Post by Brave on May 21, 2014 17:51:58 GMT -5
Sylvanite’s workout for Crouquetty Prospect
Towering Tempest’s workout for Sobriquet Prospect
Jaimie Sandler couldn’t believe her luck. After only just having been assigned to ride Criss Cross for Blue Cross Estates, the Myers had gone ahead and given her the okay to ride Sylvanite in her first prospect race ever. “Don’t get your head in the clouds now, J,” Stanley had told her immediately as they had left the office after she had received the news, “ The Myers really liked how you got along so well with Cross, and now they want you to be Sylvanite’s continuous rider, not just for her prospect year but for her entire racing career. Now, if you want that opportunity? You’re going to have to show them you can handle a horse that green when you yourself are as green as a garden. And we both know those combinations rarely work out,” He had told her straight up, there was never any room for smoothing things over when it came to Stanley and racing. Jaimie had done her best to push away his concern, “I know, Stanley, I know. But I can do this, you can help me do this and it will work out,” She had told him right away. He had simply sighed, “I hope so. But I don’t think you understand what it’s like to ride a yearling. It’s not like taking Predator or Apollo Bear or even Criss Cross out for a breeze, there is absolutely no experience and they are out of their element. You have to be a leader for them, or it’s not going to work out.” At the time, Jaimie hadn’t taken his words to heart. Now, however, she understood them.
They had made the trek out to The Wire track, accompanied by Sylvanite and Towering Tempest, who Stanley had been designated to ride. It was meant as an exercise to get the two yearlings use to running up a new track, but all that had really happened so far was that they had discovered Tempest’s dislike of loading and unloading from the trailer, the result being the near injury of Sylvanite. In the beginning, Jaimie had wondered why the Myers hadn’t opted for her to ride Tempest, as he was a yearling with the most racing experience. Now, as she stood and watched a handful of grooms try to pry his unwilling frame from the trailer, she understood perfectly. From beside her, as if guessing her thoughts, Stanley chuckled wryly.
She made her way away from the chaos Tempest was stirring up and stepped over to where Louis Gerry - the head groom- stood, calmly working on Sylvanite and occasionally shouting out suggestions and orders to the younger grooms that fought with Tempest. She came to a halt by Sylvanite’s front, offering a flat hand for the dark bay filly to sniff before she reached up to scratch at the filly’s forelock, her fingers gently teasing out the knocks in the strip of mane before she withdrew and simply appraised the prospect filly with her eyes. It was the first time Jaimie had actually met the filly, and already she liked her calm disposition. After a moment of glancing over the young thoroughbred, she glanced up to Louis, curious, “ So how does she usually handle, Mr. Gerry?” She questioned, her eyes going from the head of the horse to that of the groom, her head tilted a bit to the side.
Louis Gerry simply laughed and shook his head, his hand reaching out to pat Sylvanite’s glistening side. “Well, she’s an absolute sweetheart, for one thing, and while that’s a good thing on us grooms, it makes it quite troublesome for her to show competitive instinct, it’s something Stan has been working on for quite some time and she’s getting there slowly. She can’t run a straight line either, and doesn’t quite understand how the box works. I mean, she loads easily, but she just doesn’t like to take off when the gates open. She’s not lazy, just a bit too cheerful about everything. She’s also a terrible ride when she changes her leads, her rhythm gets all out of sorts. She does like to run though, I mean just look at how long those legs are. But she’s just rather inexperienced, going to need a lot of work to clean up for this prospect. I wouldn’t get your hopes too high on winning, or even placing at this point with her,” And with those words, Jaimie had never been more discouraged. Of course, Stanley had given her the same rundown, but it hadn’t seemed as serious or as factual coming from him. From Louis Gerry, however, it was like being tied to a rock and dropped. There was no other place to go then down.
Descartes finally managed to show up, and with him came Oliver Myers. Her nerves increased even further as they called her and Stanley over, who was now busy calming down Towering Tempest, having finally succeeded in getting the antsy colt from the trailer. They greeted the pair of them warmly, a stark contrast to the brisk summer day they were experiencing. “Good to see you, Miss Sandler,” Oliver had greeted, and she had returned the courtesy immediately, and from there Descartes had immediately engaged in conversation with Stanley over the appropriate manner to fix the colts attitude abut trailers. The result was Jaimie standing awkwardly under the watchful eyes of Oliver Myers, her usual confidence gone. “You know,” Oliver suddenly began, and Jaimie found herself shocked into the present, “We’re not expecting too much out of Sylvanite right now. She’s going to be coming into her prospect career pretty late. We’re really just looking for someone to give her some motivation to get herself into gear, and you did an excellent job with Criss Cross at exactly that. Of course, we understand you’re young and lacking in experience, and we were a little hesitant to give you the go ahead, but Stanley vouched for you. So just get her to kick into gear and we’ll see about the future you two have with each other,” He had stated rather offhandedly. The confession had taken Jaimie off guard, and she found herself nodding blindly, not really knowing what she was agreeing too. The lump in her throat got bigger, and suddenly Jaimie was very, very afraid.
Descartes gave them a run down on each horse, paying Jaimie special attention when it came to details on Sylvanite, and Stanley even jumped in with his own two cents before their mounts were led before them, Tempest fussing about all the way. Then they were both being hoisted up into the saddle and being led onto the track, and Jaimie took note of just how jolty Sylvanite was to ride in comparison to Criss Cross, and almost felt a longing for the white filly until she turned to see Tempest fighting against Stanley and suddenly decided she didn’t mind Sylvanite, bumpy ride or not.
The pair finally began to approach the wire, only to run into more problems as Sylvanite began to kick up a fuss, her entire frame shying away from the starting line as if it was poison, and Jaimie immediately gasped as she was flung to the side, her hand flying out to grab at Sylvanite’s neck to keep her position on the horse. She tried again, directing the horse toward Towering Tempest, only to be met with the same result. After a fourth try, Descartes simply waved them off the inside track and out to the side, ordering the both of them to do a quick warm up lap from there and then return. Without hesitation, Jaimie watched with the slightest resentment as Stanley willed Tempest into a canter and then slow gallop without problem, simply clicked his tongue and gave her a quick glance before taking off, leaving Jaimie behind with a stubborn Sylvanite that didn’t want to move.
At first she applied pressure, her heels nudging insistently against the horses sides, her weight shifting forwards in an attempt to will the horse on, her hands moving and tongue clicking as she urged Sylvanite on. The horse responded to none of the signals, simply stood still and gazed about, ears forward in a curious display that was starting to frustrate Jaimie. Finally, against her better judgment, she pulled her heels away and kicked them into Sylvanite’s sides. The result was immediate, the filly going from zero to one hundred in the span of a second as she took off down the stretch at a pace far too fast, leaving Jaimie to scramble into position and attempt to slow her down. The horse did not want to slow, leaving Jaimie to force her into an easier pace, and once she was deterred she rocked violently to and fro, unable to keep a straight line as she ran, throwing off her speed dramatically. In front of them, Stanley and Tempest ran rail straight at an appropriate speed, and it was enough to bring hot, angry tears to Jaimie’s eyes. She just wanted to be good, wanted a chance to prove she could handle such a green horse. As she looked down at the mess the filly was pulling off below her, she wondered if it was true.
With the thought came an immediate upset, and she felt Sylvanite flinch below her. The act provoked interest in Jaimie, and she glanced down curiously, wondering what had happened to cause such a reaction in the filly. At the thought, she relaxed, and almost in a comical manner Sylvanite stopped fighting her, her gait straightening ever so slightly as their speed decreased appropriately. Jaimie felt the despair within her replaced with sudden excitement. If all Sylvanite needed to run right was a confident, relaxed rider, Jaimie could give her that. When they finally returned to the starting line, Sylvanite’s performance had drastically improved. When they finally implemented the actions into racing, She actually managed to race Towering Tempest neck and neck to the line. With a smile, Jaimie had rubbed Sylvanite with affection. They would do just fine.