Post by symphony on Nov 8, 2012 7:38:28 GMT -5
Darren Montejano and Final Conquest
Amy Hastings and Looking Glass
Amy Hastings and Looking Glass
Amy arrived at King's Park at exactly the same time she did every morning; just in time to spot Darren or Tally walking the first two horses down to the track as she drove past. Her routine remained unchanged every morning; park up by the house, walk into the barn and check the schedule hanging on a clipboard on the wall to see who was going where, then collect one or two horses from their stalls and walk them down to the track. Tally liked to have a string of about five down at the track at any one time, which meant that the first three people to get to the stable got the honor of bringing the first few horses down to the saddling yards.
As she was examining the schedule, Selena walked past with Syllable in tow, the strawberry colt's hooves clattering loudly against the cobblestone flooring as he bounced from side to side in anticipation; he knew where he was headed. "Morning Selena," she greeted the other girl cheerfully, though Selena only nodded in response, busy keeping an eye on nervy Syl as she walked him out of the stable yard and off towards the track.
Amy looked again at the timetable. Smoke and Conquest were first, going for nothing more than a long, slow run that would build their endurance. Syllable was after them, and then Darren would take Storm out and she would ride Sails with the new rider aboard Volition. Darren, she knew, would have taken his two rides for the morning already, saving her from the terror that was Storm, and Selena had taken Syl, leaving her with Smoke and Sails to take down. She had to smile at that; her two favourite horses, both hers to walk down to the track and later, to ride.
Both colts breath rose in clouds of steam as they stepped onto the track, Smoke lazing along under Amy while Darren worked hard to keep Conquest under wraps. The grass was wet with morning dew, though not overly so; the track would be rated as Good later on that day, they could tell, even though there would probably be nothing more than a few barrier trials and the like running on it after workouts. Both horses perked up quite a bit as they stepped onto the track, Smoke lifting his head and pricking his drooping ears, knowing that he was going for a run. It was one of the things Amy loved about the dark bay; he was lethargic and sleepy everywhere except the track, where he liked to simply cruise along to victory.
Darren on the other hand, was having a slightly harder time with his mount; Conquest wanted nothing more than to run his crazy heart out, bouncing all over the place. He didn't seem to understand that this was only a slow workout, and when the broke into a trot it was no better, his attempts at taking off becoming more and more desperate with each uneven stride. Darren was used to the colt though, easily keeping up his stream of half-halts until they turned onto the backstretch and went quickly through a canter into a slow gallop, Smoke stretching out slightly to keep next to Conquest. The gelding was not half as successful as Smoke was on the track; he very rarely seemed to succeed with his insane style of running distance races wire to wire, but when shortened to sprint races, he was very uncomfortable with the lack of distance. It was almost impossible to find the right race for Conquest.
As they rounded the final turn, Conquest picked up a bit of speed but Amy and Smoke still matched him stride for stride on the outside, still well within Smoke's cruising speed. That was the point of this workout though. Neither horse was supposed to be pushed into it, though Conquest would almost rather be racing than galloping slowly. Smoke ambled along, as was his norm, though Amy held him in nice shape and kept him moving well. The bay stallion was showing off his long, easy strides, eating up the ground effortlessly as Conquest fought his way along. They could easily have outpaced the splashed gelding.
As they passed under the wire, the two riders brought their mounts back to a canter, moving away from the rail and into the center of the track. They cantered only halfway to the gap before bringing the horses back to a trot, then a walk, negotiating their way through the busiest part of the track to head back to the stables. Thoroughbreds were everywhere; early morning was the time when the track was busiest and most everyone had horses out working. That was the main reason Tally kept two year olds and later, yearlings in training, down at the barn until late in the morning when the track was much quieter and smaller stables had finished their workouts.
"That was a good work," Darren commented cheerily as they rode between the rows of saddling yards, where even more horses stood rugged and waiting, or were being walked out with steam rising from their backs.
Amy nodded. "Looked like you got Conquest fairly settled for most of the run," she commented as they drew to a halt by their own string, Syllable nickering a quiet greeting to his stablemates as they swung out of the saddles down to the ground and loosened the horses' girths. She knew how hard it was to keep Conquest under wraps when he got it in his head that he was going to go for a run.
As Amy clipped Smoke into the cross-ties in a yard, Selena appeared from around the other side of Syl, leading the short roan colt out of the yards. The strawberry roan stood at just over fifteen hands, extremely small for a thoroughbred - Amy never needed a leg-up onto him. Selena though, was just as abnormally short, and so Amy gave her a quick legup before turning back to look after Smoke, who, of course, was already half-asleep with one back leg cocked and his ears drooping to each side comically.