Post by S u N f r O s t ~ on Sept 8, 2012 18:16:14 GMT -5
SIZZLING DAWN AND HENNA TURATH
A ROYAL LEGACY AND AMBER BLACK
MAGIC MILLIONS WORKOUT
He had worked out twice for Amber Black and his conditioning was perfect. The bay two year old had faced Dirty Diana and Sweet Inferno in his first workout and displayed the arrogant talent of any Merry Bay King son. Then he had faced Axis Mundae over the turf for a speed workout and had come away flying high. Now he would face Sizzling Dawn, the most intense two year old filly among the crop, to prepare for his ambitious first start for SOPS in the Magic Millions Colts Dirt. And Amber believed she had figured Legacy out. The bay lived for every aspect of the racetrack and simply loved racing. He had a potent closing kick which she planned to enhance in a workout against Infini sometime in the next week. But first they had this race in a super competitive field.
King's Ransom from new Bowen Acres headed the field. He had not yet started on the track and Amber knew nothing yet of the colt's talent. He was a wild card and she didn't even know what position he would run in. They took gate two. Closers, strong ones at that, royally blooded. Legacy had placed a strong third in the Wire Finish Cup Juvenile Dirt and from that moment had trained with SOPS. He had come along strongly and now he was looking to break his maiden in style with this race. He had experience and he would use it to his advantage. Not to mention Amber Black was hell bent on getting him up top. Red Herring from Witch Creek took gate three and he had been impressive breaking his maiden on the first try. He was a pace presser type and he was touted highly by Witch Creek. Born To Impress from Star Thoroughbreds took gate four. This was a colt they needed to defeat. They couldn't have a colt who's grandfather was King beat a colt who's actual father was King. That had already happened once and Amber disliked that fact.
Impress was impressive and he had never placed out of the top three, winning twice. He was versatile, though he preferred to precede the leaders. Last was Nature's Dream, also from Star Thoroughbreds. He had broken his maiden three weeks ago and had some good experience to boot. He was also a mid packer. So essentially, the field would be led by the pace pressers and Legacy would be sitting prettily in the back, just where he wanted to be and where he excelled at being. He would come on like a freight train and these horses would have no idea what hit them. Such was the way of Legacy, as Amber decreed it. Nobody understood King foals like she did, and she would get Legacy to tick even though he was a long shot in this field.
Henna Turath knew Legacy was good competition for their workout, but Dawn was something else. The bay filly had been a monster at the Wire track, and she had come to the GHF one to place second last time out about two weeks ago. Now she went for the Magic Millions Fillies Dirt and the filly wanted a win. She was overbearing and muscular and intense enough to be a colt, and she didn't take no for an answer. She was an impressive winner and the Dirt should be hers. Italian Ice would be breaking on their inside, and the filly was going to be a champion. She had won the Wire Finish Cup Juvenile Dirt and had that confidence. She would be a front runner or a preceder depending on the pace of the race. Indian Darling from Witch Creek came next. The bay daughter of Native Flame was a mid packer who had looked down last week but had doubtlessly bounced back for this race. She had placed fifth two weeks ago but she had some talent there. Stalker's Glory from Star Thoroughbreds rounded out the field. She had just broken her maiden last week and had run three times during March. She could be a bit tired coming into this, but had been impressive last week and so was a contender. She would close from behind.
Dawn was at all times driven by the need to be dominant. She would take the lead in this race and attempt a win gate to wire. Icee would settle to preceding with Indian Darling when she realized how set Dawn was on her lead. Gloria would close with good speed from the back but if Dawn was fast enough Gloria would run out of move. It all depended on Dawn's pace in this race and Henna knew they had a good shot at taking this if they played it right. Dawn had heaps of talent that couldn't have been predicted from her breeding. She was full of herself today for sure, and Legacy was talented enough to get her competitive fire sizzling even more than usual. The plan was just to gallop the two for a mile and then race a quarter mile immediately following.
Amber met them at the gate aboard Legacy. Dawn instantly took a dislike to the other bay. Perhaps it was the arrogant tilt of his head or the way he looked at her as though she was beneath notice. Whatever it was, she neighed angrily, but made no move to attack. She would do her talking with her feet during the workout. She knew a rival when she saw one. Legacy continued to behave imperiously as they warmed up, trotting and then cantering through one lap on the dirt track. The scene was otherwise quiet except for the occasional displeased snort from Dawn and the quiet hums of Henna as she calmed her horse down.
The time to run was soon upon them. Dawn was released and instantly bounded into the lead, right ahead of Legacy. Legacy was quick on the uptake but not keen on the lead, instead opting for a position on the outside of the bay filly. Henna took a tight hold on Dawn, the filly's head bowed into her chest as the bay resisted her iron control. They galloped through a mile and it felt interminable to Henna. Her hands hurt with each stride from the effort of holding Dawn at Legacy's pace. They were two racehorses who ran differently so to hold them together was a lot of tough work that was almost impossible to accomplish.
A quarter mile race was not enough, yet no changes were made. Legacy had already been conditioned and Dawn had raced semi-recently. She thrived off of racing a lot but Henna wanted to be careful. So a quarter mile it was, and when released Legacy finally responded in kind to Dawn's challenge. The two bays fought it out viciously, legs slicing through the air and bodies riding through the wind they created as they sought a victory instead of defeat. It was too close to call, but the fractions were sizzling, and the two were ready to rock.
