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In the months leading up to the Satsuki Sho, the first leg of the Japanese Triple Crown series, there was only one horse on the bettors radar, Takenshi. A sharp bay colt who was descended from two Japanese Triple Crown Winners and the famous American sire Northern Dancer. Going into the race he was undefeated, and had proven his merits over varied distances. As far as the handicappers were concerned, no one else in the entry that day deserved to even breathe the same air as him, let alone test the year's previous Champion Two Year Old on the track.
His trainer though saw potential in the striking black son of Kizuna, a descendant of a Japanese Triple Crown winner himself and hailing from the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner's line, Sunday Memory was the dark horse of his stable. He'd struggled in his races before the Sho, and no one really thought he was fit to be in this group of runners. But Taihiko Momori, the trainer of both colts saw something in him during their workouts so he'd begged the owner to nominate the colt to the series.
While hundreds came to watch Takenshi work out, no one lingered to watch the blistering bullet works of the black colt. He ran in the wee hours of the morning, racing against the rising sun and continued to clock times that made Momori's heart soar.
One morning an early rising journalist leaned against the rail as a black blur raced past him, dropping his phone and his racing forum he jumped back and just stared at the track. Moments later a feisty black colt who closely resembled the great and deceased sire, Sunday Silence jogged past him. Licking his lips he leaned down and pulled up the racing forum, carefully searching for information about the horse.
"Where did you come from?" He tutted softly and looked over the horse's record, frowning the man rolled his forum up and slapped the rail. But even as he went to write another article later that day about the workout progress of Takenshi he couldn't get the black colt off his mind. His thoughts trailed to the talent he'd seen in the colt, and the longer he looked at the races he'd been in before the more he thought that maybe just maybe, the reason his record was so pitiful was because he was racing against some of the worst horses of his year. Maybe he hadn't been tested yet.
In the days that followed the writer went every morning to the track in time to watch the workouts of Sunday Memory, he began to see the same fiery attitude that people had suggested his great grandsire had. And he saw a determination to win that he had never seen in another horse to date. Against the suggestion of his editor he wrote a story about the horse, suggesting that perhaps the colt could prove to be worth his blue blooded pedigree in the first leg of the Triple Crown.
The public went crazy with it, building up a potential rivalry between the "unmatched champion" and the "claimer in waiting". The more they hyped up the uneven battle the more tickets sold until the day of the race produced one of the biggest crowd in the race's history. As expected Takenshi was the morning line favorite, but a small surge in bettors on Sunday Memory had put him right behind the colt.
In the paddock people swarmed to take pictures of Takenshi, the horse bled confidence and he stood perfectly still for his admirers to capture their "moment" of the expected champion. To contrast his obedience Sunday decided to take a bite out of crime, lunging for his handlers and acting generally like the beast he was known to be. It made people afraid of him and they side stepped to get away from the crazy colt.
Leading the horses to the gate it was much the same way, with Sunday being the outspoken challenger while Takenshi remained the calm confident athlete. Everything changed though when those gates were opened. As the horses broke free Sunday Memory raced to the front of the pack, his getaway was clean and he moved powerfully to put some distance between himself and the other horses.
Close on his heels came Takenshi, a horse not known to have to fight for the lead he was extending himself to compete with the black. The two dueled it out, with Takenshi constantly dogging Sunday as they raced across the track, distance continued to build between them and the rest of the pack and all eyes fell on the two. As the final 500 meters drew closer the two were neck and neck, fans were screaming, the grandstand was shaking. Finally the black colt broke free of Takenshi soaring on the outside he dug deep, speeding up to beat the expected champion.
The day the two battled for the first time would go down in history as the start of a fantastic rivalry, Takenshi and Sunday Memory were destined for more than one showdown.
In the aftermath of Sunday Memory's victory a lone journalist stood at the rail smiling from ear to ear, "That's how you do it big boy. That's how you do it." He slapped his racing forum against the rail and walked off to cash in his ticket. To him, he saw the makings of greatness, and he just couldn't wait for more.
Featuring:
:origin()/pre07/7d15/th/pre/i/2016/057/b/5/sunday_memory_by_capnrcubey-d95553i.png)
:origin()/pre05/4d38/th/pre/i/2016/052/9/7/takenshi_by_capnrcubey-d9so1ea.png)
Other Story Images:
Wobbly Knees
A Rivalry Begins
Stealing the Glory
Demon's Day
Clipping Wings
Blood Sweat and Tears
Falling Angel
His trainer though saw potential in the striking black son of Kizuna, a descendant of a Japanese Triple Crown winner himself and hailing from the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner's line, Sunday Memory was the dark horse of his stable. He'd struggled in his races before the Sho, and no one really thought he was fit to be in this group of runners. But Taihiko Momori, the trainer of both colts saw something in him during their workouts so he'd begged the owner to nominate the colt to the series.
While hundreds came to watch Takenshi work out, no one lingered to watch the blistering bullet works of the black colt. He ran in the wee hours of the morning, racing against the rising sun and continued to clock times that made Momori's heart soar.
One morning an early rising journalist leaned against the rail as a black blur raced past him, dropping his phone and his racing forum he jumped back and just stared at the track. Moments later a feisty black colt who closely resembled the great and deceased sire, Sunday Silence jogged past him. Licking his lips he leaned down and pulled up the racing forum, carefully searching for information about the horse.
"Where did you come from?" He tutted softly and looked over the horse's record, frowning the man rolled his forum up and slapped the rail. But even as he went to write another article later that day about the workout progress of Takenshi he couldn't get the black colt off his mind. His thoughts trailed to the talent he'd seen in the colt, and the longer he looked at the races he'd been in before the more he thought that maybe just maybe, the reason his record was so pitiful was because he was racing against some of the worst horses of his year. Maybe he hadn't been tested yet.
In the days that followed the writer went every morning to the track in time to watch the workouts of Sunday Memory, he began to see the same fiery attitude that people had suggested his great grandsire had. And he saw a determination to win that he had never seen in another horse to date. Against the suggestion of his editor he wrote a story about the horse, suggesting that perhaps the colt could prove to be worth his blue blooded pedigree in the first leg of the Triple Crown.
The public went crazy with it, building up a potential rivalry between the "unmatched champion" and the "claimer in waiting". The more they hyped up the uneven battle the more tickets sold until the day of the race produced one of the biggest crowd in the race's history. As expected Takenshi was the morning line favorite, but a small surge in bettors on Sunday Memory had put him right behind the colt.
In the paddock people swarmed to take pictures of Takenshi, the horse bled confidence and he stood perfectly still for his admirers to capture their "moment" of the expected champion. To contrast his obedience Sunday decided to take a bite out of crime, lunging for his handlers and acting generally like the beast he was known to be. It made people afraid of him and they side stepped to get away from the crazy colt.
Leading the horses to the gate it was much the same way, with Sunday being the outspoken challenger while Takenshi remained the calm confident athlete. Everything changed though when those gates were opened. As the horses broke free Sunday Memory raced to the front of the pack, his getaway was clean and he moved powerfully to put some distance between himself and the other horses.
Close on his heels came Takenshi, a horse not known to have to fight for the lead he was extending himself to compete with the black. The two dueled it out, with Takenshi constantly dogging Sunday as they raced across the track, distance continued to build between them and the rest of the pack and all eyes fell on the two. As the final 500 meters drew closer the two were neck and neck, fans were screaming, the grandstand was shaking. Finally the black colt broke free of Takenshi soaring on the outside he dug deep, speeding up to beat the expected champion.
The day the two battled for the first time would go down in history as the start of a fantastic rivalry, Takenshi and Sunday Memory were destined for more than one showdown.
In the aftermath of Sunday Memory's victory a lone journalist stood at the rail smiling from ear to ear, "That's how you do it big boy. That's how you do it." He slapped his racing forum against the rail and walked off to cash in his ticket. To him, he saw the makings of greatness, and he just couldn't wait for more.
Featuring:
Other Story Images:
Wobbly Knees
A Rivalry Begins
Stealing the Glory
Demon's Day
Clipping Wings
Blood Sweat and Tears
Falling Angel
Image size
1946x1200px 735.83 KB
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Comments4
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Wow!! This was so cool to read!! I'm rooting for you Sunday Memory!!
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