The road begins. [open to everyone!]

[Kirsten Jade]

Pride Stalker
Knight Rousseau

<sub>Kirsten tugged at Pride's halter, "Let's do this boy." She led the tall boy into the racing paddocks and looked behind her for Aaron, who was fighting with Rousseau eighteen feet behind her. Today the GHF track was holding a press conference for the upcoming Triple Crown contenders. They were all supposed to bring their Triple Crown hopefuls to the paddocks and walk their amazing horses to let the press and fans view their horses and ask as many questions as they wanted.

She looked around her and saw that all the area around the paddocks were swarming with a huge crowd. She spotted her sister and daughter among the crowd grinning at her. Kirsten stopped and waved. There were so many people there looking at them. Of course Kirsten had to be the first one to arrive. Great, Rousseau will sure give them all a show to remember. She looked back to see the dark bay muscular son of Night Stalker attempt to rear as they entered the paddocks. She shook her head and pasted a smile on her face for the reporters.

Pride and Rousseau were both entered in the Wood Memorial Stakes, the first prep race to prepare for the prestigious Triple Crown and meanwhile Pride is considered a long shot for the Triple Crown, Rousseau was much more favored to win. Rousseau was an amazing racehorse who doesn't quite have enough credit to his name yet. That would change over the next couple of months though. Hopefully for the better.

Aaron and Kirsten started to walk their mounts around the beautiful paddocks of GHF with their coats gleaming with health and the muscles under bulging with the desire to run. The crowd was starting to get excited and they both waited for someone to start shouting questions their way.</sub>

[socks]

"Behind me, you can see the contenders beginning to enter the arena. Here we have Pride Stalker and Knight Rousseau, who both come from Akita Rose Stables," Abby Haines had her back to the horses and was watching them, and her own reflection, in the camera's protracted lens. She distractedly brushed a lock of hair off of her cheek, behind her ear. Truth be told, she had never really liked horses. Still, her father had always taken her to the tracks when she was younger and she knew just about everything there was to know about the whole deal. It had proven an easy way into the world of reporting, that was all. She had dreams of bigger broadcasts.

"Knight Rousseau is considered one of the primary contenders for this years Triple Crown races. Only time will tell, though, if this colt has the stuff to pull off a big win. He certainly has the lines. Hes a son of Night Stalker, who sired hall-of-famer Sweet Stalker, who, coincidentally, is the dam of Pride Stalker." She went on, a little unfocused, trying to check that her hair was alright now. She could hardly see anything in the convex shell of lens, though, and she quickly gave up. It wasn't like a huge portion of the American population watched these preliminaries anyway... Mostly, they only cared about the big three, and she doubted that she would be assigned to those.

"Kirsten, how do you feel about your horses' chances in the Triple Crown, and the upcoming preparatory races?" Abby suddenly turned towards Kristen, interrupting her own monologue to ask the trainer. This brought her face-to-face with the... horses... She'd never liked them. The smelled... funny, and they had huge teeth, and they were just so tall. She held the microphone practically at arm's length to keep as much distance between her and the beasts as humanly possible. One day, she swore, she was going to get out of this gig and get a reporting job that really mattered.

ooc: Don't have any TC contenders (yet!) so I will be the resident annoying reporter for now xD.

[Snowflake]

ooc: Lol, good idea!

Recently, GHS had changed their name to Star Thoroughbreds. They still had yet to inform the press of this, so they guessed it would happen today. Sarah grinned nervously as she lead Surreal Moment out of the barn, towards the saddling paddock where the media waited. Today, the possible Triple Crown contenders were invited to attend a press conference here. Surrey looked stunning, with his mane freshly pulled and shiny, and his tail braided like a show pony. The colt himself followed his rider boredly. No one was around for him to show off to yet.

Marissa followed with Furious Passion. The colt reached forward to nibble on her hair. She swatted at him like a fly, missing by inches because the colt was so used to dodging it by now. It was one of his favourite things to do, when he wasn't being a crazy beast. Passion too, was looking amazing. His dark bay coat shone brightly, his tail also braided like a show pony. Marissa was also nervous, knowing that Passion was going to act up for the cameras. He always did.

James, horse trainer and soon to be co owner when he and Sarah wed, followed Marissa leading Mr Hat and Clogs. The colt was an impressive guy, and a complete flirt. Human or horse, it didn't matter - they had to keep him away from the females.

Here we go.. Sarah called from the front. Then they were there, cameras flashing and people crowding.

[Kirsten Jade]

<sub>ooc: Thanks Sarah and yay for being an annoying reporter socks! I love it!

Kirsten was reaching a reporter trying to grab her attention. She pulled Pride into a halt and waved Aaron on so she could talk to the press. She subconsciously swiped her hair behind her ear and licked her lip before giving a huge smile to the reporter. "I am definitely nervous, that's for sure. There are never any guarantees in horse racing and we know that more than anyone. We will just go out there and try our best... If our horses make it in to the Triple Crown that is... We are very excited for the prospect of it though. We have never had a horse win the Kentucky Derby at this track before, I'd love for a winner to emerge from our stable but the competition is tough as ever this year." Pride threw his head up and rolled his eyes. Kirsten pulled his halter down and rubbed his nose. She cleared her throat and looked back at the reporter. She had kind of babbled on too much but there never was any limit to Kirsten's chatter.

"Pride here will try his best and we all know Rousseau has a feisty spirit. So we will just have to see what happens." She smiled as she watched Rousseau back up and throw his head. The muscular colt was a show stopper, that's for sure.

She couldn't help gazing at Sarah Star as Green Horse Stables brought in their two colts. Yep the competition was going to be tough.</sub>

[S u N f r O s t ~]

Amber peeked out the stable door, a nervous smile on her face. Ah, the Triple Crown. One of the biggest events of the year. Amber hadn't had any true prospects last year. The last time she remembered being into the Triple Crown was when Impressario had gone out....and won the whole thing. So yes, Amber had a reputation to live up to. SOPS had a reputation to live up to. They had to pull a good showing in the Triple Crown to keep that reputation up and growing. The rare thing this year was that Krystal, Henna and herself each had a possible mount in this year's Triple Crown. Which was the best out of them was the question.

Krystal held the lead rope of her big dark bay filly and sighed. Sillenia was having a horribly headstrong day - she was pulling sharply, eager to see the press, looking for some attention. Her sire Grand Silence's tendency to be headstrong was definitely showing. Krystal herself was nervous. Sillenia had proven her worth more on the turf than the dirt, and was looking for the Turf Triple Crown, but Amber said that they should run her in the Alabama Stakes on dirt first to see if Sill was still on with the dirt. Sill could run both surfaces with ease - her biggest accomplishments had just been on the turf, mainly the Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf. Krystal knew she couldn't take waiting any more. She nodded to Henna and Amber and led her filly out. The three year old snorted and pulled excitedly. The horses in front of her looked...good. Krystal chewed on her lip, now more nervous than ever. The ARS and GHS crews were there with their prospects. It was showtime.

Henna combed her fingers through Mystical Melody's mane, and looked out at the crowd excitedly. The dark bay filly was just as excited, dancing in place and neighing. By Seattle Song and out of On To Dancing, Mel was distantly related to Secret Miracle through her sire's dam Sweet Melody. Through On To Dancing, she was related to grade one turfer On To The Spotlight. The line of interest here, though, was that she was also half sister to Radiance, who had won the Belmont Stakes and the Breeders Cup Classic, both prime races for Triple Crown horses. She had the lines, and she also had the talent. This year had been a rough year for her so far, though. Tough fields against older horses and stuff like that. But Henna was confident that they could work through it. If anything, they'd go to the Triple Tiara instead if it would be easier, but Henna knew her filly could handle the colts. With a grin of excitement, she followed Krystal, Mel energetically bouncing in tow.

Amber threaded her fingers in Falsehood's mane and felt like crying. The gray thoroughbred was this year's long shot, without a doubt. He had recently perked up to finish second in the Spring Cup Grade Five Dirt, which gave her hope, but she wasn't sure of his class. She would just have to work hard with him. Grabbing his lead rope, she steeled herself, and then led the son of TDI Secrets of Excalibur and Definite Glory out into the paddock, where all Triple Crown hopefuls were convening.

[sam]

This was a horrible idea.

A horrible, horrible, horrible idea.

Why did I decide to bring the ADD colt to this? Bright lights, flashing camera, other horses, annoying reporters, and God-knows what else. I didn't have a snowballs chance in hell in keep his attention for two seconds.
Hence why I wasn't the one leading him. Jake and sorry self can deal with the colt. Sure, I loved Keegan and all, but it was Jake who insisted on taking him, so Jake can deal with it.

The gray colt's eyes were full of sheer wonder that appeared mostly in children's eyes when they are at Disney World. His ears were pricked and he held his head high, as if posing for the cameras- the ham- as Jake tried his best to simply keep himself from being stepped on as the colt's hooves had no direction to them. Despite the slight trouble, I could see Jake was quite proud.

Keegan wasn't a long shot. But he wasn't the favorite either and could possibly not even be a true contender. He was still suck in Grade Five, and despite all the close calls, has yet to get past his three wins. I knew if I could at least get him on the track, he'd have a chance to really kill the field. The colt had something in him, if he'd just focus maybe I know he'll get there.

Ahead, I spotted a few familiar horses. Sadly, I always remember the horse but never the jockey. I spotted Furious Passion, a colt of my Impassionated Wind, and if for some reason Keegan can't make it in time for the Crown, I know who to cheer for.

[socks]

Abby took a half-step back when Pride threw up his head, nervously. These horses were all so big, she could see the power behind their shoulders and backs and legs, the surging energy that could trample a larger man flat in half-a-second's time. She murmured a terse thank you as other reporters crowded in to see the son of Night Stalker, looking around for a clear spot. Ah, Green Horse Stables was relatively clear so far, although no doubt about it they'd be crowded too after everyone stopped crowding around SOPS, the owners of Impressario, the triple crown winner... Abby hadn't watched the Belmont that year, she'd been so nervous (secretly, hoping that he would win but believing that he wouldn't) and she wondered if she'd ever get to see the horse in person...

Abby wove her way deftly through the crowd... well, in her mind, she wove. Mostly it was the cameraman making his way through by brute force and elbowing, brusque shoving over to Sarah. "Here we have the three hopefuls from Green Horse Stables - Mr. Hat And Clogs, Surreal Moment, and Furious Passion. These three colts add serious heat to the competition - they've shown time and time again that they have the drive to win it and the heart to back it up. The only question is whether the three stablemates will trip each other up in the quest for the crown..." She turned to Sarah, brushing that stray lock of hair that kept falling out back behind her ear again and giving her best patently fake grin.

"So, how does it feel to have not one, but three talented horses looking toward the Crown? Surely it has to cause some stress, having three stablemates all looking at the same race?" She asked, a bit brusquely, coldly, keeping one eye on the horses.