Race With the Wind

Chapter 16

Sarah springs onto my back in the parade ring. She adjusts her stirrups and Leona checks the girth. I feel Leona tightening the girth. Sarah sits lightly on my back. We walk around the ring. The crowd admire the muscular tall horses. I'm the smallest out of them all. They all stand at 16hands high, while I stand at 15hands high. I have a much shorter stride than them. I'm more powerful though. I can read the jumps much better than them. Leona leads us to the gate where we are released out onto the enormous track. The gates are opened. I canter down the side of the track. The grandstands are crowded. Men dressed in suits and women dressed in dresses. Sarah commands me to stop. I walk and we continue to pace around in a circle. Sarah pats me. The jumps are big again. 110cm. I can jump bigger. I hear a feminine voice start to talk to Sarah coldly. ''Hello Doherty. My horse, for sure, will win today. I've been training her''. Sarah doesn't say anything. I look at The Sky Princess. She is sweating already and she is muscled up. When I say muscled up. I mean it. Muscle everywhere. More than all geldings. I chuckle. ''You ain't going to win today''. The scopey horse says to me. I see fear in her eyes and hate. Something is going on? I see the man with the green flag. He stands at the top of the field. The crowd goes quiet. Sarah wraps her fingers around my mane. She scratches my withers. I'm on my hocks ready to pounce into action. The man raises the flag. He lowers his arm rapidly. The race is on.

I soar over the jumps. I land with a thud. I'm beside The Sky Princess. We look at each other. She looks at me angrily. I gallop on ahead of her. She gallops on beside me and she tries to go ahead me. We approach the hurdle side by side. We jump and land at the same time. We gallop with the same beating stride. This is going to be a tuff three laps. I feel Sarah soft with her hand and light in her seat. I keep going at the same pace as The Sky Princess. She gallops ahead of me, using all the strength she has to jump. Her tail is now in my way as we jump. I take off after her and I can see nothing through her flowing, strawberry smelled bush. I hit the ground, feeling the shock through my legs. It tingles up my bone. I ignore it, concentrating on the sick bully ahead of me. Sarah becomes more loose with her leg. I lengthen my gallop pace so I can catch up with The Sky Princess. We are now neck and neck. I see the whites in her eyes. We gallop past the grandstands. The Sky Princess and I are stealing the race. It's one on one. The crowd going wild, cheering us on. We jump over the jumps at top speed. Sarah and the girl Miranda look at each other. I see hate. A lot of hate. We gallop around the corner jumping all the fences that we approach to, at top speed. Sarah has a tight grip of my reins and my mane. We are about one hundred meters away from the herd. They are all giving up on the race, since The Sky Princess and I are miles ahead of them. '' You better watch your back, Destination S!''. The mare says coldly and out of breath. I ignore her threats and look ahead of me. We pass the grandstand and we are on our second lap. We stay in the same position. We pass the grandstand again. We are on the last lap. We gallop down the last stretch. The mare moves closer to my side. She gallops almost an inch away from my side. She jump. As she jumps she kicks out at me, with her front, right leg. I dodge the flashing leg, losing my stride. I recover my stride, but SHE is already passing the finish. I slow down once I pass the finish. I'm shocked. I stop. I feel my legs shaking underneath me. I just let a bully win. That was not fair. She just tried to kick me. I want a re-race. Sarah pats me. She pulls up her goggles. ''It's okay girl. I know what happened''. Sarah says furious. We walk back to the parade ring. Sarah dismounts me and Leona takes hold of me. She throws a bucket of cold water on me. She scrapes all the water off using a sweat scraper and she sticks a light rug on me. Sarah walks up to the presenter. Miranda had a smirk on her face. ''That was a very exciting race. The two horses The Sky Princess and Destination S are enemies. If you were to replay the last stretch, you can see that The Sky Princess lashed out at Destination S. So, Miranda, you can see that your horse is in a good mood?''. The presenter says to the crowd clearly. ''I'm very proud of The Sky Princess. She was brilliant. She is back in business. After The Curragh Races, I will train her for The Grand National''. Miranda says confidently. ''Okay. So we will let Miranda go and we will talk to Sarah. So Sarah that race was the only race that your mare lost, all because of a stumble?''. The presenter says. ''I am shocked. I'm glad Destination S is not injured. She was better off losing than getting hit with a big hoof''. Sarah says calmly. I know in the inside, she is furious. She is going to absolutely go mad once she brings me back to the stables. Oh Crap!!! Kandy!!! She is going to go even madder once Kandy is seen. We walk out of the parade ring and into the stable yard. Sarah leads me into the stable. She stops and listen. Kandy is excited. She wants to know if I won. Sarah walks to the other stable door and she opens it slowly. Kandy jumps at her. Sarah dodges the charging pony. ''Ahhh! I've been caught. Mission fail. I repeat, mission fail''. The pony shouts as she gallops into the truck. Sarah looks at me. She raises her eyebrow. I look at her, giving my 'Please Forgive Me' look. Sarah gives in. ''What do you horses be up to?''. She says as she leads me into the box. I look at Kandy, who is looking at me innocently. ''Did you win?''. She asks. I shake my head. I tell her exactly what happened m as we drive home, back to Dolanstown safely.

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