The Horse By The Picket Fence

Chapter 28

Please play the song when I tell you to. Thank you so much!

=====================================================

It had been a long morning to say the least, but it ws finally time to start the race. We take Prince to the saddle pasture, he seems out of it.

"Prince?"

He lazily rolled his ears forward.

"Come on buddy, you can run great today I know you can."

He chews his lips looking bored.

"GoodHeart is going to try to win Prince, you can run however you like, but if you want to win you better get in the spirit."

Scarlet walks up to us.

"Your horse looks awfully slow today."

I glare at her and she laughs.

"Today GoodHeart will win, be prepare to eat her dust, Prince."

Prince doesn't react and blinks slowly, I furrow my eye brow.

"Prince."

I jiggle the lead rope a bit trying to wake him up. He pins his ears and swishes his tail. Brain looks up looking Prince over.

"Something is up."

"I can tell," Brian says looking at Prince again.

The vet comes by giving him the ok, and I send a questioning look over to Brian. The girth is tightened and the bit is put in his mouth, he still seems asleep so the training jockey hops on and lightly gallop him, that seemed to wake him up a bit. We start walking in the post parade the crowd is cheering his name, he lazily flicks his ears back. I give Teddy a leg up.

(Play song now)

"He seems out of it."

"I can tell."

I look over to Brian.

"How should we do this?"

"Play it by ear Teddy, try not to burn him out, you are a good jockey."

Teddy nods and Ace walks Prince up to the starting gate.

Prince is loaded in, GoodHeart a few gates away from him. I hold my breath and creep forward in my seat, the bell sounds and the horses shot out of the gates Prince coming behind the pack in dead last. My breath hitches, he can't possibly win. GoodHeart is leading the pack a good 1 length in front of the other horses. The Megatron shows her running her mane blazing behind her. The scorching sun beats down on the track, Prince's hoofs contact with the ground again. Teddy waves his crop but Prince doesn't do anything continuing at the same pace he seems to be ignoring Teddy's cues.

He waves his crop again and Prince gives in passing a few more horses. They come around the turn, GoodHeart has a two length lead and Prince has made his way up to sixth. He was galloping but I knew he could go faster. Prince continued to ride on the rail, not seeming to know the competition, Teddy tried to wave the crop again but Prince would not react. There was only one thing that could work. Teddy did the last thing he could think of, Prince's was angled so he saw competition. His eyes locked with the track. Prince took a deep breath in and stretched out like a wild animal and begged to go faster. Teddy smiled, this was the horse we knew. He kept him back and brought him on the outside. Prince's breathing became timed with each stride he took, GoodHeart was starting to pull away from the group, I stand up and scream.

"LET HIM GO! LET HIM RUN!"

Teddy lengthened the reins and waved the crop Prince was off like a bullet. He speeds past the horses coming from the out side. Kool Kid was left in the dust, Prince runs past him making his way up to second. His hoofs contacted with the ground and he slings shot forward, his ears back his mane flying Prince was making time. He rounded the turn and was neck and neck with GoodHeart. The mare stayed on the rail it was the final stretch now. I studied Prince, his muscles pulsed, the horses stayed neck and neck, Scarlet was screaming for him to let her go. Prince looked like he was starting to get tired but I saw the look in his eyes. the fire that made him go, the thirst for victory. I saw the flame start, and now I saw it blaze. People who doubted him only made the flames reach higher, and I knew he could run even better than he was now, all he had to do was break boundaries. All he needed was to push the limits.

"She will run past him."

"She is totally going to win."

"She wins, any second now."

They hadn't seen anything yet. The two horses bobbed their heads up and down, Prince stuck his nose out and pleaded to be let go, he wanted to win. He wanted to quench his thirst. He was a caged animal, who needed to be free, he needed the opportunity to fly, to spread his wing and soar. I knew he could he needed to give it his all. The horses behind were starting to fade away, it seemed like it was only GoodHeart and Prince. The mare flicked her ears back, he jockey waved the crop she raced forward gaining speed, Scarlet cheered. That was her only moment of glory that Prince gave her. He was ready to take this, he was alert, aware. He was ready to go.

Teddy waved the crop Prince quickly caught up racing past GoodHeart he was one length ahead and the wire came. His eyes were locked on where he needed to be, his heart guided him every stride of the way. For a second he caught my eye and I did not need to say what I was thinking, he already knew. The thunder of hooves calls us to race and that is all I heard now. My pulse quickened they were so close. I close my eyes I don't know if I can watch. Brian shakes me and grips my shoulder, giving me a look. I held my breath and watched as he crossed it, with GoodHeart right behind him. The crowd cheered Prince had won the Preakness by one length.

================================He he he! Run Prince Run! I don't know why I think this is so funny but I laughed way to hard at this. Sighs, anywayyyy! Vote and comment so I know you liked it. Thanks for reaching 300 reads on this story it means a lot to me!
~Luckypaws13