On the Grounds at Churchill Downs | Extra

Horse: BTs Mustard Blue
Extra for: TJC 2018 Kentucky Derby
Featuring: Caterang8's talented AS Foxfire

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"I will never draw white horses again" (me, after my BC entry)
Also me, two days ago: "You mean the only horses entered in the Kentucky Derby right now are all splashed white????"

_{I spent 2 full days on this instead of studying or doing homework or working on the real entry sorry not sorry =3}

And Blue has arrived in Kentucky! After spending the spring at Oaklawn, he's pretty happy to be somewhere new. Not very pleased with the distracting white colt flashing his way down the lane though XD (Don't worry, Fox, I love you)

Also, I am so sorry I forgot Fox's leg wraps. I was basing it off his "final discipline" image and I totally did not know he wore them until I was browsing his race history.  I promise if I draw (pfff when I draw) him again I'll make sure not to make that mistake again

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Story

(1,301 words)

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Hera was in Kentucky on the last week of April. Normally she wouldn’t have flown over until the weekend of the Derby due to her busy ranch back home needing her for every little thing, but ever since the incident of Blue being run in the Rebel when he was in no shape to run his best, Hera had become somewhat of a…helicopter parent, you could say. She would demand daily updates on her horse from ever groom, she had personally placed a camera in his stall that she could watch from anywhere on her phone, and she even had James personally telling her everything he could about what he thought of the horse each day.

James had actually been a lifesaver. After the Rebel disaster, he gave Blue a two week break from hard exercise. Keeping him fit, but not forcing more than a light canter around the track. It meant skipping the Arkansas Derby, but James had agreed with Hera that it was for the best.

After that, it was just training. Strengthening his muscles. Stretching out his legs. Building his bones. Containing his weight. Blue responded beautifully. His coat had returned to the rich red/brown and he looked far from tired. In fact, with no race in two months, the colt seemed ready to take off with poor Michael Miller.

“I see you made it out,” came James, coming to stand next to her with a waterbottle and a clipboard in hand.

“How could I miss a beautiful morning with horses?” Hera asked, smirking. It really was a beautiful morning. Slightly foggy, but that made the orange light that bounced off it all the more grand.

“Your dufus is cantering just on the backside, ready to take off for a gallop,” James said, pointing.

“As if I could miss him,” Hera scoffed playfully, watching her big brown colt. “That big blaze of his is as eye catching as a lit up billboard sign.” James chuckled.

“He’s also the only thoroughbred on the track that’s dragging his feet,” the trainer pointed out.

“But he’s not tired?” Hera asked, letting her nerves go for just a second.

“Not at all,” James reassured her. “Just too lazy to pick up his damned hooves.”

It was at that moment that Mustard Blue angled out and took off. He kept an easy pace and was comfortable, but Hera could tell by the way Michael leaned back and Blue’s high head that he was chomping at the bit to go faster.

Blue came around the turn into the home stretch with more energy than a puppy. He was so excited to switch leads he nearly tripped over his own hooves, and when he finally did cross the finish line he tossed his head at Michael’s command to collect himself and slow down.

“Well he looks like he’s ready,” Hera said proudly. When James gave no response she glanced over at him.

“What?” she asked.

“That was too fast,” he said under his breath.

“He can’t have gone too far over what you wanted,” she tried to tell him. James just shook his head.

“He can’t be tired before the Derby. I know he can get the distance, but if he doesn’t have the energy to chase the whole field down the home stretch, he will get stuck and that will be the end of it.” She frowned as she watched him. He had been on edge since he’d been back to train Blue. It was as if he expected her to fire him again at any moment.

Hera went back to watching her colt. As he slowed down and drifted from the inside lane, the flashy white, pedigree packed Foxfire sped past him like a train going full speed, and Blue spooked at the surprise. The outrider near them cantered over, but Michael had steadied him nicely.

Without looking at James, she asked quietly, “Are you going to tell me why you did it?”

“No.” James said automatically. Then he sighed. It was a few seconds before he spoke again. “I was out of money. Your parents were the only clients I had. The trainers that picked me up insisted, so I did it, and, well, I paid for it.” Hera glanced at him again. His eyes were distant.

“So am I to believe you’ll do anything as long as you’re paid for it?” Hera asked. Immediately, Blue’s cut came to her mind.

“I didn’t do it,” James hissed, as if reading her mind.

“I know!” she snapped back. “You wouldn’t have done something that would directly cause you to lose your job or get suspended a second time.”

A minute passed.

“I was just starting to make a name for myself on the turf when you came to me about Blue,” James explained. “With a colt as promising him as well as getting the chance to work with you….how could I pass that up?”

“You didn’t tell me,” she said, emotion flooding her words. “I don’t care about the rest of it—obviously you’ve changed. But you kept the truth from me.  You weren’t honest and that just can’t work in this business!”

James nodded. “I know, I know. I screwed up. But I didn’t want you to judge me just like everyone else.”

“Well you obviously don’t know me that well,” Hera teased, sticking her tongue out. James chuckled again, the weight of everything that had been tormenting him finally lifting.

“If I judged people I would have never gotten back into horse racing.”

“Among the most judgmental crowd there is?” James questioned, an eyebrow raised as he smiled.

She smiled back.

Mission “get James to smile” Accomplished!

Then his smile broke and he shifted nervously.

“Um…there’s something that I’ve actually been meaning to ask you…” James murmured. Hera tilted her head. James was always the type to look strong in case anyone was watching. It was strange to see him socially awkward.

“This isn’t going to be personal, is it?” she asked, trying to ease his mind through humor. It seems to worked when he laughed again.

“Would you just listen, Hera? I’m trying to say something important,” he told her, this time looking her in the eyes.

“Okaaay,” she fake-whined. He smiled.

“Some of the trainers are holding a birthday party for me even though I told them not to—”

“It’s your birthday?” Hera interrupted. She was met with a ‘please stop interrupting me or I’ll crawl back into my shell’ look. “Sorry.”

“No, no, it’s June 1^st,” he explained, as if it didn’t matter. But Hera knew that there only two kinds of people in the world: those that shouted out their birthday to anyone who would listen and those who refused to mention it even to their closest friends.

“So what about this birthday party do I need to know?” Hera asked.

“Well, I was wondering, since we’ve been working together for several months now if you…um…wanted to..he…go with me…” James said.

Hera froze. Was James…asking her out? She could feel her heart beating. Wasn’t James married? No, he wasn’t. That was her first hesitation about hiring him in the first place!

“But of course, if you don’t want to o-or you have things to do, I understand,” he said, backpeddling hard.

“No, no, I just…” she said, drifting. Would this really be a good thing? She had two eighteen year olds who’s lives had already been screwed up by one man. Did they need another?

Did she need one?

She gave a quick shake of her head.

“You know what, let’s make a deal,” she said, half to herself, have to James.

“What kind of deal?” he asked, ultra suspicious.

“Get Blue through the Derby,” she said, grinning, “and I’ll attend your birthday party with you.”

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Refs:
Blue: Thoroughbred racehorse stock
Fox: Thoroughbred racehorse stock
Twinspires: www.churchilldowns.com/styles/…