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Description
Registration Number: #8
Show: Haskell Invitational
Horses Name: FEC Eden
Riders Name: Krista Dalarii
Extra Images: n/a
Previous Experience: n/a
Advertisement: n/a
Prizes Donated: 500 points
With the slight extension I was able to clean up the image. Amazing what the blending pencil will do! Now for the story...
---
Dawn. The time before anything is actually awake, except for the birds, who chirped gaily away. Dawn is a time of mists, jackets, and steaming mugs of coffee... Thank God for coffee I thought, as I sipped my cup while we walked to the track. The morning was still chill, and left just a haze of mist as I breathed, but the day promised to be warm and dry, a good day for a race. I watched the day's contenders lead their horses to the track for the morning warm-ups. Other trainers, owners, and jockeys were up and about, going through their morning routines and eyeing their opponents with the direct eyes of hawks. Everyone was feeling the edge of their game, and like vultures, ready to swoop in on any weakness spotted. As for me and my trainer, Laurie Hotchkins, we were playing it cool... Except for the fact she was going through the low-down of the other horses and jockeys, the typical pre-race conversations trainers always do to their jockeys, but that was always a precarious situation for us... She didn't like it that, as the owner, that I was riding my own horses, mostly because she was concerned for my safety, but partly because it was difficult to be authoritative to the person who pays you. We managed; however, because we were good friends and knew horses like the back of our hands. We were like two heads of a monster that ate our competition whole in most cases.
Our luck with Emma, our first thoroughbred, and a rescue to boot, was just the steam roller of our express train. Since then, we have purchased several promising horses, most young, but some of them were older. Currently, we only brought along two horses, FEC Eden, whose sire was the unbeatable Tallisman who took the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont, the Louisiana Derby, and the Breeder's Cup Classic by storm, and whose dam U Fancy Huh, didn't do too bad while on the track either. Today was Eden's maiden race, which seemed like a big move on such a little filly, but we were confident in her ability. In training and mock races, she had the very same "go get'em" personality as her sire. We had some issues with her earlier getting along with other horses, but she took well to Voodoo Giant. Voodoo was an older bay mare whose racing career didn't amount to much, but her bloodlines were not bad. We planned on using her as a broodmare, but Eden needed a training buddy, so when we started training them together Voodoo just glowed. I still remember the workout time Eden and Voodoo did at our home track. At the time, I was riding Eden, but I had watched her where I could, and was impressed at the ease she was keeping up with a much younger and bolder filly. Afterwards Laurie and I just smiled and said, "Late bloomer," together as if on cue. From then on we started getting serious with Voodoo's training too.
Now Voodoo wasn't aggressive on the track, and without someone to run against, quite lazy, but she had a way about her that seemed to know just the right time... She had the habit of seeing holes in the pack, and instead of pushing toward it like Eden, would often ask her rider. As well as the ability to sense problems before they arose. She had led out of several predicaments while training because of this, but we couldn't figure out how she managed that sixth sense of hers.
Standing at the rail, I watched as the much younger and more morning-diligent warm-up jockey, Dillon, first took Voodoo through her paces. The mare transitioned easily into a light breeze at the eighth pole and it wasn't no more than three strides past that a younger horse on the outside spooked at some unseen monster. The jockey could barely get the poor thing under control as he danced closer to the inside rail and toward Voodoo. Like usual, though, she had sensed something off in the other horse and was already slowing awkwardly down despite Dillon's protest. Eventually the horse was caught by the handlers and led off the track, and Voodoo managed to finish the rest of her warmup without further issues. However when we led her off to the stables we noticed some slight heat in her right hock. Unwilling to take any chances, we immediately went to the track officials and scratched her from her race (Sorry for those who featured her in the race! Greatly appreciate it though!) Which only left Eden for the Haskell.
Eden was a bundle of nervous energy as she was being led into the gates. She had sensed there was something wrong with her friend, Voodoo, back at the stalls and had tried to peak in on her every chance she got. It took a few minutes to calm her edginess enough to secure her in the stall. Quietly I murmured a song to her, soothing the nervous twitch out of her neck. "Get ready girl. Focus on the race, Eden... Settle..." The bell rang and the gates shot open with a clang all too soon. She hesitated, then shot ahead two lengths behind everyone else... Not a good start, but I decided to make the most out of it by giving her a chance to find her stride, letting her sense the urgency of falling behind... Picking up on this, she eased forward, finding pockets between a gray rump and a bay, a paint, a rather unique chimera... Until she matched strides with two white horses. I recognized Ghost Hour and Almost Normal and gulped. These two young fillies were efficient runners and, along with The Gremlin, were the horses to beat. Remembering to ease the worries out of my feet and finger tips, I eased her forward, aiming just on the outside of the sabino filly with the teal colors. Already I had replaced one of my goggles for a cleaner pair underneath and I was sure I looked like I had been eating dirt, and tons of it, but we were gonna give these freight trains a run for their money...
ref: :thumb403890342:
Show: Haskell Invitational
Horses Name: FEC Eden
Riders Name: Krista Dalarii
Extra Images: n/a
Previous Experience: n/a
Advertisement: n/a
Prizes Donated: 500 points
With the slight extension I was able to clean up the image. Amazing what the blending pencil will do! Now for the story...
---
Dawn. The time before anything is actually awake, except for the birds, who chirped gaily away. Dawn is a time of mists, jackets, and steaming mugs of coffee... Thank God for coffee I thought, as I sipped my cup while we walked to the track. The morning was still chill, and left just a haze of mist as I breathed, but the day promised to be warm and dry, a good day for a race. I watched the day's contenders lead their horses to the track for the morning warm-ups. Other trainers, owners, and jockeys were up and about, going through their morning routines and eyeing their opponents with the direct eyes of hawks. Everyone was feeling the edge of their game, and like vultures, ready to swoop in on any weakness spotted. As for me and my trainer, Laurie Hotchkins, we were playing it cool... Except for the fact she was going through the low-down of the other horses and jockeys, the typical pre-race conversations trainers always do to their jockeys, but that was always a precarious situation for us... She didn't like it that, as the owner, that I was riding my own horses, mostly because she was concerned for my safety, but partly because it was difficult to be authoritative to the person who pays you. We managed; however, because we were good friends and knew horses like the back of our hands. We were like two heads of a monster that ate our competition whole in most cases.
Our luck with Emma, our first thoroughbred, and a rescue to boot, was just the steam roller of our express train. Since then, we have purchased several promising horses, most young, but some of them were older. Currently, we only brought along two horses, FEC Eden, whose sire was the unbeatable Tallisman who took the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont, the Louisiana Derby, and the Breeder's Cup Classic by storm, and whose dam U Fancy Huh, didn't do too bad while on the track either. Today was Eden's maiden race, which seemed like a big move on such a little filly, but we were confident in her ability. In training and mock races, she had the very same "go get'em" personality as her sire. We had some issues with her earlier getting along with other horses, but she took well to Voodoo Giant. Voodoo was an older bay mare whose racing career didn't amount to much, but her bloodlines were not bad. We planned on using her as a broodmare, but Eden needed a training buddy, so when we started training them together Voodoo just glowed. I still remember the workout time Eden and Voodoo did at our home track. At the time, I was riding Eden, but I had watched her where I could, and was impressed at the ease she was keeping up with a much younger and bolder filly. Afterwards Laurie and I just smiled and said, "Late bloomer," together as if on cue. From then on we started getting serious with Voodoo's training too.
Now Voodoo wasn't aggressive on the track, and without someone to run against, quite lazy, but she had a way about her that seemed to know just the right time... She had the habit of seeing holes in the pack, and instead of pushing toward it like Eden, would often ask her rider. As well as the ability to sense problems before they arose. She had led out of several predicaments while training because of this, but we couldn't figure out how she managed that sixth sense of hers.
Standing at the rail, I watched as the much younger and more morning-diligent warm-up jockey, Dillon, first took Voodoo through her paces. The mare transitioned easily into a light breeze at the eighth pole and it wasn't no more than three strides past that a younger horse on the outside spooked at some unseen monster. The jockey could barely get the poor thing under control as he danced closer to the inside rail and toward Voodoo. Like usual, though, she had sensed something off in the other horse and was already slowing awkwardly down despite Dillon's protest. Eventually the horse was caught by the handlers and led off the track, and Voodoo managed to finish the rest of her warmup without further issues. However when we led her off to the stables we noticed some slight heat in her right hock. Unwilling to take any chances, we immediately went to the track officials and scratched her from her race (Sorry for those who featured her in the race! Greatly appreciate it though!) Which only left Eden for the Haskell.
Eden was a bundle of nervous energy as she was being led into the gates. She had sensed there was something wrong with her friend, Voodoo, back at the stalls and had tried to peak in on her every chance she got. It took a few minutes to calm her edginess enough to secure her in the stall. Quietly I murmured a song to her, soothing the nervous twitch out of her neck. "Get ready girl. Focus on the race, Eden... Settle..." The bell rang and the gates shot open with a clang all too soon. She hesitated, then shot ahead two lengths behind everyone else... Not a good start, but I decided to make the most out of it by giving her a chance to find her stride, letting her sense the urgency of falling behind... Picking up on this, she eased forward, finding pockets between a gray rump and a bay, a paint, a rather unique chimera... Until she matched strides with two white horses. I recognized Ghost Hour and Almost Normal and gulped. These two young fillies were efficient runners and, along with The Gremlin, were the horses to beat. Remembering to ease the worries out of my feet and finger tips, I eased her forward, aiming just on the outside of the sabino filly with the teal colors. Already I had replaced one of my goggles for a cleaner pair underneath and I was sure I looked like I had been eating dirt, and tons of it, but we were gonna give these freight trains a run for their money...
ref: :thumb403890342:
Image size
1256x878px 485.56 KB
Make
Apple
Model
iPhone 4
Shutter Speed
1/74 second
Aperture
F/2.8
Focal Length
4 mm
ISO Speed
80
Date Taken
Aug 31, 2015, 11:45:46 PM
© 2015 - 2026 KaxantheDragon
Comments2
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Great story -- it's just like a horse to go lame the day of the race or big show, isn't it? 
And good old MoNo came in last, bless 'er. 
As the Queen Mum used to say, "oh, that's racing!"
And good old MoNo came in last, bless 'er. As the Queen Mum used to say, "oh, that's racing!"