“Probably not, but his grandfather is famous.”
“Who?”
“Chocolate Champion.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Faith asked in shock as she jumped to her feet, and spun around a couple of times. She turned back and saw their shock. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to swear. I rode Chocolate Champion in his first year in the Triple Crown. As I’m sure you know, we won. You have his grandson here?” Faith’s entire face lit up at the thought of seeing the grandson of her favorite horse.
“Yes, and we want to keep him. We call him Champ.”
“Damn, I would love the opportunity to jump on his back and see what he has. If he’s anything like his grandfather, you’re going to want to keep him.”
“That’s our plan,” Naomi said. “Can you tell us why you only rode him once? And not for the next two times he ran the Triple Crown.”
“You know he only won that first year, right? The year I rode him?”
“Yes, and he came in third the second year, and fifth the third year. He was retired after that, and we were able to purchase his seed to breed one of our mares who had an extremely impressive bloodline also.”
“Well, to answer your question, after we won, some of the other trainers went to their bosses and told them that it was unfair that a woman was riding the best horse out there. The owner came to me and fired me as a jockey. The only thing I told him was not to come to me crying when Chocolate lost in the future. I’m not tooting my own horn, but all the races I rode him in leading up to that Triple Crown that he won, he either won, or came in second. If he came in second, they had to go with the photo finish and it was seven times out of ten that he was determined the winner. He only lost three races, and that was by about half a nose. After the trainer fired me, I walked away. I might be thirty-eight now, and I’ve been doing this for twenty years, but I still, to this day, get treated differently because I’m a female in a male dominated world.” She looked at them, then sighed heavily. “Oh, and after he lost the second Triple Crown he rode in, his owner did come to me, but I looked him directly in the eye, shook my head, and walked away, but not before telling him it was all his fault.”
“Well,” Cole said as he looked directly at her. “We don’t operate that way here. We base our employees on their merits, not their gender. If you are good at your job, you will be kept onand rewarded. If you abuse the animals, or are shitty at your job, you’ll be out of here so fast your head will spin.”
“Thank you. I have one question for you.”
“What’s that?”
“I don’t do it, and I don’t believe in doing it, but do you encourage your jockey to use the crop on the horse to get them to go around the track faster?”
“No, I know it’s not, but in my book that’s cheating. I’m glad you don’t do it. I believe a horse will know when to be faster if they have the right person on their back.”
“Thank you,” Faith said in awe. She had to take a couple of seconds to gather herself before she could continue. So far, she liked what she was hearing. She sat there thinking about what they had said, then drew in a deep breath to let out slowly before she approached her next issue.
“Are there any apartments for rent in town?”
“You won’t need one,” Naomi said, but held up her hand to stop Faith’s protest.
“Why not?”
“We have cabins available for our hands. Though, if you take the job we’re offering you, you’ll be the resident jockey, but you will still be an employee of New Double. We have two-bedroom, two-bathroom cabins, or bunktels.”
“Which are?”
“They are like bunk houses, there is a common area with the kitchen, living room, and laundry facilities, however, the bedroom portion isn’t just one room. It’s like a hotel room with your own bathroom. We modeled these after the ones built over on Broken Two. Those were designed with the specific purpose for families with people with disabilities so they can stay together when their loved one goes through their rehabilitation program.”
“Oh, wow. How much does it cost to rent one of them?”
“No rent, just pay for the utilities. All the empty cabins and bunktels have the power on, and it’s in New Double’s name, we’ll send you a monthly bill, and you pay that.” Cole held up his hand to ward off the question he saw lurking there. “Don’t worry, you’ll get the entire bill to see, you won’t have to take our word for it.” He opened his drawer and pulled out an envelope to show her. “See, they are listed by cabin number. When you pick out which one you want, then when the bill comes in, I’ll hand it to you. It will be your responsibility to pay the utilities, purchase your own groceries, and anything else you want. The cabin is fully furnished, you have the option to use what is there, or bring your own. We’ll just store it until someone needs it. The beds are brand new, so are the sheets and towels, along with the appliances.”
“Is there gas, or is it all electric?”
“Both, and you have the option to turn it on. Each cabin has its own propane tank, and again, you would be responsible for getting it filled. Currently, the appliances are gas. Like the stove, furnace, and hot water heater. The refrigerator and washer and dryer are electric.” He shrugged. “We have found that in these harsh winter conditions, and with us being so far out from town, sometimes it’s better to have both. If the electricity goes out there are plenty of coolers between all the ranches to preserve the food. We also have gas generated walk-in refrigeration and freezers in our community pantry.” He smiled at her blown look of confusion. “We’ll give you the tour, and you can decide for yourself. Oh, and there is also a wood burning fireplace in the cabins.”
“I just have one more question right now.”
“What’s that?”
“I have a generator at home. My home in Kentucky is completely electric, and when the power goes out there, I’m left hanging, can I bring it with me?”
“Do you own it?”
