Post by S u N f r O s t ~ on Feb 2, 2015 19:37:23 GMT -5
ALTERCATION AND AMBER BLACK
MELUSINE AND KRYSTAL YHATE
It was time to rock and roll - FINALLY. Awards for last season had finally been announced, leaving Amber Black beaming with pride and dreaming of the future. Stable Of The Year, Breeder Of The Year...and Trainer Of The Year. Amber had felt more than a bit humbled by the accolades and wanted to live up to them. And each time a new set of SOPS juveniles worked out, she felt like she was giving promises to the future, promises for success. And this particular pair of juveniles was one she had been eagerly looking forward to. She was riding one of them herself- the fiercely proud Altercation. Son of Worldbreaker and Royal Assault, the strong bay had been after her heart from the moment she had first breezed him. Now, three weeks into his juvenile season Al was ready to debut and begin turning heads. It wasn't that he hadn't been ready before - Amber just had a liking for starting her juveniles late. And this colt in particular was a very exciting prospect.
She was in the saddle not ten minutes later, and Al was striding towards the track. There could have been a fire roaring down his back and Al would not have cared. He greeted the press thronging around the track with a fierce stare before power walking right past them and accelerating to a trot at Amber's cue. Nothing strained this horse, nothing surprised him. Amber felt ready to take on the world with this horse. Altercation backed down from no fights. Amber felt the natural speed, the smooth stamina and magical energy of this horse. He was a star to her, and she would not stop in her quest to make him the best. Perhaps this would the horse the do it at last, the horse to win the Turf Triple Crown should Pandora or Devil's Flair fail. He was certainly bred for it. The dream blazed behind her eyelids and energized her despite it being more than a year in the future. Successful classic seasons were built upon solid juvenile seasons. All the work started now.
Similarly to Amber, Krystal felt like she was gazing into the future and the past both. Melusine met her gaze squarely, eyes glowing with a stubborn light as she refused the bit. Krystal grinned, relishing the challenge, and eventually managed to get the bit in the filly's mouth. Picture of your mother already, aren't you Sina? She was headstrong like this too. Sina merely snorted and looked away, eyes glowing once more, this time with the light of battle. Time to head to the track, then. Out there would be a horse just like Sina, relishing fights and never giving in. But as Krystal took the filly went to the track - well, more like Sina powerfully pulled at the reigns and took her - she thought that even Altercation couldn't brag Sina's raw muscular strength. She was built like a colt, just like her dam, but flared with an even wilder air. This was a tough filly, built like a tank.
Sina muscled her way through the reporters and onto the track. She sighted her competition immediately, and though her eyes burned the filly practically turned into ice. This was how she was - she shut down on the track and got into race mode. Krystal couldn't help her smirk. She couldn't wait to get this filly in a race. The world would know the next greatest closer was in their midst. She nodded to Amber, who grinned and held up five fingers - that meant five minutes of warm up. Krystal nodded and leaned forward. Sina swung into the canter like a fighter throwing a test punch. She cantered powerfully and with an air of a fighters' aggression, though there were no other signs as to her temperament. Five minutes passed in the blink of an eye, and then Altercation was striding up powerfully on their outside, matching pace before they hit the pole and the juvenile pair was off.
Altercation flashed into the lead with an almost practiced ease despite his inexperience. Amber Black let the colt run on, relishing the feel. Al moderated his pace and cruised around the first turn, all professionalism...and alone on the lead, for Melusine galloped behind and tactfully observed the pace at the front. Krystal marveled at how she could feel so in control of the pace despite being at the back. Amber marveled at the feeling of Al's smooth power and artful command. He was running neither too fast nor too slow, but at the perfect pace. She didn't have to do anything as they clipped through a half mile in firm fractions, moving into the fifth furlong with the ghost of Sina behind them. She was five lengths off and moving comfortably. Amber thought she had Sina measured and would be able to repel her closing charge if she got Al into place...soon enough they would find out.
They hit the sixth furlong and that was when the charge came. Krystal leaned down and let the cannon fly. Sina exploded - there was no other word to describe the torrent of wild, devastating speed. She was up at Al's side in a flash, leaving Krystal breathless with exhilaration and Amber nearly stunned with shock. Amber had had no idea that Sina's closing charge was that devastatingly fast, that insane. She had underestimated the filly severely. But Altercation was full of fight. She said GO and the bay hunkered down, legs blurring as she fought off Sina's charge. Not many could repel the filly's powerful charge, the way her intimidating bulk pressured the horses that challenged her to just give up, lay over and admit defeat, but Al did it. He held her off, barely, with a spurt of speed in the end.
Amber felt flushed with triumph as they cooled out after the wire. Mel had turned icy cold, shrugging off the loss as though it didn't matter and as though she hadn't been trying, but Krystal knew what awaited her competition -retribution. Here were two young racehorses, the future of Stride Of Perfection, and they had just given a better account of themselves than either woman thought they could have given. It was impressive and left the women eager to see what the young horses would do in actual races.
