Post by S u N f r O s T ~ on Aug 17, 2012 11:25:20 GMT -5
VENTURA AND AMBER BLACK
VEN'S FIRST PREP FOR THE WIRE FINISH CUP JUVENILE MILE
The blue blooded thoroughbred was hot headed. After she had been goaded on earlier by her stablemate, she had been raring to go ever since. When Amber had arrived back from her workout on cold Lynara, Ventura had been impatiently awaiting her arrival. The cold look cast on her by the black filly left no doubts in Amber's mind. It was Ven's turn to be worked out for the Finish Cup. She was running in the Juvenile Mile against Jazzaway and Nightshade, two talented horses whom Amber really wanted to defeat. Especially Nightshade. If another filly beat Ven, there would be hell to pay and feel for at least a week afterwards. Especially since the Bangtail Stakes, her latest start, had been such an impressive win in an impressive field. Ven's trail run before that had really done wonders for the filly. She was visibly more relaxed, confident and energetic when Amber led her out of her stall to be groomed. She had been calm during the session, not trying to bite Amber once. Saddling up had been easy and now they were headed to the turf track to work out.
Nightshade was a Requiem filly. Amber had ridden her half sister, Deadly Desires, into the Hall Of Fame. She knew the turf abilities of that line and she was wary of the two year old. She had won two races and placed second in three. Her all top two finishes bragged of amazing consistency. She would be closing from behind with ruthless efficiency and Amber wanted to be ready to clobber the filly back with her own horse's amazing speed. The other entry was Jazzaway from Akita Rose. He was also bred for the turf and his record bragged of the same experience as Nightshade, but he hadn't a single win to his name. To come to a race like this a maiden was a risky move, but the colt must have showed Akita Rose something special. He would be a front runner.
In a field like this, Ventura still stood out. She was backed solidly by bloodlines. Her record of three wins in six starts with the other three races being top three finishes was impressive. She had been stabled at The Wire since week three and that had played in her favor. She now knew the track here. She had placed third in her first start over it but had won last time, proving that she was perfectly used to the track now. She looked over it arrogantly as Amber led her on, surveying her new kingdom as though it belonged to her, elegantly stepping forward as though nothing could stop her. She stopped when Amber asked her to, an aura of frustration hanging over her as Amber checked the tack one last time before mounting up. She just wanted to run already!
Amber was very careful as she guided Ven forwards onto the springy turf. To disagree with Ven would lead to the temperament expected from Rising Fury babies. She would rear, buck, bite - whatever she felt like that would get the point across. It would not be pretty for Amber, who felt that drawing even more attention than they already had would be detrimental to their workout. She liked to work in the shadows with some horses, and with horses like Ven, that drew attention due to their characteristic arrogance that marked them as Impressario's flesh and blood, she wanted to avoid that attention. But as Ventura snorted in disagreement and threw a buck at being held back at a canter the eyes were drawn to them, with dawning recognition.
Amber frowned and guided Ven through a warm up, sitting a lot of bucks along the way. Eventually the filly calmed down. She tilted her head arrogantly and behaved as though she was the one in control - her favorite excuse for admitting defeat. Amber smirked at that but kept her head in the game. For the Juvenile Mile, her focus would be on pushing Jazzaway while keeping an eye out for Nightshade. If they were good enough, Jazzaway would entangle Nightshade, or they would just end up outrunning her, or him. It depended. In such a small field, anything could happen during the race. Amber wanted to be prepared for all scenarios. They had an inside gate, so they had that advantage. She would make sure to take care of all others.
When they were finally ready to begin galloping, Amber dropped the reins and flicked her hands lightly. The impatient Ven immediately sped up, sprinting into a full on gallop. Her energy levels indicated that good sprint was in order. They would go for a half mile and let the clockers have some fun with their stopwatches. Time was not of the essence to Amber right now. She was not concerned with wowing the crowd today. They would save that for the race.
Their speed continued to slowly increase as the workout went on. Ven's gallop was raw power. It dripped from every stride and echoed from her eyes. Her mighty muscles heaved as she went for more speed, digging deeper. Her ears were perked and she moved with a powerful efficiency. She wanted to cover more ground and continued to seek more speed. Amber was content to let her run the workout. As long as they covered the half, she didn't care what the time was. She didn't need to see it to know that her two year old thoroughbred was lightning fast and full of the class she was bred to possess. Crossing Impressario with Rising Fury had been a great cross and Amber had never doubted the result. Ventura was amazing.
Almost too soon the speed was cut as the half ended. Ven threw a brief fit of rage as she was slowed but eventually complied, dropping it slowly until they were merely loping along. Amber gave the black a bit of a petting on her sweaty neck to try and relax her as she brought her back along to take her to the barns for a wash down. They wanted to look their best when they took down the competition on race day.
