Post by creativecause on Dec 21, 2014 16:00:16 GMT -5
When You Open Your Eyes
Passion Heart and Andrew Martin
When you close your eyes
You can only go back
To the place in your mind
Where it all goes off track
Staying up all night
Staring at the ceiling fan
Round and round you go
Breathe, let it all go by
Breathe, I'm always by your side
Lean on me now (lean on me)
I'll still be here
When you open your eyes
When the sun breaks through
And you're feelin' strong
When you give your best
But it still goes wrong
Either way I'll always be your home
Through the highs and lows
Up and down we go
-Nashville - When You Open Your Eyes
Ally furiously kicked the back of her stall and Sam swore at the large, black, ill-tempered mare. Steve continued to wrap the mares legs while Andrew kept whispering and cooing to her to keep her distracted and Sam held her and either talked to her in a warning tone when she started to pin her ears or even move to prep herself to kick someone or something.
Ally had become quite the pain in the butt to be around lately. Two narrow losses in a row had made the mare incredibly irritated, not with people, but with herself. She did however, take her anger out on people, it appeared she wanted nothing more than to be left alone, but the moment she hit the track she seemed to transform into a totally different horse. She'd been taking her anger out on her stable mates. She'd blown Prima Donna away with a ten length runaway just the other day and didn't even give Prima the chance to touch her. She played with Girl Talk and never gave it a second thought when she sprinted away from her in the stretch. Mardi Gras took a run at her in the stretch and Ally dug in to keep at least a five length gap between the two of them, which she'd managed to make around fourteen by the time she hit the wire. Daddy's Overdraft had gotten the closest to beating the black mare. She pushed Ally throughout the entire stretch and just when it looked like she may get her head ahead of Ally's, Ally reached over and bit Cobweb. It wasn't a nibble either, she'd bitten her hard enough to draw blood and no one was too impressed with Ally after that. However, she'd been running the times of her life in her workouts though.
She pinned her ears as Steve stood up and wiped sweat off of his face and Sam continued half whispering-half yelling warning words at the daughter of Heart of Stone.
“Well, gentlemen, there is forty minutes of your life that you'll never get back.” Steve said to Andrew and Sam. He looked at Ally, completely tacked up and started to turn to walk out of the stall but he quickly dodged a vicious bite from Ally. He walked out of Ally's stall followed by Sam. Andrew glanced over at Ally who had her eyes closed while she breathed heavily in and out her nose.
Andrew imagined that she was reliving all of those losses in the past few months and she was giving herself a small little pep talk. Telling herself that she had to make this workout better than the last, that she had to push herself harder, faster. Then the mare opened her eyes and they met Andrew's for a moment before she pawed at the ground and nearly caught the back of his leg.
It had been a crazy ride, for everyone that year. Ally had started as a mediocre, grade five, inexpensive horse who had ten out of money finishes to her name and a not so impressive pedigree. Her full older brother was an injury prone horse who never really proved himself, her younger full sister was a lightly raced dirt sprinter. Both of her parents were unraced and Ally turned out to be exactly like her dam, a total head case. She was one of the first horses Grayson Meadows had bought and she was only bought as a broodmare prospect as the time that they'd simply decided to race through the rest of the season because they needed more runners and it would look better if she'd happened to grade up. They'd never expected that her win in the Summer Cup Grade Five Turf over a bunch of two and three year olds would change her forever. Ally had never looked back after that, she started winning more, running better. Soon that win was followed by another in the Golden Fortuna Stakes and another in the Leaf Cup and then she won two horse of the year races back-to back, which included a win in the Just A Game Stakes over The Devil's Hourglass and Night Goddess. Everyone may think it was a fluke, but everyone at Grayson Meadows knew better. They knew this horse was a champion, and she may have not had the humblest of beginnings but there was no horse who worked harder than she did for every win and every stride she took. No, she wasn't a blue-collared blue-blood, she wasn't the daughter of HOF, Triple Crown Champion, Impressasiro, and Hall of Fame Night Stalker, or Hail To Prince, she was the daughter of two horses who were completely unknown until this season. She wasn't a winner of countless horse the year races. Passion Heart was the daughter of Passionate Ruler and Heart of Stone, a combination that proved to be quite lethal after proper ageing, and she was the winner of a small three horse of the year races, but she fought for every one of them. She wasn't Grade One, but she'd made the large leap from grade five to grade two after looking to be a claiming race winner at best at the beginning of the season. There was no horse who matched her heart, no horse who matched her guts, and there was no horse who worked harder to get where she was than herself.
So, Passion Heart had come to Grasyon Meadows a lost horse who hadn't been given their chance to shine. The ultimate goal all season had been to win the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf and that was exactly what she intended to do.
There was something about Ally when she ran. Ally forgot about her losses and threw herself into her works, and when she wasn't on the track she was constantly tormenting herself with them. She was truly free when she ran. It was like she knew this next race was going to be different. It wasn't a little under-card stakes race that she could just go on autopilot and win. It was like Ally knew that she was going to have to run harder, and faster than she'd ever in her life and she wasted no time in trying to prove the world that she could.
Ally leaned her head lightly on Andrew before he walked her out of her stall. The moment was over, and she made sure to make that clear by tossing her head violently and beginning to rear up, her ears slicked to the base of her skull.
Steve and Sam held Ally while Andrew hopped on her back, and no matter how hard they tried, she still walked right through them. She wasn't stopping for anyone or anything, and Andrew smirked as he waved bye to them, still paying mind to the wall, and keeping a tight hold on Ally's mouth. He didn't want a repeat of last weeks work when she tried to ram him into the wall.
They stepped out onto the turf track and as her hooves sunk into the turf he could feel her relax just the slightest. He stopped her for a moment to let her observe everything around her. She had the track cleared and all to herself for a short period that morning. Andrew wanted to let her stand for awhile longer but they were on a time schedule and that required them to get this work over with.
Andrew pushed Ally into a trot and then an easy canter, her neck arched beautifully and she tugged on the bit, wanting to go faster, but Andrew didn't let her. They'd been practicing the art of patience with her for the past month and although it irritated Ally to no end, it appeared that it may have started to work in her favor. They'd been making her work a little slower and then blowing her out in the stretch. With the tactic Ally eventually learned how to rate and control herself, she could push a front runner, but if they were going quickly, she was capable of stepping off a little and conserving her energy for more worth-while things, like winning. However, with the current entrants it wasn't going to be necessary to force her to slow down much, just enough for her to have enough energy to hold of Princetta and Fleet Majesty.
She caught sight of the gate and Andrew was praying that the gate schooling they'd done earlier that week helped her just the slightest. His shoulder was still sore from when she reared up and he'd accidentally smacked his shoulder on one of the many metal bars in the gate. So when he'd slowed her down to a walk and slowly approached the gate, and Ally stopped right before she was in the gate. Andrew waited for her to freakout, rear up, buck him off, but she didn't, yes she needed a little extra nudging and prodding but she did go in. By request she wasn't in the gate for more than a second before she flew out of it and her work had begun.
Andrew held her back and allowed her to settle in at the rail. He looked between her ears and watched the grass disappear beneath her with every stride she took. He smiled slightly, as she tugged on the reins, asking for more run but he didn't give it to her. She stopped asking and her could feel her attention focus and shift over to her running. Her rythmic thu-dump was music to his ears. He couldn't imagine a sound more beautiful, he loved the sport of kings and in his short riding career he considered himself lucky to be able to be on a horse like this. Push button, determined, and so full of heart it made it impossible not to love her despite her many flaws.
The Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf may not be the classic, or the highlight of the Breedres' Cup Card, but it was certainly not a race to be written off, or overlooked. It had the likes of the newly Grade One, Fleet Majesty, and Hail to Prince's Princetta. It was funny in a way, considering that the very horse Passion Heart surly wanted to kill was the daughter of the very horse that was going to be her date in a few short months.
The race wasn't looking to be very pace heavy like Grasyon Meadows' had anticipated previously more towards the middle of the season. Every stable had their entries decided and done, the early predictions had been slightly off but the good news was that Ally was going to be able to dictate the pace in peace. No one was going to try and poke at her and that was going to be her advantage. Andrew let out a little rein for Ally to stretch out a bit more and she relished every milometer of rein he gave her. Ally would only have to hold off her foes for a short range of about three furlongs which she had effectively done against Prima Donna, Mardi Gras, somewhat Daddy's Overdraft and Girl Talk. Ally was literally set up for the race of her life and it was her race to win, or hers to lose. Hopes were high and many were pretty confident that he mare would be the one to upset Princetta and Fleet Majesty, however Stalking the Stars wasn't to be underestimated, neither was Dare To Impress.
Ally continued her decent down the back stretch and into the final turn, where Andrew let her have more of her head and she started to rapidly pick up her momentum. Her eyes were dark orbs lit with the fire of determination. She was just waiting for Andrew to let her go and do what she did best. Run.
Her breaths were even, easy, she hadn't broken much of a sweat at all, however the cooler day could be the cause of that as well. Ally started to tug on the reins again, begging for Andrew to let her go early but he kept her in check and didn't give her anymore rein.
He admired Ally's constant begging to go faster, move quicker, to become better. Through her highs and lows she always persevered. She was the Seabuiscut of Y14 and They were going to make sure the world knew it. He desperately wanted her to win the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare turf, he wanted it for her, he didn't think anyone else deserved it as much as she did, but if she didn't, it didn't dampen his view of her at all. He saw Ally as the horse all race horses aspire to be, strong, beautiful and above all a Champion. She was the rags to riches horse that was going to be remembered by everyone simply for her bid to make the grade five to grade one leap. She may have failed, but she still persevered out of it she didn't go back to her old ways like he'd feared so many times. No she came back stronger. She only had one chance at the Breeders' Cup, that was the truth, but he'd rather she lose it and come back stronger next season than she lose it and never be the same horse again. So what if she lost? He'd still be there to push her that extra amount to get that nose on the wire, and perhaps that was something she understood. He would still be there. That was however if she lost, and that was a big if.
She hummed beneath him with energy and excitement of the stretch approaching, and he knew she was ready to fire her incredible speed down the stretch and he wasn't going to push her unless he knew she was slacking, but he knew she would never.
Just like that, the stretch opened, Andrew shook the reins and Ally kicked it into high gear, flying flawlessly over the turf. She dug her heels into the turf and made each stride larger, faster. She relished in her power, her strength, her speed. Nostrils flaring, muscles rippling, she moving like a tremendous machine. Poetry in motion, that's what she was. And Andrew sat there on her, not moving a muscle to push her, this was all Ally and her determination to win, she understood the importance of this moment, and she wasted no time in using the opportunity to better herself. She flew past the wire putting in another solid, bullet work of ten furlongs in 1:59 3/5. Andrew patted Ally's shoulder and they continued their rundown.
