luminosity

[S u N f r O s T ~]

LUMINOSITY
Royal Cadenza & Valencia Andrews - Breeders Cup Mile
Call Of The Wild & Krystal Yhate - Breeders Cup Mile
amount of light emitted by a star

Krystal could not stop her frown as she mounted aboard her new shining star. Call Of The Wild snorted and pawed the ground, easy going as ever and eager to be off. It brought Krystal out of her thoughts which had lately been fixated on one thing - Henna Turath. The older woman was in her late thirties and Krystal had suspected that something was up with her for a little while now. She had only just begun confirming her suspicions after confronting Henna with her thoughts and getting skillfully deflected from any and all actual answers. Then Krystal had checked to see how many horses Henna would be riding next year - four. And she had finally begun to suspect something was up. It was not just personality clash with Henna Turath or a likeability for sprinting that was pushing her away from some mounts...there had to be something else.

She was shaken out of her thoughts by the irritable snapping of cameras nearby. Krystal pasted a smile on her face as Call continued making his way to the turf track, even indulging a couple photos very near his face. He was very nearly bombproof because he was just that calm of a horse. And he was used to the cameras being on him now. They had been there ever since birth due to his parentage. And they had only become even more numerous since Call had proven himself as not a dud during his classic season. Currently at grade two, the bay had won all his races this season at eight and nine furlongs. He was great at longer distances too, but the proof was in the pudding. Call was entered in the Breeders Cup Mile, and though he had only run twice at that distance he had won his first try in the Royal Heroine Green Mile against none other than highly rated Paranormal Hunter. Indeed, his talent spoke for itself.

They were met on the track by none other than the king Royal Cadenza himself. Well, at least he thought he was a king. The poor horse hadn’t won since his two-win streak in the Fourstardave and Malibu Stakes over this very track in late June. But since then...near misses. This had not diminished Valencia’s confidence though. Nothing could diminish her confidence. Even when Mercurial Magic had had to retire from injury, Valencia had not been deterred from her thoughts of a great future. Even when Limited Edition had lost the Derby, she’d remained confident. But with Caden...here was a blue blooded horse who never lost heart and definitely had the talent to pull off the Breeders Cup Mile. He was even the current favorite, somehow. It made Valencia wonder how the racing world had realized that her black stallion was the best.

She threw a smirk Krystal’s way and got a small smile in return. Krystal was always preoccupied these days, Valencia noted. It never got on her nerves though. Krystal was the most dependable member of the SOPS team. Without her, they wouldn’t be the same. Krystal gave the workout instructions - one mile gallop, four furlong workout. Fairly long, but Krystal argued that Caden needed a stamina booster and Call had all the stamina in the world. Race day was nearly upon them, but these horses were sensationally conditioned. They would recover beautifully. Caden took the lead as the horses set off, accelerating quite a bit faster than Call. Krystal was unsurprised. It took Call a while to get going. In fact, it was shocking that he was so good at the mile and nine furlong distance at all. Krystal knew the secret lay in his closing kick - it was just that fast. It also helped to not be the pace of extremely fast races, because then he could take full advantage of the pace and close whereas others would have no energy.

Caden was smooth and powerful, fully in command of the race by a length and moving so easily that it made Valencia cackle. Call was just settling into the pace by the end of the first furlong. But by the second, he was getting ready to roll. Caden had run the first quarter in an amazingly easy twenty three and four fifths - well, easy for him. Call had run it in twenty five, not a couple lengths behind Caden. It looked like he was getting shown up by his workmate. But Call had Caden in his sights now, and accelerated slightly at the end of the third furlong. He began to hunt the older horse down, relentless in his pursuit. He was very close by the end of the sixth furlong, right on top of the horse at the end of the mile. And then Valencia said GO, and Caden had taken off to open up a length before Call could react.

Krystal cursed and let Call fly. Caden may have better acceleration, but Call was a hunter. And the horse proved it now, hitting his top speed about a furlong after Caden did, but having the ability to last longer. He reeled Caden in as the furlongs disappeared, and Caden just didn’t have Call’s lasting speed. He had the ability to get away fast, Valencia realized, but he could not stave off the closing assault of Call. The bay horse had gotten to them now, in the blink of an eye, and he managed to draw off slightly by the time the workout ended. Valencia couldn’t help the wry smirk she threw a triumphant Krystal though. You only have eight furlongs in the Mile. Better hurry up the speed your colt has. Krystal snorted. A mile is almost more time than we need to hunt you down!

The two looked at each other, humor in their eyes and an unspoken you’re on hanging in the air.