Special Training! (特訓ですっ!, Tokkun desu!) is the fourth episode of the Uma Musume: Pretty Derby anime.
Summary[]
Special Week and Silence Suzuka spend time together as Special's inner monologue describes her lament to her mother of how she lost in her last race. However, she's resolve to win the next one she partakes in. When Special weighs herself in the bathroom, she's shocked by the results.
At dawn, Special does some jogging training by a river bank and during it, gets startled by a barking poodle being walked by its master. Its owner apologizes for its poodle's behavior and tries to offer Special a carrot, however, she refuses it and rushes off.
Later in the day at lunch, Special enjoys lunch with her friends at a table in the cafeteria and they talk about the upcoming derby. Amid the discussion, Haru appears in the cafeteria having returned from Kouchi. She elaborates her experience in Kouchi and gives each of her friends a special souvenir from her trip. Haru was a popular racer even though she placed in 5th during the race. After a brief talk with Seiun, Special asks what race El Condor will race in. It's then that a commercial about El Condor airs on the tv noting her racing winning streak and announcing her next race the NHK Mile Cup.
Around dusk, Team Spica perform jogging exercises in the park and take a break by some benches. A takiyaki food truck is spotted in the park and Trainer treats the girls to some takiyaki, all except Special who reveals that she's on a diet. This is because of an incident involving her clothes in the Satsukishou race. Trainer knew about it deducing that Special gained *censored* amount of kilos. Surprised by Trainer's astute deductions, he informs Special of the positive facts of overeating which helps build strength and muscle. In light of this, her team offer to help Special with her diet and then continue with their jogging. Suzuka who stays with Trainer is informed by him that she'll be racing in the Tennounshou, but before that she'll race in the Mainichi Okan as well as the Takarazuka Kinen. To all of that, Suzuku sounding completely uninterested agrees to all of it.
In a letter written to her mother how she's doing special training with her team. Part of Daiwa's training is going on a strict diet, Vodka's involves arduous exercises, and Gold involves doing a high dive in the pool area. Although hesitant to do this, a smart remark from Seiun gives Special the courage to make the dive. At the faculty lounge, Trainer reviews a video of the race that Special lost to Seiun in and spots something.
Eventually, Trainer visits Hana as she monitors Team Rigil's practice and gives her a letter of challenge to a mock race with Taiki Shuttle against Special. After reviewing Special's analytical data, Hana accepts the challenge. The announcement is formally made to Team Spica in their base. Although everyone is happy about it, Suzuku voices her opposition to the race as she believes Special will hate running if she loses. Despite Suzuka's opposition, Special still wants to race in it and Suzuka understands.
On the day of the mock race, Special tries her hardest to win the race, making it neck to neck with Taiki, but falls inches short of winning. The two racers bond a bit after the race and Taiki is impressed by how cute Special was with her. Special is then embraced by her teammates and they later watch the TV as El Condor wins the NHK Mile Cup. In her winning speech, El Condor openly calls out Special who looks forward to their race together and Special announces she'll win that race against El Condor.