Uma Musume: Become a Legendary Trainer

Chapter 217 They are already too fast (7k)

Judging that the rain will subside is not a skill that can predict the future, but it can be considered an essential quality for a trainer.

It may be a bit of an exaggeration to say that one knows everything about astronomy and geography, but there are all kinds of weather conditions and dozens of racing tracks, so the necessary knowledge still needs to be firmly grasped.

Weather like today is not caused by a typhoon, but is rather common convective rain.

Nagoya is close to the sea, and the weather is relatively hot in July and August. The water vapor on the sea surface can easily rise due to the heat and form rainfall along the coast.

This type of rainfall is also affected by temperature. It falls quickly and suddenly, and the heavy rain will not last long.

So when Kitahara suggested that Oguruma and the others conduct a training test, he said it with an uncertain tone, but in fact he was still convinced in his heart that there would be a chance.

Then, just as he expected, the rain gradually subsided before the morning game started.

The raindrops still hit the body and the track densely, bringing a little coolness, but not as dense as at the beginning to affect the vision.

This is also the reason why the URA Association will adjust the competition when it rains too much. Visibility is a very critical factor in the competition. It not only affects the outcome, but more importantly, it ensures safety.

Uma girls have a much wider field of vision than humans, and their dynamic vision is several times stronger.

When the weather is good and the light is suitable, you can observe the curves, the positions of your opponents and the size of the track at high speed, thus avoiding accidents such as collisions or stepping on potholes.

If the rain is too heavy, it will reduce visual ability and greatly increase the danger level of the competition.

The current rain intensity is just right. Even a trainer like Kitahara can clearly see the condition of the track for several hundred meters or so, so there will be no such accidents in the Uma Musume competition.

The same was true for several races in the morning. The heavy ground caused by the rain obviously affected the performance of the horse racers on the track, but every race was completed safely.

Correspondingly, when the morning competition was over, Kitahara took advantage of the two hours when the track was idle at noon, reported to the staff, and started warming up on the track with Oguruma and the others.

The reason for reporting is not because there is anything wrong with this training test.

On the contrary, it is very common to take advantage of various free time to adapt to the venue on the day of the game. Telling the staff is because this is because the venue may have some temporary arrangements based on today's weather conditions.

As for training and testing, any trainer or team will try to understand the latest conditions of the track as much as possible before the competition so as to adjust the event plan in a timely manner.

For example, as soon as the Yongshi team arrived at the track, they could see horse racing girls running back and forth in the venue, and there were people wearing raincoats and holding umbrellas next to the railings on the outer edge.

Those are the players who will be competing in the afternoon, and their trainers.

“Is this an illusion…?”

As soon as he stood by the railing and looked around casually, Komiya was suddenly stunned, "I always feel like... those trainers and horse racing girls are all looking at us...?"

"Aren't they here for training?"

While she was wondering, Kitahara was arranging warm-up for Oguruma and the others. Hearing this, he subconsciously followed the former's words and looked at the other people in the venue.

In his sight, he could clearly see that the horse racing ladies who were originally adjusting to their state on the track slowed down, and their eyes were looking towards this side intentionally or unintentionally.

A few others simply walked a few steps toward the edge of the empty runway, stopped and looked over here.

The same goes for the trainers at the railing.

When you get closer, you can see through the rain that they are either showing varying degrees of caution or whispering to familiar companions.

Yusuhara was also looking around. He saw the situation around him and recognized some of the trainers and horse girls.

"These……"

He frowned, "It seems that many of them are opponents of Xiaolimao and the others in the competition."

"Does this state mean that you want to keep a close eye on them...?"

"In this case, the pressure on them during the competition may be even greater than expected..."

There was already a hint of worry in Yusuhara's tone, but before he could finish his words, a voice interrupted him.

"Don't be so scared, Lang! It's reasonable for them to be noticed given the current strength of Oguri and the others. There's no need to be so surprised."

Inari, who was doing stretching exercises before warming up, paused for a moment, and patted his chest as if to guarantee on behalf of Oguruma and the others.

"Although I'm not the one playing in the game, we've been practicing together for so long, so I don't need to worry about Xiaoli and the others!"

"That is to say, we have great confidence in Xiaoli, Xiaohaiwan, and Aldan!"

Tamamo Cross immediately agreed, "In order to prepare for the Takamatsu Palace Cup before Inari, we have come to the Chukyo Stadium many times. Didn't we prepare a lot in advance this time?"

"Don't worry too much!"

The two horse girls were full of confidence, and the three horse girls who were going to participate in the competition also showed confident expressions. Kitahara just approached Yusuhara and patted the latter on the shoulder.

"Inari and Tama are right. We are no strangers to attention, pressure, and preparation. We just need to prepare seriously."

"That's what we have to do as trainers, isn't it?"

After saying this to comfort him, seeing Yusuhara take a deep breath and nod, Kitahara smiled and waved to Oguruma and the others.

"Well, continue your warm-ups, and once you're ready, go to the starting point and get ready."

"Just a simple 2000-meter test, based on the training level."

"Then, Kouki, you should take Xiaoxiaoli and the others and make preparations for the cold weather."

Before this training test, Shining Glory and younger horse girls such as Oguri Roman had completed various logistical work. This arrangement can also effectively avoid any problems during the competition.

With the warm-up over, the training test began soon.

The training test did not use a gate, which would be much more convenient.

After Kitahara announced the start of the test, Komiya, who was standing next to him, stared closely at the horse racing ladies who rushed out of the starting line together, and nodded quickly.

“Well, it was a very good start. I can imagine that there won’t be any problems with the exit in the rain during the actual race this afternoon.”

Then, she looked at Beiyuan with a puzzled expression, wondering, "So, Senior Brother, why did you suddenly want to do this test? Can you explain it to me?"

"Could it be that you really thought of some new ideas before the game started that could help them perform better?"

The entire team knew what Oguruma was thinking about the upcoming competition during dinner after the hot spring yesterday.

To some extent influenced by her, whether it was Xiao Haiwan and Aldan who were also going to compete today, or Tamamo Cross and Inari Ichi who had no competitions recently, they all had similar thoughts.

Maybe it was said out loud, or maybe it was revealed unintentionally, in any case, trainers like Kitahara clearly felt that the horse racing ladies in their team were more motivated than before and wanted to perform better.

Komiyama and Yusuhara are equally concerned about their own horse girls, especially in their daily communication. The former understands Tamamo Cross's feelings more clearly.

Therefore, she also wanted to satisfy her idea of ​​being a horse racing girl.

But from a realistic point of view, perhaps in the next game, Tamamo Cross and Inari Ichi will have enough time to think about new running methods and tactics.

With only a few hours left before the competitions for Little Chestnut, Little Bay and Aldan, it seemed unrealistic in terms of time.

Hearing Komiyayama's question, Yusuhara also cast a questioning look.

"I'm not entirely sure, but..."

Faced with the doubts of his colleagues, Kitahara rarely hesitated on the issue of training and competition.

He has various clear training ideas and a better understanding of each horse girl than other trainers of this era. He has always been very confident in his work, and the plans he came up with are very clear and highly operational.

But now, not only did he suddenly show hesitation before the game, but his specific ideas were not as clear as before.

After a pause, he continued:
"But I gradually felt that, at least in the competitions during this period, I had been very negligent."

"Negligence? No way, Senior Brother, there are times when you are negligent...?"

Subconsciously retorting, Komiya's expression changed in an instant, as if thinking about something, "Could it be... that you were affected by what you heard when you were on the phone yesterday?"

What Komiyama was referring to was naturally the Secretariat's evaluation of Oguri Hat that Kitahara accidentally learned about when he was talking to Rokuhei Ginjiro.

Admittedly, Komiya-san also thought that the advice of a chairman of Tresen College was very valuable for reference, but after hearing it yesterday, she still couldn't think of anything valuable about it.

Besides, it wasn't just her. Other members of the team, including Kitahara himself, didn't seem to think those suggestions had any impact on the actual game.

But now that she saw her senior brother conducting a training test before the training began, she could only think of these.

"Well, maybe it's not an oversight. Maybe some of my perspectives are a little...too advanced?"

Continuing with his uncertain words, Kitahara didn't wait for Komiyayama to ask any more questions. He looked directly at Shin Shinkyou and Miyamura Kyoko and gave orders.

"There are quite a few opponents of Xiaolimao and her friends on the field. Their running data should have been saved by the equipment, right?"

Although they didn't understand why Kitahara suddenly asked this, after looking at each other, Shinshin Kouki and Miyamura nodded involuntarily.

"They are all preserved. Because we were going to Kasamatsu Hot Springs yesterday, Guanghui and I discussed it with the stadium staff a day in advance and set up the equipment in advance."

Miyamura Kyoko nodded and said, "And considering the complicated weather conditions recently, the waterproof, windproof, signal transmission and reception functions of the instrument have also been specially debugged, and there are no problems."

After confirming it, she was suddenly startled, thought for a while, and asked.

"By the way, Brother Kitahara, are you going to compare the data of Oguri and her opponents through testing?"

“Have you been doing all this before?”

While his colleagues were asking questions in confusion, Kitahara's eyes were closely following the five figures running fast on the runway against the rain.

"We have indeed compared a lot of data in the past, but today may be an exception..."

He responded to Miyamura Kyoko's words in a deep voice, and his gaze continued to follow the figures of Oguruma and the others, and gradually there was a hint of realization in his eyes.

"Knew it……"

"Today might be an exception... Hey? As expected?"

Having just said half of Kitahara's words, after paying attention to the content behind it, Miyamura Kyoko suddenly perked up and immediately asked further questions.

"Brother Kitahara, have you discovered anything?!"

Hearing this, not only her, but also Komiyayama and Yusuhara looked over hurriedly with anxious expressions.

"I think what I feel is right, it's just this feeling..."

Suddenly revealing an awkward smile, Kitahara rubbed his forehead and pointed at the female racehorses who had already finished most of the 2000-meter test on the track.

"Let's put it this way. Without talking about the data, just from the visual intuition, do you think the five of them...were affected too much by the rain and the heavy venue?"

"In other words, is there any difference between their current performance and our pre-match analysis and speculation?"

This question caught his colleagues beside him by surprise. They all stared in the direction of the runway after being stunned for a moment.

Just like the special effects in anime, the five horse girls on the track in the rain are running at full speed, and their bodies seem to be coated with a thin layer of white light. However, that is not a special effect, but a visual effect formed by the water droplets naturally splashing backwards under the influence of airflow when breaking through the rain curtain at high speed. If a car race encounters rainy days, it will also have such an effect.

Although the speed of the horse racing ladies is not as fast as that of racing cars, it is still a speed that humans cannot reach. Under the same circumstances, it is not difficult to understand that their bodies are covered with a layer of rain curtain.

This also shows the speed of Oguruma and the others at the moment.

It was still the lunch break on the game day, but there were still many spectators lingering in the stands, and they also saw the scene on the track.

Just like watching a real race, they couldn't help but cheer. It penetrated the rain, reached the ears of the horse girls on the track, and also reached Kitahara and the others.

Different from the viewing angle of the audience, the trainers naturally look at professional aspects such as running posture, speed, and skills.

With Kitahara's reminder, Komiya and others quickly realized that something was wrong, or to be more precise, they found that there was no problem.

"It seems... there is no difference."

After nodding his head in affirmation, Komiya asked in confusion, "But... doesn't this just prove that there is nothing wrong with our arrangement?"

"No, this just shows that there is something wrong with our arrangement. And since you think so, Komiya-san, it means that my negligence is not just my problem. Everyone has similar thoughts."

Kitahara refuted almost immediately, and then quickly explained.

"That is, we are used to arranging the competition with the most idealistic ideas, assuming that Oguruma and her opponents can perfectly demonstrate their training level."

“We will do everything we can to allow our horse girls to fully utilize their talents, abilities, and skills, distribute their energy, control their rhythm, and find the right time to exert their strength at the most extreme angles.”

"But we forget that Oguruma and the others are capable enough to achieve this idealization, but their opponents may not be able to do so."

“This is not easy to spot in events with good weather and track conditions.”

"For example, Tamamo Cross's Takarazuka Kinen and Inari Ichi's Takamatsunomiya Cup, their opponents basically played at the level we expected."

"But in reality, there is definitely a gap between those opponents and their ideal state."

"And in today's bad weather and runway conditions, this gap will definitely be magnified."

"If I'm not mistaken, then if we compare the data from this test with that of our opponents in the same situation, we will definitely find an obvious fact..."

Looking at his colleagues, Kitahara gave a strange smile.

"Little Chestnut Hat, Little Bay, and Aldan, they are too fast."

"Their opponents, with the weather, the track and all sorts of other negative factors, were able to perform at a much lower level than we had previously anticipated."

"In this case, even if Oguruma and the others wanted to follow the established plan and run the most familiar first or second line, they would still inevitably run in the leading position."

"And once they run according to the established plan, they have to suppress their speed."

"This can certainly win the game, but isn't it a waste of strength?"

He suddenly sighed.

"So now I understand a little bit what the Secretariat meant when they said 'it can withstand stronger impacts'."

"It seems that we have been holding Oguruma and her team to too high a standard, as well as their opponents."

"In fact, when it is difficult for the opponent to fully display their strength as we expected, this kind of thinking is actually a waste of our Uma Musume's true strength."

As they were talking, the horse racing ladies on the track had finished their training test. After taking a simple slow walk to recover their condition, they walked towards the track railing in the rain.

"You see, even though it's a training test that doesn't require them to go all out, judging from their current state, they're basically not affected too much by the 2000-meter run they just ran."

Pointing at the horse racing girls walking towards the fence, Kitahara said something with a complicated expression, and then quickly gave orders to the "support group".

"Kui, take Xiaoxiaoli and the others to help their seniors adjust. Go to the preparation area to take a shower, change clothes, and drink some ginger soup."

"There are still a few hours before the game. There's still enough time."

The test match didn't last very long. More than two hours at noon plus the time waiting for the match in the afternoon was enough to adjust to the pre-match condition.

While Oguruma and the others were taking the time to adjust their condition, Kitahara also brought all the trainers to the players' preparation room and analyzed the "new" tactics before the battle.

Although it is called a "new tactic", in fact the general arrangement is not much different from the previous one. What needs to be paid attention to is the previously judged strength limit and the idealized state of the opponent.

"Brother Kitahara's guess was correct. Compared to the test data just collected by Oguruma and the others, their opponents' performance at noon was lower than we expected."

Unlike previous analysis and discussions, this time the opening remarks were made by Kyoko Miyamura.

Typing on the laptop she brought with her, she thought, "Also, if we follow the original game plan, this numerical difference will not be particularly obvious in actual combat."

"A simulation will show that our horse girl can still run behind her opponent in a more familiar position, but the distance will be closer than before."

"If they abandon this game plan and go all out, Oguruma and the others will indeed be in the lead for a long period of the race."

"Especially in weather and runway conditions like today."

The sound of typing on the keyboard stopped, replaced by the rustling and clicking sounds of the mouse moving.

Along with this sound, a real-time rendered 3D image appeared on the projection screen in the preparation room.

The background is a three-dimensional column chart of the Zhongjing race track, with the gentle first bend at the upper right and the iconic downhill section of the track at the lower left.

At the gate of the racetrack, 7D simulated images of seven horse racing girls were lined up in a row.

One of them had long silver-gray hair and was obviously a girl named Oguryo. She was in the front center of the team.

"Because Oguri's Meitetsu Cup match was the first one, I will use her match as an example."

Pointing to the screen, Kyoko Miyamura explained: "If it was the previous event arrangement, she would only be in the team within 7 to 10 seconds after leaving the gate."

"After this period of time, if she hadn't deliberately suppressed her speed in order to follow the schedule, she would have fallen away from the team and taken the lead."

With a few clicks, "Little Chestnut" and "opponents" on the screen moved forward a little along the 3D runway, and "Little Chestnut" also broke away from the team and came to the lead.

This lead was not obvious at the beginning. Judging from the various data on the simulated rendering image, the gap between the first and second place was only a little more than one horse length.

As time went by, the "horse racing ladies" in the image came to the middle of the track, and the gap gradually widened to 2 lengths, 3 lengths, 4 lengths, and once reached 5 lengths.

Later on, the lead gap gradually narrowed, and when approaching the finish line, it became a gap of more than 1 length again.

It was not until the 200-meter sprint that the gap widened again, but not to the previous 5-length gap.

"We will consider using Oguruma as an example first, considering that her adaptability to this position is not very strong."

Using the computer to display a simulated match on the projection screen, Miyamura Kyoko continued:
"According to this game idea, whether it is active or passive, the actual running method of Oguruma, Xiaowan and Aldan will become running away."

"If it's Cove or Aldan, they have a certain degree of adaptability to escape."

"Be sensitive to the ratio and consumption of pace and physical strength, the opponent's response to your own rhythm, the status of the race, gain a certain psychological advantage from the leading position, and withstand the pressure of being chased..."

“These are not unfamiliar to Little Bay and Aldan.”

As she spoke, she frowned slightly, "But the little chestnut hat itself is not good at running away."

"For her, a short-term lead can be used as a means to distribute her energy and also to put extra pressure on her opponents."

"Her strong position switching ability is also enough to support her to return to the team in time."

"As the leading horse girl, the stronger wind resistance and the physical loss caused by today's rain curtain are not too big a problem for Oguruma."

"But she is very unfamiliar with the details."

She started debugging the computer again and sped up the playback of the simulated event on the projection screen. The "Little Chestnut Hat" on it also went back and forth to show the leading distance in different situations.

"That's why she has such an unstable lead in the simulation data."

"If she chose this running style that she is not very good at, she would have been able to break through our previous planning and achieve a better result in this race."

"But as I said before, compared to his companions, Oguruma is not very good at escaping."

"If she wants to be more conservative and secure her victory, based on the data she has obtained so far, it is better for her to run first."

"This way, even if we need to restrain some of our strength, it won't affect our chances of winning."

"If you want to perform better, then you should go with the flow and run away directly. This way you will have a better chance of performing better."

"Of course, it could also be a dangerous victory with a small lead."

At this moment, Kyoko Miyamura suddenly became very serious.

"And I have to remind you one thing."

"The simulation I'm showing you now uses a completely new approach that we haven't considered before."

“In the past, we would never consider how to run a game when the opponent made a mistake. This time, the simulation was conducted with certain real-time data of the opponent.”

"Although their running conditions at noon were not ideal, there is a possibility that they will be able to adjust well during the actual battle."

"I also used the former as a parameter in the simulation. If Oguruma still wanted to run away in the latter case, the result might not be ideal..."

The action of operating the computer started again, but this time what was presented on the screen was no longer a complete simulation game.

The distance advantage of "Ogurt Hat" on the screen no longer existed before the finish line.

At first glance, she and her nearest opponent were almost running parallel to each other, the two of them running towards the finish line as if they were in a one-on-one duel.

"In this state, there is no doubt that Oguruma can enter the realm state."

"But if the decision was to use the field multiple times, the time she spent in the field at the finish line was clearly not enough to support the entire last 200 meters."

"In short, if we don't follow the previous competition arrangements and aim for better results, the strategy, risks, unknowns... the trade-offs from all angles will be a big problem."

Having said this, Kyoko Miyamura suddenly smiled bitterly.

"To be honest, this is a style of play we haven't considered before... I mean, there are so many uncertainties in this style of play."

"So, Brother Kitahara, are you going to let them run away in today's game?"

"Especially the little chestnut hat."

I originally wanted to write more than 1 words today, and finish writing everything before and after the game in one go.

But I have to pack things for the New Year back home, and it's snowing here, and I have to fix the anti-skid parts on the car, so I don't have enough time.

There are a lot of things to do at the end of the year, so I hope all book friends will forgive me.
Also, I would like to thank all the book friends for their support. Thank you so much!

I also wish you all a happy new year and wish you all a happy new year in advance!


(End of this chapter)