SBR Chapter 9

Long, Long Downhill is the ninth chapter of Steel Ball Run.

Summary
4,000 meters are left until the goal: the Devil's Downhill. Gyro, in the lead, looks back to see Pocoloco following him. Gyro thinks to himself that he does not know who Pocoloco is or how he caught up, but there is no need to worry. He urges his horse Valkyrie to conserve strength but maintain the lead.

The announcer points out a third racer emerging and closing in on Gyro and Pocoloco. Pocoloco, confident in his luck, is also sure that he can endure the pace until they reach the farm. He then sees a strange figure near a fence speaking him. At first he takes it for a hallucination, but the figure appears behind him and tells him not to get distracted and not to hold his horse back. The figure disappears and Pocoloco sees its hand emerging from his own.

Pocoloco and Gyro exchange taunts and, to everyone's surprise, Pocoloco takes the lead. Gyro wonders if Pocoloco is foolhardy or if he has a reason to be accelerating downhill. At last Pocoloco's horse trips, and Gyro regains the lead. As he gets closer to the farm, he realizes that Pocoloco and his horse are still moving, sliding down the hill on the dead body of a cow. Gyro thinks to himself that there is no way Pocoloco can be relying solely on luck; he must have known about the cow in advance.

Realizing that by using the cow, Pocoloco's horse will enter the final stretch with its legs fully rested, Gyro pulls out a Steel Ball and throws it at a rock to stop the dead cow's body from sliding. By doing so he causes Soundman, who was on the rock, to fall. Soundman lands on the track and begins to run, to the astonishment of Gyro and the announcer, who announces that the runner named Sandman is now in first place.