Post by creativecause on Jan 25, 2015 18:48:56 GMT -5
Blame
Attractive Flight and Hadley Grayson
Allouette Divine and Jessie Coppermen
Chatoyant and Andrew Martin
So blame it on the night
Don't blame it on me
Don't blame it on me
Blame it on the night
Don't blame it on me
Don't blame it on me
The barn had been buzzing all morning, the Dubi World Cup was this week and Grayson Meadows was debuting several other horses for Y15. No one had expected to see them debuting their two year olds this early, considering Tanner had seemed to have decided that they would wait awhile before debuting them all. However, they’d all been doing very well, they gated like champs and broke from the gates just as easily as they’d gone in them.
Tayo was walked from his stall looking more regal than ever, a short layoff and some time to grow really did show on the son of Deathflash’s Pride. His dinky two-year-old legs were gone and he’d filled out quite nicely, he had the looks of a sprinter and the eye of a champion. He hadn’t quite started to lighten out much though, his coat was still a dark gray color and his splash of black on his face was still as noticeable as it had been months ago. Looking at him though, you wouldn’t know it was the same horse. He was alight with energy, his hid twitched rapidly with excitement and his eyes burned with the desire to stretch his legs out. He’d been flying under the radar most of his two year old season and the past week but now he was ready to take on the Gateway Derby January Week 2. Sam gave Andrew a leg up on Tayo and walked over to another stall a few stalls down.
A stall over held the flighty, Allouette Divine, who had been more than rearing for a good race for the past few weeks. A third in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint hadn’t dampened her spirits. No Divie was as chipper as ever. She was a scrawny, lengthy mare, but she had the muscles of any horse built like a tank. She let out a shriek of joy and danced sideways with her tack on being led by none other than Aaron Evertt. Aaron gave Jessie a leg up on Divie and turned to him to say: “Now I know she wants to run but-”
“I know, I know, you’ve told me a hundred times already. Don’t let her over-run herself, she’s got a race coming up.”
Aaron spat her tongue out at Jessie and turned to look at Sam bringing out Attractive Flight. The sun reflected off of his medium bay coat and if someone had a camera it certainly would have been quite the picture to behold. A few weeks of rest had done the stallion well and he was back ready and refreshed. Matty had always seemed to have been a mystery to Steve, and Aaron was determined to unlock this horses true potential. He was out of proven family lines and every one of his siblings were grade one. He nibbled on Sam’s shoulder and was met by a good smack on the side of his face for doing so. Aaron watched Sam give Hadley a leg up and she assessed the horses body language. Steve had told her the more he was worked, the better he’d run, so Aaron had decided to put him on a more vigorous schedule than he’d been on previously. He was the half brother to Breeders’ Cup Winner Forbidden To Fly, who hadn't taken off until his five year old season so it was likely this season could be Matty’s best.
Their jockeys got up on their mounts and headed out onto the the wire’s dirt track, began to run them through their warm ups, and gated them.
Divie consisted of two opponents to face at the time, Tears No More and Lilith Wind. Although Tears No More was a higher grade than she, Divie could easily handle the boys. She’d proven it time after time and again in the filly and mare sprint. She may not have won it but she was back and ready to run down the flighty Tears No More. Then there was the bold, and speedy Lilith Wind, Divie had experience over the filly and that was what would give her the edge. It was looking to be a more pace heavy race and that was good news for Divie, she could easily pick them off in the end with her speedy turn of foot.
Chatoyant had another story, he had been either up or down his two year old season. Although he only managed to place out of the money a solid three times Tayo had been a very game competitor to the likes of Sun King. They’d butted heads several times and had quite the rivalry going on until Tayo seemed to lose his form. However, he was looking to come back this season better than ever. That would start with the Gateway Derby, he’d be facing Baciami and Fleet Street. Both seemed to favor more distance and Tayo did seem to enjoy the sprints but still won over the longer distances. Tayo would be bringing up the rear in the race, Baciami would be out lose on the lead but it wasn’t likely that Fleet Street would let him just run with it. So Tayo would be the one that would get to close over the two and hopefully snag up his final win to make him Grade Three.
Then there was Matty, he was going into a rather tough race for his first one back. Mainspring and Sophie’s Voice weren’t horses to sweat at or brush off. Mainspring looked to be coming into form and if he got out on the lead there was no way they were going to catch him. Sophie’s Voice hadn’t run since March of last year and certainly she was still getting back into the swing of things. So Matty would be forced to take things a bit quicker than normal and Aaron had been training him up to that all week.
The gates flew open and Tayo leaped out of them with massive strides followed by Divie and Matty. Matty took up a position about three quarters of a length behind Tayo and Divie followed him suit. They quickly flew down the backstretch in a hurry with nothing but the sound of their hooves and labored breaths. Dirt flew back into Divie’s face and the mare flicked her ears looking to really be enjoying herself. Matty looked like he wanted to kill Tayo and Tayo simply continued his front running position without an issue and proceeded into the final turn. Matty and Divie started to gain ground on him but he wasn’t giving up without a fight. They flew into into the homestretch in an absolute fury, all of them were digging in and fighting for every stride they took. It was a constant battle right down to the wire where a winner couldn’t be determined without a photo. A solid work for all and it should be something alarming to all of their foes.
