Post by S u N f r O s t ~ on Jul 30, 2012 19:49:38 GMT -5
VENTURA AND AMBER BLACK
SWEET INFERNO AND HENNA TURATH
VEN'S AQUAFRESH STAKES WORKOUT
SWEETIE'S GIVE ME A CHANCE STAKES WORKOUT
Off the track, the beautiful two year old was a black demon. She was not listening to a word Henna said. Henna asked her to go forward, and she instead went backward. Henna asked her to go right and she went light. It was willful disobedience and it amused Henna as much as it confused her. In order to control her, she would need to use reverse psychology. Thus, she asked Sweetie to go left, and she ended up going right and onto the dirt track. Henna smirked at her victory and then grinned as Sweetie calmed right down. Sweetie was calmest on the track. She was the opposite of most racehorses. They were fiery on the track; she was sweet as sugar. They were calm off of the track; she was an inferno of fire and desire. Now, on the track, Henna rode the filly easily, and Sweetie obeyed her commands. She trotted and then cantered and Henna considered the race she was prepping for.
The Give Me A Chance Stakes was a race for grade fives with only one win run over ten furlongs on the dirt. So far only Golden Ghost, the interestingly colored closer who had won his first race but hadn't been seen in races since, was entered. Henna was curious to go up against him. She had never raced against him before so it would be a good experience. Luckily for them, he was a closer. This meant Sweetie would have the lead to herself. Henna knew she would be able to rate Sweetie's pace accordingly and would only have to run fast enough to maintain their lead. They would have plenty of run left in the stretch and already be winning. They could take this wire to wire if they ran the race right and sprinted at the correct time. It was plausible and Henna wanted Sweetie to prove herself. She also didn't want to fall victim to be pressured in case that would be her opponent's strategy for this race.
In stepped Ventura. The Impressario and Rising Fury daughter was a preceder and the type that liked to relentlessly pressure, given the chance. She was entered in a race that week too, the Aquafresh Stakes against Abastor. He was also a preceder and Amber couldn't help but feel very eager for the race. Nick Landing was up on Abastor and that alone made her want to make sure they were defeated. They would have the advantage of both rest and experience on race day, and add that to the fact that Amber was dying to defeat Nick and Ven was just dying to defeat some horses in general and you got a winning combination. Ven had faced off against all of Impressario's other actively racing progeny and lost to Italian Ice, whom she had defeated the week before, but won against Born To Impress. The foal rivalry was intense and would only get worse. Right now, Ven wanted to burn off her feelings of loss, and as soon as Amber mounted up on Ven and the filly spied Sweetie she was haywire.
Amber briefly wondered if her arms would fall off or she would be bucked off as Ven pulled her way over to the other black filly. Sweetie made no motion indicating her awareness of Ven, but Ven made every inclination that she knew Sweetie was there. She snorted, ears pinned back and teeth bared in challenge. Amber cautiously attempted to keep the filly under control. More than a couple small bucks were issued before Ven calmed down a bit, turning away from Sweetie as though in disgust. Amber sighed and then smiled at Henna. Hey. How's Sweetie doing? The filly was coming off of her maiden win on the Wire tracks and was in high spirits. She had defeated some high class competition and was looking forward to doing it again. She's doing pretty good! She feels good and she's looking forward to beating your filly. Amber couldn't help but smirk. We'll see about that. Let's warm up and then race a mile, hmm? I know you want Ven pressuring you the entire time so Sweetie can learn to deal with it. Henna nodded confirmation. Together, the two turned their horses and began to warm up.
They were trotting and then cantering and both felt confident. Their mounts had both taken last week off and were feeling light today. There was no need to push them too far too early, especially with an entire season ahead of them and a Wire Finish Cup appearance in the potential mix. Amber was grinning as Ven continuously channeled competitive fire and energy into her form. The powerful black was raring to go but wasn't too heavy on Amber's hands yet. As for Sweetie, she was equally powerful but less noisy about it. Instead she glided along easily in hand, and she looked like the picture of calm. The power she had was more concealed right now. The track brought out the calmest in her but the fire in Ven and the contrast was very apparent.
Finally the two were ready to go. Amber and Henna glanced at each other, and Amber's face had a slight smirk. Henna returned it, and then the two leaned forward and eased out their mounts. With as little asking as possible, Sweetie showed some fire and sprung right into the lead. She opened up a comfortable margin. Ven was more calculated and cool in her uptake. She, however, eventually got into the right pace and ghosted up about a half length abreast of Sweetie on her, putting on the pressure within a furlong of the race. With seven furlongs left to go Ven was trying to make Sweetie speed it up. The black filly relented by increasing her pace just a bit. Ven was right there with her, though, accelerating as well, just pressuring the other even more. Her eyes were calculating and Amber couldn't help the smirk as Sweetie was pressured and accelerated again.
Henna was biting her lip. How fast should she let Sweetie go? Ven pressured them again and she felt Sweetie increase her pace. They were going a bit too fast for her liking so she decided to hold Sweetie up a bit. Now when Ven came ghosting up yet again after the half mile mark she did not respond and Henna smirked as Amber frowned and slowed Ven down. Now that Sweetie was no longer falling for the tricks under the hand of her rider there was no point in going up there and running faster than they had to. Instead, they would focus on just being there to make sure Sweetie kept up this already faster than usual pace. So she let Ven drop back a length and there they stayed, some dirt being thrown into their face by Sweetie's hooves, biding their time.
The open ground in front of her hooves tempted Sweetie to go faster, and her rider wanted to as well, but they restrained themselves. Not yet. They had to wait for the right moment. With barely three furlongs left to go Amber felt Ven's stride quickening and her pulse quickened in time with it. She prepared herself and as the two furlong mark flashed by she let Ven out. The black filly quickened into a black comet. She sought the lead and accelerated towards her destination. But Henna was not a skilled jockey for nothing. Her instincts tingled and she let Sweetie go without questioning them. Sweetie had already been ready to accelerate more and get the annoying Ven off her tail. Now given the opportunity to, she dug in just as Ven came up alongside and just managed to hold her off.
They were in the final furlong and Ven was finding another gear and coming up to challenge again. The fierce determination in her eyes was undeniable and Amber wanted to win this equally as much. Sweetie briefly faltered against the burn in her legs as she tried to find another gear and Ven took the opportunity, managing to put a head in at the wire and defeating Sweetie. Both fillies were lathered in sweat as their riders pulled them up, though Ven looked triumphant and Sweetie looked as though her off-the-track personality was coming into play. The two glared at each other, and their riders merely nodded in acceptance. A new rivalry had been created, and perhaps next time they met Sweetie would get her vengeance.
