Through The Rain and Tears (major revisions)

Chapter Thirteen

-3 Weeks Later, Belmont Stakes Day-

It felt as is judgement day had come, and we would either make it or break it. We had not worked Prince for two weeks due to a slight bruise on his hoof. We got the good to go the day before the post draw. The field was made of 8 horses, those being:

1. Ebony's Charm 5-1
2. Fun Avenue 8-1
3. Allonthe Bench 15-1
4. Casanova 20-1
5. Lucky Belief 10-1
6. The Only Prince 3-5
7. I Will Remember 2-1
8. Brave Sense 6-1

The large Belmont turns scared most of the horses that ran in the Derby and the Preakness. We were getting ready for the walkover, Michael put the bridle on Bubba, we added blinkers and front bandages to Bubba's tack. Not many people would risk losing the Triple Crown by adding tack, but the front bandages were necessary.

We were ready to face history, and hopefully is can be made.

-

In the paddock there were people with signs for support. Such as "From a Prince to a King!","The Only Crown for The Only Prince", "Give the Prince his crown" and "Emily's Pride". We kept Prince close to the middle of the paddock, as some people tried to touch him. This made him very anxious and begin to sweat.

The jockeys came out of the Jockeys Room and into the paddock for instructions from the trainers and owners of their horses.

"Any words of advice boss?" Nicole asked as she clipped her helmet on.

"Just," Nicole looked at me. "let him run." She nodded and they called for riders up and I gave Nicole a leg up on to Bubba. "Being em' home." I said and watched our Triple Crown hopeful walk into history, and hope they come back with history made.

-Nicole's POV-

I was nervous to be honest, I have never ridden in a race like this in my whole life, but I had to stay calm because history was on the line. There were 7 horses looking to stop us from making it. I was looking to make it happen.

We warmed up and finally headed to the gates for the historic start of the Belmont. One by one we inched closer to the start, then we were lead in and the crowd roared with excitement. The the final horse went in and silence em swept over everyone. Prince tossed his head for a moment but we calmed him quickly, the silence seemed to get quieter as we waited, and waited.

Ring!

The moment the gates opened. My heart stopped, as Prince stumbled and I quickly pulled him up to his feet and he ran after the rest of the field. For a moment I pulled on the reins but quickly remembered, let him run, and instantly I gave Prince control and he bolted to after the field. Into the first turn Casanova and Allonthe Bench lead, with I Will Remember in third, and we were in seventh, quickly closing on sixth and fifth. With letting Price run by himself, it reminded me of Emily. Into the backstretch and Prince was making his way into fourth and to I Will Remember, who's jockey constantly looked back to see where we were. When we reached I Will Remember his jockey urged the horse to move with us, so we matched strides and ran side my side, past Casanova and Allonthe Bench, as we did it seemed like you could hear a gasp escape everyone, as the Triple Crown hopeful was running nearly at full speed in the mile and half Belmont Stakes. We headed into the final turn, we didn't bother to look behind us to see if anyone was closing because our horses are running faster than ever, I realized that I Will Remember is being pushed along, but I haven't even made a move on Prince. So the colt is bound to be finished soon. Into the stretch, we were greeted with screaming and cheering as we started to fly down the stretch. Then, I Will Remember's tongue flopped out of his mouth and he inched behind us then, he fell back all at once, he went from a gallop to a canter in seconds. This left Prince with the lead, and I looked behind us and was astonished at the sight, we were at least 15 lengths a head if everyone, I put my attention forward and started to hand ride Prince to the finish and the crowd celebrated as we did, and I heard the call as we closed on the finish.

"The Only Prince, has won the Triple Crown! He has dominated and fought his way to victory! The Only Prince? More like the only King!"

I eased up Prince after the wire and celebrated our Triple Crown victory. We met everyone, and they carried the Carnations over Princes shoulders and lead us into the winners circle, where people celebrated and cheered for the Triple Crown winner.

-

But the victory would only last so long, as we soon discovered that Prince was injured after his run in the Belmont, and he would be retired due to the seriousness of the injury. The Only Prince would earn Horse of the Year and Champion 3 Year Old Col and stand stud at Lanes End Farm and sire The Big King, Kara Katie, Queen Marly, Kingsley, Queensley, The Joker, Princess Debbie, Riley's Kingdom, and Lucky Thirteen. He would die at the age of 13 from Colitis and a severe case of Lamimitis, and be buried next to his Dam and Sire, and Jack and Nathan would retire from owning racehorses after the death of Prince.

The End.