of a problem for uma Stay Gold.

But yeah, horse Stay Gold and horse Shirogane would probably be considered a less promising pairing, the hope would probably be that a foal would have Stay Gold's speed and Shirogane's stamina, and that Shirogane's more reserved temperament would even out Stay Gold's unruly nature. This later hope would be in vain, most likely, unless the foal was allowed to stay with Shirogane for some time (which usually doesn't happen with broodmares).

Truly, she shall be The Demon of Distance.

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"Dangerous past 2 kilometers, Deadly past 3"

I love Tanya crossovers, but this one feels unique by starting off as a nice slice of life and then swapping into a sports drama, and overall this feels like Tanya basically died in life 2 and went to heaven.

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Shirogane isn't a Tanya-esque figure desperate to prove something; she is someone living the dream of a peaceful, stable life. As many have already noted, she is essentially a "grandma in a young girl's body."

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Shiro is basically a Tanya that has basically secured her cushy retirement, so she doesn't really feel the need to scrabble for strength or influence like Tanya's are often betrayed. Tanya as a character is certainly not conflict averse or unwilling to risk themself, and they aren't the type to be happy being idle, but they also aren;t strongly inclined to take the risky options if they aren't convinced that maintaining their position depends on it.

El Condor Pasa, a very powerful racer of her generation clearly had to substantially push herself to win this race and she still just barely managed it.

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Shirogane is kinda like those spinning gates designed to push horses to walk in a circle, as she gradually gets a bit faster she pushes her classmates to go faster as well.

The issue in my mind is that Shiro is written and treated as a Sword of Damocles.

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But isn't that exactly what a sword of damocles is? That discomfort to other umas, that consistency, it's an implied threat that any mistake will lead to the other racers downfall.

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Err...not really? Shiro isn't some enforcer waiting for them to slip up so she can kick them out of school or something. While she can theoretically beat them up if she had reason to, her propensity for violence isn't very obvious to most of the classmates who grew up in safe environments. The Sword of Damocles is a very obvious threat that the person under it specifically is aware of. Shirogane's propensity for violence is more of a Chekov's gun situation.

As far as her rivals are concerned, Shirogane represents more an example of how the rivals you start out able to beat fairly easily can get stronger, so you shouldn't get complacent. None of them are worried that she will cause them serious harm.

I hope you don't take my speal of criticisms negatively

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I appreciate good faith criticism. I can see how the story is moving rather slowly, but it will be picking up a bit starting from the next chapter or so, as the Classic Year really starts to kick off.

175.85 million yen

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And this is without winning any graded races so far too.

where is El Condor Pasa?

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Running the Spring Stakes, probably.

El Condor Pasa and Grass Wonder have the issue where their umaverse career path has them running some races they didn't run irl, since both have the Tokyo Yushun on it while not the Satsuki Sho, which I'm working off of to say what they would do in the more idealized uma world where they weren't banned from competing in the Triple Crown because they are foreigners.

This is funny because it shows that Shirogane really doesn't follow the racing industry, and has no idea what "normal" is

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She's also working off the assumption that to go into both circuits she'd have to clinch a berth in both otherwise they would not put her in the other circuit despite her high prize total.

I feel like it'd be cool to see an Umaverse netkeiba omake, where various users are discussing the ongoing careers of the Golden Gen

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The trainers at a bar scene could be funny, especially if they are all slightly tipsy.

"Where did you find this crazy girl, Hana?"

"On a bridge."

Hot damn, 175.85 million yen? Is that before or after Tracen and the government takes their share?

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Before, so in reality her take home amount is quite a bit less. Still a lot of money for her age, and fortunately she's actually one to use it more responsibly.

… hey do you think Shiro would become a trainer if she didn't had her family restaurant to think about?

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It would not be her first thought. She might have ended up on Tracen's security team as a dual student/security trainee.

Mercy be upon any junior that Shiro thinks she needs to be A Good Senpai for. Because the silver eagle has none.

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There's a couple umas who I think might respond fairly well to this, with Symboli Kris S and Eishin Flash coming to mind.

Here, Shiro sees her parents as the boss and instinctively has to support them by helping in the restaurant or studying even from a young age. Not being able to support them actively causes her to be depressed. She's very much a workhorse like that. She has to work instinctively and not working is actually a form of torture to her.

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That's basically what was going on with young Shiro, which isn't something too unusual for young umas, but her family really did not expect this to apply to homework.

It's also one of the ironies of her character, in that while she wants to have this peaceful life, her need to be useful means that she would not enjoy a life of pure relaxation.

 

[Centergg]

Poor Stay Gold, having to deal with mares that didn't like him because he was too small.

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The pains of being a short man transcends species boundaries

 

[Mentos]

Horselets when will they learn

 

[Martin Rudat]

I thought that Shiro gave the impression that she'd use the sword she carries on the uma in front of her in a race? Or was that only that one skittish uma?

Hmm. Shiro knows how to use that sword from officer training, right? I wonder if she learned any showy sword forms? Or if she'd be willing to learn any? A sword dance counts as a dance, right? =)

Would Shiro be doing sword drills to "get back in shape" since she (sometimes) carries a sword? Might be something scary for the other uma to see her doing.

 

[Pinklestia]

she would not enjoy a life of pure relaxation.

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Tanya in Regular Show would the workaholic character.

 

[FlyingOctopus]

Given how often Shirogane would show up in other umas' careers, she'd probably become something like the Majima meme or a Wit check.

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I have this amusing idea where Shirogane is blue character in the game and she shows up at least once in every 10 pull the moment she's released.
Or a bit like Machan where you can just see her practicing on the track, the streets or the background in other uma's careers.

 

[guisniperman]

horse Stay Gold and horse Shirogane

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Gold Falcon was an indomnitable monster and that was the problem. He got banned from the Japanese racing League for his behavior but found unexpected popularity abroad.

His little sister Electrum on the other hand was raised by Shirogane and took after her. An even faster Shirogane. Nicknamed the Massacre Pony because all she left behind was a mass grave of her opponent's hopes and dreams their only solace is that unlike her mother, Electrum seldom raced for more than the bare requirement necessary to qualify for bigger race.

 

[Yachii]

I was looking at G1 races Shirogane could probably shine in before the Kikuka Sho, Arima Kinen, Tenno Sho Spring, and came across the Japan Dirt Derby(now the Japan Dirt Classic) which is a 2000m G1 race on dirt that happens in Early July, but it doesn't exist yet until next year 1999. Also now that we know she isn't really affected by track conditions and can run on any surface she might do well in the Prix during her 3rd year assuming she locks in at that point in her career.

 

[Euphemism]

2. Shirogane Orzeru - ¥175,850,000 + Future Earnings TBD

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I'm assuming these would be before taxes and before the academy and trainer/team take their cut right? Napkin math would make that then maybe 300k-600k USD earned?

 

[Acerer]

There's a couple umas who I think might respond fairly well to this, with Symboli Kris S and Eishin Flash coming to mind.

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Can you imagine how funny it would be if Air Groove asked her to mentor Admire Groove or Rulership? One overtrains and the other is a yadada neet.

 

[Piss_harder]

Err...not really? Shiro isn't some enforcer waiting for them to slip up so she can kick them out of school or something. While she can theoretically beat them up if she had reason to, her propensity for violence isn't very obvious to most of the classmates who grew up in safe environments. The Sword of Damocles is a very obvious threat that the person under it specifically is aware of. Shirogane's propensity for violence is more of a Chekov's gun situation.

As far as her rivals are concerned, Shirogane represents more an example of how the rivals you start out able to beat fairly easily can get stronger, so you shouldn't get complacent. None of them are worried that she will cause them serious harm.

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i don't think he was assuming that Shirogane would physically harm anyone else, rather that "downfall" is a euphemism for losing the race

I'm not of the same opinion as Tiypo, but I can see where he is coming from that the races all follow a bit of a formula where Shirogane is written as the enemy to be beaten for each race, but the other racer always beats Shirogane, so was she a challenge? I think its a result of the way the races are cast from an announcer's desk who focuses on the wider POV and not specifically on Shirogane. Since she's a front runner from Tracen, she predictably establishes herself from the pack early in the race and becomes a focus of someone who is trying to make a storyline of it.

 

[Impstar]

I'm not of the same opinion as Tiypo, but I can see where he is coming from that the races all follow a bit of a formula where Shirogane is written as the enemy to be beaten for each race, but the other racer always beats Shirogane, so was she a challenge? I think its a result of the way the races are cast from an announcer's desk who focuses on the wider POV and not specifically on Shirogane. Since she's a front runner from Tracen, she predictably establishes herself from the pack early in the race and becomes a focus of someone who is trying to make a storyline of it.

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I mean, firstly the other racer does not always beat Shirogane. The PoV character in Shiro's debut actually lost. And while Grass did win in the G1 race, we also got the PoV of another uma who Shiro beat. And by always getting second, she kind of is the uma to beat. If you don't beat her, you didn't win the race.

 

[Drageos]

Before, so in reality her take home amount is quite a bit less. Still a lot of money for her age, and fortunately she's actually one to use it more responsibly.

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And now I'm theorizing about how much of the prize money that the racers actually take home and how much the trainers get.

Because in the real world the Jockeys typically receive 5% of the official purse for flat races and 7% for jump (steeplechase) races.

Which would probably be the closest comparison that I can think of.

But then there's all this.

To quote Gemini because I'm not retyping and rewording all of this.

"In Japanese horse racing, the remaining 95% of the official purse from a flat race (or 93% for jump races) goes directly to the rest of the horse's connections—predominantly the owner, followed by the trainer and stable staff.
The Japan Racing Association (JRA) actually awards 100% of the prize money directly to the horse's nominated owner. Following standard agreements set by the Owners and Trainers Association, the full breakdown of a winning purse is distributed as follows:

• The Owner (80%): The vast majority goes to the registered owner. This money is used to cover the massive overhead of thoroughbred racing, including purchase costs, monthly training fees (known as yutaku fees), veterinary care, insurance, and entry fees.
• The Trainer (10%): The licensed trainer of the stable receives a 10% cut. Out of this, they manage their training facility operations.
• The Stable Staff (5%): The remaining portion is split among the unsung heroes of the backstretch—the assistant trainers and the grooms who provide daily, hands-on care for the horse.
• The Jockey (5%): (As previously noted, this increases to 7% for jump races, which slightly adjusts the owner's or trainer's share depending on the specific track contract).

How is the Total Purse Distributed?
It is also worth noting that the "total purse" advertised for a race is not handed entirely to a single horse. The total purse is split among the top finishers of the race to ensure multiple connections are paid. For example, in a major JRA race, the total purse is typically split five ways:

• 1st Place: Receives roughly 60% of the total race purse.
• 2nd Place: Receives roughly 20%.
• 3rd Place: Receives roughly 10%.
• 4th Place:Receives roughly 6%.
• 5th Place: Receives roughly 4%.

Once a horse secures their percentage based on where they finish, that specific payout is split using the 80/10/5/5 owner-trainer-jockey-staff breakdown outlined above."

 

[Solconbur]

It would not be her first thought. She might have ended up on Tracen's security team as a dual student/security trainee.

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Heh, that makes ne think of Shiro and Fenomeno.

 

[stadenwick]

Tanya in Regular Show would the workaholic character.

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"Benson, Get back to work."

"Hey that's my line!"

 

[Kojiro Kakita]

Heh, that makes ne think of Shiro and Fenomeno.

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Similar to CinGray where we see Oguri with a young TM Opera, maybe we will get a cameo of a young Meno meeting with Shiro at a fan event

 

[fredthebadger]

Because in the real world the Jockeys typically receive 5% of the official purse for flat races and 7% for jump (steeplechase) races.

Which would probably be the closest comparison that I can think of.

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If anything, the Uma would be the Owner. Maybe their school gets a cut of the Owner money instead of just the Stable money, but in this world there's no 'owner' maintaining the horse's living standards and paying for everything, it's the Uma that does it.

 

[Gem]

If anything, the Uma would be the Owner. Maybe their school gets a cut of the Owner money instead of just the Stable money, but in this world there's no 'owner' maintaining the horse's living standards and paying for everything, it's the Uma that does it.

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I suspect the Uma gets the Owner + Jockey cuts. The school gets the stable cut, and the trainer gets the trainer cut.

Of course then you have the school getting money from the Owner/Uma in school fees. Then there's taxes, insurance, etc.

So while the take home is smaller than the full amount, it's still a rather large amount of money.

 

[Crispy Taco Shell]

It's no wonder some old racing families like the Mejiros live in estates in the most expensive districts worth billions of yen. It also explains just how much pressure the current scions are under to win; the tax bills on their mansions are overdue and the families cannot reduce expenses without losing face.

The old racing families are facing increased competition from new bloods and foreigners. Their rampant inbreeding also produces increasingly unhinged umas so they're desperately looking to marry in some fresh talent.

Oh look. Here is a Shirogane! She's so factory fresh, she still has that plastic film on the dash! Everybody wants her.

 

[arky4444]

Seeing this, I feel like it'd be cool to see an Umaverse netkeiba omake, where various users are discussing the ongoing careers of the Golden Gen. Also goddamn, ¥175 million already? If we only count domestic earnings (because those Saudi prize pools are seriously incomparable...) Kitasan Black is the top earner with ¥1.87 billion after 20 races over 3 years. Shirogane might well surpass her for total earnings, though perhaps over a much longer period of time. The top earner's list might well look like:

1. Kitasan Black - ¥1,876,843,000
2. Shirogane Orzeru - ¥175,850,000 + Future Earnings TBD
3. TM Opera O - ¥1,835,189,000

This is baseless speculation, of course. I haven't gone and looked up the prize purses for each race, or their changes over the years like Arky has. And it also has to be said that winning just one or two big races has already almost brought Grass Wonder up to Shiro's total earnings already. On the other hand, Shiro is already at about a fourth of Grass' career total of ¥691,646,000, and it's only the start of her classic year.

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Down the rabbit hole we go!

At this point (1998), the highest-earning JPN racehorse is "Horse of the 20th Century" Narita Brian, with a total of 947.42 million yen (https://en.netkeiba.com/db/horse/1991108889/), who also set the single-year JPN winnings record of 712.802 million yen in 1994; this single-year record would not be beat until T.M.Opera O in 2000, whose own single-year JPN record stands to this day (https://japanracing.jp/_statistics/2022/s06.html).

The fun part is when you compare Narita Brian's winnings with Shirogane's at the same points in their careers. It's fairly easy to contrive a race schedule for Shirogane that would make this a source of DRAMA for the sportscasters.

For reference, here are their career earnings (in millions of yen) going into their Classic Year:

	Narita Brian	Shirogane
End of Junior Year	95.10/7 races	104.12/10 races

First, we have to project Shirogane's race record leading up to the Oka Sho and the Satsuki Sho. We will assume for the sake of DRAMA that Shirogane's Q1 1998 race record is as follows:
First four races (as of Ch. 22): 56.73 million yen
G2 Yayoi Sho (3/8/98, T2000m): 5th place, 5.40 million yen, no berth for Satsuki Sho
G2 Hochi Hai Yonsai (3/15/98, T1400m): 5th place, 5.20 million yen, no berth for Oka Sho
OP Anemone Stakes (3/21/98, T1400m): 2nd place, 9.91 million yen, wins berth for Oka Sho
OP Wakaba Stakes (3/28/98, T2000m): 1st place, 24.96 million yen, wins berth for Satsuki Sho (2nd place Fuji Lucky Boy will place 11th at the Satsuki Sho)

Second, we look at the time surrounding the first two classic races for both the Triple Crown and the Triple Tiara. We will assume that Shirogane wins the G1 Yushun Himba to make the math easier (if she wins this one race, she doesn't have to win any other graded race to make the math work), so:
G1 Oka Sho (4/12/98, T1600m): 5th place, 8.9 million yen, wins berth for Yushun Himba
G1 Satsuki Sho (4/19/98, T2000m): 5th place, 9.7 million yen, wins berth for Tokyo Yushun
G2 Sankei Sports Sho Yonsai (5/2/98, T2000m): 2nd place, 21.34 million yen
G3 Aoba Sho (5/9/98, T2400m): 2nd place, 16.20 million yen
OP Principal Stakes (5/16/98, T2200m): 1st place, 24.87 million yen (1st place Taiki Bridle places 11th at the Tokyo Yushun)
G1 Yushun Himba (5/31/98, T2400m): 1st place, 127.56 million yen
G1 Tokyo Yushun (6/7/98, T2400m): 5th place, 13.20 million yen

This leads us to:

	Narita Brian	Shirogane
End of Junior Year	95.10/7 races	104.12/10 races
<4/1 Classic Year	96.00/2 races	102.20/8 races
<6/14 Classic Year	226.00/2 races	221.77/7 races

Shirogane is on track to BARELY beat Narita Brian's single-year JPN record by sheer brute force.

Third, the kicker - Shirogane doesn't take a summer break like the other turf runners because she just switches to dirt and KEEPS RUNNING. It doesn't matter WHAT she does here, because any winnings here just helps her pull ahead of Narita Brian, who didn't run at all from June to September. One possible schedule, running about every two weeks:
OP Shobu Stakes (6/14/98, D1600m): 1st place, 19.35 million yen (RIP Wing Arrow, who tried turf ONCE and got crushed at the 1998 Principal Stakes, now bullied by Shirogane for money)
L Nagoya Yushun (7/1/98, D1900m): 1st place, 40.00 million yen (Wing Arrow again)
G3 Tanabata Sho (7/11/98, T2000m): 2nd place, 17.17 million yen (Shirogane is probably not winning against Offside Trap, the upcoming 1998 Autumn Tenno Sho winner [RIP Silence Suzuka's leg], at 2000m)
L Mercury Cup (7/20/98, D2000m): 2nd place, 12.00 million yen (Meisei Opera wins... this time)
G3 Kokura Kinen (8/16/98, T1800m): 1st place, 43.51 million yen (weak lineup - 12th place Biwa Takehide at the Yayoi Sho got 3rd place here and at the Wakaba Stakes)
G3 Niigata Kinen (8/30/98, T2000m): 2nd place, 17.16 million yen (Offside Trap again)

We are now at:

	Narita Brian	Shirogane
End of Junior Year	95.10/7 races	104.12/10 races
<4/1 Classic Year	96.00/2 races	102.20/8 races
<6/14 Classic Year	226.00/2 races	221.77/7 races
<9/13 Classic Year	0/0 races	149.19/6 races

Fourth, we look at the last legs of the Triples. We will assume that Shirogane wins the G1 Kikuka Sho to make the math easier, same as before:
G2 Kobe Shimbun Hai (9/20/98, T2000m): 3rd place, 14.14 million yen, wins berth for Kikuka Sho
G2 Rose Stakes (9/27/98, T2000m): 3rd place, 13.12 million yen, wins berth for Shuka Sho
G1 Shuka Sho (10/25/98, T2000m): 5th place, 8.9 million yen
G1 Kikuka Sho (11/8/98, T3000m): 1st place, 152.72 million yen

This leads us to:

	Narita Brian	Shirogane
End of Junior Year	95.10/7 races	104.12/10 races
<4/1 Classic Year	96.00/2 races	102.20/8 races
<6/14 Classic Year	226.00/2 races	221.77/7 races
<9/13 Classic Year	0/0 races	149.19/6 races
<11/15 Classic Year	257.78/2 races* *including Triple Crown bonus	188.88/4 races

Finally, the Arima Kinen. Narita Brian won this and made 133.02 million yen to close out the year with 712.802 million yen and a new record. Shirogane is at 662.04 million yen. Even getting 2nd place at the Arima Kinen (54.00 million yen) would put her over the top. It's Nakayama, Grass Wonder, and Shirogane, and everyone is anticipating a repeat of the 1997 Asahi Hai.

But instead...

Given her attitude and logic for her schedule, for her to have the choice between the Arima and the Daishouten, everything points to her choosing the Arima Kinen, everyone that knows her expects her to run the Arima Kinen. It has the longer distance, it has the bigger prize pool [...] Running the Arima Kinen is higher prestige and better for branding because it's the biggest year-end race.

And yet she chooses the Daishouten because Steady is retiring and it's the last opportunity to face her at her best, and despite it being less optimal, she WANTS to run it more so than choosing to do it because it's optimal.

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...she announces that she's entering the Tokyo Daishoten.

We have six weeks between the Kikuka Sho and the Tokyo Daishoten. Practice time:
L Derby Grand Prix (11/22/98, D2000m): WEATHER DELAY
L Derby Grand Prix (12/14/98, D2000m): 3rd place, 12.00 million yen (Wing Arrow finally beats Shirogane as she goes for the Japan Dirt Triple Crown, only to be spoiled by Narita Homare)

The event itself:
G1 Tokyo Daishoten (12/23/98, D2000m): 2nd place behind Steady Distance (they double-team Abukuma Poro and all comers, very shonen, 10/10 would watch again), 28.35 million yen.

Shirogane finishes the year with a total of 702.39 million yen for the year, just 10 million shy of the record. She still gets 1st place, with Special Week taking 2nd place at about 443 million yen.

When interviewed later at the annual URA awards and asked about how it feels to miss out on the single-year earnings record, Shirogane just shrugs, and says that her personal take-home share of her prize money was already enough to pay for all of the piecemeal structural repairs and renovations at the Suzukiya.

That's when it finally sinks in for the onlookers.

Shirogane runs FOR the money, but it was never about the MONEY, it was always about her family and friends.

EDIT: I can't believe I forgot about the Japan Cup on 11/29/98. Even 5th place in that would get her 13.2 million yen and put her over the top anyway. Eh, let's just put her next to Stay Gold at 10th place and out of the money, or we can change an earlier win to a loss to make the math work. The crux of the matter stays the same.

 

[Tonyloco]

I love the even when Shirogane won 2 of the mentioned races in the last chapter, some people still complain about her not crushing her competition every time.

part of the charm in the story is the fact that she's not winning everything or crushing her opponents left and right (Well, the ones who win because all the ones who came after her are probably pretty miffed of the Pale horse who seems to be in a different race every week)

Also this is basically her first year of racing, if she´s not dominating right now because of the rest of the golden generation, we need to remember that even the omakes of a RL Shirogane hint that she will run for a long long time.

Right now she probably has to face strong opponents every race, even if she races every week the quality of the racers has her facing several strong Umas each of them.

But in later years, I can easily see her having to deal with strong racers in maybe half of even less of those races.

And lets say she's not on her prime after the first 3 years (I hardly believe so) she would still have enough legs and race enough times to keep either getting second places (The Silver standard) or win them because not all of them will have the the genius of her generation or similar exceptional Umas.

I don't see her as any Damocles Sword, the years ahead will give her more experience, and Aura by having so many races and having a winning record in most of them.

I see Shirogane being considered a legend in later years, by staying racing way past her generation and winning against younger and younger Umas every year.

If she can be a scary racer right now in her first year, with a whole generations of Monster racers along her, Just imagine an older Shirogane, with several years of aura farming, tons of experience, and guts from many races.

Younger racers would probably know of her quite well and once can bet that many would be quite intimidated from having to race her.

Right now she's racing among peers, Umas who are talented in other ways and capable of besting her, but in a few years once the quality drops, and the greats racers of each generations have to deal with this old Battle hardened warhorse who seems to have done everything in races and keeps coming back for more each year.

Again I enjoy a lot the slice of life of this story, I like that its a slow burn in some parts, the characters are fun and doesn't take themselves too seriously, fore some Umas this might be their Halcyon years but for Shirogane this is year 1 of many more to come.

 

[Pinklestia]

inbreeding

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Literally no male Umas so inbreeding would be harder.

 

[Kojiro Kakita]

I see Shirpgane being considered a legend in later years, by staying racing way past her generation and winning against younger and younger Umas every year.

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It should be noted her Best Japan G1 the Tenno Sho Spring will be won by Spe and TMO in the next two years.

Her best bet may be to go to Europe with El and race in UK's Ascot (4km) and Prix du Cadran.

 

[Crispy Taco Shell]

Literally no male Umas so inbreeding would be harder.

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Umas are capable of occasionally producing human males that can pass on uma traits to their offspring without being umas themselves. Shirogane's grandfather was a regular human while his mother and sister were both umamusumes, for example.

Canon is never clear on how that works or why the males are never seen but my assumption is that the male members of the old uma families are kept cloistered in their estates like a reverse Ottoman harem or male ants in an ant colony. Gross.

 

[fredthebadger]

Canon is never clear on how that works or why the males are never seen but my assumption is that the male members of the old uma families are kept cloistered in their estates like a reverse Ottoman harem or male ants in an ant colony. Gross.

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I kind of assume they use a different family name for the men. To obscure the amount of tangling going on in high-end racing lineages.

 

[Jadalier Rune]

Literally no male Umas so inbreeding would be harder.

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… I mean, that's doesn't mean incest doesn't happen, it would just be with a human instead.

Pretty weird, but it could happen… can't believe I was the one who said this.

 

[PinkShadowReader]

Three. She won an open dirt race in January, then she placed second after El Condor Pasa at the Kyodo News Hai in early February, while also winning the Wakagoma Stakes at Kyoto in the latter half of February.

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Thank you. It was exactly that I wanted to ask about but didn't specify.

When he had gotten an apartment near Tracen Academy, Toujou Tensei had not expected for there to be as many izakayas near the school as there were, having figured that they wouldn't want to attract too many of the typical clientele that frequented these kinds of establishments to areas near such a prestigious school, and to some degree he had been correct, as the places in question advertised themselves more discreetly, but as it turns out, while there were certainly many students, that also meant a large number of faculty and facility staff, many of whom really needed a drink after dealing with the often excitable Tracen students. The people who worked in food preparation in particular often seemed to be some degree of delirious.

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Oho. I think that the izakayas could only be acceptable to be there when it a school over a certain age. If it was any younger despite being racer umas it wouldn't look good. With the school's prestige and the students in question being mostly friendly it should be a pretty good place to place their shop around there.

Also smart to into the market for the facility staff members.

"There is only so far they could go with just their reputation if they didn't produce results as well," Tensei observed idly. This was especially true in a field such as uma racing, where there were very clear performance metrics to judge one's success.

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I find it really funny how both Shiro and Tensei like its clear metrics on success.

"Don't you spend quite a lot of time watching them run scrimmage races?"

"Yeah, but he only does that to watch cute girls run, since he can't get any luck otherwise."

"Hey, you take that back! And even if I did that, I'm just seeing Tracen girls run against other Tracen girls, so it still surprises me a bit when they run against girls from other schools."

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Haha! I guess it would also be such a thing with umas.

"There is a pretty big difference," the lone umamusume at the table agreed, though she gave the two bickering young men a long side eye. "Shirogane-chan is quite strong, but she isn't the only strong racer at Tracen, and she just smoked this open race."

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Surprised that there was an uma here. Maybe its of the facility member or a security gal. I got the image of this place being more for humans wanting to complain.

"She's a hafu right?" Toshiro asked, watching as the camera focused closer in on the winner's placid face. "Guess she's kinda cute, but with that serious sorta face I think she'd probably be super strict, or something."

"Looks kind of scary, no?" One of Toshiro's friends mumbled (Tensei forgot his name), "don't see a lot of umas with red eyes."

"Not to mention she looked like she was really angry while she was running."

"Shirogane-san is a very reasonable and level headed person," Tensei interrupted, feeling oddly obliged to defend his friend. "She peels her ears back to reduce air resistance as she runs, not because she is emotionally unbalanced." Though whatever efficiency gain she had there was lost when she wore her oversized military cap for G1 races.

"Awww….sounds like Glasses has a bit of a crush, eh?"

"Dumbass half of us wear glasses."

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Suddenly I remembered that her previous school had whole farewell party for her. I think that school has been closely following her career.

Actually when I think about it a marathon would be great way to show case Shiro strengths. There might not be one in Japan but there could very well be in another part of the world. There are marathons and racers for all sort of things after all. Afterall it isn't like a marathon is an unknown phenomenon and umas has been known to transport things or run long distances.

Looks like people are split between if she's cute or scary. I think there is not an insignificant number of people wanting her to be in a teacher uniform. Maybe the term "scarousal" will become more popular.

Their banter wouldn't look out of place between umas too lol.

Happy that Tensei consider her a friend.

"You know what's funny?" The question drew their attention to Kaminari Drift, the brown haired umamusume who worked for Tracen's security team. She glanced around the table before looking back at the television. "Shiro-chan's actually one of the slower runners in Tracen."

"Though her top speed is actually quite competitive on dirt." Tensei did some quick math in his head, and blinked as he realized that his cousin's trainee had only been slightly slower running on dirt compared to turf.

"Well I'll say," Toshiro-snorted, shaking his head in disbelief, "she wiped out the others in this race, so if she's slow for Tracen, then damn is the gap huge!"

"And Shiro-chan's tough too," Drift-san added, her ears flicking idly. "Little filly's got enough stamina to run around town a couple of times."

"Eh? You hear that, Tensei? She's got a lot of stamina!"

Tensei nodded. "It's why she has managed to be competitive with her peers despite not being as fast." At least that was part of it. "As it means she can keep up her own sprint longer than…" he paused, before shrugging his shoulders. "Now that I think of it, I don't think I've seen any other runner manage to sprint for as long as she can."

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Ooh. So she was an uma of the security team! That explains her presence here.

I laugh as innuendos bounce back and forth but Tensei has long learned that the only path to victory is to ignore everything.

"Seriously?" Toshiro muttered, looking at him in disbelief. "Haven't you gotten quite buddy buddy with a bunch of the Tracen girls? Aside from Red Eyes, there's Taiki Shuttle and the pink haired one."

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Red Eyes, huh. A nickname. I wonder if it will catch on too or if its only from him.

Not that the other aspects of living near Tracen Academy lacked their appeal, as the open area was surprisingly calming compared to the press of the denser parts of the city, and despite how competitive the uma students were, they were mostly quite friendly, which made the atmosphere of the surroundings more pleasant.

"The insider information has its usefulness too."

His neighbors laughed uproariously at that, while Drift-san gave him a look of mock offense. It was not something that was supposed to be talked about too much, but there was a lot of gambling involved in uma racing, only some of it officially sanctioned.

Tensei himself was not too fond of gambling, preferring to have more security in his future. He already knew he wasn't the kind that fortune favored closely, but now that the thought had been put into his head by his neighbor…just how feasible would becoming a trainer be? It was a prestigious job, and much more analytical than it was often portrayed.

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Rofl. First there was a nice description on how nice and soft everything is there. Then BAM, someone bought up insider information. The one specific thing Shiro wouldn't give him lol.

If they would date and I mean this in a hypothetical scenario people might think Shiro would give him insider information if he also gambled. So its good that he isn't a fan of gambling.

I'm unsure if it would be good if Tensei go to become a trainer. I just like him and Shiro interacting to each other.

"I can see fine," Shirogane reassured her friend, even if her head barely cleared the railing. Taro was nearly twice as tall as her, and her siblings were not far behind. If she had been standing behind them she would not have been able to see, but the three large umas created a natural void in the crowd as people mostly were not too eager to stand near enough to feel the stand shake slightly from Matcha and Azuki's excited hops. "It's always quite easy to spot you three in the crowd."

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I don't think about her height so much and it doesn't feel that she's smol but then something like this happens lol.

As much as Shirogane could admit that her talent for fashion was highly limited, she had trouble understanding how Steady could consider herself fashionable if this was her preference.

"Steady's outfit is so cool! It makes her look so fast!"

"I'm pretty sure it doesn't contribute to her speed that much, Azuki."

"Mmm….but Shiro is faster when she has her costume on, onee-san!"

"It is a uniform."

"Shiro is weird, Azuki."

"I resent this observation."

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I think Shiro has more fashion sense than she thinks. Not necessary in the direction that's standard but still a sense. Her sense is directed towards military and professional men's clothes in an office environment.

>"I resent this observation."
They area riot lol.

"Yeah, she's only the fourth favorite out of nine runners," Taro sighed, her ears dipping slightly. "Toyo Seattle just won the Daishoten, and Poro looks like she's raring to make her pay for that." As she noted, the bulkier uma down on the track was glaring at one of the chestnut umas, who just stared back unblinkingly until it was time for both of them to get into the gate.

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If Shiro would be down there they would be busy in panic because she would sharpen her blade and let its eerie sound spook them.

"There is some fatigue, but no, she is providing a dilemma to her opponents." Shirogane narrowed her eyes as the Megaton pulled alongside Steady on the outside, while Opera was content to tail the leader directly to stay closer to the rail. "They are only midway through the race, so burning energy to pass her could mean they take away from their final charge, and pushing them outwards means they have a longer distance to run, creating more fatigue."

T.M. Megaton still tried to push ahead, but Steady matched her acceleration just enough that the chestnut uma could not both take the lead and shift directly in front of her, so as they passed the finish line position to start the full and final lap–

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I appreciate things like this because I had no idea about tactics like this.

"A bit of a bummer to start out like this for her last year," Taro sighed, shaking her head as she looked down on the track, where Steady seemed to be exchanging some challenging words with Abukuma Poro. "Maybe we need to teach that poser some manners."

"I recommend against attempting to race fix by targeting competitors," Shirogane snorted, before looking over at the displayed track times. It was on the faster side of what she'd seen Steady achieve. "And however the first race of the year went, if the last race is spectacular that is usually what is remembered."

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Leave it to Shiro to take it literally and the most violent way possible.

"Ah, such a shame that you won't get the chance to prove your detractors wrong by running on turf." Shirogane was likewise unbothered by the weather, having seen worse in her time as a supply courier. It would be a bit annoying that the normally G2 Kyodo News Service Hai would lose its rating this year due to the track change, but at least the prize pool would be the same.

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Ouch. Sad that lose its rating. Indeed at least its prize pool would be the same.

It had snowed heavily during the night, making the turf track supposedly too dangerous to run on, leading to the race being switched over to the dirt track, which was unfortunately shorter, putting Shirogane at more of a disadvantage against El Condor Pasa, but at least some of the other racers weren't very practiced running on dirt, enough so the betting odds had shifted to put her as the second favorite instead of third.

The track was muddy from the melted snow, sticking to her shoes in a familiarly uncomfortable way. It had been bad enough that the racecourse staff had had some trouble getting the starting gate into position.

"I should have worn my boots, cleaning my shoes after this is going to be troublesome."

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I think its only Shiro that thinks that its fun with more obstacles on the track. Even if those obstacles comes with a terrible condition for running. She did like having to steer clear of cars and normal traffic while she was running and she did miss it.

Ouch. The condition of the dirt track was familiar to her previous life for the Soldier. It brought up bad memories.

Rofl. Her dialogue is so funny.

Grass Wonder could not help the shiver that went up her spine as she looked down at the Tokyo race track, and it wasn't from the slightly above freezing temperature.

"Quite the trial the heavens have set before our fellows, no?" The dark bay uma next to her was more affected by the cold, having wrapped herself in a thick jacket and wearing ear bonnets to keep her ears warm. "It surprises me that none of those participating have decided to heed discretion more than valor." And Grass was surprised her friend still decided to wear her typical string of pink flowers in her hair despite the weather.

"Would you have scratched out, Phalaeno-san?" Grass Wonder asked, ears flicking impishly as she smiled, already knowing what the reply would be.

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Why did she get a shiver when it was specifically not because of the temperature? Did she feel Shiro's stare that long distance away?

Exactly. Even Phalaeno commented it would be acceptable to forfeit the race based on how bad the condition of the road was. Though herself said she wouldn't bow out though so its unclear how much integrity that response held. If it was really a normal and a sane thing for an uma to do.

It was a bit strange to Grass Wonder, as she saw Shirogane practically every day, but apparently her pale haired classmate was viewed as kind of a cryptid by the other classes, since she didn't live in the dorms and generally kept to herself outside of class, not helped by how she liked to study at the Stump on sunny days or her ability to sneak up on people.

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Rofl. I'm imaging her fellow umas thinking Shiro was something like big foot or loch ness. Something that's supposed to live there but is never seen. Never heard until she's behind you. Never seen unless you specifically goes to the Stump.

She had started towards the outside again, and had to endure a bit more of Pasa's antics as her dark haired classmate had been in the gate next to her, which would normally make getting to her usual position more troublesome, but with how several of her competitors stumbled or slipped on the slick ground, Shirogane found herself taking the lead quicker than she expected, sliding over to run closer to the rail.

Pasa followed behind her, keeping up with her pace, but choosing not to contest her position, as she knew that she could overtake Shirogane towards the end.

Instead, Shirogane found herself pursued by a brown haired uma the announcers referred to as Doctrine.

This was a short race, one that didn't even make a full lap around the track, so as she approached the end of the backstretch straight, Shirogane only sped up.

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Indeed. Shiro would be unfortunately familiar with this type of condition.

Rofl. Shiro being pursued by Doctrine. There is a joke in there somewhere.

"Phew!" Steady Distance whistled as she watched her short friend glide around the bend, seemingly oblivious to the slickness of the surface. "That's some crazy cornering work there."

"It is a remarkable combination of coordination and power," Trainer-kun agreed, though he seemed more concerned than appreciative. "It's more strength than I expected to see in a body that size."

"Number two Doctrine and number nine Intelli Power are fighting for second and third, but number eight El Condor Pasa is closing in on them!"

"Heh." And wasn't that the truth? "Told you my junior was something special."

"I never doubted you." Those words sounded wonderful to Steady's ears, making them wiggle happily. "But I had hoped she would struggle a bit more on dirt when I found out she's primarily a turf runner." He sighed, shaking his head. "If anything, she might be better on dirt than turf, from the looks of it."

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Indeed. Shiro is unfortunately familiar with this. Both Steady and her trainer see that she's skilled running in this weather. Though I think her trainer mistake Shiro familiarity in bad weather specifically for an affinity on dirt tracks.

If Shiro would be run on asphalt then she would be able to say "This isn't even my final form! *dashes even faster on asphalt.*"

"Can the Undefeated Condor overtake the Silver Eagle and maintain her win streak?!"

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Oho. So now she got her nickname 'official' ish. It was her name but now its her actual sobriquet. I love that she got it. She is really fitting for it.

More mud splashed over El as she closed in on her white haired classmate, her short friend's strong legs kicking up a lot of dirt, especially as she tried to cut her off.

Her heart pounded in her chest and her lungs strained for air, but El Condor Pasa would not be stopped like this!

She kicked off harder, narrowing the gap so that Shirogane couldn't completely block her off. She couldn't try and swing out, because she would slip, but that meant that Shiro couldn't juke as much either.

"El Condor Pasa is pulling even–!"

Faster! Faster, faster!

"The Condor and Eagle are neck and neck!"

"Ahhhhhh!" She let out a battle cry, the effort making her vision narrow and she couldn't see Shiro anymore, even if her footsteps still pounded the mud next to her.

Pressure built behind her eyes.

Her lungs burned, and her legs felt numb, but–

"The Condor has passed!"

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Its so fun seeing how she's taking this as dire as death and passion. Meanwhile Shiro is taking this as a good job but nethertheless a job that she needs to perform in.

"Hahaa…ha! See?!" She sucked in a huge breath of the cold, winter air, fighting down the urge cough as it burned her throat. "El Condor Pasa is unbeatable on dirt!"

"Evidently you are well equipped to be a mud wrestler."

"Queeee–?! Ack!" The random comment made her lose control and start coughing, her brain trying to get enough oxygen to understand what her rival was saying.

"You have a lot of mud on your mask, by the way."

"Noooo!" Why did you have to do that, Shiro?!

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Rofl. If Shiro would comment such things midrace then her win rate would be higher lol. Would that be okay also in the rules?

Love the chapter! Its always a treat seeing you write this. I love it! Cheers!

 

[Lyrista]

Rofl. I'm imaging her fellow umas thinking Shiro was something like big foot or loch ness. Something that's supposed to live there but is never seen. Never heard until she's behind you. Never seen unless you specifically goes to the Stump.

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Then a rumor starts that Shirogane is actually the collective amalgamation of the resentful feelings of generations of Umas who screamed their frustrations of struggling training and races into the stump that has come to take her collective revenge on all of her opponents.

 

[TheSmallSauce]

Spoiler: No Cap

Steady Distance - Kyori wa, mikata da.(Distance is on her side)

 

[Stracio]

G2 Kyodo News Service Hai

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Minor correction, but the Kyodo News Service Hai (Kyodo Tsushin Hai) was (and still is) a G3.

With that said, it it true that the 1998 edition of the race was ran on Dirt, which El won irl.