Through The Rain and Tears (major revisions)

Chapter Twelve

-Preakness Day-

The pressure was on Preakness morning as Bubba was set off at 5-1, not much respect but it was better than his Derby odds. The undercard races had been run, and everyone was waiting to see the Middle Jewel Contenders, the field had been cut nearly in half. Only 13 colts were entered, and I Will Remember was back.

Michael led Bubba up and down the shed row, we were concerned about the post that Bubba had recieved, he would be breaking from the 1 post. Considering Pimlico's turns were sharper than the ones at Churchill Downs, I wouldn't think Bubba had much a shot at the Preakness today. But I could only hope he could win.

The walk over was starting, and we would lead the field over to the Preakness infield to be saddled. A CBS broadcaster walked along side us as we made our journey to the track.

"Nathan, your colt, The Only Prince, won the Derby 2 weeks ago and has drew the 1 post in today Preakness. How do you feel about his chances today?" He said and pointed the microphone toward me.

"It's very hard to say, to me, his chances are like everyone else's, he could win, he could lose, but we hope he can over come being on the rail and possibly show everyone up today. But like I said, he could win, he could lose." I said.

"Horses from the Derby are back, who are you most concerned about?" He once again pointed the microphone to me.

"Well, of course we are worried about I Will Remember, but some others we are worried about are Ebony's Charm and Gold Emblem, maybe Blue Forest Cat. A new comer we'll be watching is Allonthe Bench, he's a really speedy horse, which is favorable over Pimlico, I'm expecting him to go with Casanova to the lead." The broadcaster nodded and said thank you and wished us luck today, and we entered the Preakness infield, and started to saddle up Bubba.

Jack got the saddle ready, and Michael walked Bubba in circles to keep him calm. Caitlyn was at our seats with the kids, and I watched the competition. The field was made up of 13 colts who were:

1. The Only Prince 5-1
2. Allonthe Bench 10-1
3. Lucky Belief 6-1
4. Ebony's Charm 4-1
5. Blue Forest Cat 9-1
6. Striking Pleasure 20-1
7. I Will Remember 3-5
8. Artistic 12-1
9. Rundown 8-1
10. Prized Wish 11-1
11. Bright 15-1
12. Casanova 30-1
13. Gold Emblem 2-1

The jockeys soon came out and into the infield and Nicole was looking for her first Preakness win.

"He's looking anxious." Nicole said from behind me, I turned to look at Bubba, who was prancing around everyone refusing to stay still. It was hot out today, so he was also sweating.

"I would be too." I said before turning to Nicole. "Okay, just take him off the pace. Bring him from behind, and on the turn, everyone is likely to swing off the rail, so take him through there, and hopefully, bring him to the finish." Nicole nodded, and they called for riders up.

Michael brang Bubba over and I quickly gave Nicole a leg up and watched them get released to the track. We all went up to the owners area in the stands and watched the post parade, and waited for the race.

-Nicole's POV-

Prince refused to stay calm in the post parade, so after I decided to canter him around with out the lead pony, he calmed a bit, but he was still tossing his head and tugging on the bit hard. So I took him back to the lead pony, and we walked with them to the gates. Where we would be loaded first.

Once we were in, I did everything to make sure Prince wasn't too relaxed, as if he did, he would lose interest in the race. But it seemed I didn't need to worry about that, as he was looking around and still tugging on the bit.

I looked right, and saw that one more horse needed to load. So I leaned closer to Prince, and grabbed a handful of his mane. I breathed slowly, calming myself down. Then I heard it..

Ring!

The gates shot open and all 13 horses exited and the crowd cheered loudly. I quickly took Prince to the back of the pack, as we headed into the turn. I kept us on the rail, and looked between Princes ears to see who was leading the way, and as expected it was Casanova and Allonthe Bench. But Casanova was a good 5 in front of Allonthe Bench. I looked for I Will Remember as we entered the backstretch, he was in third, Ebony's Luck was in fourth, and Gold Emblem was in fifth. In front if me was Bright and Striking Pleasure. I saw an opening on the rail and pointed Prince towards it and he slowly made his way past Bright and Striking Pleasure as we inched past them. The race seemed to be going faster than expected as we closed on the final turn. Nathan was right, everyone did swing off the turn, so I pushed Prince to give me a little bit more, and he accelerated and we started running past our competition one by one, until we were at the tail of Gold Emblem, and entered the stretch I then called for Prince to give me all he had and he responded greatly, and flew past Gold Emblem and Ebony's Luck, Casanova once again quickly dropped back but Allonthe Bench and I Will Remember were dueling for the lead at the top of the stretch, I quickly reached back and tapped Princes rear and he seemed to float to the two horses, the crowd cheered excitedly as Prince charged them down. We were now along side the two, on the rail. I let Prince run with them for a moment before I asked for his final gear. About 200 yards from the wire, and I pressed my chest closer to Prince and tapped his rear with the whip again and we were off...Prince pulled away from I Will Remember and Allonthe Bench and he was in full flight to the wire I didn't look back to see if anyone was closing cause I knew Prince was just getting started but the race was near finished and about 50 yards from the wire I eased up on Prince and celebrated by pounding my fist into the air and patting Princes soaking neck. I looked back and saw I Will Remember and Allonthe Bench 3 lengths back as we did the gallop out. The crowd cheered for their Triple Crown hopeful, as his sire was still the only winner since Affirmed.

An outrider caught us on the turn, and an broadcaster on her horse came up next to us.

"Nicole, you have won the Derby and now the Preakness over coming so much, what were you thinking through the whole race?" She asked.

"Oh man, he's something else, I couldn't ask for a better colt, he's just like his mom, brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. He wasn't even at his best gear going down the stretch. This horse, is a horse in a lifetime." I said and pat Princes neck.

"Now, you're off to Belmont for the historic Belmont Stakes. How do you think he'll fare?"

"I'm sure he'll show everyone what he's made of. His sire destroyed in the Belmont, I hope he can replicate that perfomance, but that doesn't matter, I just hope he wins! We could have a Triple Crown winner here!" The reporter smiled.

"Congratulations Nicole, and good luck in the Belmont, 3 weeks from now." I nodded to her, and we trotted back to the stands where the crowd cheered for us. I met Michael and Jack who carried the Black-Eye Susans and we went to the winners circle to get the official photo, and I hopped off Prince and kissed his brown nose and gave him water before workers came to take off the Susuns, his saddle and Michael took his back to the stables. I joined everyone for the trophy presentation, and Nathan and Jack accepted to Preakness Trophy and raised it like they did for the Derby for the crowd to see, for the world to see.

We were off to the Belmont Stakes.