Post by alicekcrose on Jul 6, 2012 3:24:56 GMT -5
I was very proud of Roy right now. He's won the Green Horse Dirt, and got himself to Grade Four before placing a very brave third in the Breeders Cup Dirt Mile. I was just delighted! I knew he could do well. We wouldn't win with that strength of horses in the field. This week, we were entered in the Kickstart Cup, over ten furlongs on the dirt. The current entries looked okay - but they weren't so challenging - I knew me and Roy could take them down. In Gate One, there was Intrepid Racing's colt, Firebird. He'd beaten us in the Rantiall Stakes, but I was determined today to beat him. Dawn Of Silence beat him in the Focus Stakes, so surely if Danny, a Grade Five with one win can beat him, Roy can. In Gate Two, there was Heartless Revenge, our main rival. We'd beaten him twice before - in the Winter Cup and the Green Horse Dirt, and I was going to beat him again. Nothing was going to stop me... or Roy for that matter. In Gate Three, there was the three year old, Apollo Bear. In four starts, he'd gotten a first, a second, a third, then a disapointing sixth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. He was only grade five, and we could beat him. In Gate Five, there was Key To Flight. He'd not been raced for just under two years - and even then he hadn't won since a two-year-old. He would be easy to beat today.
On the track, Roy's personality shifts. He becomes less emotional, more quiet and focused. Whether this is because racing is in his blood and he instinctively knows what to do, or whether it is because of the different moods on the day of the race, he becomes easier to handle and more willing to listen. If there's one thing Roy likes, it's racing. He sees it as an opportunity to further extend his "reign" and become supreme ruler. When the race starts, he breaks quickly and takes the lead. He's not one of those front running types that just blindly takes the lead and stays there, though. If he is consistently challenged, he drops back a little and instead pressures the challenging horse until they tire. If he is not challenged, he purposely goes slower, both to conserve his energy and to tease the other horses into breaking for the lead but tiring before the wire. He's one of those "machine" horses, the type that seems to have unlimited reserves of speed and stamina. While this is, of course, not true, he is very skilled at maintaining energy so that he doesn't tire out before the race is over, which gives the image of unlimited power.
Roy comes from an excellent background with fantastic lines. His sire Royal Red Richard is a Hall of Fame inductee. He was highly successful and respected on the track, and his progeny are becoming stars too. For example, Roy's half brother Pegasus Wings has been taking the track by storm with his fast times and breathtaking wins in sprints, even though he's only fifteen hands high. While Roy is taller, he shares his half brother's love of the dirt, and his energetic personality. Roy's dam Strictly Speaking never made it to the Hall of Fame, but consistently caught our eye and was marked down as a threat. She was a classy mare, no doubt about that, and very speedy. From his parents, Roy has inherited his love of the dirt, and his distance preferences for the miler to classic range. He has also inherited his little quirks from them.
Roy is strong, handsome and fast. Being one of the bigger horses we own, he's not afraid to throw his weight around in order to get done what he wants to get done. Any horse that questions him has to face up to his intimidating height and fierce personality. He can be a bit of a bully to the other horses if things don't go his way, and if he's in a horrible mood he's something every person wants to avoid dealing with. Unfortunately, Roy knows very well that his height gives him an advantage over others and makes him strong, and never wastes an opportunity to show it off. He's proud of who he is, and even as he matures we don't see him giving up his show-off personality. It's just too finely ingrained in him, too much a part of his identity. To match up to his strength, he's also very energetic, which gives him the stamina to deal with those that question him. He is definitely a hard horse to handle, but one rider stepped up to the challenge; Krystal Yhate from Stride Of Perfection. At KHS, I stood up to the challenge; Krystal had dealt with horses like Roy before, mainly Passionate Class. She saw Roy as Classy, but on the dirt, and believes him to have the potential to surprise everybody, despite his rather abrasive and aggressive personality. I am now doing the same.
I walked out onto the track and he looked around a bit. I asked the colt for a trot, and he responded quickly. We were going to breeze from the mile pole... we'd start the workout at seven furlongs and work the last two furlongs as fast as we could. My automated stop watch was programmed to start timing between the two and the finish. The colt trotted forward, and I rose with his quick paced trot. I asked him for canter and he responded quickly and easily. I stood in my stirrups and let him canter. I began to quicken up a little bit, as we breezed past the seven. I didn't push him, I just let him run, like he'd do in a normal race. I continued to relax, and as we came round the far turn and past the three, the colts stride lengthened. I pushed him forward and he responded. We came to the two and he was all out, sprinting like a cheetah, his over dramatic leg movement and long strided gallop covered the dirt. The snow blew on my face and the wind made tears run from my eyes and my face go red, but I continued to drive him forward with every last thing I'd got. The tears on my face began to freeze, and I wiped them away, pushing with one hand. We flew under the wire, and I was so shocked with how fast he had worked. I looked at my stop watch. Twenty one seconds... flat. I gasped. Good boy, we were ready to crush this field.