The Horse By The Picket Fence

Chapter 27

Prince licked my hand for treats. I grunted giving in and pulled a peppermint out of my pocket. I quickly ate it licking his lips when he was done.

"Greedy."

The Preakness was in two weeks, and Prince seemed fine. He nibbled at my hand for another treat.

"No Prince," I say swatting him away.

He grunts and goes to eat the hay in his stall. He had just finished his run and once again he breezed through it as if it was nothing. We worked him lightly letting him have plenty of time to rest. Even Loretta came by to give him homemade treats, he did not seem to complain. I decided that I would ship him off to Pimlico next week and give him a week to rest here. Prince pawed at his stall door and looked at him. I held my hand out and he was content. I stroked his fur, his large brown eyes seemed to tell me he understood everything I said. I smiled at him and he closed his eyes. Brian walked up next to me scribbling things in his note book.

"That was a great run, I want him off the rest of the week and we will ship him to Pimlico next week, we will have him do a few runs and then the big day."

I nod in agreement, I felt like Brian kept me updated and I had a large factor on what happened.

"Great."

He gave Prince a peppermint and walked away. Prince curled up his lip as if he was smiling.

"You're going to get fat."

Prince ignored me and chewed on his pepper mint.

"You can't say I didn't warn you."

I give Prince a final pat before driving back to Teddy's place, in the three years we had been living together, he had had three girlfriends and he was trying to play match maker. Unfortunately for me that meant actually socializing with people outside of the racing world. He reminded me again that he had found 'the one' and I had a date tonight.

Shortie:

Your date is tonight.

Sam:

I know.

Shortie:

Are you back from the barn yet?

Sam:

Auto-Reply: I'm driving, please text me later.

Shortie:

Yeah, yeah.

Sam:

Auto-Reply: I'm driving please text me later.

I rounded the corner and pulled up to the house.

"There you are, finally. You can not be late you are meeting her in a small cafe near town, her name is Sarah."

I grumble and change into clean clothes, I hate blind dates. Walking out again Teddy hands me my keys to my truck.

"Rember she is a race horse trainer, so you guys will have a lot to talk about, right?"

"Yeah, sure."

He winks and I walk out the door. A little while later I stop at the cafe and hop out, I look at my watch, right on time. Hoping out I see a woman with long brown hair and smiling eyes.

"Sam?"

"Yes, that is me."

She laughs and motions for me to sit down, I pull up a seat sitting across from her.

"I am Sarah," She says offering her hand.

"Sam," I said shaking it.

"I have heard a lot about your colt but not much about you." She says her eyes twinkling.

I laugh.

"My life right now is basically is Prince, not much else to say, how about you?"

"I am training a star mare that shows a lot of potentials."

"Really? What is her name?"

"Intothenight."

"That is pretty."

"Yeah, she is quite a looker herself, has been running with the girls is undefeated."

"That is is great Sarah, what color is she?"

"A dark bay with a snip."

She pulls out a picture to show me.

"Wow."

"Yeah," she says laughing.

The waiter comes by and we order our food.

"I hope we can do this again," I say giving Sarah a smile.

"I would be up for that," She says returning my smile.

I pay the check and we exchange numbers. I drive back home and Teddy is standing at the door.

"How was your date? Did you like her?"

"It was great, she is awesome, we exchanged numbers mostly talked about horses."

Teddy sighs.

"Only horses?"

"Basically."

He gives me a disapproving look.

"Tsk, Tsk, Sam."

"What?"

"Never mind."

"We are doing another date."

"When?!"

"I don't know soon."

"So she was better than Katie?"

I shudder at the thought.

"Yes, she was."

"I can help it Katie was a cat lady, you can judge dude."

I roll my eyes and head toward my room.

"Night Teddy!"

"Night!"

***

We unloaded Prince from the trailer. This was my first time at the Preakness and to say the least, I was nervous. King never participated in this race because he had a minor injury from the Kentucky Derby. The track seemed drier and some Baltimore horses were here to compete. We loaded Prince in his stall. GoodHeart was a few stall doors down. Owners huddled near their horse's stalls talking about the race that would happen this week. I stroked Prince's nose his eyes scanned his surrounds and he shook off my hand to get a better look. Brian is making plans with Teddy and I walk closer so I could hear.

"Alright keep him back, even though this race is shorter I don't want him burning out."

Teddy nods.

"GoodHeart will probably take the lead." I murmur.

Brian nods.

"Alright, it is getting late should we go to the hotel?"

I nod giving Prince one last pet, and peppermint before leaving the barn.

"Bye Prince," I murmer and take one last look at the barn for today.

I look at the odds:

Purely Prince: 1: 5

GoodHeart: 1: 5

Fancy Footwork: 1: 10

Fly: 1: 13

Gaining On: 1: 15

Kool Kid: 1: 20

Hercules: 1: 25

IntrouducingMe: 1: 30

SmittenPertty: 1: 35

HeyHandsome: 1: 40

======================================================
Hello everyone! This is an in between chapter so bear with me the next chapter is the actual race so enjoy! Please vote and comment to tell me what you think!

~Luckypaws13