Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2012 21:24:06 GMT -5
Sonja was doing amazingly well so far, having placed in the top three in all five of her races and with two Horse Of The Year selection race wins. Her performance was unquestionable, and with each race the stable's hopes for her became even higher. In fact, the two year old was soaring well above all expectations of her. She had come from unknown lines which meant that they could not be sure of her potential but she had shown a spark at the sale where they had brought her and damn had they been right to take the chance. This was a filly who was not to be messed with, that much was more than clear, and it was hoped that she would make her next race her third win, pulling her closer to the levels of some of the greatest horses to grace the tracks of GHF. If she continued to perform well, it was possible that she would be a grade four racer before the end of June and even though it was a lot to hope for the staff certainly had belief in the youngster.
The bay filly's next race was the High Strung Derby which ran in the first week of May over nine furlongs on the dirt for two year olds only. The perfect race for a horse who had been performing well against both genders of her own age group. With a little more work the stable would even consider putting her against some of the older horses but she wasn't ready for that just yet. They wanted to keep her record strong and the way to do that was to be careful about which races a horse was entered into. Especially as a two year old, when their physical immaturity might well count against them.
So far their were five entries announced for the race, including Sonja who would be racing from gate one, a position which very much suited the front runner come preceder. She liked to run at the rail, she liked to be able to just run forwards and not have to worry about horses getting in the way of the inside rail. In gate two Stride Of Perfection Stables had entered their colt Forbidden To Fy whom had been named as the best prospect colt the previous year and who had taken first in the Unicorn Horn Juvenile with Sonja placing just behind - something which would not happen again, if Jacob had anything to do with it. In gate three was another entry from Stride Of Perfection Stables, a filly with some quite impressive bloodlines by the name of Eternal Phantom. If these things went on bloodlines, Sonja would definitely be in trouble with this black filly about however such was not the case - a point which had been more than proven in the Magic Millions Fillies Dirt where Sonja had stolen the win against the filly. In gate four the Star Thoroughbred's colt Euphoria's Warrior was certainly another to watch. He had performed well in his three races but was not the main worry for Sonja come race day. Finally, in gate five, Oak Hill Farms had announced that their colt, This Means War, would be entering the race. He was another one who had been performing well and with six races to his name had only placed out of the top three once.
With the competition announced, Jacob knew he would need to give the bay filly a workout in order to ensure she was on good form for the race. Sadly, however, she had been in a foul mood for several days and heaven knew why. Probably something was out of place, or the wrong groom had been seeing to her. Whatever it was, she was certainly unsettled by it and Jacob could not continue to delay the workout for much longer. The truth of it was, Sonja was probably going to remain in a bad mood for another few days and he really wanted to make sure he gave her a decent workout and so he was going to brave the moody filly.
It was, of course, the grooms and handlers he felt bad for. He watched as the sixteen hands of muscle threw herself around while fighting them, and one groom almost certainly had a nasty bruise forming just below his pelvis where the filly's dark hoof had made contact with him at some force. But with some work the grooms managed to get the tack onto the aggressive filly and the task of dealing with her was passed onto the handlers who, at least, had something they could hold her with! Still, she was kicking up a right fuss and everytime someone was foolish enough to get close enough she was going for them. It was not an uncommon thing in racehorses, this in-built aggression. In fact, Prideful Limits was like this most of the time. The only person that colt didn't go for was Alexia, and most of the staff had agreed that the colt was just infatuated with the blonde jockey. But still, it didn't make them any easier to handle and it seemed that the younger, more aggressive handlers were more able to take control of these horses than the more timid ones. Probably because they weren't afraid to give as good as they got when it came to a fight.
Jacob had an issues mounting when they got to the track and, in the end, one of the handlers had to help him up onto the filly as she was refusing to stand still. But that was only the begining of the challenges with her in this mood. If that was not enough, the handlers then had to try to her her into the gates. For anyone on the outside it might have been comical to see so many handlers struggling to gate a single horse but for those involved it was a stressful and dangerous thing. Being at her side to lead her into the gate meant she could easily try to crush you against the side of the box, and being behind her gave her more than enough ability to kick out and give you a nasty hit. You certainly wouldn't be forgetting it any time soon if you made a mistake with her, anyway.
The funny thing was, she didn't seem bothered by the jockey on her bac. She was more bothered about trying to land a blow on a handler or two and when the gates were finally closed behind her she apppeared irritable. Her auds were slicked back across her skull and her muscles were twitching in what appeared to be a mixture of anger and anticipaton. Of course she knew what the gate meant and she was a good racehorse, she enjoyed running, so the track always filled her with anticipation. But in the mood she was, every slight thing annoyed her and the gate was just in the way of her fun.
The second the gates opened they were out of them. Quick, clean, sure. Sonja's pace was high and it most certainly wasn't going to be slowing down. Jacob ahd seen her like this before, her stamina was crazy considering how quickly she ran and se didn't usually slow down in the straight either. She turned into a pure straight runner, putting as much space as she could between her and any other horses. They got close she just ignored them and carried on running, unless they were in the straight when she would fight them with every ounce of her body. She didn't know how to give in, she didn't know what it was to slow down either.
Of course, it was almost pointless her having a jockey. Even if he tried to give her an instruction it would be ignored and her high llevel of concentrations was somewhat unnerving. As such, Jacob found himself perched upon the bay's back while she ran like some crazed wild animal with no signs of stopping. Each long stride propelled them forwards and as they reached the point where there were only approximately two furlongs remaining Jacob began to drive - a rather pointless procedure seems as she wasn't going to be speeding up anyway but also necessary if he wanted to feel he had done anything in the workout. They flew past the post, and even then it took her a while to stop. Yes, Sonja really was something else...
The bay filly's next race was the High Strung Derby which ran in the first week of May over nine furlongs on the dirt for two year olds only. The perfect race for a horse who had been performing well against both genders of her own age group. With a little more work the stable would even consider putting her against some of the older horses but she wasn't ready for that just yet. They wanted to keep her record strong and the way to do that was to be careful about which races a horse was entered into. Especially as a two year old, when their physical immaturity might well count against them.
So far their were five entries announced for the race, including Sonja who would be racing from gate one, a position which very much suited the front runner come preceder. She liked to run at the rail, she liked to be able to just run forwards and not have to worry about horses getting in the way of the inside rail. In gate two Stride Of Perfection Stables had entered their colt Forbidden To Fy whom had been named as the best prospect colt the previous year and who had taken first in the Unicorn Horn Juvenile with Sonja placing just behind - something which would not happen again, if Jacob had anything to do with it. In gate three was another entry from Stride Of Perfection Stables, a filly with some quite impressive bloodlines by the name of Eternal Phantom. If these things went on bloodlines, Sonja would definitely be in trouble with this black filly about however such was not the case - a point which had been more than proven in the Magic Millions Fillies Dirt where Sonja had stolen the win against the filly. In gate four the Star Thoroughbred's colt Euphoria's Warrior was certainly another to watch. He had performed well in his three races but was not the main worry for Sonja come race day. Finally, in gate five, Oak Hill Farms had announced that their colt, This Means War, would be entering the race. He was another one who had been performing well and with six races to his name had only placed out of the top three once.
With the competition announced, Jacob knew he would need to give the bay filly a workout in order to ensure she was on good form for the race. Sadly, however, she had been in a foul mood for several days and heaven knew why. Probably something was out of place, or the wrong groom had been seeing to her. Whatever it was, she was certainly unsettled by it and Jacob could not continue to delay the workout for much longer. The truth of it was, Sonja was probably going to remain in a bad mood for another few days and he really wanted to make sure he gave her a decent workout and so he was going to brave the moody filly.
It was, of course, the grooms and handlers he felt bad for. He watched as the sixteen hands of muscle threw herself around while fighting them, and one groom almost certainly had a nasty bruise forming just below his pelvis where the filly's dark hoof had made contact with him at some force. But with some work the grooms managed to get the tack onto the aggressive filly and the task of dealing with her was passed onto the handlers who, at least, had something they could hold her with! Still, she was kicking up a right fuss and everytime someone was foolish enough to get close enough she was going for them. It was not an uncommon thing in racehorses, this in-built aggression. In fact, Prideful Limits was like this most of the time. The only person that colt didn't go for was Alexia, and most of the staff had agreed that the colt was just infatuated with the blonde jockey. But still, it didn't make them any easier to handle and it seemed that the younger, more aggressive handlers were more able to take control of these horses than the more timid ones. Probably because they weren't afraid to give as good as they got when it came to a fight.
Jacob had an issues mounting when they got to the track and, in the end, one of the handlers had to help him up onto the filly as she was refusing to stand still. But that was only the begining of the challenges with her in this mood. If that was not enough, the handlers then had to try to her her into the gates. For anyone on the outside it might have been comical to see so many handlers struggling to gate a single horse but for those involved it was a stressful and dangerous thing. Being at her side to lead her into the gate meant she could easily try to crush you against the side of the box, and being behind her gave her more than enough ability to kick out and give you a nasty hit. You certainly wouldn't be forgetting it any time soon if you made a mistake with her, anyway.
The funny thing was, she didn't seem bothered by the jockey on her bac. She was more bothered about trying to land a blow on a handler or two and when the gates were finally closed behind her she apppeared irritable. Her auds were slicked back across her skull and her muscles were twitching in what appeared to be a mixture of anger and anticipaton. Of course she knew what the gate meant and she was a good racehorse, she enjoyed running, so the track always filled her with anticipation. But in the mood she was, every slight thing annoyed her and the gate was just in the way of her fun.
The second the gates opened they were out of them. Quick, clean, sure. Sonja's pace was high and it most certainly wasn't going to be slowing down. Jacob ahd seen her like this before, her stamina was crazy considering how quickly she ran and se didn't usually slow down in the straight either. She turned into a pure straight runner, putting as much space as she could between her and any other horses. They got close she just ignored them and carried on running, unless they were in the straight when she would fight them with every ounce of her body. She didn't know how to give in, she didn't know what it was to slow down either.
Of course, it was almost pointless her having a jockey. Even if he tried to give her an instruction it would be ignored and her high llevel of concentrations was somewhat unnerving. As such, Jacob found himself perched upon the bay's back while she ran like some crazed wild animal with no signs of stopping. Each long stride propelled them forwards and as they reached the point where there were only approximately two furlongs remaining Jacob began to drive - a rather pointless procedure seems as she wasn't going to be speeding up anyway but also necessary if he wanted to feel he had done anything in the workout. They flew past the post, and even then it took her a while to stop. Yes, Sonja really was something else...