Post by alicekcrose on May 27, 2012 2:18:08 GMT -5
Alice and Instant Success work for the Horseshoe Futurity*
Jacey? Yeah, I'm going to breeze Isa again, he needs it... yeah... okay... meet me down on the track in five... no, not our track, I'm going to the public track. Yeah, okay, see you in five. Bye. That phone call seemed to last forever. It was a long time, I'm telling you that. Isa's been great lately. He had a good run in the Hyperactive Stakes last week, so I'm proud of him. He's my boy, but you already knew that.
My aim is to get Instant Success to Grade Three before his three-year-old season. I'd love him to be the first Grade Three two year old. At the moment, it looked like Sugar Jayde would do it. She needs two more wins under her belt to do it. Isa nibbled at my pocket as I lead him out the stable. He knew I had polo's in there. Isa was fifteen hands, two inches. He was small, but he had power. A lot of power. He had fantastic closing speed. I knew he would race well.
Isa's races, now that he was a higher grade, would be a breeze. He continued to sniff the polo's. Hey, not now. Later... if you work well! I said to him. I stroked his neck and ran his stirrups down. I reached my foot up and bounced on. Isa stood very still not moving, as my seven stone lightweight body sat down. My blonde strands of hair fell in my face. I blew them off and walked the colt out on to the dirt track.
I watched as the other horses worked. Isa stood still, breathing in the air and blowing it out of his nostrils. He turned his head slowly, looking around. The birds fluttered in the winter trees, as snow began to fall from the sky. Isa side stepped slightly, perking his ears. It's alright, only snow. Jacey walked behind me. Hey Alice. Four furlongs, no whip, just hand drive. I nodded and walked Isa forward.
The competition was fast at the moment. Four good runners. In Gate One, there was Paradise Island. Sonja, our arch rival. She was a beautiful filly, and we'd beaten her twice. She's beaten us once, so the current score? 2-1. Then there's Eternal Phantom. Isa went against her when he had only just broke his maiden, so score to Phantie.. 1-0. Then we had Canjun Moon. I'd never been against him before. He was a nice looker, but with one win, three seconds, and three thirds, we could out run him, I knew we could.
Isa broke into a trot. He perked his ears and bobbed his head. The flash noseband was definitely working. He wasn't trying to chomp his bit, which meant the flash was doing it's job, and stopping him from opening his mouth. He tucked his head to his chest, and began to lope gracefully up the back stretch. I made myself as small as I could when we got to the four furlong pole, and Isa leapt forward in style, really bringing his knees up.
I saw Jacey at the start line with the stop watch, as she pressed it. The snow blew in my face, leaving a bitter touch. I ignored it and pressured Isa to pick up his speed. He responded instantly (no pun intended) and overexaggerated his movement to cover the ground. The first furlong went in about 10 seconds flat. I continued to push him forward. We came into the home turn and I pushed him more and more. We flew down the home stretch and came under the wire. We both relaxed, and watched at the snow settled on the infield. Good boy, I walked him over to Jacey. Fourty three and one fifth. I was thinking to myself how amazing that time was. Such a fast speed in the first furlongs from a closer! I patted him and walked him inside.