Post by Dante on Mar 22, 2012 14:26:25 GMT -5
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EXECUTIONER'S APPRENTICE
workout with
TOBIAS LANCASTER
for the
KENTUCKY OPEN
workout II[/color]
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The Kentucky Open was upon them soon. Very, very soon. Tobias sat atop the dapple grey colt, staring over the turf track. Spring had sprung and all was green and the sky was a bright blue. It was nice; but now it was time to fight. The Kentucky Open would have some touch competition, but nothing Tobias knew App couldn't handle. By the look of everything, it was going to be a field of four.
"Ten furlongs. You can do this." Skylark grinned, and with that word of encouragement, the amputee went to the grass in the centre of the track to watch, as Tobias piloted App for the gate. The colt was bright eyed, and was licking and chewing on the bit, ears forwards. He was ready to do this and stoked that he was. A race was a race for App, imaginary field or not, and he was always willing. This showed not just in the motions of the colt, but the fact he'd been steadily improving in workouts, and was currently on a three win streak in his races. Tobias was confident, but not to the point of arrogance. He knew things could easily go wrong if the two let it carry into their hands too far.
The horse and jockey duo went into the gate with little problem, and Tobias gripped his stick in his hand. It was brand new, a gift from Moses for luck. A slight breeze washed over their faces, and then the gates sprang open.
App started well, and was out of the gate with the best of the imaginary field before falling back and taking a place in second or third. This was his style. He'd fall back, but he wouldn't stop fighting. They stayed closer to the center of the track, not outside of the general pack, but not in a position to be pinned, and kept going hard. It was their trick - the red shouldered horse would force the frontrunners faster than they like. Executioner's Apprentice wouldn't ever go faster than could be sustained here, but he would apply enough pressure to the fronts to get them to speed up to keep their position. Frontrunners hated falling behind, so it only made sense they'd speed up to stay ahead. This also had the bonus of driving the rest of the field - midpacks and closers were less affected, but they couldn't fall too far behind, either, which meant they might have to go faster than planned. When App was in a race, it was him and Tobias that did their best to hijack the pace to their own interests.
They took the curve with finesse and speed, something Tobias was very proud of having worked on, and the 4'6" jockey held the colt steady in the begginings of the final straight. Seven furlongs in, and it was almost time to make their move - Tobias was biding their time for - NOW! Eight furlongs and now! Tobias gave the colt his head and felt the pull of acceleration with a grin as wind whipped his face, and the young man added the stick, for added encouragement. Executioner's Apprentice did not need more telling. He began to fly past the imaginary frontrunners, and created a gap that the closer and mid-packs hopefully could not close, to keep himself in the lead as they thundered into the ninth furlong, and they were still going strong into the tenth and across the wire.
After the workout, Tobias looped Executioner's Apprentice back to Skylark, who was writing on his clipboard, beside a doodle of Erin that Connor had probably made at some point earlier that day (good thing she hadn't seen it yet).
"So?" Tobias called from his mount, who snorted.
"We're good!" Skylark said with a grin. "That was a good one, let's hope he does just as well, if not better, in the real deal."-----------------------
WORKOUT STATS
words| 655
workout surface| Turf
distance| 10 furlongs
horse| Executioner's Apprentice
jockey| Tobias Lancaster
((note: thanks to Alexia for the workout title!))
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