Fancy Footwork

[Ripley]

Fancy Footwork
featuring: Artemis' Glory, Coveted Faith & Notorious

Ripley sighed, resting her feet up on the golf cart as activity swarmed around her. This pregnancy was a tiring one. She'd battled ferociously to stay in racing fit shape, but since the Breeders' Cup she was just done. She could train and be as vibrant at the sales, but in her personal time she didn't pour over the pedigree books, the racing qualifications. She'd done her homework long before so that there was a bit of down time. She had three key workouts remaining, but she didn't feel stressed. She felt content and for the first time Ripley was't alarmed by it. She'd be at the races until her baby was born and then she'd take a couple weeks at home, only out to take care of the horses on farm. Brooks would take care of everything else with Maggie's assistance. She was lucky to have such amazing people surrounding her.

Brooks and Mal watched Ripley with cautious eyes, unused to her laid back personality. She looked more relaxed than she had ever looked before, peaceful. Mal shrugged, glanced at Brooks and chuckled. "She's mellowed out some, I'd say." Brooks yawned, rubbed his hands over his face. "Yeah for now. She'll be wide awake later and then she'll be agitated and pouring over those damn racing calenders again. She's excited for Divided Notion and Silver Lining. This is the fat cat mood, two hours from now she'll be in tiger mode and I won't get a word in."

Mal grunted, taking a sip of his coffee. He was well aware of Ripley's mood changes. Just the other day she'd cursed him out for packing the wrong wraps in the wrong trunk. Ten minutes later, he was comforting her crying jag and apologizing. Women could take a man for more of a spin than any other species.

Both men looked up at the sound of hooves on gravel. Brooks turned to yell to Ripley, but the auburn haired woman was already bustling by him toward the trio of equine. She never missed a beat it seemed. Brooks shook his head as she greeted the two year olds and their riders. Ripley ran her hands over Coveted Faith's legs, then glanced over Artemis and Note. The other two horses weren't as hands on as the Faith. Notorious loathed human interaction. Artemis had limited patience. She was looking around curiously, ears pricked. She snorted at the clockers, danced nervously at the sight of a scuttling newspaper on the ground. Hot tempered miss and flighty she was. Ripley held on gently to the filly's bridle, prepared to tighten her grip if the filly spooked beneath Maggie. Maggie patted the bay's neck, blue eyes sparkling. Artemis was so the opposite of Para, but she had potential to be something impressive.

Justin circled Faith around, joined shortly after by David aboard Note. The bay horses got along well enough. Faith was easily the more relaxed of the three. Note had a belligerent attitude, but his eyes glinted with uncertainty as they neared the monstrous newspaper. David felt the wiry body pack with bad energy, but he forced himself to stay calm and prepared. Note was young and devious, but he wasn't stupid. While Faith paraded past the insulting object, Note promptly stopped in front of it and dropped his nose to the ground, eyeing the flapper. David kept his heels down, but nodded in approval when the colt simply blew at the paper. With the equine equivalent of a human shrug, Note stepped right over the paper, dismissing it as a threat.

Justin patted Faith's gleaming neck, made sure to check that the stuffies were still in her ears. It wasn't the first time they had had to use stuffies to block sound. Bella Luna, the Turf Triple Crown winner and turf Queen, had required them every time she went to the gate. Faith was the same. She was much more hearing oriented than visual. The GS Ultimate Challenge filly flicked her ears when Artemis danced around Ripley, her blaze marked face flashing in the sun. Ripley had released the bay a long time ago, shaking her head. Flighty horse. This crew would be a lot more anxious than Danny and Timeah had been. The trio of horses was much more energetic and prone to being difficult.

"Just gate breaking today. Afterward, I want a three furlong breeze from the gate with a two furlong gallop out. You'll end the exercise in the backstretch so come back with cooling out in mind. This hotheaded bunch needs to see everything. And I do mean everything. If they so much as spook at a piece of plastic on the sideline, work them alongside it until they get over it. We know they have speed so I'm not worried about tightening the screws for the first start."

David turned Notorious loose, letting the lean colt gain his footing over the dirt. He wasn't big on this surface. His feet kept slipping beneath him, his confidence level dwindling. Coveted Faith jogged right on by, ears pricked and limbs moving powerfully beneath her. The blocky filly looked spectacularly, felt spectacular beneath Justin. The horses the public would be high on immediately were the ones debuting in week three, but Justin was already in love with Faith. She had the maturity of an older mare, keen and focused on the task at hand. Her attitude was much like that of Dazzling Dame and Justin could not see anything wrong with getting back to what worked.

Artemis trailed the duo with precise, careful steps. She was taking time to inspect her surroundings, stuttering every once in a while at something intriguing on the other side of the rail. She was a hyperaware type of horse, completely the opposite of Paranormal Hunter. Para could have cared less if the leaves on a tree seemed different than they had two seconds ago. Artemis... she cared. Her brown eyes were rimmed with white and she pranced in high energy. Her tail waved over her dappled cocoa brown rump and she looked an absolute picture. Flashy this filly most certainly was. She seemed to command attention with every step in spite of her petite statue.

The two year olds arrived at the gate at the same time as Ripley. Each of them was greeted with a calm hand on the bridle and walked around several times before any of them approached the gate. Faith pinned her ears at the starter, not caring for the way he handled her. She didn't need to be dealt with kid gloves. She was a tough filly and the starter nearly discovered so when her teeth closed shut an inch from his arm. Justin scolded her, jabbing at the bit, but Faith simply shrugged off the chiding. Her temper was broiling beneath her gorgeous hide and Justin could feel it. She was nearly like Dazzling Dame in this case.

Note was the first to load, his every hair on edge with anticipation. His bay body was marked by the shadows from the gate, but he remained calm in the gate. David patted the colt's neck, smiling at the gate worker. "He's a smart one, this boy." The gate worker rubbed the colt all over, agreed with Justin. He loaded nicely despite his nervy appearance. The gate worker backed out just as Coveted Faith was loaded in. The bay filly snorted, threatened to back out, but a firm request from Justin kept her from doing so. The starter calmed her with lots of pats of encouragement. After a couple minutes, the bay filly was backed out and in walked Artemis.

Artemis danced as though she had ants crawling beneath her dazzling hide. She never stood still, let out a couple winners and was not very keen on the starter handling her. It took three times to get the Positively Precious filly to stand still and two different gate workers. The starter made note on his pad that Artemis was not very fond of the gate, but declared her fit to go through with a race if she made a couple more appearances. Ripley nodded at the information, quickly shuffled to her golf cart and took off for the homestretch.

The juveniles were loaded into the gate moments later, side by side by side. Artemis had the rail, then Note and on the outside Faith. Maggie knew Artemis would be out of there like a shot. She was a quick filly and this would become second nature to her. She just needed to know what it was about. Carter remained silent, hands loose on the reins. Note was a quick horse, but he would need his head. He liked having his head and would not enjoy an argument. Faith simply stood beneath Justin, braced as much as any of the humans.

With a ring of the bell, the gates crashed open and released the next wave of Witch Creek horses.

Artemis broke like a shot, immediately going to the rail as if she'd been doing so all her life. She wasn't alone though as Note had reacted quickly as well. The reins dangled around his neck and he kept up for several long strides before falling off the pace and being replaced by Faith. Justin was impressed by the sixteen hand filly, her strides were absolutely ground swallowing and she moved with such confidence. Her head remained level with Artemis' hind end, but she wasn't trying to hard. Artemis danced over the turf like a dervish, but Maggie didn't feel out of control. The bay filly had a high cruising speed, but felt as though she wasn't putting in too much effort.

Carter allowed Note to settle back three lengths behind Artemis and Faith. He moved like a cheetah, body extended and low to the ground. He had a graceful way of moving and he just seemed to relax despite everything that was exciting around him. Carter's hands rested at the colt's withers, but he felt more confident than he'd felt before. Note was a talented creature, a horse that simply could run like the wind. Carter lowered his form, practically melted into the elegant bay and kept his eyes locked on the fillies.

Artemis rounded the far turn, switching her leads quickly, with Faith coming up to her barrel. Neither horse was under a ferocious drive down the turf stretch. In fact, neither rider so much as dared breathe a breath of encouragement. The fillies moved in tandem through the final furlong, eyes flashing and ears pinning as the competitive fires burned within.

Carter timed his move absolutely perfectly on Note, chirping and flicking the reins. The lean colt took off like a bullet down the center of the track, hooves hitting the ground in quick succession. He was at the fillies' necks three hundred yards from the wire. At two hundred yards he had a three quarter lead. And at the wire he was two in front. Maggie and Justin stared in shock as the bay colt soared away through the final gallop out.

Coveted Faith and Artemis remained strong in the gallop. Faith was furious, her whole body shaking with rage. She'd been beaten! She'd tasted defeat! Turning back, Artemis demonstrated that her filly foe wasn't the only angered creature. With bared teeth, the blaze marked filly grabbed right a hold of Faith's leather bridle and shook violently. Maggie jabbed the bit in Artemis' mouth, gaping in shock after the filly released it. Artemis had always been a fighter, but this kind of violence spoke volumes about her competitive nature.

Carter was quiet when Justin and Maggie joined him. "I only shook him up," he said defensively when Maggie sent him a sideways glance. "I promise. I didn't do anything."

Ripley and Brooks and Mal were swarmed by people at that moment. The clockers had caught Note in an easy :37 4/5 breezing. Ripley could hardly explain the move herself. Carter had simply thrown the reins and the colt had charged away like he'd been whipped. He'd made two of her fastest fillies look like fools. Faith and Artemis' time of :38 2/5 had been nothing to sneeze at. They were quick son of a guns. Ripley shook her head, broke away from the people and went to greet her horses.

The news would make of the juvenile what they wanted to. All she knew is she had a handful of aces going into the next juvenile season. A brilliant smile lit up her face briefly before it was carefully tucked away for the public.