“What?” Scott asked. “What do you think you see here?”
“These are the horses that will be ridden,” Shay said as he stepped up to the board and pointed. “Since they are listed on the side, one on top of the other, and other things written across the top, then I’m assuming that information is for each horse.”
“Correct, or at least that was how it was explained to me. I do know that I need to saddle the first horse, take it out to the staging area, and come back to get the second one ready. I don’t know how many times Faith will run around the track, but once she’s done, talking with the trainer, I take that horse back to the barn, again, not until she tells me she’s done. As it was explained to me, she might want to go back out with the first horse. If everything is a go, I bring that horse back to the barn, remove the saddle and blanket, rub him down, and make sure it’s comfortable. Then I saddle up the next one.”
Shay nodded and something Cole said earlier about having more help. He totally understood why now. He turned and went to the first horse to be saddled and didn’t say anything when he had to have Scott help him. Ann had taught him, but he had only watched it done twice.
“These are different saddles than the western ones.”
“Yes, these are specially made for racing.”
Shay looked around and saw the spot the saddles were stored, and asked, “How many saddles are there?”
“Six. I don’t know how it’s going to work, but I trust Faith and Cole to tell us what to do.” They looked up when the people he just mentioned walked into the barn.
“I heard you,” Faith said. “Normally, each horse would have their own saddle, jockey, trainer, and equipment. However, for the time being, I’m it for the jockey, you guys are the hands, and Cole is going to train Shay on how to take down the stats. All the horses can use these six saddles. However, never, ever reuse a saddle blanket unless it is completely dried. There should be astack of them over by the saddles. When you do up a new horse, grab a new blanket. Also, make sure the used blanket it spread out over these hooks, do not just toss them in a corner, they need to be dried before they can be used again.”
“Is that what that board is for?” Shay asked as he pointed to the board he had seen earlier. “The stats?”
“Yeah, part of the trainer’s job is to fill in the boxes at the end of the day, then we’ll discuss them. We’re only going to run six a day for now. Maybe less, depends on how they run.”
“The other saddles are on their way. Like I’ve said many times, each horse usually has their own team, but until the others can get here, it’s just us four.”
“We can do this,” Scott said. He held out his fist, and Shay bumped it.
“I’m going to want Champ first,” Faith said, and pointed to the board, and that horse was listed as number one.
“All ready,” Scott said, and grabbed his reins and led him out. “The next two are saddled and waiting. If you don’t mind, I want to watch you race him.”
“I don’t,” Faith said.
They went out to the track, and Shay stopped Faith as she was checking the saddle. “How long is or big is the track?”
“A mile and a half to go around once,” Cole said. “We made it this big because the race at the Kentucky Derby is a mile and a quarter. I figured that a mile and a half, then we would be safe.”
“Got it,” he said, and watched as Faith double-checked the cinch and started talking to the horse as she ran her hand over his neck.
Cole took Shay to the side and handed him a gun.
“Whoa.”
“It’s nothing. This is the type of gun they use at regular races. These are virgin horses, they’ve never run a track before,we need to get them used to being on a track. Don’t worry, it’s loaded with blanks. I promise.”
Shay took the gun, but emptied the bullets, then realized there was only one, and studied it. Being former military, he knew what a blank looked like, he saw that Cole was correct, so he took it, and placed it in the small of his back. He looked at the clipboard handed to him, and the stopwatch.
“I’ll operate the stopwatch for the first couple of runs, then I’ll show you how to register the numbers.” He pointed to the track and they saw Faith was in the process of mounting the horse. Cole told him to get the gun ready, and said, “Raise it in the air, when she gives the nod, fire it.”
Cole did, and watched Faith, when she nodded twice, he fired it, and stared in shock when Champ took off like he had been shot out of a cannon. “Holy shit,” he whispered, and could actually feel Cole’s grin.
“Is that fast?” Shay asked when Cole lifted the stopwatch and pressed the button. He looked at Shay and actually jumped up and down. Shay was confused, and watched as Faith and Champ started slowing down, and when she came to them, she too wore a gigantic grin.
“I don’t know if I’m more excited about being on the back of a horse again, or because of that ride. It was awesome!” As she spoke, she rubbed Champ’s neck and beamed at Shay.
“What was his time?”
“Twenty-eight point one four.”
“Are you shitting me?”
