Peace of Mind

[creativecause]

Peace of Mind 

Daddy’s Overdraft and Alex Shade 

Now you're climbin' to the top of the company ladder 

Hope it doesn't take too long 

Can'tcha you see there'll come a day when it won't matter 

Come a day when you'll be gone 

I understand about indecision 

But I don't care if I get behind 

People li vin' in competition 

All I want is to have my peace of mind.

- Boston - Peace of Mind 

Alex laid his hand out flat and allowed Cobweb to slide her teeth across it as he reached his hand up and scratched between her ears. He soon found a smirk tug its way across his face. Cobweb never ceased to amaze him, she’d shocked him with her tenth victory crowning her grade two, then followed it up with a very decisive victory over her own stablemate to snatch her eleventh. She always came out of every race she ran in stronger, tougher, and he knew it wasn’t going to be long before she was going to be a feared name on the track.

Lately she seemed to quite like smaller distances anywhere between 7-10 furlongs, and with that in mind Steve thought it may be best to send her to the Green Mile*. Although her first attempt at Paranormal Hunter and Call of the Wild didn’t yield the exact results that Steve may have been hoping for but this time it was going to be different. They knew exactly what they were up against and they decided to train around that. Cobweb would be dictating the pace, as of now there was no other entries that were front runners, which would force Cobweb on the lead. Not necessarily a bad thing either. If she took things slow they wouldn’t be set up correctly to run at her hard and that was exactly the plan. Break from the gate cleanly, and quickly, from there slow the pace to be reasonable and start her move at the three furlong marker, after that put her in a full out sprint for the homestretch.

Cobweb shook her head and bounced around a bit after Alex took his hand away, she landed on three legs and held her right front leg high in the air. Her ears were perked and the whites of her eyes could be seen as she took in a long breath then let it out. Alex glanced behind him to see Tanner and Steve approaching, they were talking quietly amongst themselves likely about the current training of the two year olds, word around the barn was that Irish Legend had decided that A True Hero was too competitive for him and decided to try and take a chomp of him in the homestretch, which essentially started a biting contest between the two.

“Just the normal will do, make sure you get her going quickly in the stretch.” Steve said, bringing his eyes over to Rough Diamond, who had brushes knocked all over the place and SmashDashing who was gnawing on the crossties he was in. Alex nodded and stopped braiding Cobwebs forelock. Steve came over and held her while Tanner gave Alex a leg up. He adjusted the stirrups and tightened his helmet with his whip tucked snugly beneath his armpit. He sat on Cobweb and they started their walk out onto The Wire’s turf. The purks of being a contender of a large race was that you got the track to yourself in the final work before the race.

Alex ran Cobewb through her warm ups making sure she was nice and loose. She let out a deep whinnie that he felt vibrate her sides. She threw her head from side to side and cocked her neck so that her head was over more on her right, behavior that wasn’t uncommon for her. He gave her a reassuring pat and started her at an easy trot, which she of course decided wasn’t quick enough for her and she ducked her head in lifting her legs up to her chin. He pushed her into a canter and soon they were off at a gallop. He kept her at a nice easy pace, easy for him to get into rhythm with her stride with. Her head was still cocked to the side but as he eased her into a stronger gallop she straightened out nicely, he stared between her ears, catching glimpses of her black hooves and white fetlocks as she galloped over the turf.

Her hooves made a dull thud-ump as she continued on running, she strode out nicely and calmly, he was gradually building her up as they made their way into the final turn, she switched leads flawlessly. She cocked an ear back at him to catch if he was telling her to go and all it took was a shake of the reins as they were coming off the turn and she exploded. She strode out smoothly and was gaining more and more ground the more she propelled herself over the turf, sending it flying behind her. Alex pushed her to another gear and she found it, going much faster than before. She was in an almost all out drive and he knew she had more beneath her and he asked her for it, and he nearly lost his balance and she kicked into an ever quicker gear. He smirked as they passed the wire and he stood up on her, beginning to slow her down. She was by no doubt ready, and Paranormal Hunter and Call of the Wild were going to have to run at her with every ounce of energy they had if they wanted to take that win from her.