the cycle repeats [open]

[flatcreek]

John Stokes

The bell above the door of the cafe clinked as John walked in. "Hey, Fred," he said to the man taking orders. There were only a few people in the cafe right now, as it was an odd time. Only a few trainers and jockeys were sitting around, talking about a wide range of topics. "Hi, John. How are you today? Do you want your usual coffee?" Fred replied as John walked up to the counter. "I'm good. Had an adventure with Wild, one of our two year olds, this morning. She took off with Sarah on the track. Thankfully, everyone's fine. Yeah, my usual black coffee's fine." Fred went to get John's coffee, saying, "Wild... Would that be that two year old that you had break her maiden the other day? The dirt sprinter? She was pretty impressive. Fast time, wasn't it?" John nodded. "Yeah, she's fast, but hard to handle. Hopefully she improves, since she ran a little green." Fred nodded, handing John his coffee. "Good luck with her. I'll talk to you later on, then." John nodded, then retreated to a booth near the door.

There wasn't much going on right now, since all the horses were cooled down, in their stalls, and eating some hay. It was too early for lunch, so, since the cafe had opened, he had made a habit of coming in for a coffee and to catch up with whoever was there. He looked around the cafe, since with the new year would be a lot of news. The awards had just been announced, so everyone was gossiping about that. Flat Creek had done okay, with Zynco being Sire of the Year for the third time and Skyward being Horse of the Year. Zynco's son Constellation had been Champion Three Year Old over another Zynco baby, Fiorion. Champion Older Female had gone to Zynco's daughter Magneta. Zee was sure making a name for himself as a sire.

John was smiling about Flat Creek's amazing year, having Rissy win the Treble, be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and, to top it all off, be Horse of the Year. Just then, he heard the cling of the bell and Fred welcoming another customer. John look up from his coffee to see who it was.

[symphony]

Tally Cremer

Tally sighed heavily as she walked into the cafe, tucking a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear. Today was just not her day, it seemed, and all of it had happened before lunchtime; staff shortages, injury, broken gear. It was days like this that made her wonder why she even bothered sometimes. And then of course, she reminded herself of the awards King's Park had won - Stable of the Year for the third time, unbelievably - and it all felt worth it again.

Even so, it had been a long morning, beginning with Darren not showing up at the usual time of 4am, or indeed at all. She had called in to see him before coming to the cafe, only to find that he had come down with a flu of some kind, and had ended up feeding Storm, the grey gelding Darren had bought from her at the end of his career. Unfortunately, the big grey had been as ornery as ever, god help her.

Being without Darren had completely thrown her workout schedule out of sync, and so it had taken them much longer than usual to get through the twenty or so racers needing to be taken out onto the track, not to mention lunging the yearlings. Then of course, there was silly Indy, who had gotten a bit of a fright at a car driving past and pretty much bolted into the pasture fence.

"Good morning ," the man behind the counter greeted her, bringing a weary smile to her face. She didn't get down to the cafe very often, choosing to do a lot of the work around the stables herself and keep herself busy, and so hadn't gotten to know any of the workers here.

"Morning," she answered. "Just a flat white, please."

"Long morning?" the man asked with a grin as he took her money and started making her coffee. "You run King's Park, don't you? I hear you did pretty well with awards this year."

"You don't know the half of it," Tally sighed, though her spirits lifted at his next comment. "Yeah, we did." She couldn't help grinning. "We're all very happy with Constellation and Eastern Expression." The grin stuck on her face as he handed her the coffee and she thanked him, turning to look for a place to sit. It suddenly came to her that this was her third coffee for the day - and she still had the entire afternoon to get through.

[Admin Maria]

[bg=black][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,400,true] Lee Lee decided today she would head down to the new café, as she’d yet to visit the establishment. After dealing with Die and his foals - that most seemed to take after him - as well as work outs…well she was to put it lightly… she was exhausted. Die had been extremely ornery today, biting almost every single worker as she passed them with him. She often felt sorry for her workers, having to deal with Die and now his foals. She knew that her stable was only known because of Die and Holly, something that caused many to ask why she kept him if he was dangerous. She’d simply smile at them and reply that he was her hard tack… which often got her confused looks. Shaking her head she pulled herself from such thoughts as she opened the café door. A small smile spreading across face as she thought of the success this year, and their return to well glory. Magneta had proven that though they were down for a long time, they were not out. She’d swept the racing world undefeated for four races, and kept fighting even after she lost a race. In the end she took older female award. Merlin wasn’t bad either, an import she’d had brought in to race for their stable. He was undefeated for the first few races, though he started late in the year. The bell above the door chimed and the man glanced up from what he was doing. Hey, rough morning? Lee offered him a small smile That obvious? He chuckled. Nah…you own Ferndale right? When Lee nodded he grinned I loved watching Hoist the colours and Daemon. Is it true they have a foal together? Lee gave a sly smirk. You’ll just have to wait and see. He shook his head Cruel. So, what will you have? Lee glanced at the menu before shaking her head Plain coffee, creamer and 3 sugars. Once he gave her the drink she paid for it. Turning around she spotted Tally and John in the café as well. Huh it must be a popular place.

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[flatcreek]

John Stokes

John saw Tally of King's Park walk in and order a coffee. "Hey, Tally. How are you doing? Want to sit over here?" he nodded to the empty space in the booth. Flat Creek and King's Park had a good working relationship, working horses together quite a bit and breeding mares to each other's stallions. There was a friendly rivalry on the track, too, each stable having won many races over the other.

After Tally had sat down and they had chit-chatted for a minute, he heard the bell chime again and saw Lee of Ferndale Farms ordering. After she turned around with coffee in hand, he called across the room, "Hi, Lee. Want to sit here? There's plenty of space." It'd be a good chance for all three of the major stables to catch up, away from the crazy atmosphere of the track.

[symphony]

Tally Cremer

Hearing John call out behind her. Tally turned and smiled, heading over to take the seat across from the owner of Flat Creek. "Hey John. I'm pretty good, though I've had a hell of a morning." She paused to take a sip of her the hot coffee. "How are you?"

Glancing over at the counter, she spotted Lee, just a moment after John it seemed as the other trainer called her over. Tally couldn't help but grin as Lee joined them; there was an extraordinarily good working relationship between their three stables - better than most stables. She knew for a fact that there were plenty of trainers at the track who had a running feud with most other stables going on.