i n d i a n summer

[{ squishy }]

I looked around in the office, searching for papers. Where had I put the damn... Aha! Bending over, I picked them up from underneath the desk, taking care not to hit my head. That was just what I needed on the day that Image's Dream was getting back to training following her injury in winning the Kentucky Derby. The same Derby in which Wonder's Star, the farm's three-year-old Belmont Stakes winner, had finished dead last. Sitting the papers on the desk, I sat down in my chair, shuffling the papers around so I could look over them all at the same time. These were the papers belonging to Gratis, who the farm had acquired just two weeks prior, and who was back in training again following a minor ankle sprain. Though, Toby had found heat in his fetlock, cannon, and pastern bones. Which was fan-freakin'-tastic. The colt had the potential to make the farm big money because he was tenacious and had great ability. It seemed the colt never wanted to give up, which is just what the farm needed in a horse. Don't get me wrong, Image and Star were wonderful, but there was something about Gratis that just made sense, that just seemed... Perfect, I guess. Gratis was a fighter, and I knew that by watching his races. He had been undefeated going into the Derby, winning all of his races in Florida, California, Louisiana, and New York. The horse had been shipped cross-country several times, and he had managed to win every single one of them. The races he won in California were the Hollywood Prevue Stakes at two, and the Sham Stakes at three, on two different surfaces. In Florida, he won the Florida Derby at three and from coming off the pace. In New York, he'd won a maiden race and then an allowance at Saratoga, and then the Champagne at Belmont Park, all at two. He had skipped the Breeders' Cup at two in favor of freshening up for a campaign in California. He even won the Risen Star in Louisiana at three, prior to being shipped to Florida for the big Derby prep race there. He had seemed to thrive on the shipping and the different types of competition he'd faced. My guess was that the owners and trainer didn't want him to face just one kind of competition, which wouldn't give him anything to challenge.

Gratis was a good horse, and it was disappointing to know that the previous owners didn't let us know that he was still facing the injury. Toby had spotted it, of course, but then again, I wasn't quite looking at the horse. I liked Gratis, sure, but he had tried to take my arm off when I got him home from his former stable. My guess is that he had been slightly mistreated. Already, while here at Whitebrook, his attitude had completely changed, though he was still stubborn and his ornery self. Putting the files in a folder, I put a post-it note on it, asking Toby to take a look at them. Opening the office door, I stepped out into the aisle way of the barn, looking at the activity going on around me. A few of our horses - Daisy's Love, Flame On, Deep Blue, and Fair Review - were all getting prepped to be run at Churchill Downs next week. We preferred to have them ship in early so they could get prepped on the surface and used to it. Ash was excited to ride Flame for the first time, and the big chestnut gelding was a huge sweetheart. He didn't have the best pedigree - or attitude - when we got him as a yearling, which is why we gelded him. He calmed down right away, and to this day, will let you do whatever you want to him.

I strode forward, toward the entrance to the barn and tried turning the corner, only to nearly slam into a young girl, about Ash's age, with the same blonde hair and blue eyes. I smiled apologetically, and helped her pick up the bridles she had dropped. "I'm sorry, are you okay?" My gray eyes met hers, waiting for an answer.