Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2015 14:35:23 GMT -5
The bay stallion stepped out onto the dirt, taking the fresh dirt track under his hooves. It would be his first workout today under Kayla Spencer, his new owner and rider since being sold on from Nature Blue Stables. The colt had one start under his belt in that race season - a third place finish in the race he finished second in last year. The colt, as a four year old had a lot to live up to with his sire being in both Hall Of Fame and Breeding Hall Of Fame. He was a beauty to be up on and he stood at an amazing height of 16.3hh. He'd never really stood out in his races but he was now maturing and beginning to muscle up nicely, compared to what he used to be. People would ask who the colt was - he went by Duke, but his name, was Radiation Therapy.
He had been entered in the Grade Four Okayjee Derby. The plan was to keep him in the allowance races and fingers crossed, slowly move him up the classes. His three year old season had ran smoothly for your average allowance colt, two firsts, five seconds and two thirds, with a couple of HoTY races in there, but if he was going to match up to the strides of his father, there was a lot of work to be done. For the stallions first workout under Kayla, Callie had planned for them to breeze a full mile. It was an easy start for the stallion who had a lot to live up to, but he wasn't being let off the hook that easy, he was treated like a king, always given his morning and evening feed, breezed every morning over the dirt and muscling up well. Kayla took hold of her reins and pushed the stallion into a trot. His obedience made sure he responded quickly and easily - snorting as he did so as the duo warmed up and were ready to take on the dirt. He had matured amazingly well since he was a two-year-old, but now it was time to face the real challenges ahead.
Kayla asked him for canter and he responded immediately, striking straight onto the correct lead, holding his head into his chest as he cantered along the surface. Kayla stood in her stirrups, stroking the horses neck as she did so. He was so smooth and muscled, the veins rippling through his neck. He was a stallion with the looks of a champion, and with the looks of a champion came the responsibility of making him a champion in his final two years of racing, Kayla would fight to the death to get this stallion to Grade One and follow in the footsteps of his father. It would be a dream to see the colt standing in the winners circle after winning the Classic with a blanket of flowers over his neck.
They breezed elegantly over the back stretch over the first furlong and the stallion snorted, on his back you could tell he'd done it all before. Kayla squeezed him along a bit more and the response was there, straight away, almost as if he could tell what was about to be asked of him. Nature Blue had definitely raised and trained a very good stallion, and with his lines he would make some incredible breeding potential. It was time to prove and show to everybody what he was made of, and nobody was going to stop him this time.
As they went along the backstretch, they began to enter the turn. Kayla niggled the reins and the stallions long low stride covered the dirt - he extended his stride as they rounded the turn. Kayla crouched down and tapped her crop of the stallions rump. Into the home stretch, the stallion switched his lead and galloped down the stretch, covering the furlongs quickly and easily. Kayla pushed him along and he snorted with each stride. "C'mon Duke, you can do it." She pushed him more and more, the more she asked, the more Duke gave - over the wire she pulled him up and smiled. The stallion was great, nobody was going to make a fool out of him this season.