PEOPLE: Kirsten Jade, Melanie Mackenzie & Aaron Phillips
PLACE: Green Horse Fields Track
Posted on October 19 2009
- I dare you to kick dirt in my face -
Kirsten rubbed her hands together in anticipation for the workout ahead. The weekend had been bustling with activity. The Unicorn Horn Series had run over the last two days and Akita Rose Stables had been busy preparing for the races. They had come out with only one win out of their seven attempts but it had been a great win. She scanned the track and saw Melanie moving their winner through her warm up exercises. The mare was five years old now but never looked a day over three. She was toned, fit and had a great spirit. Melanie was doing a great job with Lusitania; just how Kirsten had figured would happen. Lusitania was now grade one and was not done yet for the year.
The owner of Akita Rose Stables observed her single grade one mare with special interest. This would be the mare’s last year of racing and they planned on making it a good one. Kirsten always worked her horses towards the last big event of the year: the Breeder’s Cup Series. The past two years Lusitania had tried to win the Breeder’s Cup Distaff and got a place and a show. This will be the mare’s year to take the prize... hopefully.
So far Lusitania had only been running in important big races and had won three out of the four starts this year. The bond between Melanie and Lusi had deepened this year and they are practically unstoppable. So far they had the free will to do what they wanted with Lusi's training and it had been good. Now that Lusitania was a graded one stakes horse Melanie voiced many fears of Green Horse Stables stepping in and taking over the training or insisting that Lusitania has to be moved to their stable. Once the mare was retired they both knew it would be a battle of where she would get to live.
Kirsten sighed and focused on Lusi's movements. They were just going to do a light gallop since she ran so well on the weekend. Her chestnut coat was gleaming and her muscles rippled under her skin. She had always been flashy and Kirsten saw many turn their heads to gaze at the beautiful mare.
Melanie felt the eyes on her without even looking up. She grinned as she sat in the saddle of her favorite mount. She knew the attention she got was all due to her success aboard Lusitania and she owed the mare her career. She also owed her sister but she would never admit it. Right now she had really great mounts that she was really proud of and she was basking in the glory.
She cued Lusi into a light gallop and moved with the rhythm of the mare's smooth gaits. The sun was warm against her cheek and Melanie leaned forward and allowed Lusi out just another notch. The way they moved together as a team was just pure joy.
- I dare you to sprint to the finish. -
Melanie wiped her face with her hand towel and arranged her helmet over her head. She bent down to tie her boots and as she straightened she cast her eyes in the direction of the track and saw that Kirsten was holding a certain gray mare at the gap, waiting for her. She stood and started walking towards her sister. Two sets of eyes turned in her direction and Melanie quickened the pace. She was supposed to have been gone only ten minutes maximum for a quick bathroom break but it had taken her twenty... always late, that was Melanie Mackenzie.
Kirsten shook her head and mentioned towards the man beside her. "Since you took so long Aaron took the liberty of warming up Sugar for you." Melanie whipped her head around to glare at Aaron, who just shrugged, obviously amused. Melanie sighed and murmured a quiet "thank you" and moved over to the small gray's left side. As Kirsten gave her a leg up into the saddle she gave some last minute directions. "So I decided she can do a five furlong sprint today, instead of six since she is entered in a few little races this next week..." Melanie grabbed the reins and urged Sugar into a trot before Kirsten could even finish her sentence. She was just as anxious to escape Kirsten's company as to get on the track.
They had talked about working Sugar on the dirt track today since she normally runs on the turf. It didn't matter really because Sugar would run on anything. The open track was her oyster, the mare loved an open track, she saw it as a challenge. Melanie couldn't wait to start tearing up the track this year with the sprinter mare. Sugar had been almost forgotten this year and it was time to bring her out and show the world what she was made of.
Melanie clicked her tongue and Sugar sprung into gear. She grinned. She missed being able to give Sugar her individual attention for an entire workout. She was going to enjoy this time with the four year old mare.
They moved into a canter and started towards the inside rail. Sugar shook with excitement. She was just itching to run on the track in full force. Melanie wasn't going to make her wait too much longer. She slowed her mount down as they reached the starting pole. Silently she slowly counted down from three. Sugar tensed her muscles and awaited the signal to start. Melanie assumed her position and started intently between Sugar's ears.
They were off and running before Melanie could even finish her countdown. The feeling was exhilarating. Her ponytail flew straight horizontally from her helmet. She moved in sync with her mount. It felt like Sugar was moving faster and faster with every stride but Melanie doubted that it was true since her mare already started off in full force.
Before long they were in the final furlong. Melanie wanted to go on forever but she had no choice. She stood and eased the mare regretfully. She could tell by the expression on her sister's face that this workout had gone well. Very well.
- I dare you to come a mile like a did. -
Before Melanie even had a chance to take off her helmet and have a quick glass of water she spied Aaron on the track warming up Train Wreck. Her blood boiled at the surface. No one rode Train Wreck! That mare had come a long way in training with Melanie and she was not going to let a hot shot new jockey erase the progress she had made over the years. Especially right now.
She narrowed her eyes and was about to march back on to the track when she felt her arm being tugged behind her. She whipped around to find herself looking straight into her sister's eyes. "Don't even think about it." Melanie glared at Kirsten for a few seconds before yanking her arm out of her grip and grabbing her water bottle. She faced the track and scowled at the way Aaron was handling her mare. She was fighting him with every step. Melanie shook her head. He was handling her totally wrong.
She clenched her fists by her side and stared on to the track. Rain had come a long way since Melanie had starting riding her. The beginning of the season for the four year old had been a great one and Melanie was so excited to move this mare into the high ranks. She had started to lose again but a recent win had the mare back in the running for dirt horse of the year. But now Aaron was going to wreck things again...
She snuck a peak at her sister and found her in the middle of a conversation with another horse owner. Melanie sighed and grabbed one last swing from her water bottle before jogging out on to the track. She jerked her thumb at Aaron to mention for him to dismount. "Alright you're done. Let me handle my own mount." Aaron peered at her from under his helmet and shook his head. "She still isn't ready." Melanie glared at the new jockey with hatred. "I can take care of it. Now DISMOUNT!" Aaron shrugged and stopped Rain. The mare was already sweating and obviously not happy about her new workout partner.
Melanie clipped the buckle on her helmet and grabbed a hold of the reins and lifted her leg, awaiting Aaron's help for a leg up on the overly hyper mare. She stroked the hair on Rain's neck and immediately started sweet talking to the mare. Aaron groaned and started back towards the gap shaking his head. Melanie glared after him. He just didn't understand the needs of her Train Wreck.
She sighed and continued to put the mare through her workout exercises, working on to getting the mare somewhat calm. Even though Train Wreck was never completely calm.
After Train Wreck was nice and limber Melanie aimed her towards the inside rail and kicked things into gear. They were only supposed to do a slow two mile gallop today and Melanie was glad because Rain was already getting tired from fighting her handler before. As they galloped Melanie smiled to herself. Train Wreck was doing great and she could still get better. She used to remember when she hated having Rain as her mount but now she couldn't even remember why.
- We are only Juveniles! -
Melanie dismounted and gave Train Wreck one last pat before passing the reins over to her groom. She grabbed the face cloth that from the pile by the rail and wiped her brow before taking a big swing from her water bottle. She turned to the track to see if Aaron was warming up her next mount once again but found the track empty from the Akita Rose Stables staff. Good. She didn't want anything else to go wrong. Now who was she supposed to ride next? Jazzman? Romeo? She looked around to find her sister and saw her walking towards her while holding the reins of her precious Limitless Time and Aaron was following her holding the reins of Ultramatic.
Melanie grinned and jogged up to collect the reins from the good looking guy. She avoided his gaze and yanked the reins from his hands. She lead him to the mounting black without another word. Once mounted she moved towards the track with anticipation for the workout ahead. Kirsten and Limitless were in front of her on the track already working out. She looked over at Limitless with jealously. The colt looked fit and ready to go. She shook her head once she realized what she was thinking. Of course Ultramatic was a good mount too, he is just going through a bad break right now. She kicked Matt into gear and let him start his warm ups.
Kirsten glanced in the direction of her younger sister to see how she was doing. That girl had such a bad attitude lately. She didn't understand why though because Melanie had the most mounts out of all of them and it was her mounts that were the best ones in the barn right now. Well, the ones that were winning anyway. It won't be long before Limitless will be winning too. The poor colt has been coming in second place in many races. It was time he started winning.
Limitless was definitely in shape and talented enough. He deserved it too. The silent bay was moving through his warm ups effortlessly. Kirsten never had to fight with her boy ever and it was great because he was the easiest, most loving, talented colt she had ever rode. She had big plans for the juvenile. That included the BC Juvenile this year and the triple crown next year. Competition will be tough as always but she won't let that stop her or her talented boy. If ever Limitless is underestimated is when he pulls a surprise that no one will ever forget. Kirsten rubbed his neck grinning like an idiot. She loved her boy!
Once both horses were warmed up enough they moved towards the starting gate on the track. The plan was to get the horses to do a mock race for seven furlongs to get the juveniles a great feel for competition. They had races coming up left and right so they had to be prepared.
Both colts had moved into the gate by now so the girls nodded towards the attendant to let him know that they were ready to go. They prepared themselves for the break. What happened next was something that no one could have ever predicted. The gate opened and both horses lunged out of the gate at once.
Melanie felt her horse go down and almost flew over his head but was able to hold on and before she had a chance to righten herself her mount was off running in a pursuit towards Limitless. Kirsten glanced back as soon as she had seen Ultramatic go down and was about to stop when she saw that he was off running like nothing happened. He seemed to be running fine so Kirsten gave a sigh of relief and faced the front again. They had a race to win.
Limitless normally closed so it was no wonder that Ultramatic was able to catch up to them quickly and passed him without even a glance. It was a crazy sight though because Melanie still had not been able to readjust her seat and was hanging on for dear life. Her mount was out of control and it looked like she could fall any minute. Melanie's eyes were huge and she focused on staying on and trying to get her left foot in the stirrup. Ultramatic was running like a madman, which was unusual since the colt was normally really well mannered and professional about running. Suddenly Melanie had a bad feeling, she focused on her mount's gaits and tried to find a wrong in his stride. She couldn't quite find anything but she had to stop him.
Something was terribly wrong and yet Melanie could not place the problem. She swung to her left forcefully and finally was able to catch her stirrup with her toe. Where was Kirsten? She glanced back quickly and saw the silent threat moving up on them with every stride. Kirsten was probably moving up quicker than usual because of the circumstances. Melanie did her best to regain control of her mount and by the time that she succeeded Kirsten was beside her.
Melanie signaled that she was stopping and Kirsten nodded and moved ahead. Melanie pulled back on the reins, trying to slow Matt down but the colt refused to pay his rider any attention. The wire was almost upon them already, surprisingly. Melanie knew there was nothing she could do to stop the beast, he was determined to finish the race.
Limitless was already three lengths in front of them and by the time Melanie crossed the wire she knew that Ultramatic was wiped out. She stopped him almost instantly and jumped to the ground immediately. She gasped when she saw his right leg. It was swollen like crazy and hanging at a weird angle. The colt was dripping in sweat and screaming at the top of his lungs, or maybe it was Melanie that was screaming. Everything felt like it was spinning and before Melanie knew what was happening everything went black.