Snow Fate: An Uma Musume Fan Story

2. Memories - The Japan Cup

As I heard from an old man, it was very common for horse girls to leave the train at the wrong station, so then I wasn't any kind of exception to that rule. I would need to walk many blocks to get to Tracen Academy, but since it was mid afternoon I thought I would get there in time.

Whoa! Tokyo is amazing! I was already excited when I saw the city on the train, but walking here is way more exciting!

I was lost in my own thoughts looking everywhere, completely amazed with that city. I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking through and I only noticed when I had hit a lamp post, which made me a bit dizzy.

Some steps back and a little time to breathe were enough to completely recover my senses. When I was about to continue walking, I looked to my right and saw a huge poster on the wall.

Japan... Cup...? TODAY?!

I lifted my eyes and saw the huge building of the Tokyo Racecourse. My eyes quickly got back to the poster announcing the Japan Cup.

"A big race between Saint Marie, Toro de Madrid and... Victoria Luz"?! She will run at this Japan Cup?! I won't be late if I watch it, right?

I hadn't even come to a conclusion about that and I was already inside the Tokyo Racecourse. Just by knowing that I would see three complete legends racing each other made me a lot more excited.

The Lightspeed Monster, the Unbeatable Queen and the Spanish Superchampion, each one dominating one year of those last three years. I have only seen them running on TV and now I'm going to see them live.

When I managed to get into the main stand, there were a lot of people there already and as it seemed the horse girls were getting prepared to get into their blocks. I walked through the crowd until I managed to get to the front and have a nice view of the race.

- The race at the Japan Cup is about to start! Every horse girl is getting on their block and getting prepared for racing. Here are the highlights for today's race. Victoria Luz coming in as the third favorite...

- She hadn't had a good year so far, coming back from an injury from the last Japan Cup, she ran four races and got into the top three only twice without winning any. Her last victory was the Arima Kinen two years ago.

I got caught in surprise when both female casters started talking, but I paid full attention to what they were talking about.

- Then Saint Marie is the second favorite of this race...

- She is coming from a victory at Tenno Sho Autumn, she ran four races so far this year and only lost the Tenno Sho Spring.

- And then Toro de Madrid is the crowd's favorite for this race...

- After losing the Spanish Triple Crown, she is coming from multiple victories all around the world in those last two years. Her actual record is 12 wins in 17 races being 7 in G1 races.

Even though I already knew that Toro was very impressive, I was shocked with her record even though I knew that Victoria Luz also had an impressive record of 13 wins in 30 races in five years and having 8 victories at G1 races.

- They are already all lined up for the race start.

I focused my sight on the blocks, they were all ready to start and my anxiety started to grow. A huge metallic sound echoed through the racecourse as the blocks were opened.

- It started!

All of them left the blocks perfectly and the race formation started to appear during the opening leg. As expected, Saint Marie was running in the front as a runner, Toro was the one leading the rear and Victoria Luz was right in the middle of the rear.