Post by archibald on Nov 10, 2011 0:05:20 GMT -5
calle ocho, destined for glory
The pair of horses and their riders cantering slowly around the track in their warm up lap, watched carefully by their trainers standing on the sidelines, were almost as alike as two peas in a pod. Both horses were bay, the only things discerning them from each other were the fact that they were a colt and a filly, the colt with a small white star in the middle of his forehead. Their riders were almost identical too, but that was explainable, Angie and Johanna Eastman were sisters, and could pretty much pass for twins if you disregarded the age gap between them.
They eventually reached the training gates, and the gate attendants waiting patiently to help them load up the horses. They were running together today, to save time, for one thing, and to give each other a bit of competition. Eight was still young, and hadn’t had as much experience as Destiny, so Mitch was hoping that the combination would help balance itself out, get the colt used to running with other horses a bit more, to help him learn how to focus better. Both Thoroughbreds loaded with minimal fuss, at least they both didn’t mind the gates all that much.
There was a few moments of silence, nothing but the wind blowing past them as they waited for the gate bell to ring, signalling that the gates were about to be opened, and the occasional bump of the horses as they moved about the narrow space the starting gate gave them to stand in. And then the shrill bell rang out clear across the air, and the gates flew open, and they were running. Nothing could beat the exhilaration the sight just gave the people watching, except for maybe an actual race setting, the jockeys echoing the same feeling, easy to tell from their visible reactions across the track.
The horses set a decent pace, neither really jockeying for the lead at first, they were both closers and wouldn’t start until the last few furlongs. They weren’t running a great distance now, as it was, setting at a comfortable ten furlongs that they both were alright with running, so it wouldn’t be long until they really started racing. As they rounded the backstretch, both women really let them go, urging them both on towards the finish line. Jo was a little slower, deciding to conserve just a little more of Destiny’s energy, not that the older filly would have much trouble overtaking the colt in the end, but she also had more experience than her sister and knew exactly how late she could put off the final push.
And it paid off too, Destiny coming past the finish line a full head in front of Eight, although the colt had given her a pretty good fight to the end. Sometimes experience just overrode physical ability, he was still young and they still had plenty of time to work with him, so Mitch wasn’t the least bit disappointed with the result. Now it was just to wait to see how their races turned out...