Post by archibald on Feb 14, 2012 17:04:26 GMT -5
the goodness, biohazard
Ness and Arty had become good training partners, both horses were similar in personality and it meant that they just got down to business and didn’t muck around during their training sessions. Their jockeys, Eli and Taylor, got along equally as well, which was another added bonus. Ashton sat back at the rail and watched the two horses under his training care going around the track doing their warm up lap, satisfied that this training session was going to go just as smoothly as every other one seemed to do. Their warm up was done in a few minutes, and the pair headed towards the gates.
Both horses only took a minute or two to be loaded, both smoothly going into the gates as if it wasn’t a huge deal. He only wished that all horses were like that, realising that the starting gate wasn’t some big scary monster that was out to eat him. He waited until he heard the warning bell ringing, the bell that told the gate attendants to stand clear because the gates were about to open and a few thousand pounds of horse flesh was about to come racing through them. A few seconds after it had rung, the gates swung wide open, and the chestnut and bay Thoroughbreds were racing out of them.
They were both front running sprinters, so they battled neck to neck the whole short sprint of eight furlongs he had set them on for the morning. They weren’t going as fast as they would in an actual race, that was for sure, he didn’t want to burn them out before they had even gotten to race day. But they were still pretty fast all the same, and before he knew it, they were approaching the finish line. Ness had taken the lead at that point, and it looked like she was going to win it too, until Arty put on another short burst of speed close to the finish line and took the win from her by half a head.
He leant his elbows on the railing, watching the colt and filly being slowed down to cool down around the track, and soon the riders were bringing them up to where Ash was standing, waiting to see what he said about the workout. “They’re doing good boys, now we’ll just have to wait for race day,” he said, nodding to them, before making his way back to the stables.