Showing The Instance

Two sisters, both raised by their gambling addict father, had gone through life together and had become jockeys at seperate times. To start with, each had worked with different stables but seeing the talent for what it was Matthias Lanning, trainer for the growing Silver Stride Stables, had brought them back together. Tanya and Alana Stratt - talented, daring, and willing to put their lives on the line for the win. Their racing styles were similar - though they did everything they could to deny it - and sometimes the pair would leave the stable stood on a wire due to their daring moves. They looked similar, and they raced in similar fashions, but there the similarities really ended.

Competetive Alana was a distant character. She didn't want friends, and certainly didn't go out of her way to make any. In many ways she was icy and cold, but on the track there was a fire in her heart. She was one of those people that wanted nothing more than the win, the glory, and she had always made it very clear that she preferred racing on dirt to turf. On the other hand, her younger sister was somewhat happy go lucky. She did like having friends, she did take time out of her day for others. But she was also a gambler, an issue which had yet to be resolved, and she would gamble with anything. The biggest gambles, of course, were those involving her life out on the track and the passion she had because of this was tremendous.

Having been paired together for a workout the sisters met in the courtyard to discuss their plan and, once that had occured, each went to fetch their mount. As they turned their backs on each other one thing was clear: they did not intend to go easy on each other. If anything, this workout would be as heated as an actual race and the horses were sure to be put through their paces to get them ready for race day.

Alana's ride was a highly strung and rather awkward colt that had been dotingly named Isa. Instant Success, as it was on the track, was a closer and a dirt horse over distances between nine and twelve furlongs. If things went according to Alana's plan over the year he woud be racing the Juvenile at the Breeder's Cup in December and they would be giving the more established stables a run for their money. After all, it was what she was good at. She had taken Afterglow to her success, and Isa was on her list to make a star.

Tanya's ride, known as Beau in the yard, was a beautiful black filly with a white star and a single rear white stocking enveloping her left hind limb. A showy and energetic creature, Karnevil lived up to her name with her shows of power and beauty. Even as they walked across the yard she had that spring in her step and somewhat defiant glint in her eye. She had spotted Isa, and that could only mean competition. Tanya held the black filly's rein tight and looked at her mount warningly. She did not want any shows of aggression today.

Due to the unpredictable nature of the filly, Tanya led the black filly ahead of Isa toward the track and quickly mounted, pushing her ride into a trot. Head held high, Beau started to strut her stuff as they made their way down to the gates. Seeing the black filly on the approach the handlers, who had been waiting, quickly opened the gates and closed the filly in. They knew she needed boxing before the colt arrived if they wanted to avoid conflict between the pair. Shortly after, Alana made it to the gates on Isa and the competition was on. The sisters locked eyes over the side of the boxes and nodded. A silent agreement, they would push for this but not hard enough to wear the pair out.

The gates opened and Beau flew from her stall, taking up a relatively high pace. Isa broke more slowly, allowing distance to build between him and the front runner as they moved down the stretch. The gap started to build but as they came into the corner Isa began to push forwards. His ears erect and his eyes narrowed he was in this for the win. They continued to ride and as they made it into the home straight Tanya let the whip kiss Beau's rump in order to get the filly to speed up a little. But Alana and Isa were closing quickly, despite the large gap, and soon they were only a length behind. Tanya drove hard and Beau responded but as they came to the post the colt managed to take the upper hand.