People: Aaron Phillips, Kirsten Jade & Melanie Mackenzie
Place: Akita Rose Stables dirt track
Date: January 24 2014 (March Week One)
Alabama Baby
our road begins.
Aaron clicked his tongue and encouraged the three year old filly into a trot. It was time to start her final workout at home before the big stakes race this weekend. The dark bay filly by Akuma Battlecry and out of Charisma lifted her feet with class and caliber. She was from very prestige lines and had a lot of potential. She could be ARS' top pick for the Triple Tiara this year. That was the plan anyway... Ladam Rose was the type of horse that ARS knew had to be carefully selected for races. She had great talent but was raced very lightly. It wasn't that she was poorly conditioned, oh no the filly was in top shape. The problem was more like Kirsten Jade was concerned about a poor race record. They all had such high hopes that no one wanted to be disappointed with a poor finish.
Aaron frowned and let out a bit more rein. Rosie had only raced once this year, in another big race to prep her for the Triple Tiara and she had placed against some of the toughest three year olds around. Now Rosie really had to win this next race. She needed a win in a major race to be able to qualify to run in the prestigious Triple Tiara. The Alabama Stakes was looking to be that race. There were some really great fillies entered this weekend but Aaron would have been more concerned if they had entered in the Forward Gal Stakes on TW. They had a chance to win the Alabama, if everything went smoothly. Aaron was going to make sure that Rosie ran the race of her life on Saturday.
Aaron had almost finished putting Rosie through her warm ups when he heard a sharp whistle to his right. He turned to see Kirsten Jade riding up on their other three year old hopeful, Coco Cabana. "Hey Aaron. I'm going to run Coco with you today and Mel will run Alana so Rosie can practice dealing with both types of racing styles as competition." Aaron turned to look as Melanie was fighting with their dual racing three year old filly just off the rail. He nodded. "Sounds great. That's a good idea." Kirsten smiled and gave a quick nod before turning her mount. "Alright, four furlongs. Give us five more minutes." Aaron nodded and patted his mount's neck. They had this one... He could feel it. Rosie was ready to run.
A few minutes later Aaron had Rosie on the rail and they were starting to kick it up a notch. He peered over his shoulder to see Kirsten on Coco also on the rail and Melanie with Alana not too far behind. He slowed his mount and waited for the other two to catch up. They were running three wide and their cue to start racing was coming up. Half a furlong to go. Aaron glanced at the horses next to him. Kirsten and Coco were on their immediate right, Melanie and the feisty Alana were just a pace behind and on Kirsten's right. A quarter to go.
They were off! Gone Wild shot ahead like a bolt of lightning. Aaron barely had time to blink. Ladam Rose also jumped it up a notch. Coco was right on their flank. Stride for stride Gone Wild was pulling away from them. Aaron grinded his teeth in frustration. Why were they going so fast? If he didn't act soon Rosie wouldn't get a chance to catch up. Coco was still riding pretty on their flank. Aaron also knew that the colt had a major closing kick. He had to watch out. There were three furlongs left. Gone Wild was already three lengths ahead. When should he make his move? Gone Wild was the type of horse that could easily take a distance race from wire to wire, if he let her get too far ahead they will never catch her.
There were two furlongs to go. Aaron had worked up a sweat. He could only be patient for so long. Rosie gave another tiny speed burst on her own and was pulling away from the dark bay colt behind them. Yet, Gone Wild was still three lengths ahead. Although it looked like she had settled on her pace. Great... she will have lots of fight left and we still had to make up ground... Aaron waited another split second before deciding on his move. They were going for it. "Go Rosie, let's show them what you got!" The filly let loose a huge burst of speed and took off after the Sharp Montana filly.
There was only one furlong left. Rosie and Aaron had made up ground and were right on the heels of Gone Wild. They started to pull even. The feisty filly on the rail refused to let Rosie take over and added another burst of speed. They were fighting nose for nose towards the finish. Before Aaron could react a blur of brown flashed on his right. Oh no! Coco Cabana. He was so focused on Gone Wild he had nearly forgotten the quick closing colt... again. They were under the wire.
Aaron shook his head in frustration. He was riding like a newbie. If Rosie lost her race on Saturday it would only be his own fault. Note to self: Watch out for any closers! He patted his mount. Rosie could do this. It would be up to him to bring her a win.