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February Year 4 : Teachings

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Warning, its a bit long. Also I was super ambitious with this picture, not sure if I'll keep being this ambitious with all the covers for the rest of this season but I'm going to try. Just to give everyone a clue up on Gunslinger is Lacey Delray-the new exercise girl, leading out Zahra is Jonah Green-Triple Birch's trainer and then that's jockies; Frankie Deltino and Hallie Jeffries chatting it up :D


“So Jonah what’s up with you buying fillies,” Hallie said with a grin one morning as the older trainer boosted her up onto Zahra’s back.

He grumbled something unintelligible under his breath.

“How’s hammerhead?”

He did laugh at that, “She’s good. Fat. Best friends with Akila, a bit of irony.”

Hallie grinned, “Are you going to try and breed her this year? Tests came back right? She’s not actually barren?”

He shook his head, “Nope. Vet thinks part of her miscarriages might have been the rush from cycle suppressants to the breeding shed. I figured it was best to let her have a year for her body to go through the cycle naturally, no forced early heats and what not. Means that if she goes into heat it’ll be May, June, or even July means a late foal if I did breed.”

“Better to just let her have an easy year off then, I get it,” Hallie said as she gathered up her reins. Zahra tensed up at the pressure, another sensitive mouth.

“You’ll be happy to know Akila’s in foal, to Chronological, and she’s happy about it,” Jonah said as he fidgeted with Zahra’s girth, she was so slender and opinionated that she always forced Jonah to re-tighten her girth once Hallie was up. She liked Hallie, like he knew she would, but she always was good with Scout and had even come to like the new exercise girl, a skinny little waif Scout had found bumming around the backside. The new kid didn’t look a day over twelve or thirteen but her paperwork checked out as being sixteen.

Point was Zahra might be a drama queen but she was far easier to work with that most of the mares Jonah tended to get himself involved with, which imbued him with a sense of pride, she was his after all, the first racer he ever owned.

“She’s a weirdo,” Hallie said with a grin as she tightened the chinstrap on her helmet, “That’s gonna be quite a baby.”

“That’s the goal.”

“So tell me your plans for this girl. You’re planning something. You wouldn’t have me out here giving her a breeze otherwise. You’re going to race her, when?”

“The Dearly Precious.”

“That’s this weekend,” Hallie pointed out.

“Yep.”

“And six furlongs. She’s a distance mare.”

“She will be. But first we have to teach her how to run right.”

“She won the Sorrento. That counts for something doesn’t it?”

“6.5 furlongs. She flung herself around, moved quickest in her third furlong and then sunk back. It was a lucky win. Then she got hurt. Now she’s back but my guess is not matter how nicely she can work she’s still confused by racing. So we start small, we start with a distance she’s run at, a distance we know she can handle. Her injury prevented her from running the rest of her two year season which kept her from maturing. Physically she’s three, she can train like she’s three, but my guess when we run her she’s going to act like a two year old. So we have to be ready for that.”

Hallie nodded, “Stalker then? Or closer?”

“Stalker I think, not sure how far off the pace she wants to go. That’s your job. I don’t care about placing or any of that. I just want her to come off with an understanding.”

“I think I can manage. So what about today?”

“Breeze four furlongs, fast as she wants, no pushing her.”

“Done.”

Jonah rested himself against the rail and watched his grey filly flit over Aqueduct’s dirt. Jonah, having had her now for a few weeks, understood her. He dared to think that maybe he even loved her. She felt compelled to put on a show, why he couldn’t say, and it stressed her out so she hid the rest of the day in her stall. Movie star, that’s what he called her. He was slowly getting her to relax, slipping her more peppermints than she deserved while she sulked in her stall with her ears pinned.

She’d gotten to the point where she looked for them, expected them and Jonah obliged. He’d never had a proper chance to spoil anything she he was reveling in the opportunity, more than he knew he ought to, but he simply couldn’t help himself. In his defense she was trusting him more, willing to pop her head out her stall and look around a bit more. She was a good worker, she liked running and she was quick. In spite of her flaws he found himself smitten with her.

Hallie was good for her, a perfect match. They were similar, the public saw one thing but the truth was another. Hallie Jeffries, the ice princess, the one who knows no fear, the one with steel nerves, the one who never smiled unless she won-which was becoming frequently. Behind the scenes though she was funny, clever, easy to offend and desperately afraid of being alone all while being independent, it was a simple case of public persona via personal but that didn’t make it easy. Hallie was complex, Zee-as he’d taken to calling her- was complex, and Jonah knew himself to not be. It was why he could understand these complex creatures that populated his life, he was simple. He didn’t mean that negatively, but rather that he was comprised of only a few consistent parts and he knew those parts inside and out. Those girls out there were comprised of many inconsistent parts that they still hadn’t come to terms with, they would though, eventually.

The filly looked good. She galloped out easy and when Hallie asked for a real run she gave it willingly, running hard and fast up to the half mile pole, when Hallie eased her back. She didn’t fight it when they came back, perfect. Jonah might have liked a bit more fight but the filly wasn’t as conditioned as she would be, as he liked. Race to train, he liked to stick to that old mantra, but it wasn’t one the industry shared much anymore, which often meant any horse he bought would come with a different understanding of things. Zahra was a tough little filly, she’d endured hell week-a week of hard short fast works-without coming off lame or sore and then the week after-long, long, slower works-and still she came back with cold legs. Her injury had been in her shoulder, not her legs, but still it gave him a sense of relief that she’d come back cold.

Endurance, though, was a harder thing to build up, it took time and patience but conditioning didn’t teach a horse how to race. Zee needed both and the way Jonah saw it he could work on both at the same time if he kept her in sprints for now. He was in no rush, none at all, because she was his and he wasn’t looking for anything more than this filly had given him, a personal purpose, a cause, something to connect to.

***

“Easy girl,” Jonah murmured cupping Zee’s twitching nose. The filly’s eyes rolled back once and then focused in on him, her breathing eased up a bit and she slowed her motion down. Sal, who was standing by her withers, gave Jonah a look, the trainer nodded in response. Gently Sal slipped the pad, then saddle blanket, then Hallie’s little saddle overtop the mare’s rose gray back. She gave a shudder, but did not fight against it as she had been.

“That’s a girl,” Jonah whispered as he slipped her a peppermint.

“Didn’t expect her to get so anxious,” Sal muttered with that blunt accent of his behind his shaggy hair.

“Just wait,” Jonah said softly as he let the filly bury her head into the crook of his arm, her teeth gnawing on the lapel of his blazer as Sal tightened the girth. Hallie came jogging out of the jockey’s room shooting a look Frankie Deltino’s way, in response the cocky kid laughed and went to his own dark bay filly, the favorite.

“No more broken noses,” Jonah said still in this quiet soothing tone he’d adopted for dealing with Zee. Still it was a warning.

“No promises,” Hallie said with a little grin. Her accent, previously so strong, had lessened significantly since he took her out of Kentucky. Whether or not that was natural or intentional he couldn’t say, sure made her easier to understand though and from her ability to still pull out the Southern Belle persona on cue he guessed that she’d gone through significant trouble to cut all the y’alls and you’s (instead of you’res) out of her dictionary. Still her pacing was distinctly Southern, she didn’t speak, she drawled, a lazy sort of way to speak. One that no doubt helped contribute to her nickname of ‘Ice Princess’. It was hard to think someone was nervous when they talked as slow as Hallie did.

“Yes promises.”

“He deserves it.”

“No offensive moves kid, being defensive is one thing…”
“I am being defensive,” she protested as Sal boosted her up. As if a switch had turned on Zee’s persona shifted. The filly pulled her head out of the safe place and became bright and vivacious.

“No. Take it to the stewards if he’s giving you trouble. I can’t have you suspended, or him for that matter. So learn how to play nice.”

She muttered something that sounded like a string of cursing under her breath.

Jonah laughed, “Now focus, get my filly home safe and sound. Got it?”

Hallie rolled her eyes, “I always do.”

“One day you might not. Don’t think you’re immortal, or the horse under you.”

She looked a bit sullen at that reality but she relented with a shrug and a nod.

They went out then, the filly to her chestnut lead pony and he and Sal against the rail near the winners circle and the gap. He did enjoy the ability to stand on the rail instead of up in an owner’s box, the perks of being the owner and the trainer.

“She’s going off on good odds,” Sal said nodding towards the infield board displaying numbers.

Jonah laughed, “8-5, that’s optimistic. She’s the lone gray though, people always bet on the gray.”

Sal laughed, “Stupid isn’t it?”

“Superstition, logic doesn’t abide by superstitions.”
“You aren’t superstitious,” he said pointedly.

“Not about always betting on the gray, no. Still believe in luck though.”

Sal nodded, falling quiet as the approached the gate. Zee, still putting on a show, went right in and waited patiently in the three hole for the other 5 horses to load up. They loaded without fanfare and then broke without issue.
True to Jonah’s prediction the filly broke quick and flailed for the first furlong or so. She was a bit rank and fought Hallie for control. She managed to settle in around fourth, the lone gray body in a sea of browns. She drifted out of Jonah’s sight as the rounded the turn to home. And then they emerged, all rallying or fading depending on how the race had treated each of them. His filly was still hanging on, fighting hard it seemed, but she looked confused as to why everyone was surging around her. Her lapse of focus caused her gait to slacken till Hallie whacked her one. The filly pinned her ears then, bared her teeth and shot up and forward like a rocket. Unfortunately not a straight rocket, she shot left and then right and any attempt Hallie made to straighten her out resulted in that pretty head to shoot up and her stride to cut short.

So Hallie did the most logical thing, she smacked her again.

The gray mare rallied again, but not straight, not smoothly. Deltino’s dark bay had the lead by five lengths, a dirt covered chestnut solidly had second, but Jonah’s mare was good enough for a wild third. He grinned at that she darted under the wire still wild as hell, effectively bolting past the winner and second placer once they began to pull up. That made Jonah laugh, Sal next to him was hysterical as the grey mare kept throwing her weight forward as Hallie stood in the irons and attempted to get her to slow.

“She no like the whip boss,” Sal said still laughing.

“Maybe she just likes it too much,” Jonah said with a wry grin. His eyes still on his filly, Hallie had managed to get her to something resembling a trot and had worked her over towards the grandstand. Sal and Jonah walked down on the track, awaiting the frenzied mare. She was blowing pretty hard, understandably so, and even tried to bit Sal as he slipped her halter on. Hallie jumped off and busied herself with taking her saddle off.

“Distance?” the red head said with a grin as she slid her saddle off the mare’s steaming back. Sal tossed a bucket of cool water over the filly, who despite the chilly February weather was soaked with sweat. His bucket managed to take down Hallie too. The girl jumped back and flung an impressive number of Spanish curses at Sal-who just laughed in response.

Jonah tossed Hallie a towel, “Good ride kid. How’d she feel with the whip?”

“Well I did hit her twice. It scared the hell out of her the first time, but she wasn’t angry about it. Felt safe enough to do it again. Think she weaved so much because she was unsure of what to do with all that space around her. Maybe you could pair her up with Sling for a couple works while he’s still slow, get her used to running past a horse.”
Jonah nodded, “Will do. Good job kid.”

***

“Sorry you lost Red,” Frankie Deltino said casually from his spot against the wall leading into the jock’s room.

“Sorry you won,” she retorted back, “Did you wait for me?”
“Nah I’m waiting for this other redhead girl,” he teased shooting his eyes over her shoulder as though he was in fact searching for someone else.

“What do you want Deltino?” Hallie said folding her arms.

“You.”

“How seductive,” she said with a roll of her eyes, “Is there anything you want that I can take seriously?”

He grinned, “Let me take you out on a date.”

“Nope,” she said turning on her heel getting into the jock’s room and slamming the door behind her. She walked to her spot, the center of the room now, right next to Mal. The twenty-seven year old was joking around with Mike Torrez next to him.

“Nice run girlie,” Mal said giving her a high five.

“For real, wild little filly,” Torrez added with a nod and a fist bump.

“I can’t believe she got third,” Hallie said as she took her helmet off giving her wet head a hard rub with a towel, “Moved great till the end. Had no clue what the hell she ought to be doing.”

“She’ll get it,” Mike said leaning back against his locker, “Quality filly. Put together nicely, big for a girl, and the way she kept running. Jonah has himself a distance mare.”

“That’s what I think too,” Hallie said peeling off Jonah’s silks-navy blue and gold-and putting on a garish pink and green set for her next race, “Jonah wants to keep her in sprints for now till she gets her brain together.”

“Makes sense,” Mal said flipping through a racing form, he wouldn’t ride till later, “When’s he gonna get Gunslinger back?”

“No clue,” Hallie said, “Oaklawn probably, not much in Aqueduct for a four year old,” she shifted her gaze back to where Frankie was being loud and wild with his set of friends down aways, “Not soon enough though.”
Mike laughed, “Frankie giving you trouble?”

“Frankie gives everyone trouble,” she said with a shrug.
“I’d drink to that,” Mal said without looking up from his form.
Mike laughed, “So whose that new girl Jonah’s got running ‘em in the morning,” he made a gesture with his hand to indicate a very small height, “Little girl, looks about twelve.”
“Lilly? No, no, Laney? No, shit, what is it,” Hallie said rubbing her forehead.

“Lacey,” Mal answered again without looking up.

“That’s it,” she said snapping her fingers.

Mike laughed, “You’ve got to much horse stuff in your brain girl. Anyway she’s pretty good. Saw her up on Sling the other day, tiny though, but good, got a lot of speed out of him and kept him calm. Bit all over the place though, anxious probably.”

“I haven’t really watched,” Hallie admitted, “You almost forget she’s there half the time.”

Mike nodded, “That might not be a bad thing,” he said rubbing his chin, “Not a bad thing at all.”
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