Third Time's The Charm

[Kenren]

Phantasm Frost & Clarimonde Tusaint for the Superstar Sprint
Spitterfly & Vivien Charron for the Buttercup Sprint

It was both electrifying and sickening how close the second legs of the turf triple sprints had been for Valkyrie. Phantasm Frost had been only a head from the win against Call Me Crooked. Spitterfly only a neck from Taboo to cross the wire. Aside from Shenanigans' victory in the Prince of Wales Stakes, Valkyrie's classic season had been a story of second places. Baciami, Phantasm Frost, Spitterfly. Heartbreak over and over. However, it could never be said that they gave up. Baciami had moved on from disappointing finishes in the Preakness and Belmont to try and strike a Red Mile win, and he was still trying to nail it now. Phantasm Frost had taken second to the same filly in the first two legs of the TTSC, but they weren't backing down on him one bit. So close he'd come last time that they were more than convinced that their colt could upset a possible champion. Spitterfly would be facing potentially tougher competition in the last leg of the tiara, as the first leg's winner Athena's Desires was back in the field, as well as the last leg's winner Taboo. And yet, even with the cards stacked against her, nobody had lost faith in her ability.

It was hard sometimes, but that was how it was. If they stopped believing, then what was the point in running them at all? So yet another morning Frost and Spitter were out on the turf in the late morning, after most of the dew had dried from the grasses and long after most of the other horses had worked for the day. There was an electric air to the track and in the spectators for the work, given what was soon on the line. A third triple champion in a year was pretty much unheard of, but here they were on the brink of that possibility. However, any good handicapper was going to look at more than just the favorite. They needed to look at the potential upsetters, as well as the live competition for the tiara. Cole, as per usual, completely ignored them. His focus was ever on his horses, not on what others thought of them. The race was going to be seven furlongs, so he was having the horses breeze three. They cantered down the track easily, Frost's excited strides somewhat tempered by Spitter's close presence. He watched like a hawk as they reached the 3/8 pole, breaking off with explosive strides in company. There were murmurs around him, but Cole didn't even hear them.

Clarimonde was asking Frost for the highest gear he was willing to give without someone there to chase, and he responded like clockwork, immediately opening on the filly. They thundered toward the wire, and though Vivien was asking Spitter to close, there just wasn't enough time or drive on this day to match what the colt was blazing out. He whipped past the wire, and Cole didn't have to know the fractions to know that that was the best work the colt had ever put in. Before the Highway, Clarimonde had learned how to tap into the colt's speed. And now he was capitalizing - for perhaps the first time, the two were truly on the same page. And though Spitter hadn't matched what the colt was putting out, that didn't mean she hadn't put in some real time of her own. However, he wasn't worried about her in the least - she was the type to perform better on race day, when Vivien was truly asking her for everything. This was their last chance in the sprinter races, and Cole was confident they had the horses to get the job done.