Uma Musume were born to run. And today a girl is running full speed into the Goddesses’ fountain.
Tragically, she hit her head. This girl will run no more.
…
…
…uh…
That was a fittingly fast post, I guess.
Let’s talk about the real horse so you all don’t leave empty-handed, at least.
On May 3rd, 1998, a horse was born at Oshima Ranch. This birth was a curiosity because being descended from the British racehorse Warning means that this foal was directly related to Godolphin Barb, one of the three ancestor stallions that all racehorses can trace their lineage to.
This is notorious because Godolphin Barb’s bloodline has been more present via matrilineal lines than patrilineal ones. But Warning, being a direct patrilineal descendant of the 1734 stallion Cade can claim this honor.
Warning was bred with Oshima Lucia, who as you might guess by the name, had a more direct connection with the ranch. While she didn’t have a meritorious career, it’s worth noting the curiosity that Oshima Lucia ran the last Tulip Sho before it was upgraded to a G3 race.
By the way, I don’t know where else to add this: Warning is descended from Known Fact and Slightly Dangerous and that cracks me up like you have no idea.
Anyway, the product of this union (between Warning and Oshima Lucia, I mean) was purchased by businessman Sadamitsu Shimizu. Shimizu deals mainly in light stones, Light as in weight, think the kind that’s used to fill pots or decorate gardens. So when it came time to name this horse he bought, he combined Light Stone (่ปฝใในใใผใณ/Karui Stone) shortened into Karu Ston, then added “Light” from his own name (the “mitsu” in Shimizu Sadamitsu ๆธ ๆฐด ่ฒๅ is the kanji for “light” as in the illumination kind) and then wanted to add an “Oh” to the end like with TM Opera O or Sakura Bakushin O, but ran into the JRA’s 9-character limit so unlike those it was a short “O” (So ใช instead of ใชใผ, basically).
And so we’ve got the man of the hour today: Calstone Light O.
There was a bit more to the choice of the horse, however. Shimizu had an existing relationship with Oshima Ranch, and so when he showed interest in getting a horse, he approached trainer Hiroya Ooneda and told him to pick whichever horse he liked. Ooneda would then become the horse’s trainer as his debut approached.
Calstone Light O debuted in the year 2000 and had an impressive showing getting first place on his maiden race and the Kaede Sho, so he was entered with high expectations into the Asahi Hai Futurity Stakes (if you play the game, that’s the race near the end of the debut year that’s besides the Hanshin JF), though just like his mother would run the Tulip Sho before it became a G3, Calstone Light O would run the Asahi FS the last year it was called Asahi Hai Stakes For 3 Year Olds.
Anyway, he got 10th on that race. Curiously, the winner of that race, Mejiro Bailey, would only have that G1 to his name before retiring early in 2002 after not running for all of 2001.
2001 wouldn’t paint the nicest of turnarounds and he got 10th in the Violet Stakes, and to be honest the rest of the year would be just as chaotic.
2nd in the Margaret Stakes, but then 1st in the Aoi Stakes… so then they try a G3 in the Falcon Stakes but end up 3rd there, then 4th in the Bodaiju Stakes and then BAM! 1st in the KitaKyuushuu Tankyori Stakes, so like last time they try out a G3 race but end up 3rd in the Ibis Summer Dash, and then 3rd again in the Centaur Stakes. Then 2nd in the Fukushima Minyuu Cup, then 6th in the Andromeda Stakes, then 9th in the CBC Sho.
Incidentally, that Ibis Summer Dash was the first ever Ibis Summer Dash.
The surprising thing is that despite these very irregular outcomes, Calstone Light O was VERY popular when race time came around. In fact, out of 11 races in 2001 he was the most popular in 7 of them. This is because not only was he showing his potential from very early, but they were all races with very tight results and a few of them were even open to all ages instead of just Classic-aged horses.
The Falcon Stakes was also the first time that Calstone Light O crossed paths with a filly called Believe. And they would meet again for Calstone Light O’s first race of 2002 in the Terebi Aichi Open, though neither would win this one and Calstone Light O actually ended up 13th.
2002 saw some changes overall to Calstone Light O’s camp. This is the year that Hiroya Ooneda retired and so training duties would be passed to his son Hiroyuki Ooneda, and likewise, jockey duties would be passed onto Naohiro Oonishi who would become Calstone Light O’s main jockey from here on (though the saddle would go to different jockeys as things go along).
Ooneda made a great first impression as he managed to ride Calstone Light O into a first place in the TUF Hai, though this was followed by a 7th place at the NST Open.
If these names don’t ring a bell for those playing the game, don’t worry. Calstone Light O was one of those horses that ran a lot of smaller open races. Case in point, momentum picked up in the next race, the Kokura Nikkei Sho, where Calstone Light O ended up third.
Then came the second ever Ibis Summer Dash. If there’s anything that Calstone Light O is known for, is this race.
Calstone Light O finsihed first in a record-breaking 53.7 seconds and for a while had the WORLD RECORD of fastest speed in a single furlong of 9.6 seconds. To this day that record has remained unbeaten in the Niigata course, closest anyone has gotten is Puro Magic in the 2025 Ibis Summer Dash, and she TIED the record down to the milisecond.
Remember that last detail for next post.
You see, the speed of the average throughbred averages 60 to 70 km/h, and yet the record implies that Calstone Light O reached 75 km/h which might just sound like “oh numbers” but as anyone that is in or knows about athletic fields can tell you, breaking those barriers by a fraction is already insane and yet this horse broke a fraction and then some.
This feat would net Calstone Light O the nickname “Idaten”. If you look up Idaten you’ll find the deity also known as Skanda in Buddhism, but in short if something is given the title of “Idaten” they’re just saying you’re really fucking fast.
Sidenote, Niigata does host the Idaten Stakes, this is completely unrelated to that. That one actually started in 2014 and is completely unrelated to the horse.
The next race would actually see the return of Believe, who finally won against Calstone Light O in the Centaur Stakes. Calstone Light O would end up 3rd in that one.
Calstone Light O would end up 3rd yet again in the Fukushima Minpo Hai, and while I’m highlighting Believe due to being in the game’s cast, I should point out that at this point Calstone Light O has had a lot more encounters with a different filly called Tenshi No Kiseki. Sure, Tenshi no Kiseki might not always end first but she ended up over Calstone Light O fairly often.
2002 bookended itself. It opened with a 13th place at the Terebi Aichi Open, and it closes with a 13th place in the Swan Stakes. This race also features Arrow Carry, one of Kenichi Ikezoe’s early mounts and the winner of that year’s Ouka Sho.
This isn’t the last we’ll see of my man Ikezoe either.
Calstone Light O had become a fan favorite but not exactly one that inspired confidence in graded races. It was a really fast horse, but his style of taking the lead and going really fast, while impressive in its initial burst, also caused a general impression that maybe even just 1200m was too long of a race for him.
For 2003 Calstone Light O actually didn’t run until around September during the Centaur Stakes, where he would end up 12th and Tenshi no Kiseki would win. This race would also feature Believe and my man Kenichi Ikezoe riding a horse called Durandal that would also become a recurring presence. Durandal would actually throw his hat into the ring by winning the Sprinter Stakes, which Believe ended up 2nd in and Calstone Light O would end up 13th in.
Then 5th in the Fukushima Minyu Cup, but he would then win the Andromeda Stakes! …though not against any of the recurrent rivals I’ve mentioned so far… unless you count God Of Chance, and at least for now I don’t.
…and then 10th in the CBC Sho to close the year.
2004 didn’t open as late as 2003, Calstone Light O ran the Baden-Baden Cup in June, ending up 2; then 3rd in the Hakodate Sprint Stakes.
Then came Calstone Light O’s home turf: The Ibis Summer Dash, which he ended up 1st in. And it’s safe to say he took this momentum with him because the next race was the revenge match against Durandal in the Sprinter Stakes.
Not only did Calstone Light O take this victory, by the time he hit the goal line he had left Durandal behind by FOUR LENGTHS.
Also, fun fact: Up until 2012 with Pad Trois (a Fuji Kiseki descendant, incidentally) Calstone Light O was the last colt to win the Ibis SD.
With this boost in confidence they try the Hong Kong Sprint…! Aaaaaaaaand end up last.
For those curious, Calstone Light O’s name for it was registered as “Golden Light” (้้ฎไนๅ ).
2005 Opened up early with the Hankyu Cup in February, which he ended up 2nd in. Then the Takamatsunomiya Kinen, which he ended up 4th in. The writing was on the wall when he ended up 4th in the next Ibis SD, but they tried the Sprinter Stakes for good measure and ended up 10th there.
At least Durandal ended up 2nd…
Calstone Light O retired afterwards and lived a long life, bringing the patrilineal Godolphin Barb bloodline to Japan. He died on February 7th 2024 at age 26. There’s a certain blessed irony in a horse that ran like a bright flame that died off quick, getting to die of effectively old age.
The last spotlight I did was on Buena Vista, and I explained how she felt like an iteration of Special Week. This is actually a phenomenon you see all over the place. It can be character specific like how Epiphaneia feels like an iteration of Teio, or it can be dynamics-wise like how the Dotou and Opera O dynamic has been iterated with Win Variation and Orfevre (being in someone’s shadow but resenting it), and Gentildonna and Verxina (being an eternal silver chaser but all the while being someone that has a high opinion of herself).
This has a flipside, as this evolution happens, the base used as reference also evolves. Recently Rulership was added to the game and Titleholder was announced for the cast. With this Air Groove’s role has evolved into basically being the mom of a bunch of moody kids that range from a chud hikikomori to an emotionally traumatized bombshell, and the fun thing about this evolution is that Air Groove was already filling in that role, but the real life connection makes it so there’s higher stakes than when she was just Mejiro Dober’s senpai for example.
One of the girls that has seen this evolution is Sakura Bakushin O. I mentioned way back when that the clowning she goes through works because it’s never mean to her, and you get the impression that she’d be so much more if she could get out of her head a little bit. As her cast of contemporaries has grown, we’ve seen more of this regal side of her, ESPECIALLY after North Flight was added and Star Blossom got to an arc where she gets the spotlight.
But this leaves a power gap. She’s still a clown with a big ego, but one that people want to rely on. This reflects how the real horse had a very dignified and respectable career… so let me ask you something:
What if we grabbed that original Bakushin idea of a sprinter with more ego than brains… but used it to depict a different sprinter with a legacy of being really fast… but an extremely unreliable one.
A Bakushin without reliability.
A clown to surpass Bakushin.
You see, my intro was hyperbolic but I didn’t lie. The player’s introduction to Calstone is her admonishing you that you’re late because you’re a trainer and you should be an example to others… before admitting that she’s also late despite waking up very early because she couldn’t find a measuring tape to make sure her skirt was right.
After saying this she starts running really fast, and refusing to run in anything that’s not a straight line, runs directly into the fountain.
Later on she would try to run so fast she can run on the water surface, but we’re not there yet.
Calstone isn’t just straightforward in running, one of the first scenes we see of her, has a classmate of hers telling her how she had a fight with a friend only for Calstone to go to the other girl and tell her in least tactful way “That girl over there is sorry but doesn’t know how to apologize”.
Funnily enough, it’s implied those two girls did make up thanks to this, so hey.
At this point you’ll also notice the way Calstone speaks, she speaks fast and with monotone intonation, and you might think she’s an emotionless type but no, it’s more like she’s… skipping the hassle of emoting, it’s faster to say you’re sad and continue with your message.
Back to the introduction, we also see a moment where she’s playing baskeball, plays rashly despite telling Believe what to do and loses possesion of the ball.
However, you know how just when your opinion of the real horse is as its lowest, that’s when it did something amazing in a race?
The trainer gets their wallet stolen by some dude in a bike and that’s when Calstone comes in and chases the bike guy. In the process the trainer is just… transfixed by her speed.
This test of speed continues in the Umalator (oh hey, haven’t brought it up since Project L’arc) where Calstone tests herself against a series of animals and ultimately loses against a Pronghorn.
Pronghorns, for those that don’t know, are the fastest land mammal in the Americas, able to reach speeds of 88.5 km/h.
This is all a warmup for an exhibition race against Durandal. Calstone seems to have the race in her pocket with a really strong start dash, but then Durandal goes “FOURTH SWORD! DIONYSUS NO RAIGEKI!!! “ and wins. This makes Calstone really angry and sad and we get her story.
Her mom is a scientist, and a young Calstone was so transfixed by her explanation about photons and light that she decided she would be like light, nay, she would SURPASS light, she would be faster than light itself. That’s why she wants to be fast and why she hates curves, because light always moves in a straight line.
This is the point where the trainer asks her if she’d be interested in being their trainee and she says yes and immediately asks what their three-year plan is. No drama, no emotional pause, we’re actually like halfway through the introduction at this point, when I say this girl is direct I mean it.
Of course this is the part where the trainer realizes they got themselves a girl with a religious zeal against turning around and how that might be… tricky.
Enter stage left, Agnes Tachyon.
Basically Tachyon explains to the trainer that nonsense like “conventional logic” doesn’t work with certain Uma Musume, that you gotta get in their headspace, think like them. Otherwise you’re basically speaking a different language.
With that in mind, the trainer takes Calstone to a very big and broad field and tells her to run, to run as fast as she can muster, to run with all her might with no worries about needing to turn around.
This bonding experience makes them both sync up in the same wavelength. Calstone even comments how if she were to express her feelings in that moment she would jump at the trainer and hug them and go “HYAHO!!”.
And so, they’ve set their goal: To win the Sprinter Stakes…
…
…so anyways, training starts and Calstone runs headfirst into a tree and rolls in pain on the ground.
The pre-debut section is where we get extra context (or context At All if you skipped the kizuna episodes). In particular one day when Calstone runs to a bakery because they’re selling baguette sandwiches, which she of course loves because baguettes are very straight.
This is where we get introduced to Durandal as Calstone’s roommate and how both of them seem to always have an eye out for Believe.
Believe is like… it’s like both Calstone and Durandal think they’re in a romantic triangle with her while Believe doesn’t hate them but also would rather not suffer them, like when Calstone sees Believe also got a baguette sandwich and INSISTS on rearranging the ingredients because that’s not how the sandwich is supposed to look
We also learn of the only thing Calstone is more obsessed with than straight lines.
Cats.
Girl loves cats. Her brain, which is already smooth, becomes even smoother in the presence of a cat. Her vocabulary literally devolves and loses words.
Basically a cat enters the academy. Believe hears the owner distressed and decides to help, Durandal sees someone needs help and decides it’s a knight’s duty to do something about it, and Calstone just sees a cat and wants to pet the kitty.
Of course a cat being chased by a bunch of girls gets scared and needless to say Calstone isn’t someone reassuring even at the best of times.
Calstone does manage to calm the cat down eventually but it must be returned to its owner much to her dismay.
Debut time comes and while Calstone is determined to be fast and even beat her own records, her trainer has to remind her that hey, that’s good, please also remember to WIN while at it so you can have more races to run in, thank you. And so, before the race, she decides to do image training, picturing how the race will go.
She gets really into it and that’s when she blurts out that she imagined herself running against an ostrich.
I’m writing this when the ramen scenario just came out so… no ostriches here.
You might be wondering, why did she picture herself running against an ostrich?
No reason, she was just in the mood to run against an ostrich in her mind, that’s it.
After debut we learn that another thing Calstone is good at is changing her clothes really fast. She’s really proud of it even. And believe it or not this is actually shown in other scenes with her showing up in her racing uniform out of nowhere.
Of course the most important thing for her was her speed. According to her trainer she reached about 67 km/h which is comfortably above average and enough to make her happy with her results.
Yeah, in case you haven’t caught on by now, Calstone doesn’t care about Winning, she cares about Going Fast and it just so happens that Winning gives her more venues to try to be fast.
She then decides it’s time to go big or go home, so just like in real life, the next objective is the Futurity Stakes.
The preamble to the race comes and Calstone is a bit nervous, nervous enough that she’s been doing image training not just at every waking hour, but every asleep hour too.
It got to the point that she was thrashing around in bed because she was sleeprunning.
The reason is that she’s gonna have to run 1600 meters instead of any shorter distance, and trying to picture how to mantain form for so long had her brain fried.
The day of the race comes. Calstone is running the same day as Believe, and interestingly, there’s a mention also of how Jungle Pocket and Agnes Tachyon were just facing off in a race right before. During this she overhears people praising her speed potential so she decides to rush to the people to thank them directly.
Durandal is also there. She hasn’t debuted by this point but she’s keeping an eye on Calstone.
In a fun mechanical bit that reflects real life, this race can be tricky out of the box because of proficiencies and it being so early you might not have the stats to compensate, so you might end up mechanically in a similar position where you end up in the lower positions, and being an objective with a participation goal means there are no do overs.
The result is regardless that Calstone ends up completely destroyed physically, totally out of breath. Seeing how distressed this made her trainee, the trainer takes her to the Umalator. There they analyze how their race went and note that 1200m is the cutoff point, after that spot is when performance dropped massively.
It’s not just that. Poor cornering, inability to adjust to changes in the race, body and abilities still in development… the problems are a veritable mountain and yet trainer and trainee face it with stout resolution. This immediately calls the attention of three Goddess AIs in the Umalation.
Out of all the three, Calstone’s wish to run faster than anyone and her irreverent straightforward nature really hit a chord with Godolphin Barb who muses to herself where she got that attitude from. The other two goddesses are all too happy to leave it all to her in that case.
With the help of Godolphin Barb they decide that the next race should be one that goes clock-wise (to turn to the right) and is a sprint in order to lean more into Calstone’s strengths. And so, the Aoi Stakes is chosen.
For now it’s new years and Calstone has brought a souvenir from her hometown, she also wanted to take a pic of how awful her trainer’s bed hair was. The souvenir is actually from her parents, from her dad specifically, who sends the message that he’s grateful for the trainer taking care of his daughter and also the souvenir is nothing illegal and perfectly safe.
It actually is, Calstone’s dad is just a lawyer and speaks the same way his daughter does.
Calstone actually visited her trainer because she wanted some sort of assignment, something she can do to train during this downtime. Afterwards the topic of Agnes Tachyon comes in. Turns out Tachyon is quite fond of Calstone because insane girl recognizes insane girl, she actually introduced herself to Calstone by saying their names are similar as the Tachyon is a theoretical particle able to go past the speed of light.
This all makes the trainer a bit anxious. So far they’ve managed just relying on speed, but will that be enough?
By the way, did you know that Dream Journey is the academy’s loan shark chairman of expeditions? Basically you go there when a race and its logistics can’t pass through the Student Council. It doesn’t come up too often but here we see it as Calstone had to clarify WHEN her race was to her. She also checks on Believe who wanted to participate in the Aoi Stakes but can’t due to losing the day before.
They have a chat where Calstone confesses (or rather, states, since she says it very matter of fact) how she’s been worried about her speed but since she and her trainer are focusing so much on speed specifically she’s sure things will work out in the end. This makes Believe quietly note how Calstone’s singlemindedness for speed means she doesn’t really waver in her goals.
The trainer is the one that’s wavering. Though they had decided that they’d overcome Calstone’s lack of finesse with pure speed, the speed hadn’t increased that much in the latests practices. Godolphin Barb seeing this decides the trainer needs just one more reassurance and asks Calstone what kind of race she wants to run for fun…
So Calstone decides she wants to run one on one in a straight line against a cheetah.
This makes her SO HAPPY, she can race against the fastest animal. She even does a little Hyahoi Wahoi dance.
The race starts and the Cheetah vanishes but this only pumps Calstone all the more and she closes in the gap.
You see, cheetahs can run up to 110kh/h but in 300m bursts, and Calstone is using this as a motivator to push herself even further beyond. She’s even described as her flowing hair suddenly becoming a straight line and then becoming just a black arrow…
…and then, unbeknownst to Calstone, a second shadow passed her.
While the trainer comments on how transfixed they were about Calstone’s running, they also make mention of how they almost reached “the fastest Horse Girl“.
Daunting implications aside, this is the validation they needed that Calstone could and in fact SHOULD compensate her lack of finesse with raw speed.
The time for the race comes and it’s interesting how they’re applying the “compensate finesse with raw speed” strategy, as the trainer coaches Calstone on her racing form, pointing out things like how moving your legs faster is more important than the strength you put on each stride and such.
Calstone then wants another go at the training but the trainer stops her since that would be overworking. Calstone reluctantly settles to image training, she has a grudge match against the pronghorn anyways.
After the race Calstone has turned opinions of her after the Futurity Stakes results and she even ran 5km/h faster than last time. This prompts her to announce and then do a celebratory dance.
They go explore around Kyoto where Calstone says she loves how straight the paths are and how she’d run if there weren’t so many traffic lights. Then they go to the aquarium where Calstone wonders out loud if ZAAAAAAAAAAKO~ zako the insult is related in any way to zako the fish. She also seems pleased that the dolphin cookies are the fastest-selling item in the shop but declares she’s faster.
Faster than the… sales…?
Believe it or not, this whole diversion actually has a point.
Right after saying that nonsense a man bumps on some merchandise and Calstone notices the toys he bought. It’s a salaryman on a business trip, and if he doesn’t rush he might miss the train and arrive one day late to his family. Calstone and the trainer offer to sort the mess up as the man apologetically leaves.
Except that after finishing they find a train keychain that doesn’t belong in the display and realize it’s the man’s. Calstone rushes and misses the train by a second, but the trainer, remembering the landscape of when Calstone wanted to run down the streets, tells her of where she could run towards to meet the man at the station.
So Calstone runs, and runs, and before long the incredible display she showed against the Cheetah manifests in the real world. She closes the gap with the train and then overtakes it, making it to the station before the train arrives and giving the man the last keychain.
It’s not the first time this has happened. Time and time again, when given a straight uninterrupted line, Calstone has left her trainer speechless. With this in mind they decide on their next objective. A 1000 meters race in a straight line…
The Ibis Summer Dash.
Yeah, I left that detail about the Ibis SD out until now on purpose.
Summer training comes and Godolphin Barb is hanging out in the trainer’s smartphone. Now, to the game’s credit, the moment you start wondering if that’s allowed they show a flashback with Satono Diamond and Satono Crown going “yeah it’s fine, go have fun, here’s how you do it”.
We also see Tachyon looming in the distance and for those wondering she wasn’t quite spared in this timeline with mention of an injury right before the Nihon Derby.
THEN comes the Ibis SD mid-summer training.
The race has everyone excited and Calstone completely cleans house. It’s also interesting that they don’t outright say the time, just that it broke a record. They ask Calstone how she feels and she declares she’s so happy she could hug everyone in the racecourse right now. But that she can and will become faster. This calls the attention of powerful people…
…more specifically of a powerful dumbass!
IT’S BAKUSHIN TIME MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!
Where there’s speed the most aerodynamic brain of the academy will be there.
They also realize that all the simulations couldn’t predict this because Uma Musume perform at their best when surrounded by fans. Godolphin Barb even comments that it’s like something in their blood resonates with that sort of thing.
The next race will be the Sprinter Stakes. Somewhere else, Believe stares in awe at the race results before reminding herself that she shouldn’t compare herself to others.
Back in the training camp, Bakushin tells Calstone and her trainer that whatever they had planned is cancelled and they’re training with HER. The trainer immediately accepts because come on, it’s Bakushin, if you’re gonna sprint what better mentor than her.
This makes Calstone jealous and she also accepts because she wants to get her trainer’s attention back.
Bakushin completely trounces Calstone with her control of her form and technique, this humbles Calstone enough that she’s willing to hear things out but Bakushin only wants Calstone to be as fast as she can.
She offers her speed, if you combine Sakura Bakushin O and Calstone Light O then Calstone can evolve into Calstone Light O O!!!
Turns out all you needed to get Calstone to care about form and such was having the other smooth-brained sprinter be like “you’re cool but I’m cooler which means together we can be the coolcooler!!”.
The next scene actually goes into more detail about it. Basically Calstone has the strongest initial acceleration and up until now they didn’t need to develop any countermeasures, so with Bakushin’s help they start practicing on Calstone’s strides while running.
Tachyon also comes in and notes how Calstone’s current regime is meant to increase her resistance, comparing it all to the idea of an airplane that has the most powerful engine but breaks down because the rest of it can’t withstand the speed… an analogy that leaves Calstone confused. Tachyon does praise her trainer’s risk assessment skills, though.
Calstone’s training for the day is play as training, so Biko Pegasus and Hishi Akebono who offer to play with her. This scene also has Calstone meekly (as meek as she can be, at least) admitting how when her legs get tired they start shaking but Bono reassures her that’s normal for sprinters.
We also learn a bit more about Believe from Durandal. Believe’s grandpa is some sort of craftsman, and Believe wants her running technique to be as perfect as her grandpa’s crafting technique. And since the Sprinter Stakes will be televised nation-wide it’ll give her a chance to show her grandparents how she runs.
Also, Calstone says she’s been training to become Calstone Light O O and Durandal immediately understood that it was from training with Bakushin.
If you understand Calstone, there’ss something wrong with you, just saying.
The scene actually explains the theme of the summer training with an anecdote about Calstone’s mom, who tells her how research isn’t done immediately or alone, there’s a lot of trial and error and you must learn from those that came before you. An approach that Believe can sympathize with when it comes to craftmanship.
Don’t get too sentimental though, summer training closes with Bakushin taking attendance and being confused why she can’t find Calstone’s name before the trainer reminds both of them that they’re in different classes.
The preamble to the Sprinter Stakes has Bakushin explaining how her approach to cornering is all about feel. That since Calstone has mastered the form to reach top speed, all that matters now is focusing on how to keep said top speed.
At the race Calstone starts to feel heavier but remembers to not devolve into longer strides and instead to keep moving her legs as fast as she can.
Calstone wins… and she’s nowhere to be seen.
When she’s finally back, Believe asks her about her victory lap but Calstone says she wasn’t doing a victory lap, she just started to feel light, like something or someone was pushing her back forwards, eventually she felt as if she was able to finally reach the light she always sees at the other side of her runs.
Bakushin explains to her that that’s normal, especially with a rival. She recounts how she felt the same way when North Flight challenged her and kept pushing her to be better. She also comments how that same drive, that flame, can die if you don’t have a rival.
Taking this to heart, Calstone wants to challenge another G1 sprint, though the next one would be the Takamatsunomiya Kinen. So she actually goes to Believe and personally challenges her to this particular race.
Training continues. Not only does Calstone have issues with the distance, but she still doesn’t know how to deal with obstructions of any kind. Since Calstone is reaching the top of her speed reliably they move onto training more resistance. Then one day after training she starts… glowing… red…
…
…oh no.
OH NO.
PLEASE NOT AGAIN I KNOW I STILL HAVE TO WRITE ABOUT ADMIRE GROOVE BUT I CAN’T GO BACK TO THE MADNESS JUST YE-oh it’s just one of Tachyon’s drinks, false alarm.
It’s basically a drink that makes you glow red if you’re exhausted which is handy when you’re an idiot like Calstone who disregards her own limits.
And speaking of limits, anyone that has played Tachyon’s scenario might know why she’s so interested in Calstone, but here she spells out that it’s only natural for someone like her who’s really interested in the limits of the Uma Musume body to be interested in Calstone who wants to run faster than anyone.
Tachyon also reveals to the trainer her newest concoction, a drink that makes you ignore your fatigue and run for twice as long… she immediately admits it’s just colored water like she’s in Space Jam or something. The thing is that Calstone is so earnest and straightforward that a placebo might be extra efective on her.
…so anyways, Calstone drinks the placebo and her performance increases.
The funniest part is that this event raises your intelligence.
Come new year’s, the trainer contemplates how used they are to Calstone’s antics as she tries to optimize doing everything in the temple. However, they’re also noticing how slow the pace is in the recording of the practice run compared to last summer. The trainer grows concerned that they might’ve been overdoing it since last summer and that there might be some accumulated fatigue.
By the way, during the lottery event Calstone spins the lottery tumbler too hard and it just starts spinning on its own and the lottery owner agrees to stopping it by hand because apparently it’s a common ocurrence with super excited Uma Musume.
Also during the Valentine’s event Calstone gives the trainer chocolate and speaks like the trainer is on their deathbed… before the trainer protests and Calstone admits she got carried away.
Yes, girl was trying to speedrun the whole Valentine’s Day confession thing completely skipping any romance and jumping to the part where one of them is dying.
Also that’s TWO STILL IN LOVE SCARES IN A SINGLE TRAINING RUN WHAT THE FUCK GAME.
Then they start going through places full of memories like the spot they met at on the entrance, or the aquarium. In the process FANS START FOLLOWING THEM THINKING THEY’RE ON A DATE.
THEN CALSTONE BRINGS OUT THE CHOCOLATE AGAIN BECAUSE OKAY NOW SHE DID THE THINGS PROPERLY WITHOUT SKIPPING STEPS IN A RUSH AND THEIR IMPROMPTU CROWD GOES WILD AT THIS DISPLAY OF AFFECTION.
And then… Calstone wants to confess something…
Trainer and crowd wonder where this is going…………..
…and now Calstone is the one speaking like she’s on her deathbed. Leaving everyone stunlocked on how to react.
…
…
…
…
…OKAY BUT THEY BASICALLY WENT ON A DATE WHAT THE FUCK.
…oh yeah races, this is a game about running, isn’t it?
On the eve of the Takamatsunomiya Kinen, Tachyon says now’s the time to break it to Calstone that the super secret drink was plain water all along.
Calstone… doesn’t take kindly to it, in fact, she doesn’t take kindly to it in at least 4 languages and 4 writing systems. But as she often does she speedruns the motions and gets to the “so the potential was in me all along!” part of the charade.
Man, Tachyon sure understands the clown mind, huh.
Speaking of clowns, Bakushin is relieved Calstone is in better spirits and we hear that Durandal debuted last year but has to stop from an injury. She was watching the race with no insignificant amount of bitterness at missing out on action.
After the race Bakushin is really excited and loudly challenges Calstone to the next Ibis Summer Dash. We actually get a scene with Bakushin’s wife North Flight where she talks about how nobody wants to race against her, there’s nobody with her passion for speed… but she’s not giving up, she’ll just wait until that person comes up.
The mood after the race is electric. Bakushin wants to race, Calstone wants to race especially after not feeling the same lightness as in her last race, Durandal is frustrated but decides to focus on healing, and Believe briefly considers joining for the Ibis SD but thinks again realizing 1000m isn’t really enough to adjust properly.
On the eve of Fan Thanksgiving, Calstone finds a poster talking about a pitching contest and of course she feels like she must partcipate in the fastest pitch event.
At the event, Calstone manages to impress Verxina who can’t believe Calstone can throw that fast with no prior baseball practice. This gets Mejiro Ryan pumped up and they start a batting competition. Ryan has figured by the second strike that Calstone only throws fastballs but instead of succumbing to the heresy of curves Calstone just throws the ball so fast not even Ryan can react.
Upon victory Calstone declares that the next step… is to outrun her own fastball.
Cut to the eve of the Ibis Summer Dash (though here it’s like 3 turns before it) and we get a heroic narration that you can JUST imagine Kenjiro Tsuda going through as Calstone gets profiled. Turns out it’s all a special and the second half of it will be focused on Bakushin.
Believe and Durandal are intrigued by how they’re making such a CM for something that isn’t even a G1 race and Durandal points out how grateful Calstone should be that the narration rolled with the punches of the nonsense she was saying through it, like saying her first impression of her trainer was that of a slow-minded person that gets late to work and gets their wallet stolen and the narration softening the blow by going “such a direct communication betrays a deep level of trust…”.
Summer comes and Calstone tells Tachyon she should stop it with all the 24 hour monitoring nonsense… because that lack of sleep is bad for you. Clearly Tachyon has more in mind so the trainer immediately orders Calstone to not eat or drink anything that has passed by Tachyon’s hands to be safe.
The expectations during the Ibis SD are sky high, Godolphon Barb explaining that she feels as if this will surely “make waves”.
During the race it looks as if Bakushin will win and that’s when Calstone’s defiance comes to the forefront, she once again sees the light and in trying to catch it wins the race.
Bakushin congratulates Calstone and admits that she thought she’d be happy once Calstone, her student, surpassed her but no, she just feels frustration, normal frustration. To this Calstone tells her that she never considered Bakushin a teacher but an obstacle, something to surpass
Calstone thanks the trainer as hearing their voice helped pushed her past her limits, and moreover, the trainer reassures Calstone she’s made it this far because she’s trained so hard so consistently.
The next race is plain obvious for everyone, for Calstone, for Believe, for Durandal…
Next will be the Sprinter Stakes.
A problem comes up by the end of the summer camp, however. Calstone has plateau’d, while she hasn’t gotten worse, she also hasn’t improved. And while she’s all too happy to push herself, Godolphin Barb points out that pushing beyond your limits also means risking injury.
Tachyon adds to the conversation that the brain is what limits the body as the body is built to prevent things that would consciously cause injury and posits forth the example of the placebo earlier. The Umalator with the cheetah also comes into the conversation as something that allows Calstone to surpass that mental barrier.
Next the conversation goes to Durandal, whose running style of bursting through the last stretch of a race is basically tailor-made as an anti-Calstone running style. So combining all of the above they input Durandal’s racing data into the Umalator… and add it to the cheetah.
It… works. Even as risky as the whole endeavor was, Calstone manages to push past her limits in the Umalation.
The day of the race comes. Believe reflects on her own path to perfecting her running style, then Durandal tells Calstone that she has seen her run against many mighty opponents but her mighty opponent today is her. Calstone declares that’s impossible because she won’t lose to a cheetah much to Durandal’s angry confusion.
Now let me ask you something.
Calstone has been close to that light time and time again against one rival…
…but what if she ran against TWO?
She makes it to that world of pure silence but just as quickly as she reached it, it leaves.
Her rivals admit if there was someone to lose to, they’re glad it was Calstone. And then in the crowd Tachyon is actually speechless… which is felt all the more because this scenario reminds me that Dear God girl loves the sound of her voice. She and Bakushin have a little back and forth about speed and how mysterious the Uma Musume body and its limits are.
During the winning interview, when asked how she felt, Calstone tells the press she would dance samba if she wasn’t so tired.
They ask her how she gets so fast and she admits she just thinks about going fast and then does so.
They ask her if she’s done any special training and she says that yeah, she ran against a cheetah and there were many times where Durandal almost killed her much to Durandal’s obvious angry confusion.
Does she have any comments for her fans?
“I’ve dreamed of surpassing the speed of light all my life. Today, I reached that view only to realize it is not the end. New top speeds will be reached and I will be there in that pursuit.”
…
…
…
…
…oh yeah there’s Christmas and the ending and stuff. Who cares? It’s done, I’m done, she’s done, we’re all done.