grande dawn

SIZZLING DAWN AND HENNA TURATH
TDI LIVE THIS LIE AND AMBER BLACK

DAWN'S WORKOUT FOR THE GRANDE DERBY

A line of disapproval colored Amber's face as she saddled up her light gray five year old for a morning workout. Falsehood was looking good today. His eyes roamed the backside lazily and he pawed the ground a couple of times with freshly picked hooves. He hadn't started yet this year but was looking quick, with a gaze of lazy arrogance and a more powerful stride than in seasons past. The extra work was paying off on him, as well as the workouts with other horses, and Amber Black was proud of him. But he wasn't the one she disapproved of, after all. No, she was upset at Henna Turath and her stupid idea of entering Dawn in the Grande Derby. A two year old, against older horses, in the first week of February? Insanity.

Not too far away, Henna was applying the finishing touches to Dawn's grooming job. The bay two year old gleamed and looked great. Henna was still living the moment that Dawn had won the Coming Home Maiden nearly two weeks ago in impressive fashion. The front running two year old had proved she had something left when she pulled away. She was the SOPS secret, staying on The Wire for now. They would go to GHF eventually, but not now. Now, they were prepping for the biggest challenge of Dawn's short career, the Grande Derby, against older horses. Henna was not expecting a top three finish. She was expecting bottom two, in all honesty. But she wasn't backing down from a challenge, especially since others weren't and hadn't. Dawn was talented. She had an intensity and presence unmatched by many. Surely some degree of this would shine through in the Grande Derby.

Henna led Dawn out and had to make an effort not to immediately retreat when she saw Amber already aboard Falsehood with her not-so-muted disapproval painted across her face. Henna knew she was going to hear it and prepared herself. As she led Dawn over and got a leg up from a concerned looking Krystal, Amber vaulted into what seemed to be a prepared discourse. You're going to die. I hope you know that. Dawn is not going to have a good experience here. How can you hope to face these horses? Henna opened her mouth to speak but Amber just plowed on. Fiery Touch you might have stood a chance against, but Ripley has probably worked her witchy magic into the filly by now. Heartless Revenge? How can you hope to defeat Heartless Revenge? He's four years old and was a top Triple Crown contender!

Henna interrupted to give her own two cents. I've done my research Amber, and Dawn stands a slim chance here, but a good one. Heartless Revenge and Cold Mountain have both raced a lot more and could be tired. We stand a chance of outlasting them. There's also two other two year olds in the field, Special Edition and Abastor. Special Edition is likely more tired and Abastor has one less race of experience here. Fiery Touch we're unlikely to beat. She's lightly raced. We'll just have to see how it goes. Krystal looked with concern at Henna. She was also questioning her friend's judgement here. Seeing this look, Henna burst out her main reason. Look, Mastermind's already done it and he placed second. There are two two year olds in this field also attempting to do it. If they're not backing down, why should I? Also, Fie's Dawn's half sister. I like my sibling rivalry.

She rode away from Amber with that, leaving her, Falsehood and Krystal to glance at each other. Amber gave a resigned sigh, nodded to Krystal and rode after the pair. There was no convincing Henna to quit it when she was like this. She was determined and nothing Amber could say would change it. She caught up to Henna and Dawn, who were circling at the trot. Henna glanced at Amber and relaxed when her boss didn't say anything. Instead, the duo turned and began to canter. Amber was letting Henna set the tone of this workout. They would canter for a half mile and then gallop for a full mile. Then they'd have a full half mile blowout against Falsehood. Henna obviously wanted Falsehood's experience to rub off on Dawn. She also knew the bay filly couldn't resist a good fight and was looking forward to the experience.

Dawn cantered as though she owned the track. So did Falsehood. The two horses were such dominant ones that Amber just knew what Henna had in mind. She wanted Dawn's dominance challenged. She wanted to see how far the two year old filly was willing to go, how hard she would push, to get the win here. The canters of the two thoroughbreds gradually grew faster as they fed off of each other's competitive spirits. The two jockeys were slowly galloping by the end of the half mile. Their horses were proving difficult, Dawn more so. She was on the inside, and she had swung out a couple times and nearly hit Falsehood. She was green, and it showed, but she was also focused. Henna kept her moving forward as much as she could, and as they entered the gallop she felt some of Dawn's attention finally shift to her rider and away from her competition for a millisecond. There was a brief connection forged and Henna used it to keep the filly in hand.

As for Falsehood, he was galloping like a ghost, light but quick, and he breathed evenly. Amber was motionless upon his back, letting him just gallop along. Henna was anything but motionless. She was constantly alert, pushing and pulling, urging and quelling like waves breaking and flowing back on the shore. She had the power of the ocean too, in her hindquarters and in her great heart, if Henna could learn to use it properly. The mile long gallop was almost agonizing. Dawn ran it easily, well conditioned to it, and Falsehood more easily so, but it was keeping their mounts at a slower pace that was tough. When the time finally came to race, but Amber and Henna were relieved.

Dawn was the quickest to accelerate. She had the most bottled tension. With a release of the reins she was off, but Falsehood was there with her. He, too, was a front runner, but he was more relaxed. When he realized Dawn wanted the lead he dropped back by a head and rated his pace to be just alongside her, pressuring her along, waiting for a command from his rider to leave her behind. Henna felt like she was being toyed with, and she hated it. She wanted to prove to Amber that Dawn didn't just have presence, she had speed to. She decided to deceive Amber and leave her in the dust.

With a furlong left to go Amber released Falsehood, and the stallion accelerated, but not before Henna released Dawn all the way and the bay two year old leaped forward. She passed Falsehood as though he was motionless and strode forward powerfully. Falsehood would not take it sitting down. He, too, found another gear and forged forward, but not before the wire loomed and Dawn got it by a whisker. And as Amber slowed him down, she realized what she had missed. Dawn could surprise. So when Henna came back, she wished her rider the best of luck with a smile. And Henna smiled back with dawning new confidence on her face.