The Horse By The Picket Fence

Chapter 29

"He won it!"

Prince did his signature whiny and the crowd cheered. We were walking back to the stables Prince was drenched in sweat. His brown eyes searched mine and I smiled at him giving him a big pat. He softly whinnied and stretched his neck out. He had won by one length, his comeback was amazing. The grooms washed him and we put on his cooling boots, Prince seemed deep in his thoughts. I clip on his lead rope and walked him around, the press was still hounding the track and I did not want to stress Prince out. I lead him to a small paddock that no horses seemed to be in at the moment. We walked around and I let him graze, whispering small things that only he would be able to hear.

"You won Prince."

He softly nickered and put his head down so he could graze. We walked around before I put him back in his stall.

"Your horse only won by one length."

I knew the voice even before it spoke.

"Yes, but he still won Scarlet."

"It was a pitiful win."

"Maybe, but he still won."

"We will beat you in the Belmont."

"Looking forward to seeing you there."

She huffs and walks away. GoodHeart reaches her head over her stall and nickers. Poor mare. Teddy walks with a huge smile on his face.

"We did it."

I smile and we hug. Prince stays toward the back of his stall.

"What is up with him?"

"He is thinking about the race."

Teddy nods and we leave Prince to think.

"Soooo, when is the next date with Sarah?"

"Um, I don't know."

"Make a move already."

"Since when do you give love advice?" I grumble.

Teddy shrugs and my phone dings.

Sarah:

Congrats on the win.

Sam:

Thanks, he was a little out of it in the beginning.

Sarah:

Why don't we meet at our cafe and talk about it?

Sam:

Sounds good.

***

The little bell ringed when I walked through the front door. Sarah sat at a table by the window, she smiled and motioned me to come over.

"Hey!"

"Hey."

I sit across from her.

"Congrats on the Preakness."

"Thanks."

We order our food and Sarah takes a sip of her coffee.

"Why do you think he was out of it toward the beginning?"

I pause thinking.

"I have no idea."

Sarah took another sip of her coffee, her blue eyes brewed like a storm.

"How is IntotheNight?"

"Getting better, stronger and faster, she will be able to run in the Derby next year." I nod, "That is great new Sarah."

She smiles.

"Have you thought of your game plan for the Belmont?"

"Yeah, I have."

She nods her head, "That is good to start planning now."

"We had him shipped back to Brians, he will rest for a week, then we will get him to the Belmont."

"Are you entering him in the Travelers?"

"Not planning to, I want him to rest, even if he loses this race, it does not matter to me, I still love him."

Sarah smiles, "That is true love right there."

I give her a grin.

"I take it he is going to the Breeders Cup?"

"Yeah, I may retire him after that."

"Why?"

The realization hit me like a cold storm.

"I don't think he enjoys to run like he used to."

She sighs and nods, a sad look creeps over both of our eyes. She takes my hand snapping me out of my thoughts.

"That is a great idea, Sam."

I give her a sad smile and nod.

"All for Prince isn't it?"

"All for Prince."

***

"We are getting fan mail left and right," Brian mutters.

I lean over to look at the small web page we set up for Prince. There were over 200 comments singing his praises.

"I have no idea what to do with this web page."

"It was your idea in the first place," I say reminding him.

He shoos me off and I roll my eyes.

"Just post pictures of him. Then have some Renegade water stuff thrown in too. "

Brian nods and uploads some pictures of Prince, adding captions as well. Brian looks over his shoulder giving me a serious look.

"Have you thought about what will happen after the Breeders Cup?"

I sigh, him and Sarah seemed to have the same thought.

"Yeah, we will offer him for stud."

Brian nods.

"How much?"

"I'm not in it for the money, you decide."

"We will decide after the Belmont."

"I agree."

Brian stands up from his desk picking up his note book.

"I will leave you to do things on the web page."

I sigh and sit down.

"Bye Brian."

"Bye."

I hear the door slam and I look at the comments. Most were how much they loved Prince others were hate and discrimination. I sigh, people these days. I spend most of the night answer questions and responding to comments, most of them made me realize we had a shot at the Tripple Crown. I smile, what an amazing thing for a horse people thought would be a dud.

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