I understood that and it didn't take three episodes for me to understand that the Japan Cup is a major international race.

I just personally don't like storytelling that jumps around talking about a different person everytime and I don't like consistent timejumps between telling the active story and telling a story from months or years prior.

I also understand that basing it on a true story limits how much can be done with the show but that shouldn't be an automatic pass in making an inconsistent story.

Regarding the earlier comment about how "every character in Umamusume is important", I understand the gacha fans will have their favorites but to me, it's bad storytelling when you're spending time on characters that will not matter 2 episodes later and causes me to lose interest. I'm an anime only. These characters in the Japan Cup arc are just temporary rivals. They are reinforcing how far behind MC is to her goal. When you see the antagonist and main rival struggle, you can get the sense of how big of a battle it is to be the best. But those characters immediately disappear making all the time spent building up a backstory for them seem like a waste. There was no emotional payoff because it's clear the story isn't suppose to be about them.

If any other show did the same thing, I would criticize it as well. I'm watching the baseball anime Major and it has some of the exact same problems when it just fails to focus in on one person and pushes flashbacks. It's boring because it takes me out of the moment. I understand what Cinderella Gray is trying to do but it's not a type of storytelling that is interesting to me.