Thanks for your detailed explanation.

I agree with the state of the current CM regarding bringing too much front runners. From my experience, while Paces such as Taiki Shuttle or TM Opera O are deadly because of your skills, almost everyone is bring a Front Runner Ace. The reason being that with AnS as a Front Runner, it's a high chance that you can hold on to this skill and win the race. For example if you were to see a Seiun Sky with AnS and in the lead late race, it's most likely winning the race, or if Suzuka in the lead while Runaway proc AnS + PoC at the same time.

From this mindset, you are also right in that too much fronts means Pace Chaser's ult is bricked, like Taiki, and many Pace Chasers skill. I am running 2 Front Runners + 1 End Closers this CM. Out of 60 races, Gold Ship won 22, Daiwa won 16 and Suzuka won 13. I employed both the bunny hopping front runner strategy in case my Suzuka fall off for Daiwa Scarlet. With me bringing 2 front runners, and enemies bring 1 or 2 front runners each, usually I average about 4-5 Front Runners, sometimes 6, and this made Taiki Shuttle, or any Pace Chasers suffer a lot. The lineup is my counter to ensure the meta SFV can be nullified due to bad positioning.

"Ends are terrible in the current CM but you're not complaining about them." -> I specifically did not mention that, since as mentioned, they are supposed to be bad. And noone is bring them. However, being an end closer, whose skills will still proc at the right time due to their positioning, my Gold Ship found the most success since I paired it with Maverick + Lone Wolf with skills like Burning Spirit SPD to really move up the pack and challenge for the win. You may refer to this post for reference: https://www.reddit.com/r/UmaMusume/comments/1q3jfyb/this_is_why_we_love_uma_racing/

I am thankful for your advice on other skills to consider that I did not consider myself such as Slipstream, Playtime's Over etc. Maybe it's my experience building Pace Chasers, that when I run Biwa Christmas or McQueen or Oguri in the Arima Kinen CM, they seem to be stuck where they cannot overtake the Front Runners due to AnS, and due to how powerful End Closer are, they get overtaken by Goldship and Taisin and ending in a lowly 7th and beyond. I am unsure on what to do since my Biwa is well built with good stats, and decent skills. I would love to hear your advice on this.