You Gave Me Nothing But Love

Great Opportunities

"Do you give the horse its strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane? Do you make him leap like a locust striking terror with his proud snorting? He paused fiercely, rejoicing in his strength and charges into the fray. He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; he does not shy away from the sword. The quiver rattles against his side, along with the flashing spear and lance. In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground. He cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds."

The next few minutes were going to determine a lot of things, but most importantly who was going to be the winner. All of the my competitors were In the gate, including myself. I feel like your biggest competition in life is yourself. You're always fighting to be the best you, and to do the best you absolutely can. That was what I was going to put forward at today's race. My best, and my very best was all I could do. Corky and I were starting in the 8th position, meaning we were in starting 8th of 10 horses. Currently my horse Corky had 4-1 odds, which I thought was pretty good. Winning this race could mean getting into other races with the winning prize of 75,000 or more. So this definitely meant a lot to mine and Orkid's career. One of the workers closed the gates behind Corky and I. Corky knew what was in store for her and began to what I assume, was mentally prepare herself. She hit the ground with her hoofs, and shook her head around. "The horses are in the starting gate" I heard the announcer's voice echo through the stadium. "You ready for this girl?" I spoke loudly in her ear, making sure she could hear my voice throughout the noise pollution. I pat her neck, knowing the race would start in just a few seconds. Suddenly the starting bell blared in our ears, and the gates flew open, releasing charging horses. "And they're off!" The announcer screamed into a mic projecting through the stadium. Corky was lagging behind all the other horses, taking the last position. This was normal for us, we usually kept a low profile then sped it up at the end and made them all eat dust. The horses in front of us ploughing through the track, kicking up loose dirt into my face. Soon I was coated head to chest in mud, but I kept Corky close to the other horses. That way she wouldn't lose motivation and totally give up. "Corky is steady at the back of the crowd, with Sea Hero gaining speed, moving himself into 2nd place. Fine Lady at the first position keeping strong" his voice echoing in my ears, eating away at me and causing me anxiety. "C'mon girl! Let's hit it" I cheered into Corky's ear, patting her side. We already finished half of a mile, of the full mile and a quarter mile race. We had half of a mile plus a quarter to catch up. As we always practiced, she began to advance positions, charging through the track. Her breathing began to become heavier, as if she was a fret train. I led her left towards the rail, where we soon became pinned between the rail and another horse; Morvich. "Would you look at that! Corky has now advanced to 4th place, with less than half of the track to go now!" The announcers words came as a comfort to me now. "We can do this girl" "we've done it plenty of times" I reassured Corky, trying to squeeze her through a gap of horses safely. Morvich's jockey purposely tried to pin us to the rail, attempting to ram us off the track. "Just face it kid, you're never going to win, and neither is that small pathetic horse." The jockey sneered at me, attempting to whip Corky as well. "Don't you dare! Stop trying to foul me, and race fair!" I yelled at him, making sure my eyes didn't leave the track though. "With just a quarter mile of the race left, can Corky make it past 4th? Currently silver charm is 3rd, trailing close behind Sea Hero. But, we did not expect this! Spectacular Bid is first, leading currently by 2 and a half lengths!" "C'mon girl now or never!" I hollered, so she could hear me past the violent snorts and the sound of hoofs destroying the track. We started to gain speed once again, finally racing past Morvich. Corky charged forward bending in and out of nearby horses. Soon we surpassed Sea hero and we were now in second. But, second doesn't cut it, and Spectacular Bid was still 2 and a half lengths ahead. "Corky is advancing and is now 2 and a half lengths behind Spectacular Bid! They're coming around the bend! The race is almost over, will Corky catch up and take the win?" Corky wasn't giving up, she continued to speed up, we were finally neck and neck with Spectacular Bid, the finishing line in close sight. I looked behind me, all of the other horses were lagging behind. Leaving Corky and Spectacular Bid to fight for first. "C'mon girl! Let's show em' what we got! Let's fly!" I encouraged Corky once more. Her usual rhythmic stride, increased along with her breathing, I know she was giving it her all. She sprinted in front of Spectacular Bid, making it look so easy. But she wasn't giving up just yet, with the finishing line so close. She continued to charge forward, crashing over the finishing line like thunder. "Corky for the win!! She took the win by 4 lengths! With Spectacular Bid in second, and Sea Hero a while back. He ended up crossing the finish line with 3rd!" "Yes!!" I cheered, raising my hand up, in congratulations for myself and my wonderful horse. Corky continued running for a bit but slowed down her gait. The crowds were chanting and raging with excitement, clearly happy that my, "poor odds" small horse won. Corky, in my eyes was the very best, with her grey dapple coat she was beautiful. I was truly her biggest fan, for life. We paced by all the opposing horses, I greeted them all with smiles. Another worker, lead Corky and I to the winning circle. Where my mom, my brother, and my sister were waiting for me. Traditionally the jockey, horse, and owners took a picture. We took the picture, and I quickly jumped off Corky and took the saddle off her, petting her muzzle. "You did great out there!" My brother Mateo, congratulated me. "Thanks bro" I smiled continuing to pet    Corky. "You and Corky did amazing out there!" My mom beamed with pride. A worker in a green T-shirt began leading Corky away, towards the horses trailers. "Cya in a bit Corky!" I called to her, saying my goodbyes for now. "I'm up right next, position 4th, and Orky has 5-2 odds." Orkid walked up to me, as we exited the track. "That's great I know you'll do good" I reassured her, hopefully giving her a boost of confidence. "I do my best, and that's the best I can do" she giggled, we both made our way to where the jockeys get dressed and ready, and I had to depart from her. I definitely could not forget the fact I was still covered in mud, still wearing my Jockey silks. But, I wore them with pride not embarrassment no matter how many rude stares I received ."Cya girly, you're going to do great!" I called out to her, smiling widely at her once more. Before I left, I turned to Orky who was making his way around, showing bidders the horses. I patted his muzzle, gently whispering "You'll do great paps, give it your all" I said my goodbyes to Orkid and the other jockeys, making my way towards my mother and brother. "Where are we going to be sitting for the race? Post time is in 10 minutes" I asked them, informing them the race will be starting soon. "Let's sit in the bleachers with the other owners" Mateo spoke up, "sounds good" my mother also agreed. We placed our bids  on Orky to win obviously, he didn't have the best odds, but he definitely didn't have the worst. And we were obviously loyal to our family and our family's horses, they were all valued. We made our way to the owners bleachers, and sat down. "Wow these seats don't feel like they should be for owners, or anyone at all. So uncomfortable.." I joked around, nervous for the race deep down. I'm praying that Orky can pull through and win first as well. It's not impossible, and I know he's capable of it. "I know right it's a real pain in the lower back area" my mom commented, agreeing with me. Even though, the chairs comfortability far crossed my mind by this point. The workers in the track began pulling the gate into place for the race. They were to run one mile, a turf race(grass). So it was a shorter race, and definitely harder to see as the grass on the track was farther back. As rhythmic as it always was, a man wearing a dressy suit stepped onto the track. He preformed the famous trumpet part before every race, this was a signal the horses were making their way onto the track. Orkid's competition began piling onto the track, all of the horses were brilliant they looked absolutely stunning. The thing is, so did Orky. He had a dark brown almost black appearance, his pulsing veins visible, showing off his muscles. He looked fantastic, he no doubt had a chance. All of the horses started to make their way to the gates. After what seemed like only a few seconds they were in the gates, seconds away from running. My anxiety starting to pick up, it felt like the race seemed so much faster when you watch it compared to when you're actually the one running. As soon as I knew it the announcer yelled "And they're off!" They took off with flying speed and elegance. They ran past our view starting to run around the bend of the track now. From what was visible for my eyes, it seemed like Orky was 5th out of 8 horses. The announcer began spitting out words that were mostly jumbled to me, the adrenaline rushing through me caused me to drown him out. I payed attention to the large screen in the middle of the track, giving me a better view of the race. They were half way done the race, with Orky now at 3rd. "GO ORKY GO!" My mother, brother and I began cheering, we couldn't contain our excitement. As soon as I knew it, they were about 100 meters from the finish. Orky was advancing and destroying them all, he became neck and neck with another horse. With only seconds left to the race he increased his speed and ended up winning the race by a nose. "YES!" I screamed, then realizing how embarrassing I truly was. I wouldn't let the judgment of others ruin my day, I continued to cheer anyways, just a little quieter.

After both of our races ended, Orkid and I were meeting with some "important" people as our mom called them. "You guys were truly incredible out there. You took horses with not too good of odds and made them absolutely crush all competition" A woman with a dress suit on, complemented adjusting her glasses on her face. "Thanks m'am its really just all thanks to the horses though" I blushed, I hated getting compliments, still even to this day. They just make me feel uncomfortable. "The fact you both are twins, and race your own horses, just amazes me, it's incredible. I really think you should enter the prince of wales stakes. It's next week, August 5th. It's first leg to winning the Canadian triple crown. I think you guys have a chance. I want to see you there next week." Another man,  informed us smiling. He probably just viewed us as money or something. It's just something about these people. "Yeah for sure! The triple crown wow! We'll be there" Orkid agreed for the both of us, before consulting myself. I just nodded in agreement not wanting to disappoint her. The man, who finally I introduced himself as Jeff, wrote our names on a sheet and walked away with the woman smiling. Soon after, the whole family arrives at our farm once more. Mateo and mom unloaded the trailer helping the horses out and leading them to the barn. Seeing that they needed no help, Orkid and I went into the house to check on our YouTube channel. Our latest video had close to a million views, already! I can't believe this, we never usually exceed 200k views. Especially in a day time frame. We've been on YouTube for years now, slowly accumulating an audience, I was so grateful for every viewer we had truly. With our money from YouTube we are able to help around the farm and provide for the horses. Jakes' recognition had gotten us a massive amount of views for sure. Orkid and I checked our emails as we always did, we got spammed by petitions online, but we saw one email that spooked the shit out of both of us. An email from Jake Paul? "This can't be real?!" I could barely catch my breath, my heart was starting to beat out of my chest. I grabbed the mouse and opened the email. It was from the REAL Jake Paul. We quickly scanned and read over the entire email. "Team 10 and I have decided that we wanted to invite you to join us, on Team 10" Team 10 consulted over us joining?! That means... The Martinez Twins, Erika, Tessa all of our idols on YouTube watched us! We couldn't believe it. "Holy shit! Holy shit! Two of our dreams have come true in one day?! What!" Orkid couldn't believe what she was seeing, as she continued to scroll down the email. We both saw it and our hearts absolutely dropped. "If you're interested we would like you here in LA by August 5th"