planetesimal

[S u N f r O s T ~]

PLANETESIMAL
Athena’s Desires & Henna Turath - Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint
formed from small dust grains that collide and stick together and are the building blocks that eventually form planets in new planetary systems

Henna thought that if she shook her head any more, she would never be able to stop shaking it. Valencia had come back to the barn with tales of her purposefully slow workout aboard Italian Ice. Henna knew that her cohort had found the whole thing hilarious and couldn’t wait to surprise the world on race day with how fast and on point Icee was, but now Henna recognized what was in the gazes thrown her way as she rode out the next SOPS representative - doubt, disbelief. Were all SOPS horses really that slow? The question was asked without words within their eyes, and Henna couldn’t help snorting. Honestly, the press were so easy to dupe. Of course their horses weren’t slow. That would be obvious to anybody paying any shred of attention throughout the course of the years. It had been a ploy, a trick by Valencia to get them to react this way, and now they had a new view of reality.

It was time to shatter that reality, and the answer was a workout focused on speed. Henna had the solution in the form of Athena’s Desires. She was perhaps the fastest juvenile in the barn, maybe even faster than her Hall of Fame dad at this point in time - at least, in raw speed. Indeed, the daughter of Pegasus Wings and Deadly Desires was bred for speed and had it in spades. The Juvenile Turf Sprint was going to be nothing but a speedy race though. Their competition so far was Phantasm Frost, Call Me Crooked and Stiletto Allure - no clear favorite, in other words. Henna thought Athena was going to relish the challenge. She knew that she would. The race was also at six furlongs, Athena’s favorite distance according to past performance. However, her filly had been having a tough last couple of months, with close misses every single race. Frustration boiled near the surface for both of them. A win would only be the beginning of their retributive crusade.

Henna nodded, decided on their plan, and sent a keen look Amber’s way. Amber seemed to read something there, because she sighed and nodded, though Henna swore she caught a gleam of approval in her green eyes before she turned away. Henna didn’t care for much longer. Her old friend, speed, called to her, beckoning her with its temptations. Henna smirked, nodded a greeting to this unseen ideal and leaned forward to welcome it. Athena’s Desires became the vessel of that speed, exploding forward with otherworldly speed and carving a path into the first turn. It was a black maelstrom of speed, and Henna wondered not for the first time how such a short horse could go so fast. It ran in the family, she supposed. Henna remembered riding this filly’s sire like that, the speed that he had flown at, and felt a pang of nostalgia. His daughter would never replace him, but she could create her own legacy.

Amber watched the black filly and shook her head in wonder. Athena moved at speeds that no juvenile should have been capable of. It was blazing fast and embodied Athena’s buried frustrations and her need for speed. Her times were ridiculous - twenty two seconds for the quarter, a shade under forty five for the half. Henna was taking the filly in hand now. They had tasted the speed for a little while, but it would be best not to overindulge it before the race. Some of this speed was best kept for race day. Athena at first balked in her silent way before the cue to slow down, but obliged slowly. She was all cold professionalism as she slowed to a reasonable pace for the six furlong mark, and loped out for the final quarter of the mile long workout.

Henna smiled, wondering if the handicappers still thought their horses was slow. They’d have to be blind to feel that way after this workout. She did check, glancing up, to see gazes of approval from Amber and Krystal, who had joined her at the gate, and excited surprise from onlookers. Here was a filly rolling with speed, sharp as could be into the Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, what could be the fastest race of her lifetime. And Henna Turath’s sudden beaming face told them all they needed to know about this filly’s readiness to rock and roll. She was full of run after a little more than a month off, and this workout had been the perfect sharpener.

Race day, here we come.