I’m a Barbie Girl-
“Hello?” Olivia answered her cell. She was standing in the stabling area at Aqueduct, near Black Cat Thoroughbred’s four stalls.
“How is he?” Olivia’s sister Raven’s voice came over the phone. Raven was currently situated in Gulfstream with her favorite three year old F Sharp(Faith).
“Fine,” replied Olive, “a little nervous, but he’s been through all of this before.” ‘He’ referred to Tricky Tourist, or Puck, the girl’s first serious racing purchase, and ‘this’ was his first race with them. “Elijah is pulling his hair out, you’d think he was going to be running instead of Puck.” Elijah was the farm’s head trainer.
“He’ll do fine,” Raven said cooly. “I’ve got to go, Faith needs her dinner. Bye.”
The two girls hung up. Raven walked down the aisle at Gulfstream to Faith’s stall. The filly stood at the rear of her stall, watching the activity outside calmly. “Hey Babe,” Raven said softly, “I’ll get you your dinner in a minute, lets just take a walk and stretch those legs first.” She stepped into the stall and clipped a lead to Faith’s halter. This had become their daily ritual, Black Cat was not currently employing enough grooms to go around and so Raven had been taking care of this filly alone. The aloof grey suited Raven just fine, and she was slowly learning to enjoy her company, and look forward to these quiet daily walks.
At Aqueduct things were not nearly so quiet. Elijah was busily trying to prepare two animals to race, and Olivia somehow kept finding herself in the way. “All right!” he finally yelled after Olive managed to upset a pile of buckets yet again. “If you really want to help then go help Sarah with Puck. I’ll finish Diavik and then be over to saddle him up.” Sarah was Black Cat Thoroughbred’s groom, and Eli’s baby sister.
Olive, stifling gigles, did as she was told, and soon sat in the stands as Sarah brought Puck out to his jockey. He looked good, and she hoped he would do well in the 8 furlong steeplechase. After what seemed like an eternity the gate finally opened and they were off. She cheered like she was at a football game, and didn’t even notice what was happening until Puck crossed the finish line. He had led gate to wire, and won. She hurried to greet him as he came off the track. “Perfect!” she said, laughing and giving him a kiss. “Extra carrots for you tonight.”
Olive opted to cool him out herself, and let Eli and Sarah handle Diavik. Puck was still frisky and excited by his race, but she could tell he was tired. “Poor baby,” she crooned. “Wait till you tell the boys back home this one!” she giggled. Puck snorted and bobbed his head in the appropriate places; the friendly gelding was content to be walking with Olive.
Just as Olive returned Puck to his stall Sarah and Eli hurried back with Diavik. “She got fourth!” Exclaimed Sarah, earning her a glare from her brother.
“I’m the trainer, I get to say results!” Eli whined. Then he added, “She got fourth.”
Laughing Olive tried to give Diavik a kiss as well, but the filly shied away. “Silly girl,” Olive muttered, much preferring the company of easy going Puck.
“I’ll cool her out,” Sarah offered, continuing down the aisle with her. Olive nodded turning back to Puck.
“They both did really good, huh?” she asked Eli.
“Yeah,” he answered. “We may have something here.” Olivia continued to watch Puck as he relaxed in his stall. He really was gorgeous, a flashy if average sized chestnut. His reddish coat glistened after his latest grooming.
“Mm-hm, we really do,” she finally answered.