When Life Races You By

Chapter 18

The air was electric! There were people everywhere, from the grass to where all the famous people gather, The Bird Cage. I pushed myself through the sea of people, looking for Dad. I headed up to the owner and trainer area, guessing that he would be there.

People were flowing in and out, like a tide that comes and goes. Passing a table with sandwiches, I picked one up, guessing that I would need the energy to survive today. Pushing through even more people, I finally reached Mum and Dad. They introduced me to their friends.

“Hey hon,” Mum exclaimed has she gave me a hug, “don’t you look beautiful?”

“Thanks Mum,” I replied, opening my sandwich, once she released me. “You don’t look to bad yourself.”

“Well I do try,” she answered.

“What about me?” Dad asked.

“You’re getting there Dad.”

We always joked about his sense of fashion, as he didn’t really have one. I took one bit of my sandwich but instantly regretted it.

“Excuse me, I have to go,” I blurted out.

I spotted the toilet sign and walked as quickly as I could towards it. I pushed the door open and found a free cubicle. I sat on the toilet lid, taking deep breaths, but it felt like those dangerous butterflies would fly out of my mouth at any moment.

“Claire?” Mum’s voice rang out in the bathroom. Luckily I was the only one in there. Opening the door, I poked my head out of the cubicle.

“In here Mum,” I whispered.

“Is everything alright?” she asked with a worried look on her face.

“I’m just really nervous!”

“Oh, Claire,” she sighed, “everyone suffers from nervous! I was like that the time your dad brought me to my first race and it wasn’t even one of my horses racing!” She placed a strand of my hair, which had escaped, behind my ear.

“Glad I’m not the only one,” I nervously laughed. “It’s just I feel there is so much pressure on Manny and I. This is our chance to prove ourselves.”

“Claire, look at where you are! You’re in Melbourne and you have a horse in the Melbourne Cup. Trainers older than you are still to achieve that!”

“You know what, you right,” I said with a new found attitude, standing up, “let’s go and win this!”

“Let’s!”

We walked out with our arms linked and our chins held high.
              

                                                                  ~

It was finally time to race. I tried to pretend it was just like another race, but there was no denying that this was the biggest race in Australia. Manny was number 13, which some people thought was unlucky, but he had good odds and was ranked in the middle to win. As I lead Manny around I took in the scene.

The roses around the mounting yard were in full bloom. People were crammed up against the railing, trying to work out who would be this year’s winner. Some would go by colour or name, while others would use statistics. The people went on for as far as the eye could see.

“Ready to go?” I asked Ben as he hopped on. His white face answered my question.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Just have fun out there. We don’t know if we’ll ever experienced this again. Do try to win of course,” I explained, as we completed our final lap. “As long as you follow the plan you should be right.”