Post by Dante on Oct 7, 2011 19:17:52 GMT -5
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DEVIL'S CRUSADE
workout with
TOBIAS LANCASTER[/b]
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Crux was running well, but that was no reason to sit back and rest. Rest. Hah. Tobias had more horses to work than anyone else at PHS. Rest was not something he knew. He knew lots of energy drinks, though. He had so many, sometimes he’d get sick to the stomach, which was fine with him. It was weight off, right? And that was his trademark. Tiny, tiny Tobias. The little guy with the experience. Not the heavy jockey, no. He dared to say he was the lightest in all of Green Horse Fields, after all. And it seemed this was doing Crux worlds of good. The colt was ready for his biggest challenge yet – another open. Anything went, although it was limited to two year old colts, there was nothing dictating the number of races said colts had been in. But that wasn't going to stop them. They were just going to train the pants off him. Besides, it wasn't like the black colt minded. He snorted and pranced a bit under Tobias, who looked ahead at the track. It was almost noon. The turf stretched out before them. Seven furlongs. That was how far they were to run today.
Just visible in the distance, Tobias could spot a teenage girl. Morganna Muse. She didn't often pop down to help, but Skylark had unexpectedly doubled over in pain this morning. Phantom pain, they had said. Came with the missing legs bit. Tobias didn’t know what that was, and while Skylark was a friend, the thoughts were neither here nor there, so he wiped them out. He trotted Crux to the gate, and the colt tugged a bit. He wanted to move. And boy, could he ever move! Just earlier this year, he’d had nowhere near the power Tobias felt. Crux wasn't the strongest horse out there by any means, but he had muscle now. He had muscle where it mattered, and the lungs to give them oxygen. This translated into power. The job of the jockey was to convert that power into speed, to channel and push the limits, to gain more and more speed. And experience, too; Crux hardly bothered protesting being loaded into the gates. They selected one in the middle, for a base time. No bonus of being in the first gate, and no slowdown of being in the last. Though, sooner or later, Tobias would run Crux through all these positions.
There was a moment of the familiar, repetitive stillness, before Morganna triggered the gates and they sprang open. Crux followed them almost instantly, with a leap of sorts that Tobias hadn’t asked for. But with that skip and a hop, they were off to the races! Tobias held Crux back a little, but mostly let the horse run. The distance was right in the middle of the 2 year old’s range, and as Crux was comfortable on both surfaces, pacing for that wasn’t a huge problem either. The main trick in races was to detangle Crux from the middle of the pack, as he ran mid. Steering was essential, and so Tobias put that to practice, having Crux weave side to side a little as he ran. Devil’s Crusade responded well enough. His motions were better going to the left than right, however. He clearly had a favoured side. They’d have to run him the other way to get him out of that habit, Tobias didn’t doubt. But cutting left was to get out of the tangle, right was to the rail. That was something, at least.
He cold feel Crux getting more and more pumped up as they went, true to his style. He wasn't a closer, but he did run into the middle for about half the race, before giving it his all. And give it all he did, when they crossed the four furlong marker. As Tobias always did, he gave Crux his head and a good bit of stick to boot. Workouts were repetitive in nature, but in a way, that was a good thing. It got the horse going on one thing, and one thing only. Run. Run for your life; and if they didn't run and do reasonably well, PHS would crash and burn and they'd not have the money to pay for feed. So in a way, it was run for your life.
They crossed the seven furlong mark and Tobias could feel Crux still had more, even as they slowed down. "Easy, easy," He panted to the horse. "They'll be plenty of times more to go, don't you worry." Rider and mount panted, mildly sweaty, as Morganna pranced on up.
"By my statistical calc...fine." The mathematical prodigy cut her rant short. "Here's your time, caveman." She pointed to some numbers on a clipboard.
"I'm not a caveman just because I'm not getting a bachelor's in mathematics." Tobias grumbled. "Besides, I know what those numbers mean, they're times, and I like 'em."
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WORKOUT STATS
words| 825
workout surface| Turf
distance| 7 furlongs
horse| Devil's Crusade
jockey| Tobias Lancaster
type| closed workout (do not reply)
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