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WILDLY NATURAL AND AMBER BLACK
PEGASUS WINGS AND HENNA TURATH

TURA'S WORKOUT FOR THE COX PLATE
ASUS'S WORKOUT FOR THE SPEED DEMON MEMORIAL STAKES

They were as different as a couple could be. Pegasus Wings was a dead hard sprinter, who actually only raced at three distances compared to the usual four. He was such a sprinter that a mile was just too much for him to race happily through. As for Wildly Natural, she had been bred for the turf routes and ran them well. As of right now, she was coming in hot from a win in the Pegasus Stakes and going straight into the elite Cox Plate for a hopeful tenth win this season. She had already soared past thirty wins, and they were aiming to maintain a perfect record through the Breeders Cup. It would be a dream come true for Amber, who had ridden and worked with the mare for years. She was conditioned enough to take the heavy racing in stride. After all, she had become accustomed to thriving on the competition and never seemed to grow tired these days of racing her foes.

As for Pegasus Wings, he was actually coming off a bit of a lengthy break. The five year old was as energetic as ever of course, practically rearing as Henna held him in. She looked a bit strained as she did so. The stallion had always been a handful, and acted like a two year old. He had had a quiet but elite season, which was most elite sprinters ran anyway, and was entered in the Speed Demon Memorial Stakes. They were three wins away from the magic thirty, and Henna had recently realized that she had set the goal of reaching thirty wins many months ago. The stallion certainly had the talent to do it. They would just have to be smart and run well.

For today, though the duo were on the track together, they would actually be working separately. Tura would do an easy four furlong gallop before cantering for the remaining half mile. Asus was doing a blowout workout, sprinting for about two furlongs all out before being eased up to a slower gallop for another half mile. The Speed Demon Memorial was at his favorite distance of six furlongs and the race would be incredibly fast. However, Asus always had this energizer bunny problem, and Henna wanted to run some steam off of her restless though well rested colt before the race. She wanted him on top of things. Asus had actually begun to feel competitive as well as energetic at the races this year. It was no longer only about the energy. Now it was about winning, too.

The two grade ones warmed up together before taking off in their separate ways. Amber held Tura in and they accelerated into a gallop. The mare carefully listened to Amber's instructions, actually focusing as she let her legs fly as fast as Amber wanted to. There was nothing special about this workout - they were just running. After their half mile they eased into a canter and finished off the workout actually feeling refreshed. Then, they turned and stopped. Tura was sweating lightly and needed to cool down, but Amber wanted to wait for Asus and Henna so they could cool down together. A black blur of small thoroughbred caught her eye.

Henna had turned a couple tight circles to keep Asus under control as Tura had galloped. As soon as the other black thoroughbred was a safe distance away, she let the black go, and they were off like a bullet. Asus accelerated so fast Henna actually wondered if it was mechanically possible. True to his style, he ran a suicidal pace, not seeming to care about the distance, just releasing. He was a mere blur as he went along, and Henna knew they were running something amazing. Asus was the best sprinter the stable had ever had, and potentially the best they ever would have. No horse was quite like him - crazily energetic, a front runner among other front runners who no sprinter could appear to keep up with for very long, a horse that won the majority of his races going wire to wire. This was Asus, and his style was his manifesto. They did the two furlong blowout and then slowed to a canter for six furlongs. By the end, Asus was sweating just as much as Tura and appeared to be sated for now. He was a lot easier to control as they joined the waiting Amber and Tura.

The two blacks who had to keep achieving cooled down together. Their riders' minds were equally fixated on the races they would soon run.