Devils And Unicorns

Chapter 5

Two weeks had passed since Charlie Trent's first visit to Marsh Crossing, and in that period Jersey Devil had worked a total of six times. On the first occasion on the gallops, Florence had noticed that Jersey Devil had eyeballed dependable old Dissent as soon as the pair drew level and started pulling like a train, fighting Zac for her head. When she was allowed to pass her work partner, the filly seemed to settle and maintained the lead for the duration of the gallop.

This was fine for Dissent, who with age and experience had become so laid back and easygoing that he could be placed almost anywhere in a race and have an equal chance of coming out on top. When the younger filly fought him he yielded readily under Martha's instruction, and the short battle was enough to keep her blowing. She was – as Martha had correctly pointed out – very fast.

Eager for any information that could help her, Florence decided to dig into the realms of Jersey Devil's history. Her sire was Satanic Pioneer, an equally fast chestnut who had been placed in the Perchborn Gold Cup behind Red Acreman's Cool Cadence some ten years ago. She could remember the race well, and therefore she had some recollection of Satanic Pioneer. He looked quite similar to Jersey Devil, boasting an uneven white star between his eyes and four short socks that made his hooves the colour of white chocolate. In the Gold Cup race in question, Cool Cadence had been fighting out the finish with Oracle's star charge that year, Wrong Reason; nobody could have guessed that any other horse would be involved in the closing stages. But Satanic Pioneer came bursting through the final furlong, closing the ten length gap the leaders had opened down to just two lengths. He could only finish in third place, yet he could not have been more impressive in doing so.

Would his daughter display the same electric finishing speed?

The next time Florence made a trip to Ramnock for some supplies, she made sure to stop by the Ramnock Rock and talk to Lofty Mitchell, who was five feet and two inches tall and the local racing guru. He never missed a race at Ramnock, Bailey's Point or Perchborn and was like a walking form-book. Once he understood her question through the mist of alcohol that surrounded him, Lofty informed her that Jersey Devil had lost out on both her starts pretty badly, so he had never paid much attention to her; however, he did remember her featuring prominently in the early stages, and he noted that she had seemed like a true front-runner.

"She's been true unlucky," he said. "She came up against other front-runners both times, so she got beaten back and lost heart. She needs to stay up front to win."

This information was useful, and once she returned to Marsh Crossing Florence started to concentrate on pushing Jersey Devil straight to the front of Dissent during their work on the gallops. She even made a rare venture into the saddle herself to ride Nolsen out with them, bringing her miniature training field to three. Dissent had always been a class apart from Nolsen; Jersey Devil was better still. Aboard Nolsen, Florence was left spitting the dust thrown up by their hooves from her mouth.

However, for all her vigour and in spite of her promising pedigree, Jersey Devil was not the revelation Florence had been hoping for. While she maintained a good pace in the lead, she seemed to come off the bridle and ease up worryingly quickly when truly extended. By the time two weeks was up, Florence was feeling far less optimistic about the filly's chances on the track proper.

Charlie had told Florence that he would be in Bailey's Point for a fortnight. In the event, he did not return to Marsh Crossing for three weeks. He showed up early one morning, without warning, on the back of a trailer bound for Witchmill. As luck would have it, he arrived just in time to watch Zac and Martha riding out on Jersey Devil and Dissent respectively.

"She's not the easiest." Florence shook her head, despondently but not without confidence.

"What's the problem?" Charlie asked, leaning onto the fence next to her as they waited for the horses to pass. She found his habit of chewing on gum deplorable.