Phobos, Aphrodite's Gift and Queen Hera
Alice and Kieran stood side by side as they settled in to watch the juvenile’s 8 furlong workout. The pair were hopeful for all three of them. Obie was the first out and Alice couldn’t help but admire the beautiful black colt. He was hard-working, an attitude she always enjoyed watching shine through on the track. The colt had given Leo some difficulty on his back when he was first let out, bucking excitedly and dancing around, but by the time he had reached the gates he was all business. The 8 furlong workout would probably be the easiest for him, favouring the middle of his range, and he would favour the middle of the pack for the majority of it, preferring to be in the thick of it. He was always enjoyable to watch run with a lovely smooth gate and his impressive acceleration around the final turn.



Tilly was the second of the three to load into the gate. She gated easily as always; the filly was rarely any trouble getting to do anything. She was sweet-natured and Lucy seemed to have really bonded with her since being given her as a ride. It was easy to see why as it was hard not to love the mare who never gave anything less than her all and was always eager to please her jockey. It would be interesting to see how she ran today, whether she would settle into the lead or whether she would drop back a bit and bide her time.



Hera was the last out, a stark contrast in attitude to the other two. She made life difficult for Thomas the whole way down to the gates and going into the gates, her ears flattened back against her head the whole time. Thomas had learned that when running Hera it was best to sit tight and let her have her tantrums, once out on the track her competitive nature would take over and she would forget her stubbornness. The filly was damn near impossible to control sometimes and the most unpredictable runner of the three; she would take up any position on the field depending on her mood and her jockey would have to go along with it or be promptly deposited on the ground. What the filly lacked in respect though she made up for in talent and was always exciting to watch.



As the gates opened all three juveniles broke from the gates well. Hera quickly took up her place at the front and the other two eased back a little to slot in behind her. Tilly and Obie galloped beside one another just a small distance behind Hera, their respective jockeys not allowing the filly to get too far in front. Obie appeared to be having fun, delighting in being allowed to run like this and thoroughly enjoying himself, his ears flicking forward every now and then and looking every part the racehorse. Tilly ran hard next to the colt, pushing the pace a little at Lucy’s cues as the trio flew past the fourth furlong and closing the distance between her in the lead. At the front of the pack Hera looked as angry as ever but running impressive fractions.



It was in the final turn that Obie made his move and quickly broke ahead of Tilly with his impressive turn of pace around the corner and quickly finding himself neck and neck with Hera. Hera responded in kind, pushing even harder down the final straight as if offended that the colt would even try to overtake her. As soon as she was given the go-ahead from Lucy, Tilly stormed along behind them, quickly making ground on the other too but not quite in time to overtake either of them before they hit the wire. Phobos just edged out Hera, hitting the wire first as the pair roared over the finish.