Competitive Spirit

It was a beautiful fall day in Kentucky at Fox Harbor Farms, Waylon had a few things coming up one of which being a rather packed Jockey Club Breeders Cup racing weekend. He’d nominated four of the FHF crew and all of them had been accepted, one into the Juvenile Fillies and three into the Breeder’s Cup Mile. That was a huge undertaking and one that he had a few concerns about going forward.

Thinking about what he would need to get his team prepared well he wanted to continue his out of the box training. His two trainees that he was focused on pushing a bit harder were the seasoned veteran Nichi and his youngest trainee Sabrina. Thinking about what could be done had him discussing ideas with Colton, who suggested reaching out to Kat at High Tides Stables to see if they’d be interested in visiting and doing some training together.

Kat was rummaging through the tack room as she tried to find a decent bit to use on Bomb since he decided he didn’t like the regular bit. Kat couldn’t help but think about how she often had to train the horses on their own, which didn’t help much with their competitive spirit. Mel was busy with her horses and Leo refused to ride another racehorse. So Kat was a little stuck in a jam.

Waylon loved the idea and set Colton onto the task of contacting Kat to see if her team would be at all interested. So as he moved around to start grabbing his own tack to start the day’s training he took the moment to pull out his phone and call her. The worst thing she could do was say no after all!

Kat heard her phone start to vibrate on the shelf where she had left it and abandoned her search for a new bit to go see who it was. Seeing the number Kat happily answered the phone “Hi Kat speaking”.

“Hey Kat, it’s Colton from Fox Harbor. You got a sec?”

“Yep, What’s up?”, Kat asked curiously.

“Well the boss and I were talking about our upcoming races and how best to prepare for them, and we were wondering if you’d be interested in doing some training together again. We’re gearing up for the Jockey Club’s Breeders Cup here, would love to extend an invitation for High Tides to come and stay and train with us for a bit.”

Kat smiled happily “I’ll have to ask Siranni but I’m pretty sure it’s alright. After the last race where Ghost fell Leo stopped riding racehorses. So it’s a little hard to train them on my own”, Kat admitted.

“That was tough to watch...well if you guys come here we can always help out with that. We actually just added a third, rookie jockey, to our team. He’s pretty good, and of course Cecily or I could help you guys train no problem.” Colton couldn’t blame Kat, when it had just been him before Waylon hired Cecily it had been incredibly rough.

“Oh that would be wonderful!”, Kat was delighted. “I’ll ask Siranni when she wants us to go and I shall make sure we are there soon! You have to see these two year olds that I have in training!”, Kat was bubbling with excitement at the thought of actually having help training some of her charges.

“Awesome! We’ll get everything set up and ready for you all when you’re ready. This is going to be great!” Colton couldn’t hide his excitement, it was a big deal and they had a lot going on for the end of the year.

Kat quickly raced inside after the phone call, completely forgetting about the bit, and found Siranni in the study. After explaining to Siranni, Siranni agreed to let Kat spend a couple weeks in Kentucky with a few two-year olds. The older racers they agreed to give a bit of a rest after a hard season for some of them. It was agreed that Kat would leave in a couple days since it was a long plane ride.

Colton and the team had been working to get thing ready for the next few days, some of the guest quarters while being newly renovated hadn’t been touched since and just needed a freshening up. When Kat let them know about her arrival they arranged to meet her and the horses at the airport and travel with them back to the farm.

Fox Harbor Farms set back inside a protected park, nestled just a few miles down the road from both the airport and Keeneland. Of course the leaves were currently undergoing change and the air had turned cooler but they’d yet to have a real frost yet. Still most of the broodmares would be found wearing a coat in the large pasture that they’d pass going down the lane, and the little pasture pony that grazed in front of the main house did as well though he seemed incredibly irritated with the arrival of the truck and he made sure to exclaim his displeasure by snorting and tossing his head at it a few times as it passed him headed towards the stables.

Kat had greeted Colten happily as she helped the plane attendants unload the horses. The two black youngsters were rather sleepy from the tranquilizers so they didn’t put up much of a fuss when strange people handled them and they ended up in a strange trailer. They had Kat and that was all that mattered. After all Kat had been handling Bomb ever since he was born. Kat looked out the window as they drove down the lane. She admired the gorgeous broodmares and laughed at the grumpy pony that was grazing beside the house. Kat’s eyes caught a gorgeous dark bay mare with a small white diamond on her forehead. “Who is she?” she asked Colton.

Colton grinned, “Pussycat. She’s one of the band leaders for Waylon’s broodmares. Love her, though she’s sassy as all get out. Have to watch her come feeding time, she’ll toss the bucket over her back if given the chance. But no one messes with her herd, she also is great at training the young stallions. Whips them right into shape.”

Kat laughed as Colton told her about the bucket tossing. “You guys have quite the setup here and a lot more broodmares than we have!”, Kat smiled as she saw some of the mares start to play and chase each other.

Colt grinned, “This used to just be a breeding facility, Waylon’s family has been breeding since they came to this country. So the pride was always in the broodmares, when he took over he added the racing side of it. But can’t let go of the ladies, Pussycat for instance is a 3 x 3 La Trioenne breeding, most of these pedigrees he couldn’t just let go. We lease them out though, right now we don’t have any stallions in the shed, he’s thinking about doing a few breedings when the season opens though. So we’ll see, right now we have a few promising yearlings from the last auction and our one two year old.”

They were getting to the stables now and once the rig stopped Harley and Cecily came out to meet them. Harley was definitely the young pup of the bunch, he looked his age and had on an FHF hoodie. Whereas Cecily obviously had been doing some equitation practice with the way she was dressed, and tied up just outside the massive orange barn was a slightly small looking thoroughbred cross who was in tack for cross country.

“Hello! Welcome to the farm, I don’t know if you remember me from the races but I’m Cecily and this is Harley our newest jock.”

“Slash groom, slash bucket wrangler, slash…well you get the picture.” He grinned and offered his hand up to Kat.

“Harley is Waylon’s son, and quite the little gabber.” Colton was grinning before he tossed his head and pointed inside the barn. “Everything ready for Kat’s horses?”

“Yep! All freshly spiffed up and ready to roll, ready and waiting for their new charges!”

Colt grinned and looked over at Kat, “Ready to unload these guys? I can give you the tour once we get you and the horses settled.”

Kat smiled and nodded as she greeted Cecily and Harley. “I do remember you!”, she smiled more. Kat was obviously really happy to be surrounded by racehorses. Kat helped unlock the trailer and went in, she came back out a few moments later leading a blueish black thoroughbred filly with splash markings, birdcatcher spots and some markings around her eyes. “This is Chaos, Harley do you want to lead her while I get Bomb?”, Kat asked. She grinned at the mention of a tour and quickly agreed.

Harley practically bounced at the invitation, “Sure!” He calmed himself quickly though and made sure he calmly took the filly. “Aren’t you a pretty little thing? Why’d they call you Chaos huh? Bet you’re nothing but a sweetie.” He’d lead her around a small circle just for a moment before starting towards the barn. When Kat followed with Bomb and the siblings she’d find a full sized shed row inside along the stalls where it was obvious that they could work the horses undercover on bad weather days. “We have you right over here pretty girl, you’re going to be next to Shorty, she’s real sweet too and she might even share her peppermints. How’s that sound huh?”

The palomino mare stuck her head out when her name was mentioned and made kissy lips at Harley as he walked by, she’d do the same to Bomb before going back inside her stall and popping back out with a mouthful of straw to toss at them.

Chaos lifted her head and caught some of the straw which she promptly shook. This caused straw to sprinkle over Harley. With a few laughs they got the two black horses settled and Colton offered to start the tour of the farm.

Harley had to laugh as he got Chaos settled, once he was done he’d come out and brush straw off before offering a peppermint from his pocket up to Shorty. He liked the mare and spoiled her way too much, but he couldn’t help himself! Once Kat was settled Colton would meet her outside with a pair of the farm’s quarter horses. He was mounted on a hardy looking seal brown stallion and held the reins to a dainty blue roan mare.

To him the best way to see the farm was on horseback! So once Kat joined him in the saddle he’d start to take her along the property, showing off the whole of Fox Harbor including a few of his favorite horses. Like their leased horse Jagger and their little two year old filly Sabrina, and of course their oldest racehorse Nichi who had to be stabled off alone with a little mini mare.

The grounds were dazzling with the fall colors and as they approached the forest he grinned at Kat, “I was thinking about using our woodchip and dirt trail to train on with your two year olds, it is a bit of a windy trail, goes through the woods but it’s nice and wide. Good running ground, and lets them enjoy being a bit of a horse while they work. We use it all the time on the racehorses, about a mile long and ends right at the lake so we can jog them out and let them cool down. How’s that sound?”

Kat couldn’t help her excitement as Colt told her about the track “It sounds beautiful!” Kat exclaimed. Kat pet the mare she was riding. “ What is her name?”

“That’s Paris, she’s a barrel racer and sweet as can be.” King, the stallion he was on stood still with his head held high and flicked his ears towards Kat. “How about we head back, we can have a good meal, get some rest and tomorrow train out here?”

“Sure!”, Kat sighed happily, loving the change of scenery from the ever bustling stables in Spain to the quiet Kentucky facility. Once they were back at the barn and had cared for the horses, Kat gave Paris a large thank you hug and followed Colt to the house.

Once they were inside Kat would be treated to a big meal hosted by Waylon, with all the Kentucky fixin’s. They wanted her to enjoy herself and get a taste of the area. The entire staff and the family ate at the same table, so Kat would get to meet a few of Waylon’s younger children, and get to know Colt, Cecily, Harley, and Waylon a bit better. After they’d all eaten and had a little rest it was time to get to work again!

The team headed out to the barn to start getting the trainees ready for their little session along the woodchip track, it was exciting to get to work together and Harley was super excited about being able to really train with jockey’s who had been racing for a while!

Kat slept very well that night. After a rather exciting day she was pretty tired. She had answered a lot of questions from the younger members of the family. She work the next morning ready to work! She dressed quickly and made her way outside to see Bomb and Chaos. Chaos wickered to see if she’d get a treat and Bomb neighed happily. Kat had high hopes for Atom’s foal. She hoped he would follow in his sire’s footsteps. It was there that Colt found Kat. He saw her chatting to the horses and giving them plenty of affection!

Colt headed over with one bridle slung over his shoulder, “How are they feeling today? Ready for a run?” He was grinning as he walked over to Kat and her horses, “Eat well?” He would have to get Nichi on his own, he wasn’t so bad anymore but it was too much horse for Harley to handle and he knew how to approach the older stallion without getting him fired up. “Harley will be about in a minute to help you get tacked up, and to meet his mount, he’s beyond excited.”

Soon enough he’d be coming, ready to be put to work as Colt headed off to go get Nichi saddled. Cecily would also be coming around, leading Sabrina the little white two year old filly. Once they were all tacked up she would lead them outside to meet Colton and Nichi. All together he’d lead them over to the start of the woodchip track.

"Alright, are we all ready?”

Kat nodded her head in response and led Chaos out and tied her to the cross ties. Harley was out by the time Kat had finished grooming Chaos. She pointed out the tack to him and watched as saddled her up nodding in approval. Chaos pranced and tossed her head with impatience. Kat led out Bomb. “You can head out ahead with Chaos and get to know her a bit! I’ll be right behind you! Kat said with a smile. Harley watched the big black colt nudge the young woman almost making her trip. Kat laughed and scolded him. Bomb lowered his head a little and huffed as if in apology. The colt stood still after that. Once she tacked up Bomb she led him outside and was quickly up on his back. She walked him to the track and when he saw the other horses Bomb got very excited and half reared.

When Bomb reared Nichi threw his head up and snorted, stamping a hoof before nipping the air at the colt. Colton pulled him back so he wouldn’t nail Bomb and got him settled down after turning him in a circle a few times. “Sorry, he can be a little high strung. Bomb alright?”

Sabrina, the little white filly, had pranced unhappily in place but otherwise was calm under Cecily’s hands while Harley just hung out on Chaos hoping the unfamiliar filly wouldn’t care too much about the boys! If all was well and they got back in line Colton would ease forward on Nichi’s neck, “On the count of three?”

Kat just grinned and replied “He’s like his sire! Reason why they call him Bomb instead of his old stable name Bob”. Kat got Bomb to calm down and the colt stood happily. Chaos bobbed her head and pawed her foreleg. “Count of three sounds good!”, Kat agreed readily.

Colt took a moment before calling out, “One.” Harley and Cecily got down against their respective mounts necks. “Two.” Colt curled his fingers in Nichi’s mane and exhaled softly. “THREE!” And that’s when he urged Nichi off, letting the big black stallion do what he did best and surge to the front of the small pack of horses.

Cecily was off on her timing and Sabrina got behind, which was fine because they needed to work on her running down horses so it wasn’t anything she got herself upset over. Harley was just finding a comfortable rhythm on Chaos just ahead of Cecily and Sabrina.

Kat didn’t need to urge Bomb very much as the colt burst forward and pinned his ears back. Kat felt Bomb pulling for more rein but refused to give in. Chaos was lazing around as she felt this new person on her back. Keeping just ahead of Sabrina for now the filly started to try to turn her head and look at the trees.

Harley felt Chaos start to look at the trees and he tried to steer her back into the race, “Hey girl, we’ll have time to sight see later, how about we just try to outrun the boys first?”

Chaos tossed her head high and gave a light buck. She then settled down a tad and watched Sabrina galloping beside her.

Sabrina was galloping pretty well under Cecily and her jockey felt like she had her in a good spot, they were still trying to figure out what her running style was. Even after a handful of races she’d yet to break her maiden, and though she seemed to have the heart of a champion she still hadn’t found her stride. Harley was keeping in mind what Cecily had told him before, so he was getting the feel for Chaos, trying to keep her focused, and not pushing her too hard.

Nichi was doing his thing and Colton could feel the big stallion opening up the longer they ran, his front running style was very different from the rest of the horses at FHF and Colton had to remember just when to pull him back and let him go. Right now he was just letting him slowly open up his stride so that he had enough left in the tank for the end of the run. Though the stallion was curious to the colt running alongside him and he snorted as he caught a glimpse of Bomb, tossing his head before kicking off again.

Bomb pinned his ears back and leaped. Kat was anxious to see if this colt would be a copy of his sire’s success. Kat tried to restrain him a bit more as the colt was eager to challenge Nichi for the lead. Chaos was still not extending herself but her stride got smoother as she focused a bit more on the task at hand.

Nichi saw the ear pinning and Colt could feel the stallion slowing down, he pulled himself up and pulled his head back towards his jockey to let Bomb come right alongside him. If the colt wanted a challenge Nichi was throwing it down! Even though Colt was trying to keep him from doing it, the horse had made his mind up and he was a tough one to make do something if he didn’t want to do it.

Harley was glad that Chaos smoothed out and he cooed at her softly, “Atta girl. Look at those silly boys, they are too concerned about competing with each other. Bet you could show ‘em a thing or two huh?” He gave her a gentle urging with his hands to move her into a better position to strike when the time came, though he still wasn’t letting her get up with them just yet.

Cecily watched Harley move and she urged Sabrina right behind Chaos, letting the little filly work at her own pace at the back of the pack for now, but prepared to follow Chaos into the fray when the time came.

Bomb glared at Nichi and Kat felt an urging to fight, quite almost literally. She knew she had to break him apart from Nichi. Just then Chaos neighed and bonked her head on Bomb’s rump. The colt lost focus and slowed as he responded to Chaos in a slightly confused manner. Kat secretly sighed in relief. She’d rather lose a race then have Bomb beat up another person’s horse. It was the first time Bomb had reacted like that. But then again he never had true competition. Bomb relaxed a bit as Chaos pulled up beside him but made sure to keep himself in front of her.

Colt felt his knuckles whitening with how hard he was holding onto Nichi’s reins, the stallion had a reputation but he hadn’t been like this in training for a while. Mostly because they put him with the fillies and not with the colts but still… It was a little unsettling to say the least! He was relieved when Bomb slowed though he didn’t know why, and he leaned forward to ease Nichi back into a more open stride hoping he’d shaken the colt for a while at least. They still had the last turn and then they’d be at the mile’s end.

Harley hadn’t meant to run into Bomb but it seemed to have worked out for everyone in a bizarre kind of way, he kept Chaos tucked in next to Bomb and as they came around the turn he’d start to urge her on more.

Cecily saw an opening and pushed Sabrina harder, using her small stature to gain a little bit of speed and dart between Nichi and the dueling Bomb and Chaos so that she was now on Nichi’s hip and stretching her neck out to get a full stride. Though she definitely didn’t have the length of stride to overtake these guys she was holding her own as a young thing!

Bomb snorted and ignored Chaos as his eyes saw Sabrina run past him. Bomb extended himself again as he drew even with Sabrina. Leaving Chaos ambling behind them.

Sabrina felt boxed in between the two colts and she reared up hard, slamming her back legs in and completely breaking stride. Cecily wrestled her to get her going again and out of Chaos’ way so there wasn’t a collision and she eased the filly up to the side slowing her down to a slight canter as they finished the turn. She was done, and Cecily knew that so she’d just trail the horses in while Cecily tried to calm her back down. Inexperience was her downfall and now Cecily knew something they’d have to work on.

Nichi saw Bomb on his side again and he tossed his head at the colt before accelerating again, he was working to try and exhaust the colt, in his own mind to put Bomb in his place on his turf. Meanwhile Harley just kept up with the boys and was waiting for the right time to let Chaos go again.

Kat could feel Bomb wanting to run but didn’t want to tire him too much. Yet at the same time she saw his ears start to go back again and could feel his blood boiling with the urge to fight. A stream of curse’s ran through Kat’s head as she tried to think of what she could do. She could understand the competitiveness being from his sire but the urge to fight? She had no idea. Kat knew the only thing she could do to prevent this at the moment was to let Bomb go all out.

Meanwhile, Chaos was enjoying herself terribly. She bobbed her head and neighed happily, completely ignoring the boys ahead as they increased their speed. She would for sure need work on how to actually run in a race.

There wasn’t much to go now, they could see Waylon on Buddy about thirty yards ahead of them and that’s when Colton let Nichi go, he was completely down against him and the black stallion dug deep to fully extend himself, head down and stride wide. His competitive spirit was strong, and he tried to outmatch Bomb at every step. Though he was an older horse, there was a chance the spirited youngster could run him down towards the end.

Harley kept Chaos going and he was grinning, “That a girl, you like this don’t you?” He wasn’t sure they’d pull this off because she didn’t seem to have the ‘race’ down, but he was sure proud of her!

Chaos nickered and sped up a wee bit but it wasn’t much! To her this was a grand gallop. Bomb on the other hand was running faster than ever. As Nichi and Bomb drew closer to the finish line the colt stumbled a bit and lost some ground. Nichi drew ahead and Bomb was annoyed. Kat needed to pull up the colt but he seemed to have lost his head. Bomb leaped forward with enormous bounds but Nichi had already won. Kat paled a bit as the colt continued to run. She steadied herself a bit and called Harley to warn him she was going to whistle for Chaos. Kat managed to turn the colt a bit so he could no longer see Nichi but he was still raring to fight.

Colt slowed Nichi down, letting him jog out the last bit once they’d passed the finish and then once he’d done that he turned him back around and headed over to Waylon to see what he thought of the run. Harley stood up in the irons once they passed the finish and relaxed again when Kat whistled for the little filly, that’s when he started to look around for Cecily and Sabrina who were just now trotting the last few yards towards them.

Cecily was in no hurry, and she’d eased the filly to a slow trot, keeping her pulled in and slowing her down near Kat and Bomb. “Well that was a spirited run huh?” There was a grin as she patted Sabrina’s neck, “Bomb okay? He and Nichi seemed to be a little...fiery.”

Kat was struggling with the colt as Chaos galloped up to them. Chaos nuzzled Bomb and colt calmed a bit allowing Kat to bring him to a walk and finally a halt. Kat smiled weakly at Harley as she dismounted. When her feet hit the ground she realized she was shaking.

Cecily frowned when she saw Kat shaking and she dismounted and  walked over to her, with Sabrina’s reins in her hand. “Hey you okay?” Colt was passing Nichi off to Waylon and the man was taking him back to his little stable away from the others before he caused any other problems. He walked over and looked up at Bomb before looking over Kat, “Sorry...don’t know what got into Nichi. He’s been training much better behaved than that lately…”

Kat smiled at Cecily and quietly answered as Colt came over as well. She looked at Bomb as she responded, “No need to apologize Colt. Bomb was… strange. He’s never done that before either. I mean he can be competitive but today was almost… terrifying... “ she ended in a whisper as she looked at the now calm colt and back at Cecily and Colt.

Colt nodded, “It was probably Nichi’s fault, he can bring that out of other colts...always been a tough guy. And he definitely knew what he was doing to Bomb.” She was shaken and that was more than obvious, “How about we get these guys up and relax a bit? Waylon took Nichi off so I can help with Chaos and Bomb if you want.” He was hoping that getting back to the big house would help them all relax a bit after that run.

Kat noded “Thank you I would more than appreciate that”, she replied as she rubbed Chaos’ nose. Bomb nickered as he nuzzled Cecily’s hair.

Cecily laughed and reached up to rub Bomb’s nose, “Good boy, you are a sweetheart when you’re not racing huh?” She laughed again and patted him gently, “I rather like this boy, he’s got spirit.” And with that Colt would take whichever horse Kat wanted him to and the group could head back to cool down the horses and get them put away for the night before going to the big house to relax some.

Kat let Colt handle Bomb as she wanted to study the colt’s actions. She walked along beside them as Harley walked along with Chaos. Bomb was like a totally different horse and she just couldn’t understand it. She was certain it didn’t come from his father. Maybe another ancestor? Or even his mother. Kat hadn’t handled Ebony much but she figured she had best get to the bottom of this temper before he started to race.

Colt had no problems leading Bomb to the barn in fact he was enjoying it because he was getting a better look at the colt. “Did you guys breed Bomb? He’s a lovely colt, nicely put together...lots of competitive spirit for sure.” He had a few favorites he’d picked over the times he’d been out on the track but this little guy was one he could definitely admire, “Is he racing started yet?”

He could see a future for this guy, and he wanted to have Waylon take a good look at him too.

Kat smiled happily as she replied to Colt’s question. “Yep, he’s from our own horses. Father was a triple crown winner and his mother was a steeplechaser”, Kat smiled as she recalled Atom. The stallion was one of her favourite horses she’d ever ridden. “Jose doesn’t like to start the horses too young so he usually waits until they are three for the hard racing”, Kat replied. The colt pricked his ears as he heard his name and nibbled on the air in front of him.

Kat had been very impressed with Nichi. Even though he and Bomb didn’t get along she rather liked the stud. Sabrina had also caught her eye as a tough little filly. So far she had really only seen Triton race and had liked what she had seen with him.

Colt looked a little surprised, “Nice! He’s definitely got a lot of promise, I will have to keep an eye on him as he starts racing.” He nodded about racing later, “Sabrina is the first two year old Waylon’s run, she’s classic type though, she doesn’t wear easily and though she hasn’t won a race yet she gets stronger and better each time we go out. The Breeders Cup is her last race of the year, he wants to sit her out until she’s a little more mature and then see where we go from there.”

Once they were back in the house Colton would move to the living room and flop down on one of the couches, Harley and Cecily followed suit leaving room for Kat to join them. “So what did you think? Worthwhile training session?”

Kat smiled at Colt’s comment. Once the horses were settled Kat joined the others in the house where they gathered on the couches. Kat gave a small laugh “Worthwhile for the horses but I think my nerves need a vacation!”.

Colt laughed and nodded, “Understand that completely.” After that they would fall into conversation, getting to know each other a little better and they invited Kat to join Waylon in the box for the Breeders Cup races if she was up for it as well as extending the invitation to Kat and her stable to come over and train with them any time.

Kat agreed happily to the invitation to see the Breeder’s Cup. Kat also said if they ever felt like checking out Atom they were more than welcome. Not that they didn’t already have an amazing future stud in Nichi!