Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2012 1:45:04 GMT -5
TERROR SMILE
RIDDEN BY AIDEN SMITH
When she had ran in her first two starts of the year, her fire had seemingly gone out. There was no flame, only a smolder. It seemed as if the mare would never be the same, placing third against horses that she would have destroyed last year. Then, suddenly, after a work in which she was at the beach; the same place she was last year before going on to destroy the turf division. The fire that had gone out was restored to it's former state, only more hungry for victory.
Terror Smile, this year, was a phoenix arising from the ashes that she had let herself deteriorate to, after her defeat and breakdown in the Breeder's Cup. She was not a smolder now, but a twenty foot forest fire just waiting to devour everything in it's path. The grey mare was proven to hold grudges and now her biggest grudge yet was against Sillenia. This grudge had sculpted Smiles into a victorious machine. Now, more than ever, she would not let anyone or anything pass her. She would defeat any horse that challenged her, anything put into her path, until she had faced and defeated Sillenia. No more would any horse pass her.
Now, it was once again, time for Smiles to prove herself to hold grudges. This time it was in the Wild Flower Memorial Stakes against Wild Kiss, who had just beaten her a month earlier. Hailey Levine and Aiden Smith both knew that Terror Smile would give the mare hell as soon as she saw that she would be facing her. Aiden also knew that Smiles would crush her like she had been doing to all of her other competition. It would be unexpected to Wild Kiss's owners but not to Hailey or Aiden. No, they knew that she was not going to let the Flamekissed filly past her even if it meant breaking down again. Never again would Smiles be beaten twice by the same horse-- especially after the Breeder's Cup. Until Smiles faced Sillenia, her arch enemy, she would give any horse hell if they attempted to challenge her.
Aiden Smith had saddled the, recently, feisty mare up before leading her to the track for her work. Hailey walked by the grey mare's neck on the other side, her hand stroking her constantly. "I know for a fact that Smiles is going to be... difficult... today, just by the way she handled saddling today." Her mind flashed back to the long strenuous process that they had just gone through. A fragment of Smiles rearing up and lashing out ferociously flashed through her mind, "Just try to keep her slow, today... A nice strength gallop will keep her in top shape for the race." I know she has the speed. Hailey's eyes drifted over the mare's bulging muscles. She was the perfect racehorse. If she ever was out of shape she always got back to top form within a couple of days of work... and her being out of shape was rare.
Aiden stopped Smiles once they got to the opening in the track. Hailey helped him up. As soon as Aiden put his feet in the irons, Smiles tried to jump out front underneath him and bolt off down the track. Aiden lost his irons and jerked on the reins. Smiles' head shot up and she slid to a stop. Aiden stroked her neck, regaining his balance and stirrups before turning to look at Hailey. "All good? I want a slow 5 furlong gallop... Try to maintain her as much as you can when coming down the homestretch, okay?" Aiden nodded, his fingers tightening the reins, as Smiles pranced in place, ready to run, her ears pinned forward.
As soon as his hold on the reins loosened just a bit, Smiles jolted forward into a fast paced trot. Aiden straightened her out in the center of the track before letting her pick up the next gait. The grey mare bolted into a flying gallop. Aiden stood in the irons and pulled back on her mouth. "Easy girl." Her head flew up in protest but in the end she slowed, her head high in the air. He tried to get her to put her head down so that she would get more of a strength workout but in the end she won in that battle. She tried to escape the bit by putting her head up higher but Aiden made sure she wasn't able to gallop faster by keeping the reins tight. All of her muscles were tensed so Aiden decided a little slack wouldn't hurt.
As soon as he let her have a notch of rein however, she bolted away into a flying gait. It almost didn't feel like a gallop because she was running so fast. They about to exit the final turn and Aiden was attempting to slow her down but failed in the end. Smiles continued to romp along, faster and faster. Aiden was still trying to keep up the strenuous hold on her mouth, his arms tiring with her every stride. He knew this was her fastest speed and it wouldn't hurt to let the reins loose, so he did.
He was wrong, however. The grey mare responded with a spurt of outrageous speed. Aiden's eyes widened. She had never ran this fast. She flew past two horses working on the inside before crossing the finish wire. Aiden stood up, hoping that this would help him stop her. Surprisingly, Smiles gave in willingly. She tossed her head and pranced back to where Hailey. Her head was raised as if she was so proud of herself. Aiden's arms ached as did his head but he couldn't help being proud of her, himself. That was the fastest she had ever ran for him. Not this year... but ever.
Hailey seemed split between happy and furious. She was not happy that Aiden had let her go through with that tremendous speedy but then again she was happier than ever because that was the fastest she'd ever gone according to her stop watch. In the end happiness won out over anger. "That was amazing! How did you get her to run like that?" Aiden shrugged, "It was all her." He reached down and stroked her neck, deep in thought. It almost felt like Smiles was... better... than she was last year if that was even possible. He didn't know that for sure but one thing was for certain...
They just had to win this race.
words; 1090