The Red Mare - Chapter 1

by Isabella
(Hemet, Ca)

My life as a racehorse was pretty fun and scary at the same time. One day I could be fired up and the next day be sick. I remember just about all of my life, and friends that were in it. It all started when I was born. I was very shy and was scared of almost everything.

When I had to be halter trained, it was not easy to come close to me with a halter. As I grew older, I was looking better and prettier. My owners wanted to use me for dressage or show jumping, but I would hate the slowness of dressage and disliked jumping. They then put me in race training and I did great.

When I was finally renamed, I was known as "Reddie or Not", so therefore, that was my name. One day, I was training with another horse and we had to run all out, which meant running as fast as possisble for an entire 5 furlongs, or 5/8 of a mile. The big black colt next to me was godzilla compared to my size, so it was harder for him to pick up his weight, and I was flying pas the 3 1/2 pole.

Without my rider asking me to run faster, I ran faster and faster, leaving the big black colt behind. The next day, I am woken up to go from my stall, all the way over to a paddock with 8 or 9 other horses. There were people everywhere, and I could smell kettle corn, cotton candy, and funnel cakes with other delightful smells along with that.

I could hear a trumpet and a person saying, "The horses are on the track and we have a field of 9 fine horses! We should have a good turnout on this race! The favorite of this race is Golden Jet!" I was loaded in a starting gate and a bell clanged. I quickly surged for the lead and Golden Jet was right next to me! I looked deep into his eyes. With about five furlongs left, I ran faster and faster and so did he.

When we went around the final turn, we were all alone, it was a battle between us. I wanted to win the battle. He surged ahead and I tried to keep up. When we hit the wire, it was to close for me to tell who won. I could feel my jockey's spirits fall. He kept saying that he should have never let me run like that. When the placements showed, the crowd gasped.

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The Red Mare - Chapter 2

by Isabella
(California)

ME!

ME!

I had won! I could hear the crowd as they rose and cheered me on to go collect the roses of victory. I wanted to feel this way again. I saw the way Golden Jet was taken back to his stall after being cooled out. I did feel bad that he didn't get the same joy out of this race as me, but I knew he would beat other horses. When I was put away, I knew I wanted to have more days like that.

The next day, i felt ill. My stomach hurt and i did not want to get up. When someone came to get me to train, I gave a whinny of pain. The groom's face went white and he raced to get a phone. About a half hour later, i was up and feeling much better. I had heard that what i had just gone through was called a colic. I never wanted to have a colic again. Three weeks flew by and i was in the next race.

I was again put in a paddock with three other horses and was fired up and ready to go. I felt like i could fly i felt so good! When i was loaded in the gates, i had already made up my mind on how i wanted to race. I broke dead last and stayed that way until we were coming around the final bend and then, BAM, I took off!

I was passing the other horses quickly and my jockey was "Sitting Chilly" for the rest of the race. I took the stand by storm, and word was spreading about me. I was peaking, and my owners wanted me in another race in two weeks, so in two weeks, i was in a race. I ran my race full out, won by 10 lengths, and was getting excited for my next race.

To be continued...

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The Red Mare - Chapter 3

by Izzy
(CA)

Heartbreaker

Heartbreaker

My owners said that if I did a good race, they wanted me in the Santa Anita "Hundred Grander" to test my ability. When I awoke the next morning, I didn't get to go exercise and was becoming restless. My trainer said we would have to wait for the clockers to go home to bring me out, like Tom Smith, Sea Biscuit's trainer, he knew that if I ran a good exercise, the handicappers would pack a lot of weight on me.

My trainer woke me up at midnight and I was fired up from being inside all day. He wanted me to run six furlongs at a steady pace. When we got to the gates, I suddenly was ready to gallop as fast as I could. When I broke, Tommy, my exercise rider grabbed the reins tight in his hands, and I galloped, not listening to him.

I wanted to run and ran the six furlong put before me in 1:15. My trainer was mad that I didn't go slower, but he said that it was okay because I had been cooped up, therefore, I really wanted to run and didn't mind my rider. The week flew by, and as soon as I knew it, my race was in a half hour. My jockey was waiting and listening to my trainer's instructions, and I was just happy to be there.

The track today was slightly muddy, and my trainer knew I could run well in the sloppiest tracks, so I had an advantage on the sloppy track. We walked up the paddock, and past the gift shop, which landed us on the track. It was a field of 11, and I was the number five horse, so I was in an okay position, close to the rail, and if I got out early, I would be okay. We were warming up, and I noticed a colt named Heartbreaker, and he was a really green horse, winning one of five races.

In three of the races, he bumped into other horses trying to go to the rail from outside positions, but he was on the inside of me, so I was clear of that. We were all loaded into the gates, but Heartbreaker was putting up a fuss. "AND They're OFF!" the tack announcer cried. I jumped forwards, landing me in front with Heartbreaker, and I was on the rail.

We flew off into the first turn, and leaving others behind. Through the reins, I knew what my jockey was thinking. "Am I going to fast? Can Reddie keep this up? Will the field catch us the stretch?" I purposely pretended to falter, and the green colt, Heartbreaker jumped for the lead. We came around the final bend and I was moving on the outside. I matched strides with Heartbreaker, but halfway down the homestretch, I heard a sickenly BOOM! and a horse scream.

"Heartbreaker has broken down!" I wanted to stop, and tell him I was sorry, but this was a race. I had to finish. I finished in front by 15 lengths, and raced back to Heartbreaker. They were loading him into a van, and I neighed, "SORRY!" He was in to much pain to speak. I felt horrible.

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The Red Mare - Chapter 4

by Isabella
(CA)

Heartbreaker

Heartbreaker

I was prepping for my next race and was out for a run. The reporters were trying to get my trainer to squeal out how I was going to be ridden, but like Tom Smith, kept his trap shut. Then they dug into my jockey. She told them," Well, first I put one foot in one stirrup, then the other in the other stirrup, stand in my stirrups and ride Reddie according to my trainer's commands."

Boy did that make the reporters mad. My trainer found a horse that was related to me, and bought her. We looked exactly the same, so we easily fooled people. My trainer would have me do a workout, then the next day use Valentine. The reporters gave up on getting my times. One week later, I was circling Santa Anita paddock. I was one of the favorites, and a horse named Heartbreaker was a heavy longshot.

We went past the gift shop, through the tunnel and out onto the track. The track was dry, my preferred track condition. We loaded into the gates, but suddenly, Heartbreaker broke out one second too early, but the race was on.

Heartbreaker was out on the lead, but I went right next to him within five seconds. It was me and Heartbreaker streaking down the backstretch. We were in a heavy duel, and heading for home, and the crowd was cheering, we were neck to neck all the way down to the wire, when I heard a BOOM!

Heartbreaker faltered, fell, and didn't get back up for a long time. I knew the hard duel was too much for his two year old bones. He had broken down. I felt horrible and neighed a "Sorry!" He was in too much pain to even neigh back.

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