RR JUVENILE WORKOUT
Ambition | Brant Elkinson
Appalonia | Maxwell Steward
Arrestive | Sara DeMaria
Authoritarian | Darby Serenson

Isabelle was highly anticipating the debuts of the first crop of foundation juveniles for Rosethorn Racing. Having speckled them out into some prospect views, most stables around had been able to have a look at the upcoming stock, although they could only guess as to what the Thoroughbreds would do on the track, having no knowledge of their pedigrees. They’d need to carry themselves with their personalities, determination, and competitive fire on race day. With the selective, small stable coming out for the first time, the tiny staff is all on board with hands ready to help get the four juveniles looking their best. Training was going well for all four, and with such a small string it was much easier to devote prime attention and the best care to each and every one.

On the sand track, the four juveniles were going eight furlongs as a group. All four thus far hadn’t shown a preference for dirt or turf, and were working well on both surfaces. Ambition and Appalonia were favoring sprinters lengths, with Arrestive and Authoritarian able to reach the longer router distances. With full range of furlong and surfaces, it will be anybody game to where they end up finding their niches, but Isabelle was determined to make sure they got to have as many open possibilities as she could manage. Standing on the rail, she was overseeing the warm up of the four sleek racehorses. Her manager Bella was beside her, as well as Randy the vet, and the four grooms were responsible for the stopwatches. The two groundskeepers were helping out today as the gate keepers, the entire roster of employees had turned out for the final workout before the maiden races would be upon them.

Biting her lip, Isabelle glanced through her binoculars, watching as Brant made a second circle to get Ambition into first gate. The spitfire knocked his knee against the gate as he settled in, swishing his tail, wanting to get racing rather than stand in the chute. He was a tough one to train from his indominable competitive drive, the bay wanted to run until he just couldn’t run anymore. With a will of iron, he was slowing coming around to listening to his jockey, and Brant was working to get more respect from the colt so he could be seen as the leader of the pair.

Maxwell was wrangling Appalonia, second for the gates, trying to muscle the nasty filly into the gate. The female ground helper aided her, as the male one would for sure set off Nia’s anger. Maxwell finally got the girl into the chute, and the gray filly pressed her butt back against the doors, hoping to escape, but after finding they were closed tight she chewed on her bit and stood more passively, for the moment. Prancing up, the other RR filly was opposite in temperament. The ground worker, knowing the bay well, start darting back and forth a few times, catching the Thoroughbred’s interest. Tracking immediately, Arrestive scampered forward to try and pin her quarry, but the man jumped out of the way as Arrestive’s jockey Sara urged her into the gate. Jigging a bit, the bay filly eyed the gray one, who was pinning her ears.

With one more to go, the two groundworkers jumped up on the gate to get it ready to open, knowing the last colt had a hatred for humans. Authoritarian trotted up, Darby on board, with a sour expression on his face. Ears flicking back and forth, he rolled his eyes to look around, and side stepped once before going into the gate. He grunted, mouth opening wide, and huffed in anticipation for the start. Isabelle had given order not to wait long before letting them fly, and the gates opened with the starting bell.

Ambition darted out, hugging the rail and gearing for the lead. Appalonia hesitated, getting out the slowest. Arrestive and Authoritarian broke cleanly and together, sizing each other up. Arrestive picked out Ambition as the leader, and began to stalk up behind him, only to realize that Authoritarian had picked her out as his challenger. On the outside beside her, the two began a bit of a duel. Arrestive’s attention was on both of the colts, as Ambition powered along the rail. Every jockey was rating back, letting the juveniles find their footing and cadence as the lengths flew by. The timers were catching all the pole markers as Isabelle, Randy, and Bella scrutinized the four Thoroughbreds’ every hoofbeat.

Sitting at the back, Appalonia was judging her competition, not falling behind but not looking like she was ready to challenge yet. As the halfway pole past, Arrestive seemed to have had enough of Authoritarian and started pushing up on Ambition, who began arguing with Brant for his head to keep his distance from the pack. Appalonia saw the group moving up and increased her speed, while Arrestive tried to sneak in the gap to go around the front runner before the dueler beside her got too close to the lead where she’d be boxed in. Snaking around, she pulled up to Ambition’s hip, with Authoritarian’s game face angrily chasing up after her, not about to be undone.

The situation left Appalonia with the need to swing wide, and after the far turn she made her daring move, with Ambition fighting to keep his lead. The four were setting a strong pace, and in the last furlong were all turned loose with crops ready for some encouragement. Well within all four’s furlong range, the group was still going strongly, and running flat out as they charged for the finish line at the mile marker. The group was sweaty but strong, and as they all crossed the wire, timers clicked, and the posse of Rosethorn Racing all had smiles on their faces. Their first four carefully trained juveniles were ready for the racing world.