Post by Ripley on Jun 19, 2015 12:13:16 GMT -5
Sharpen The Knives
featuring: Casualty Of War & Spotlight Pride
mission: Prince Of Wales Stakes & the Green Mile Series
Justin Santiago had been saying it all along that Casualty Of War was going to be the horse to break Witch Creek's drought in the Canadian Triple Crown. The powerful dark bay horse had been too good for the other horses in the Queen's Plate over ten furlongs. He'd won impressively and gave Justin the feeling that he had a ton of horse left for the next two race legs. The Prince Of Wales was next with a cutback to 9.5 furlongs. The challenge would be greater for Sultan because he would face more speed and have to run harder while being pushed by horses that thrived in the shorter distance. Justin would be more worried if Sultan hadn't come out of his first test like a horse ready to run his next race immediately.
Spotlight Pride watched Casualty Of War warily from his spot at the gap. The lean chestnut colt was ramping up for his own personal test in the Green Mile Series. The son of DeathFlash's Pride had always been meant to compete in the Green Mile Series. He was fast enough to race with sprinters in seven furlong races and smart enough to be able to slow down for the classic distance, but the mile was where the colt was destined to be. Eight furlongs over a speedy turf track gave Spotlight Pride the biggest and headiest rush of power. Reese had sat on great horses, but Spotlight Pride was the fastest.
The horse was a coward and allowed himself to be bossed around by both humans and other horses, but given the chance to run, he was absolutely ballsy. It was something to have all your competition know exactly what you were going to do the minute you broke from the gate. Spotlight Pride went right to the front and never looked back. Try to go with him and he'd run you into the ground. Bide your time and you'd give him too much room to move and you'd never catch him. He'd only been defeated twice this season, but Ripley had specifically waited for the fall season to truly dig in with Pride. Seriously, why bother to change your biggest asset when there was a series seemingly written for you?
Reese pat the chestnut colt and flashed a wide white smile in the direction of the media. She knew they expected fireworks today. Fireworks always resulted when the fastest turf colt around met one of the hottest late blooming three year olds. Ripley had asked for fireworks to prep her colts for their next tasks. If they wanted to win, Pride and Sultan would be on the lead. The trainer was almost certain that both colts were the best horses going into their next tasks and she was not going to take any chances of traffic or cat-and-mouse games from the other riders.
The media wasn't convinced that Casualty Of War couldn't follow in Anodyne and Italian Ice's hoofsteps by sweeping the Canadian Triple Crown. Heck, the colt was from one of the premiere female families and had the right pedigree on his sire side to easily take the dirt races. He'd rolled over turf as a juvenile and he'd purposefully had run the table to win his only turf start this season. Justin wasn't trying to be overconfident. He deeply respected Shenanigans and whoever else was going to show up, but he liked his colt and had never seen Sultan do as well as he was currently.
Ripley slunk over to the railing and ignored the reporters in order to keep close watch on her colts as they stepped onto the turf track. Sultan pinned his ears aggressively at the more skittish Spotlight Pride, but, as Reese expected, the colt didn't run away. Once he was on the track, Pride was a different animal. He bowed his neck and pranced over the turf. He picked his jog up upon asking and floated down the track like he was actually the king of the manor and not Casualty Of War.
The brazen attitude of his victim only made Sultan more furious. And he had to be furious in order for his run in the Prince Of Wales. He couldn't be cocky because he got lazy when he was cocky. He was a horse that wanted to dominate others, especially the horses he'd once bullied harshly. Pride was public enemy #1 in Sultan's book. Justin liked the strength and power that emanated beneath him and really believed that today was going to set the almost black colt up for an electric run over the dirt next race.
Reese nodded to Justin when they entered the backstretch. The pair of riders turned their horses in circles which only revved them up more. Sultan tossed his head furiously, hooves stamping the ground and mouth straining against the bit. Pride went rank for a moment under Reese as he fed off of the aggressive atmosphere. Reese reminded herself that the work was only going to be five furlongs. It would be just enough to tantalize the pair of horses for more.
In a snap, both horses were flying up the backstretch with Casualty Of War on the outside of Spotlight Pride. The dark bay and chestnut colts barreled down the track side by side, ears pinned against their necks. Sultan towered over Pride, but Pride was like a comet. He kept a nose ahead of Sultan every step of the way. Their riders sat chilly in the tiny racing saddles. Neither wanted to move or fuel the wild fire that engulfed either horse. Sultan and Pride were to do this on their own. They were going to take care of themselves and prepare themselves for the next race.
Pride streaked into the final turn and swapped leads like a champ. Reese glanced at Sultan and just knew she had this effort in the bag. Sultan floated wide off the turn and into the stretch. He swapped leads but lost valuable ground to the much quicker runaway. Justin didn't tap him because he knew Sultan was about to lose his mind.
With a snort and a drop of the head, Sultan indeed lost it. The big, powerful son of Man O' War lit after Spotlight Pride like a bat out of hell. Each stride of his was longer than the last and he surged to Pride, closing the distance between them with unbelievable speed. Pride's pricked ears flattened when Sultan reached him 200 yards from the wire.
Ripley was practically laughing inside at the display of bold speed on both her colts' parts. She'd never seen such a display. The final time for the five furlongs had been a scintillating :57 3/5. With a week to go before the race, Ripley was confident her colts would rebound off of the sharp work to roll in their respective races. She'd enjoyed the spring, but this fall Ripley wanted to demonstrate just why her barn and her horses had taken the world by storm since Year Twelve.
