Uma Musume: From Being Knocked Ten Meters Away

Chapter 167 The Contest Has Already Begun
As the live commentary gradually calmed down, the team on the track gradually passed the bend on the right side of the field at high speed and gradually stepped into the straight line on the opposite side.

Compared with the opening stage, the distance between the teams in the straight line has obviously increased.

Qingyun Tiankong was the first to turn, and in less than half a second, Bian Te Zhou, who was in second place, followed quickly.

Nearly two seconds later, Mejiro Guangming, who was at the end of the race after leaving the gate, finally "slowly" turned the corner.

Just like leaving the gate, more than a dozen figures moving forward at high speed seemed to have a tacit understanding that had been rehearsed, and there was no eye-catching confrontation when turning.

This not only made the commentary sound calmer, but also the noisy sound in the stands seemed to be lowered by one or two degrees.

"No direct confrontation at all? It seems..."

Leaning over the railing in front of him, Xingmu's emotions weren't as high as before. "The seniors must be planning to decide the outcome on the final curve or straight, right?"

On the side, Beibu Xuanju and Mingsheng Leidong were staring at the team on the track, and nodded in unison when they heard Xingmu's voice.

However, when he nodded, Beibu Xuanju felt something strange and couldn't help frowning slightly.

"Final bend and final straight?... This doesn't seem like the style of Koto-senpai and Kokusa-senpai..."

When she was surprised, she recalled the previous training matches in her mind, trying to find out what was strange.

"You're right."

Also watching the game, Yasui Zhen suddenly said: "It's not that there is no direct competition at all, but the competition has already begun...

"No, the competition has never stopped since the start of the race!" He couldn't help but emphasize this sentence.

Three astonished glances turned at the same time, and before the three horse racing girls could speak, the commentator's voice suddenly increased.

"The team passed the 600-meter marker! Time passed... 34 seconds!"

Compared with the previous gradually calming sound, this sound was obviously very abrupt.

The stands were noisy for a moment, and then there were a lot of exclamations and discussions, but more of an atmosphere was surprise and confusion.

"34 seconds...?"

Instinctively, she felt that this number must mean something, and when she heard an exclamation of "How fast" coming from not far away, her eyes widened, and she couldn't help but exclaim while thinking quickly.

"Is this... really fast?"

"Yeah! Soon!"

“…quite quickly.”

They spoke almost at the same time. Beibu Xuanju and Mingsheng Leidong nodded at the same time, and An Jingzhen also made the same sound.

"That's pretty fast for a starter."

Affected by the speed of the team at the moment, he also sped up his speech.

"Last year, the last three waves of Tianqiu were 33.7 seconds, the year before last, 34.6, and the year before that, 33.1...

"In other words, the average speed of the three waves after Tianqiu in the past three years is only 17.7 seconds!

"It's only been 600 meters and he's already clocked a speed of 17 seconds...

"As expected, you want to repeat your old tricks, Qingyun Tiankong...?"

Same old trick again...?
The same question appeared in the minds of the three horse racing girls nearby. Even Beibu Xuanju and Mingsheng Leidong, who could sense the pace of the race through the speed of 600 meters, were no exception.

Before they could ask, the commentator continued his exclamation:

"A very familiar tactic! It seems that Qingyun Tiankong is planning to replicate the tactics used during the Chrysanthemum Appreciation match, but will the opponents allow this tactic to succeed? After all, this is a tactic that has been used once before!"

The commentator's reminder caused a flurry of realization to echo in the stands. Northern Xuanju slapped his forehead and exclaimed, "I remember now! The trainer mentioned Senior Qingyun's 'pacing fraud'!"

Then, she became a little confused again.

"But if you really want to use this tactic...would explaining it count as a warning to the other seniors? And...the other seniors should know about this tactic, right?"

"That's why I said the confrontation had already begun."

Anjing Zhen said directly:

“I told you about the ‘pace cheating’ tactic, but don’t forget that was a 3000m Chrysanthemum Appreciation race, while this one is a 2000m race similar to Tianqiu.

"Qingyun Tiankong must have considered these situations. More importantly..."

He pointed to the back of the cyan figure on the track.

"She used this tactic before the special week, and it's impossible for her to repeat it so easily unless she doesn't want to win.

"Also, why do you think Te Bie Zhou was so hot on their tail? It's because she was trying to figure out what Qing Yun Tian Kong was planning from the moment she left the gate!"

In addition to these, An Jingzhen also has many things he wants to remind Northern Xuanju.

Not long after leaving the gate, he noticed Qingyun Tiankong's pace.

100 meters, 200 meters, 300 meters... Regardless of whether there are signboards or not, he can conclude from his experience and intuition that the pace of this horse racing girl is getting faster and faster.

For other trainers, especially novice trainers, pace is a very important competitive factor, but it is also the most easily overlooked among equally important factors.

Compared with the numerical changes in pace, which are mostly slow and steady, the reaction time when exiting the gate, the speed when taking a turn, and the last foot on the straight line are more likely to cause intuitive feelings, make people more excited, and are more likely to be noticed.

But Yasui Zhen has experienced many extreme races and is very clear about the importance of pacing.

For any competition involving speed, top speed is indeed important.

But the contestants are ultimately flesh and blood, and their physical strength is limited. Under this premise, the application of the combination of pace and physical strength distribution is one of the criteria for distinguishing whether the skill level is superb.

The tactics used by Qingyun Tiankong and her trainers in the Chrysanthemum Appreciation that year were textbook-level.

Instead of the slow lead he had previously adopted, he took a considerable lead right out of the gate, and passed the first 1000 meters at high speed, forcing his opponents to keep up with the pace and not hold back easily.

He suddenly slowed down in the middle, and skillfully maintained his pace on the verge of stalling, making his opponents mistakenly think that he was exhausted.

In the last 1000 meters, he used up all the energy he had secretly saved, suddenly accelerated to a level exceeding that of the first 1000 meters, and crossed the finish line with an absolute advantage of 5 lengths.

This is the "pacing fraud" mentioned by Makoto Yasui and Genju Kitagawa.

This tactic is very simple to explain. The key lies in how slow you should slow down in the middle stage so as to conserve your energy just right and make your opponent misjudge you.

There are certainly many theories to prove the difficulty.

For example, it is necessary to combine the performance in previous competitions, special training during preparation, the conditions of the venue and opponents on the day, and on-the-spot performance... It is naturally difficult to gather all of these.

But the most obvious thing is that since Blue Sky, no Uma Musume has ever replicated and won the Chrysanthemum Festival.

When he first noticed that Qingyun Tiankong was unusually fast, An Jingzhen's first reaction was the same as that of Kita no Xuanju and the commentator. He subconsciously thought that this was a repeat of the same trick.

However, Te Zhou's performance instantly changed his mind.

2 and a half horse lengths, especially the distance difference between Zhou and Qingyun Tiankong was the same from beginning to end.

With this level of pressure, Qingyun Tiankong has no chance to repeat his old tricks, unless, as he just said, this horse girl doesn't want to win.

Since you don't want to win, you must have a trick up your sleeve.

(End of this chapter)