The Black Belle of Louisville

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Dave
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by Dave »

Of course Nyquist won. Nyquist had to win, if it was an honest race.

The only way another horse could beat Nyquist, would be if it had entered the race under an alias.
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by jwhouk »

WARNING: Kleenex may be needed.

---

Earlier that morning…

"C'mon, Gary, ya need to push 'im if he's gonna wear some roses today!"

Jockey Gary Stevens was taking his mount, Mor Spirit, through a morning workout with a woman on a pacer horse. Mor Spirit was seeming a bit grumpy, having his morning nap interrupted by a pacing drill.

Stevens tried to get Mor up to some sort of racing form, but he was just too resistant. He pulled up the mount, and eased off as they headed back to the paddocks.

"Aw, Belle," he said, a bit frustrated. "He don't want to run right now." He waved out at the infield, and at all the hospitality tents that were filling outside the track proper. "This stuff's right spooking him."

The woman pulled her pacer up next to the thoroughbred, as they began the long trot back to the stables.

"Yeah, I know, all this stuff going on is overwhelming," she said, leaning down to the horse's neck. "Cain't let it get to ya. Uncle Bobby has ya up as his winnin' mount this year, and y'all gotta get us to the Preakness next month."

The horse whinnied a bit, seeming to chomp at the bit with his mouth.

"Oh, don't give me that crap about being 'too tired'," she retorted. "Y'all weren't too tired when you ran that fast race at the Jockey Club Stakes!"

The horse replied with a bluster and a grunt.

"Yeah, well, you save that for when the gates open," she said finally. "Gary, I think we need to get him back to the paddock and groomed up."

Stevens nodded, and the pair took a leisurely trot back to the grandstand paddocks. Things were already starting to get busy down here, as the early birds and horse owners were getting themselves prepped for the long day of racing – all which would conclude with the so-called "fastest three minutes in horse racing."

The Derby had nothing on Formula 1 or any auto racing series. This first jewel of the Triple Crown had always been the "big one" – and the sheer numbers of horses that had comprised the field over the years had proven it.

Belle had been working with Bob and his family since he started training and racing horses in earnest back in the 80's. By that time, she'd been settled over at Santa Anita, but struggling to make ends meet.

Bob had been her ticket out of the morass that working the California racing circuit had become – and it wouldn't have happened if she didn't have J.T.

She'd gone east with another horse – she didn't remember his name, and didn't care to – and found herself back at the Downs. J.T. was still there – and still working hard for the track.

He urged her to stay with him, but she was stubborn. She'd always said at times that her daddy had been part mule, of course, but this was something else. She'd gone out west, been treated like a person, for a change. Not the seemingly inhumane crap that she'd been getting as she grew up here, in the shadow of the Twin Spires.

The pathway back to the stables was extremely crowded – carts, people, staff, and well-wishers. It didn't help that they had the far stalls, because of the gate draw. She knew full well that you didn't win the Derby coming off the outside five gates; even if you hit the gas, you'd be worn out by the time you hit the backstretch.

Gary guided Mor into the stall, where two of Mr. Baffert's handlers began the de-bridling process. She reached down, patted the haunch of the thoroughbred, and pulled into a separate stall behind the one for the Derby horse. Normally, these stalls were for when the Downs had multiple races going on, but for the Derby, they were set aside for trainer and pacer horses.

And that was what she was for Bob's team. She sighed, turned – and in a moment, all that was standing in the stall was the woman who was on the pacer mount.

Of course, that was because Belle was the pacer, but very few outside the immediate racing community knew that.

She would have normally gotten a scrub-down with her charge, but Mor Spirit hadn't worked up much of a sweat – and neither had she. Maybe just a quick wash-up in the bathroom, before tracking down Bob to update him on…

"Belle? Ya decent?" Mack Thompson, another one of her California transplant friends, peeked his head around the curtain. "Ya got some visitors here that wanna see ya."

"Visitors?" she replied, somewhat incredulous as she grabbed a towel and made herself look somewhat presentable. The helmet she wore made her stringy hair push out in a bell shape – one of the reasons for her paddock name – and try as she might, she could never quite tame it. "Who the heck is it now, some sheik who wants me to jump…"

She stopped the moment she turned the corner of the stall and saw the two people standing just outside the paddock.

The one woman, she recalled from when her momma had worked for hers. But the other one…

Daisy had turned from watching Mor Spirit get his post-workout scrubdown, and immediately caught the eye of Belle.

The two of them said nothing for what seemed like a whole eternity, before they immediately ran into each other's embrace.

"Bella," Daisy cried.

"Daisy," was the muffled response into her shoulder.
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by jwhouk »

---

They hugged for the longest of times, before Daisy broke away for a moment.

"Uh, no offense, love, but you definitely smell horsey," she said with a laugh.

"Oh, get over it, gurrrl," she said with a slight bray. "Y'all's nose was always too sensitive 'round me."

"What, nothing for me?" Leela said with a fake pout. She got a playful push from Belle.

"Oh, hush, cain't ya see we're havin' a happy reunion here?" she replied, still holding on to Daisy's shoulder. "Oh my, I haven't seen you two since 'fore the days of Secretariat! Jes' look at you!" Belle's light Kentucky accent (in direct contrast to her husband's thick drawl) was music to Daisy's ears.

"You just fell off the map after I last saw you," Daisy said, tears still in her eyes. "I thought I'd never see you again."

"Yeah, well, Daddy had this idea 'bout heading west," she said. "That's how I ended up working out at Santa Anita for so long. Then JT introduced me to Bob, and I've been in the business of makin' Derby winners ever since." She looked over her shoulder at Mor. "Of course, some people don't like the makin' too much."

This got a whinny in reply.

"Oh wow," Leela said, impressed. "You can speak thoroughbred? I always got hung up on some of the nuanced fricatives."

"Well, it's easy when yer brother-in-law is one," she explained. "Worked with him in Bob's stables back at Los Alamitos. He convinced me that JT was more than just a stable hand, and that the trainin' life was for me. Course, it kinda helped when I got him a few wins after going oh-fer most of his career t' that point."

"Wait – Gumshoe had a brother?" Leela scrunched her face as she thought back to her childhood. "I only recall seeing him around."

Both Daisy and Belle looked at Leela for a moment.

"Oh, yeah, right. So, um, which farm was he staying at?"

"His parents shipped him out west t' Arizona. That's whar he met up with Mister Baffert. After the tornado took out his house, he moved out t' work with him. Didn't care much for the Arizona heat, even though it was Prescott. 'Parently, he had an' uncle that worked on construction of tha' I-40 bypass o' Route 66 out thataways."

A rather well-dressed gentleman came up to the stall. "Hey Rochelle, how was his morning workout?"

"Oh, hello, Mr. Peterson – he was a bit antsy, but he'll be ready to run," she said warmly. "Girls, this is Mike Peterson, the owner. Mike, these are two of my friends from high school: Delilah and Rosaylnd."

"Charmed to meet both of you," he said politely, shaking their hands. "Rochelle here came highly recommended from Bob to work with him – and you don't disagree with the reigning Triple Crown trainer," he said with a chuckle.

There was a slight grunt from the stall behind them. Bella's eyebrow shot up, but she said nothing about it.

"Rochelle, don't forget to pick up your track jacket before you head out pre-race," he said in reminding. Bella nodded, and Peterson walked off, waving at the three as he headed back towards the main paddock entrance.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Bella turned and chastised Mor: "I don't want ta hear you sayin' that about the man payin' fer your hide again! Really, after ev'rythin' he's done fer you – picked you up after some club stakes, brought you here las' year for that stakes race, an' you go calling him THAT?" She clucked her tongue. "Keep that attitude an' I'll tell him to forget to put ya in the Belmont – regardless of what you do today. GOT IT?"

There was a click of teeth and a hum from the horse's mouth.

"Good, you better be." She turned back to the pair. "Sometimes part of this job is being a den mother," she added, rolling her eyes. "Hey, I gotta go on up to track control, wanna join me?"

"Try and stop us," Daisy said with a smirk. Leela laughed softly to herself as Bella led the way.
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Sgt. Howard
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

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Horses can be so damn rude...
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by jwhouk »

Mor Spirit is a bit of a prima donna. He's got stamina for long races, but in the mass sprint that is the Derby, he's not that great.

I'm playing him as the equine version of Johnny Manziel - without the partying.
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by jwhouk »

---
Bella gave a rundown on her charge as they were waiting for her jackets and silks. "He's a good qualifier, but he's here more on potential than on talent. He's more of a distance runner. Think he'll do great in the Belmont, but his attitude is what's holding him back."

"Prima donna?" Leela asked as she sipped on water from bottles proffered to her and Daisy.

"More like attitude," she replied with a sigh. "These youngsters all think they can go out, run in one of the classic races, then go out to stud and live the simple life. No respect for the process, no desire to win all three races."

"How'd Pharaoh do it, then?" Daisy asked.

"Oh, my, you wouldn't believe how driven he was," she said, motioning with her hand. "Every day, greeted me the same way: 'I'm gonna win the Triple Crown.' Every morning. Then, day after the Belmont, he simply said, 'I toldja.'" She smiled at the memory. "Great kid, and a great horse."

A race marshal handed her the silks and her windbreaker. "Y'all hadn't signed up for the helmet cam, raht?" he asked her. Bella nodded.

"Naw, neither Gary nor Mr. Baffert want to deal with tha hassle," she said. The marshal nodded, and they headed back to the paddock.

"Course, what he don't know is that Mor would prolly be hamming it up for the camera th' entire time," she said in frustration. "They're tryin' to turn horse racin' into NASCAR or sumptin', and all it's doin' is making tha horses either skittish or distracted."

"So – how'd you end up working in major stakes racing? I don't recall you being much of a runner back in school," Leela inquired.

"Daddy moved us out to California after the riots," she said quietly as they entered the paddock area. "There's a centaur community in Santa Anita; they were real accepting and they helped daddy and momma get jobs at the track. After I graduated, I went to work there as well, in the stables. Ev'ryone was surprised when I started talkin' with the horses – and they told me how they were feelin' and what they were needin'."

They were partway back to the stall when a whinny greeted the trio. The jockey was walking his horse out of stall number 5.

"Aw, hay, Gunner. Hey, Flor. G'luck to ya today." The jockey waved at them, but the horse – whose saddle proclaimed him to be GUN RUNNER, stopped for a moment and turned to Bella.

There was a low murmur and a click to Bella, as Gun Runner waved his nose in the general direction of her two friends.

"You sweet talker," Bella said. "They're both too old for ya, kid." She winked at him, patted him on the neck, and waved him off. He whinnied a moment before continuing under the jockey's guidance.

"Uh, what'd he say?" Daisy asked.

"Oh, he was just asking about those two lovely ladies I was with. And, uh… well, something about 'being interested in thoroughbreeding'." Bella turned a little crimson in the cheeks as she said that.
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by jwhouk »

---
Those casual observers of horse racing in the United States may be surprised to learn that the Kentucky Derby is not the only horse race that is held at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May. In fact, it's not even the last race of the day. There are at least two more races after the Derby as well.

The races start at 10:30 AM Eastern, and go all day through to the 6:30 PM (or so) running of the race – and then there are three additional races, with the final race – race 14 on the day – having a post time of 8:05 PM.

With the gates to the Downs opening at 8:00 AM, that means a full day of watching horse racing. And though there are a lot of races on the card, it does leave you to standing around and watching more than just races.

Daisy and Leela were cognizant of this when they decided to make their returns to the Derby. As old hats, they knew it to be important to have shaded seating, plenty of room to stretch, and proper sunscreen protection – though their "horsehide" wouldn't be as needy, of course.

Watching the races was fine – and Daisy even won a bit on a perfecta in the fourth race – but they knew how nerve-wracking it would be for their friend, down in the paddocks with the Derby horses for the entire day.

Imagine, if you would, if the Daytona 500 was the third race of the day at Daytona, or that they played two other games before game 7 of the World Series. That's the kind of frustration that there is during Derby Day at Churchill Downs.

"When I first took Rock to the Derby, back in '88," Daisy explained, "Winning Colors was the winner – and my word, the amount of cussing and cursing I heard in thoroughbred that day! Every single other horse in the race was sooooo pissed about being beaten by a girl! I never knew those beasts could swear like that. They even caught some of it on the post-race interviews, believe it or not!"

"Oh, yeah, I remember hearing about her," Leela said. "She was named 'Sportswoman of the Year' by Centaur Illustrated – you remember that old weekly magazine?" Daisy nodded. "Too bad about the case of colic. She was big for female centaur rights. Some still consider her the horse version of Billie Jean King…"

The racing went on, and soon enough it was time for the procession of the Derby horses. The two women got places at the rail in their infield suites, watching as Bella emerged with Mor Spirit from the stable entrance.

Bella looked regal in her outfit, her "mount" decked out as Mor Spirit took the walk around the track to the gates in the clubhouse turn. As they watched the procession on the monitors in the suites, they were both nervous. Trying to win the Derby from the outside posts was practically unheard of, especially with a field of 20.

The last strains of "My Old Kentucky Home" sounded over the loudspeakers, and the last horse was finally loaded into the starting gates…

"AND THEY'RE OFF!"

It was glaringly apparent that Mor Spirit was stuck in the middle of the pack as they headed for the first turn. Danzing Candy had come down the stretch fast, closing in on the lead pack – and driving Mor to the inside, where he got caught in a pack of horses. Leela and Daisy looked at each other.

"He's not going to win," Leela said, even as the horses thundered around into the backstretch.

"Just a question if Nyquist can come back," Daisy replied, a bit loudly as the cheers began as the same horse began to move up in the pack.

Down the stretch, and here came Nyquist, Exaggerator, Gun Runner and Suddenbreakingnews; the last two looked to be struggling to keep up with Nyquist. Exaggerator blasted by Gun Runner, and Nyquist just took off. At the 16th pole, he was well out ahead – and Daisy was biting her lip as she saw Sudden closing the gap on Gun. Nyquist blasted across the line, and a blink of the eye later, it looked like a three-way photo finish for Sudden, Gun, and Mohaymen.

Mor Spirit was barely at the head of the third pack of horses.

Daisy looked at Leela. "Don't know if she's going to be real happy with her charge after that."
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by jwhouk »

---

The clock in the hall of the Alexander house sounded nine as Daisy and Leela finally arrived back from Louisville.

Cinnamon was the first to stir and rise to greet them. "Momma! Aunt Leela! You're home! Saw the race; did you enjoy your day?"

The two were rather tired from the events, but managed to put on a smile for the youngest Alexander.

"Lee," Daisy introduced to her friend, "this is my daughter Cinnamon. She's a junior at Gryphon High. I don't know if you remember her…"

"Oh, yes, the charming little foal at Rock's funeral," she replied. "You've definitely grown into a woman to be reckoned with, so your mother tells me." She winked at her and gave her a hug in greeting.

"How'd things go? Win anything? Had too many mint juleps?" Daisy clucked at her youngest.

"Now, you know that gin and I don't get along, dear," she said quietly. "And Leela here doesn't touch anything not kosher."

"Had a tough time finding halal food at the track, but it's all good in the end," she said. "Might be paying for it if I switch back to feral, though."

"Are you staying overnight, Auntie Leela?"

"Yes, I don't have to be back to the shop until Monday in Tel Aviv. Anyways, it's 5 AM back there now, and that's not exactly an ideal time to be walking the streets of the old city of Yaffa."

"Pardon the dust, but I think we have a guest room that hasn't been torn apart from the renovations yet," Daisy said apologetically. "I don't believe Edward is around to show you to it…"

"As always, madam," Edward appeared from the kitchen. "Greetings, Miss Marshall; the lady Alexander-Richer has told me nothing but good things about you and yours." He nodded with a smile; "Now, if you would be so kind to follow me, I can take those bags and show you to the guest quarters. You will have to pardon the dust – and the wiring marks on the floor; one of our consultants for the renovation is intent on improving the internet connection in the old annex…"

Edward and Leela headed down the hall to the guest quarters. Daisy, exhausted, headed to the kitchen – and then to the paddocks to rinse off, change, and get some sleep.

Before doing so, though, she stopped.

"Oh, by the way," she dug into her handbag, and handed her three crisp twenty-dollar bills, along with a betting slip. "I put the ten on him to show. I saw him in the paddock that morning; no way he was going to beat Nyquist, dear."

Cin looked at the money in her hand, then at her mother. "So how much did you win on the race?"

"I didn't bet on the Derby. I did, however, put some down on an earlier race. And you do not need to know how much your dam won."

"Oh, please tell me you didn't hit a trifecta…"

"No… just the exacta." She smiled. "It'll be enough gas to fill the Suburbans for a few weeks."

She smiled, then headed off to the stables for bed.
"Character is what you are in the dark." - D.L. Moody
"You should never run from the voices in your head. That's how you give them power." - Jin
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Re: The Black Belle of Louisville

Post by AmriloJim »

Sad news from Pimlico today:
BALTIMORE (AP) — In a tragic start to Preakness day, two horses have died at Pimlico Race Course and a jockey broke a collarbone after a spill on a damp, rainy day.

Pramedya broke down around the turn in the fourth race Saturday, tumbled to the ground as jockey Daniel Centeno was thrown to the turf. Pimlico racing officials said the 4-year-old filly was euthanized on the track after breaking her left front cannon bone.

Centeno was driven off in ambulance. Officials said he broke his right collarbone.

In the opening race of the day, Homeboykris collapsed and died after winning and having his picture taken in the winner's circle. Track officials believe the 9-year-old gelding suffered cardiovascular collapse.

The horse will be taken to New Bolton Center in Pennsylvania for an autopsy.
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