Men At Work

Horse: FT Triton
Jockey: Harlan Givens
Show: The SRE Flinders Cup
Training Image: Down Under
Extra Horse: HTS Atomic Cat
Story:

Triton was excited and ready to go in the week leading up to the Flinders Cup, he had been training well and handling the heat much better than anyone would have expected at FHF. But then again, this colt constantly astounded them. And coming off of the 2015 Best Track Colt award in The Jockey Club they couldn't help but trust him to tell him what was going on beneath the hood.

As they trained the saw an extreme difference in the now 4 year old colt, he was working better, moving better and overall was much more robust and mature. It was amazing to see because as a three year old he had done some great things, but he was showing them that he was much more capable than originally thought. Harley had been taking him running uphill in the rocky terrain that the surrounding area had to offer, and though it was exhausting he was feeling that the colt was getting stronger and more focused on how he moved. When he put him back on turf he felt that he was making better strides as well.

But today was the day, today he would go out and race against Nichi once again, though this time it would be in a much more competitive way than he had in the past. The two stallions had been fussy with each other the whole trip and it had ignited a fire within Triton to prove to the bigger stallion once and for all that he was in charge. Though he was smaller and much more friendly he wasn't going to let Nichi run over him anymore. So when they went into the gate he nickered and thrashed at the side wall next to his stablemate, spurring him on.

When they broke free Triton hit the ground running, pushing his front running styled partner to test his limits. Harley could see what Triton was doing and he pulled back hard, trying to get him to ease off the elder stallion but Triton wouldn't have it. He just kept pushing, in a hand ride he was causing the black stallion to break out into sweat visible all over his body even from the stands. Afraid that he would kill Nichi in his effort to overtake him Harley pulled back hard and kept him tucked in as they came to the stretch. Oblivious to the whipping being done by Colton, and unaware of the fast closing racer that Kat was on. His only thought was that if he didn't break this speed duel one of the FHF horses may not come home...

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Horse: Sunday Memory
Jockey: Colton Jones
Show: The SRE Flinders Cup
Training Image: Down Under
Extra Horse: HTS Atomic Cat
Story:

Nichi unlike Triton had not been handling the heat well, he was slower moving down here than he was at home and he seemed to tire easily. Honestly, had he not shown a will to race in training Colton would have left him in the box and just enjoyed watching Harley race on Triton. But the stallion wouldn't have any of it, possibly because the two of them had been trading nips and kicks since they'd left the Breeders Cup Mile.

It was frustrating because they were slowly winding down Nichi's career, letting him do a few races here and there where he seemed fit to run. But Triton who was normally so calm and collected had begun to treat Nichi like his personal whipping horse. It was to the point that they were keeping them as far apart as they could, but of course they were going to be gated next to each other. When Colton was in there he heard Triton thrash around and he patted Nichi's neck gently.

"Pay him no mind big boy, we'll just run our race. You let him run his."

Nichi snorted and when the gate opened he was out like a flash, of course so was Triton and he tried to push harder to shake the bay colt. But it was to no avail, with his sides heaving he pushed himself to speeds he hadn't hit since he was a colt himself, despite Colton trying to hold him back he wanted to teach this youngster a lesson. There was burning running up his left front leg as he continued on but he never misstep nor did he offer that information to his jockey, eventually Colton eased back on the pulling and he felt the familiar snap of the whip on his flank.

With sweat dripping off his body, and the knowledge that yet another younger horse was closing in on him he fought as hard as he could to outrun them all.