Post by archibald on Oct 13, 2011 19:35:13 GMT -5
crowned clown, xalbadora, erin shore
Ash leant against the outside rail of the track, practiced eyes watching Taylor take Clown around the track for his warm up. He still wasn’t quite sure why Mitch had picked the colt up, he hadn’t seemed to have done anything too spectacular before they had him, and he hadn’t proven himself to be anything special since either. Maybe it was just for the sake of breeding later on, the colt had a nice conformation and all, who knew. And it wasn’t really his place to question the owner’s choices, it was his job to make those choices winners. And usually Mitchell was right about his purchases, so he was just going to have to wait and see.
Casey was standing a bit up the rail, talking on his phone. His brother trained Erin, the crazy ass filly that seemed to suit his personality to a tee. As it was, he was probably the only other trainer in the place who could actually train with him, seeing as he grew up with him and knew all about his somewhat volatile personality. If he wasn’t a good trainer, Ash doubted that Mitch would have ever even considered hiring him.
Jo was riding Erin a bit ahead of Clown, and he watched her having to fight to keep the filly from using herself up too much. Seeing as the two horses seemed to like the same conditions, it made sense to work them together. And it would be good for the filly as well, she needed to get better running with other horses, her temper tended to get the better of her in most situations and had left her burnt out by the time she hit the finish line in her last couple of races. Hopefully Clown might be able to help her calm down a bit.
And then there was Mitch, standing next to Ashton, holding that kid of his and watching the track silently. He had ended up joining them as well, with Xal. The filly had just made it up to race in the G4’s, and was a bit more of a seasoned racer than the other two horses, despite being of around the same age as both of them, so hopefully she would be able to keep them in line as well. Angie was keeping her back with Clown, running alongside the colt as they did their warm up.
Eventually all three horses reached the practice gates, and Casey had soon joined them on the rail, off the phone now. The men didn’t really say anything to each other, nothing really needed to be said until their horses had finished running. Clown and Xal loaded into the gates without much of a fuss, Erin took a bit longer, and as usual, they had to blindfold her to get her to walk into the gates without trying to kill them. How Jo managed to keep on the black filly’s back for the most part, Ash failed to know how.
Eventually, they got the filly in, and a few brief moments later, the starting bell rang out across the track, and the three of them broke from the gate. Erin took the lead straight off, anxious to get away from the gates and so headstrong all she wanted to do was run and didn’t really want to listen to her rider’s instructions. Clown was of two minds, half wanting to follow suit with Erin, but also half wanting to stick back a bit with Xal. Luckily he tended to be a bit more responsive, and quickly settled back into the pace Taylor was asking him to stick to. Xal took no notice of Clown, the blinkers she wore restricted her from seeing him anyway, placing herself a little ahead of him but behind Erin still.
They sat like that for a while, not really fighting it out between themselves too much until they hit the backstretch. Then their jockeys got them to lay on the speed, letting them fight it out to see whoever hit the finish line first. Erin dropped back a bit then, having used a bit more speed than the other two had at the start, she was beginning to tire a little. Xal easily overtook both of them, more level headed than the other two horses and her experience helped her as well. It was almost as if Clown didn’t know what to do at some points, hanging back and trying to veer towards Erin at some points, then speeding up a bit in an attempt to catch Xal. He almost looked like he was trying to play in the middle of the session.
Soon they had crossed the finish line, Xal in front, and Clown a nose ahead of Erin. Maybe they were going to have to consider blinkers for the colt to help him keep a bit more focused while he was out there. It wouldn’t hurt to try.
“Well. Let’s just hope we get lucky,” Mitch said, from off to his side. Ash nodded in agreement.