Nutter - Arlington Million

Woo, almost done with this month's insanity. Only 1500+ words between me and a breather
Willow trees at a distance are a pain, someone hit me if I ever think of doing them at any closer of a distance. Though they are are pretty to look at when driving by. I've lived 15/20 minutes away from here all my life, and yet I've never visited. I really need to change that..

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For mistyofsunrise.deviantart.com/…
Extra images:
Nutter Arlington Million Training
Nutter Arlington Million Extra

Featuring Sunday Memory

Story:
As July dragged on, the question surrounding Nutter became "what next?". The colt had been working well, but was back to undergoing almost-daily gate training thanks to another freak out back in June. Most days he was OK, and able to walk in and stand nervously for a bit, but the bad days had to end on him merely walking through. The bad days were getting to be less frequent in number(again..), and after an easy win at Garnet Park, followed by another up in New York, Carmen answered the question easily; "Go big or go home". For Nutter, that meant the Arlington Million, which was held just a little over an hour south Garnet Park. The other options were the Juddemonte International, but that would have involved shipping Nutter back over to Europe, and the Del Mar Handicap, which had a much, much smaller purse. The smaller purse, coupled with only having to ship him halfway across the country, made the choice obvious for Carmen. Because even if he didn't win and came in second, he'd earn more than winning the Del Mar Handicap. Even coming in third would bring nearly as much as a win there. And if he did happen to win, all the better, as it would not only prove his quality, it would give him his ticket straight to the Breeder's Cup.

He arrived at Arlington at the very beginning of August, and unfortunately recent heavy rains meant that the turf track was closed save for races, and all works were to be done on the all-weather track. The upside was that Nutter was not a fan of the deep stuff. The downside? They quickly found that he hated the synthetic stuff even more, and refused to move out at anything more than a leisurely gallop. It was a long week of Very Grumpy Colt, as he also was having to deal with the dreaded gate every single day.

The first morning the turf course was opened saw Sean sending Nutter straight to it. The moment the colt saw what they were heading for, his ears pricked. The moment his hooves hit the turf, he arched his neck and started jigging, eager to go. Sean had to pony him as they trotted around, he wanted to run so badly, and then that eagerness to go had him almost forgetting to be nervous when he was sent into the gate. Seeing the nerves be so much less gave Sean an idea, but it would be tricky to find that sweet spot that left the colt eager for the grass, but not sour from having to work on a surface he hated.

To not push his luck, Sean sent Nutter onto the grass every day up until Wednesday, and then worked him on the all-weather track for the remaining two days. He refrained from any further gate work as well, since the colt had behaved his best in months that last time. The morning of the race dawned bright and clear, the rains that had been plaguing the region having missed this area and staying to the south of Chicago and north of the border. The weather had been acting like this for the past week, so the track had dried up considerably, and was listed as "firm"-great news for Nutter, as he liked it best this way.

Carmen had driven down in the morning, and spent most of the day hanging out around he colt's stall. Unlike with Tweety, she really didn't know the colt at all, and while Sean told her it was no big deal, she felt bad about it and was determined to make it onto the colt's list of people. She had to laugh when she thought that, as when you thought of her two, plus Zack's, and the farm's thoroughbred's all combined, her two red heads were the only two of the bunch with trust issues. Go figure.

The days of her being so nervous that she was banished to the grandstands were past, and she was able to stand by calmly as the colt was prepared. She'd made progress with him in her wait, and an hour prior he'd lowered his head so that she could scratch the insides of his ears. Patience and bribery, and a lot more patience, went a long way with him.

With Nutter being mostly a nobody-he only had one big win to his name, he rest smaller stakes races-the colt was not getting much attention, though he had been bet into the lower double-digits. The favorite was a big black horse, a 7 year old war horse who ran on both the dirt and turf. Nutter had never run against him, but Rooh had, and she'd won against him all four times. Comparing Nutter to Rooh was like comparing apples to oranges though, and while the filly had already proven herself, it was Nutter's turn to show what he was made of.

Word count: 828

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No refs for the horses, BG from here: www.flickr.com/photos/soumit/1…