Post by creativecause on Aug 26, 2014 18:17:45 GMT -5
It’s In His Name
Dreaming of Glory and Alex Shade
Dreaming of Glory, a fitting name for a colt out of Once Upon A Dream and the son of Bank On Glory. The colt had a stellar pedigree and he did nothing but not live up to it. He seemed to be the king of flopping in big races and doing anything but win. Tanner had bought the colt with hopes of getting a better dirt horse in the three year old division into his stock, which he got something of a mediocre runner at best. Perhaps it was harsh to say things that way, but it wasn’t entirely untrue. Glory had big names like Bank On Silver and Merry Bay King in his pedigree, he had the pedigree, he just didn’t show it on the track.
Of course, pedigree isn’t everything, anyone could tell you that. Look at how well some horses from unknown lineage do? What about Call Me Crooked, her pedigree is totally steered towards milers but she was a sprinter through and through despite her parents preferences. As a matter of fact, Crook was one of the top two year old turf sprinting fillies in the country, if not the top two year old turf sprinter in the country. But this isn’t about Crook.
So while Glory had been purchased, and after his first race, Tanner decided to take it upon himself to figure out Grayson Meadows’ top bred, under performing three year old colt. It wasn’t long before he had decided that the colt wasn’t giving them his all. He’d become lazy, and somewhat fat, which was a mystery to everyone because he was always jumping around and squealing in the paddock, even in the barn. It was like he didn’t want to run because he wasn’t confident in himself. So, with that in mind, they posted several other horses around the track to push the colt, when one tired the next fresh horse would start off on Glory and push the chestnut colt. This method seemed to have started working, his workout times improved in just days and his confidence had improved massively. That and his regular jogs that were anywhere between 1 1/2 mile or 2 miles.
The colt was a front runner, but he needed a rider that could handle him, that could hold him back, but still keep him going, make him run straight. It was a lot to ask of even the most experienced rider, and Alex always gave it 120% when he rode the son of Bank On Greatness.
The chestnut colt's next destination was the G5+G4 Novizio Derby*. The race consisted of five other entrants, two of them two year olds. Speak Easy and Flaming Confidenza. One of the juveniles were G5, the other G4. Speak Easy could easily be one of the biggest threats to Glory, which was odd, a two year old, but weirder things have happened. Speak Easy would likely be the one to push Glory the whole way, and Alex would have to be careful with the colt and control the pace because Coco Cabana and Flaming Confidenza were closers and if the pace was too quick he would get crushed. Flaming Confidenza looked to be little of a threat, but could be the one to pull an upset. My Remedy had a much similar story, lightly raced, but could prove to be a threat later in the race.
“We need to watch Coco Cabana, he’ll be flying late, and fast, he’s just as experienced as Glory and he’s got the frustration of finishing poorly hanging over him as of late, we have to watch him like a hawk, don’t so much as let Glory run until the home stretch Alex.” Tanner had said all week.
So, Tanner had set up four fresh horses around the track that early morning, he had made sure everyone was there early so they were the only ones on the track. Hadley sat at the mile pole on one of Grayson Meadows extra horses, Andrew at the 3/4th pole, Jessie at the 1/2 mile pole, and Tanner was at 3/16ths pole. One of the few times he would work horses along with everyone else if he needed to.
Alex quickly finished warming the Chestnut up and let the colt take off with just a clicking sound. Glory flew past the grandstand and quickly approached Hadley, who had started to gallop her mount. Soon Glory was neck and neck with the other horse, who he pinned on the rail, not allowing the muscular framed bay to have a whole lot of space. Glory kept his neck in front of his first workmate and fought against him, making sure that he never got more than to his throat before using another burst of speed to keep himself in the lead. Hadley began to pull up her mount as the 3/4th pole approached and Andrew sent his Chestnut mount out at a quicker pace than Hadley had. Glory would have none of this and quickly caught the Chestnut keeping his 2nd workmate no less than a neck behind him. His workmate was a bit quicker than the last, which pushed Glory a bit more, but thanks to his regular conditioning up to this final work the colt was barely so much as sweating. His powerful legs propelled him down the backstretch, and he increased his lead on his workmate, keeping himself straight and focused. Soon Andrew was slowing his mount and Jessie sat on a black horse, he sent his mount off at a quick gallop, again faster than the last, but Glory took the whole thing in stride. He quickly caught up to his third workmate and again kept him at no less than a necks length away from him. Jessie pushed his mount to go quicker, and Glory responded by accelerating without Alex having to move a muscle on him. Soon Tanner and his bay mount where approaching quickly and Jessie started slowing his mount. Tanner sent his mount off and Glory dashed for his next victim, he wasn’t letting a single horse beat him in todays workout. His powerful legs allowed him to glide across the dirt, sending it flying in his wake as he dug his heels into it and propelled to an even quicker speed than the last stride had been. He caught up to Tanner and his bay mount, and Tanner called upon his mount for everything he had into the home stretch.
Alex waved his whip at Glory, and that was all that he needed. Glory lengthened his stride further as Alex implored him for more speed, more heart, more courage. Glory gladly responded, he was confident in himself and in Alex. Glory dug in and took off, he sprinted away from his final workmate, increasing his lead, to five lengths in just a matter of three strides. The son of Once Upon A Dream was soaring over the dirt, leaving Tanner and the bay in his wake as he ate up the ground right down to the wire.
Glory was gold, but he needed to find himself. Once he hit his stride he was bound to pick it up, and quickly, hopefully the Novizio Derby was the place for him to do it. After all his name was Dreaming Of Glory.
