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Post by Keelin Lennox on Aug 24, 2008 20:35:00 GMT -5
Horse: Striking Honour [Angel]
Jockey: Marcelina Adamski
Surface: turf
Distance: 5.5f
Purpose: conditioning for distance
It was early morning, only five thirty. A dapple gray gelding and bay filly stepped out onto the dirt track, walking through a small passage to the turf. There was a whole other track that was just synthetic surfaces, so you could say WTS had it all. And they did in the eyes of the two owners, who happened to be riding the two horses. Atop the gelding sat a young man. "Let her go, but not all out. Just get her going strong, okay?" he told the jockey sitting astride the bay filly. The female jockey nodded, and gathered up her reins. The young man, who was the jockey's older brother and trainer, guided his gelding named Hero to the outside rail where he sat with a stop watch hanging around his neck.
The jockey, who was Marcelina Adamski, gathered up the filly's reins. She started prancing, and was soon pressed into a full trot. At first it was stiff, but soon amounted to a long, flowing gait. Celina rose out of the small saddle as she asked for a canter. The filly jumped into it nicely, taking long strides already. When they passed Feliks and Hero, the jockey pushed Angel into a gallop. Eagerly the horse built up her speed, ready to run.
"Easy now, you've got a bit," she told the bay filly. The first furlong flew by, and Angel started pressing for her head. "Not yet girl, not yet," Celina said soothingly, feeling the nip of the horse's mane at her wrists. As the third furlong flashed by, Celina let her horse have a bit more of her head. Angel eased into the new pace, still not nearly full out. "Good girl," the jockey said in her Polish accent. With half a furlong to go, Celina let her run. Still not all out, but they went pretty nicely. "Good girl," she said again as they passed by the pole they dedicated as the end.
Once pulled down and walked out, Angel was halted next to Hero. "Good time, that was nice. If you wanted to make that move in a race though, make it earlier. If she was up against a horse like that Misty La Capa or whatever, she couldn't have made up the ground. But good, still," Feliks told his younger sister. "All right," Celina said with a nod, and jumped off her filly and led her to the wash racks as Hero and Feliks followed them off the track. |
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