Champion Of The Future

Impressario had been a very impressive racehorse in his time, winning a large number of races and becoming known as one of the greatest horses of all time. He had been the first Triple Crown winner, and so far was one of only two to have achieved the title. From great bloodstock himself, there had always been high hopes for him and it came as no surprise when he had been inducted into the Hall Of Fame given his record and more than impressive level of consistency. Now a stud, his first batch of foals were about to debut on the track as two year olds and among the trio was Icee.

Icee had been a huge success as a prospect, and was definitely one of the fillies to watch in the new year’s batch. Her dam, Cute Italian, was half to the Hall Of Fame mare, The True Nut, and had been a grade one racing mare herself. But where Cute Italian had been a gentle, almost loving filly Icee definitely took after her father – she was distant from most, and although once she formed a bond she was hugely loyal it did take her time to form such a relationship as she seemed to know she was something special… Something to brag about and to be proud of. The arrogance of a true superstar had already become clear in her, and she hadn’t even made her debut yet!

Alexia Harshing, the owner of Silver Stride Stables and a competent jockey, had been chosen to ride the black filly, and she was definitely looking forward to it. She had been struggling since having to let Mona make her retirement from active racing – the bay mare had really come into herself since arriving at the stable and Alexia had enjoyed being her jockey especially as she had taken her from grade three to the point of winning both the Breeder’s Cup Classic and the Dubai World Cup within less than two years together. Of course, now she longed to take another horse to such heights and it seemed that Icee had chosen her to be her jockey. In the bonding sessions Matthias and the other trainers had held with the now two-year-olds at the end of the previous season, Alexia had been the one Icee seemed to take a shine to, and Alexia had certainly taken a shine to her.

As a dual surfaced two year old, Icee would have a lot of options throughout the next year, as well as through the rest of her career. The first option for the stable, however, was whether the filly would debut on the turf or on the dirt. It didn’t really matter much, but how the first race went could easily effect the rest of her career. A top three placing was the ideal, and a win in her first race would set an amazing tone for the future. However, there was a lot that could affect the outcome and so the filly would need to be well prepared in order to perform to the top of her ability. Alexia had no intention of skimping on preparations, and had two workouts planned over the next week. This, the first, would ready the filly for the dirt.

She definitely looked ready to make her debut. She was bright and alert, her audits perked atop her head and eyes bright. She moved confidently, muscles shifting under her shining ebony pelt and there was certainly an air of competitiveness around her. As they walked her through the yard, she seemed to be flaunting her beauty and muscular build and on several occasions they had to drag her past the stalls of other horses who had shown an interest. She was itching for a contest, and she would get one soon. Once she was ready. Plus, they needed time without competition in order for Alexia to try and form some sort of bond with the stand-offish filly. Even the starts of a bond were better than the mild interest the filly had shown.

Alexia approached the filly, running her hand over the thoroughbred’s muscular neck and down the sloping shoulder. The filly turned her head to stare at the human, tossed her head impatiently and started to back off, forcing Luccas to hold her reign tighter. ”Icee.” he said the name sharply, tapping her flank and she stopped the backwards movement, scratching impatiently at the ground. Alexia knew how to take a hint, and quickly pulled herself into the black racing saddle, adjusting the stirrups to suit her. Rolling her shoulders as she sat back, she could feel the impatient twitch in the filly’s muscles and laughed. ”Lucas, I think we had better get started.” she told the handler who grinned at her. They had been developing a relationship for a month or so, and things between them had been going well. Her passion for horses and racing was matched only by his desire to be allowed to race. Unfortunately, his brother seemed very persistent in the refusals on the issue and it had caused several large arguments between them.

As they reached the gates, Lucas prepared for a hissy fit. In training, the filly had shown herself to be a little odd about the gates and while she would usually just enter the contraption there had been times when she had caused an issue about being asked to enter. It was rare, thankfully, but it happened from time to time. Luckily, today was not such a day. In fact, she seemed eager to get started and strode into the gate without an issue. So far so good. ”How are you running her today, Alexia?” he asked her as he closed the shutters and she just shrugged – apparently the three furlong run had not been precisely planned. As Lucas walked away he saw his brother sat in the stands, ready to time the pair.

The gates opened and the eager filly was out of them quickly, moving with a strong stride onto the dirt track before her. She had learnt how the gate worked well, did not spook at the buzzer which had sounded, and was more than ready to handle the beginning of a race. Alexia urged her forwards a little, but did not push her beyond that as the horse settled into a middling pace. At this stage, there was no need to push the filly as she was still young and they did not wish to cause her any harm by working her too hard. Alexia patted the juvenile’s neck as she watched the post marking the first furlong’s end pass by.

To say Alexia was not pushing, the filly was moving at a good speed. She was pushing herself, and her speed had been increasing slowly from the time they had exited the gates, levelling off as they came to around 1.5 furlongs. Of course, the filly was not to know that very shortly the jockey would start to push her for the final furlong but seemed to be strong enough to handle a field of her peers well enough. She would, of course, struggle against older horses for now. She lacked their maturity, and their track experience, and so would make mistakes that they would not in a race. However, she was sure to learn quickly – competitive horses always did.

Two furlongs had passed, and with only one remaining it was time to make that final push for the work. Alexia did not use the whip, not wanting to push the filly too hard, but she did drive and she drove hard. She was crouched low over the filly’s neck, pushing her forwards in each and every long stride. She bit her lip hard, drawing blood as she encouraged the filly to power forwards. There was definitely no saying that this filly did not take after her impressive parents as they soared past the post. The filly was definitely fine with a dirt track, and in four days they would put her through a similar work on the turf.