Victory and the All-Stars Academy (12 page)

“It's all right for her to say ‘take the short route through the water',” Stella complained as they arrived back at the horse trucks. “But the long route is much easier—isn't it better to get a few time faults rather than have a refusal and get twenty faults?”

“I don't know.” Charlotte shrugged. “If Tara says we should do it then maybe the fast route isn't as tough as it looks.”

“At least we're not going first,” said Laura. “We can watch the Super Roos and see what they do.”

In the starting box next to the showjumping ring Captain Campbell was lined up and ready to ride. Bendigo Queen was wearing her tendon boots and there was thick white cream smeared all the way down the front of her forelegs, to help her slide over the jumps on the cross-country.

All eyes were on Shane as the flag dropped and Bendigo Queen cantered out of the starting box.

“Go, Shane!” Stella shouted.

“Oh, whatever!” snapped Morgan.

“What's up with you?” Stella frowned.

“Nothing. I just wonder whose side you're on sometimes,” Morgan replied.

In the showjumping ring Shane Campbell was proving exactly why he was the captain of the Australian team. He was making the showjumping round look easy as Bendigo Queen took each fence cleanly, without so much as even rocking a pole in its brackets.

There was a round of applause as Shane left the show ring with a clear round and galloped across the arena into the pit stop.

Minka and three of his teammates were there waiting. Dobbo held Bendigo Queen's reins while Nicky helped Shane unbutton his jacket and Kylie stood by holding the back protector and the helmet, ready to help him with his quick change.

“Hey!” Stella said, pouting. “Why are the girls dressing him?”

Issie looked over at the showjumping ring where Bret was already beginning his round. “That's because the girls are the last to ride. You have to rotate your pit team and the others can't help right now because they're too busy getting ready to compete.”

Stella put her hands on her hips in a mock fury. “I'm not interested in excuses! I'm going to go over there and tell them to get their hands off my boyfriend!”

“You'll have to be quick,” Kate grinned. “He's off again!” She looked at her watch. “He got changed in one minute and three seconds!”

Shane checked his stopwatch as he pressed the mare on through the gates towards the cross-country course. He had been slow in the pit stop and he knew he would need to set a fast pace if he wanted to make it home without time faults.

Bendigo Queen took the hayfeeder as if it wasn't even there and galloped on to the next fence, the trakehner, flying over that just as easily. They took the fence after that at a gallop too.

“Delaney's course is riding better than I expected,” Avery told the girls as Shane and Bendigo Queen took
jump number six, the corner combination, and headed on towards the water complex.

At the water they took the direct route, just as Tara had said the riders should. Bendigo Queen took the first fence with ease, but as the mare hit the water, she stumbled. Shane tried to pull her back up to her feet and line her up to take the brush, but the angle was tight and the jump was so narrow. The bay mare tried to baulk, then changed her mind as Shane urged her harder and jumped. It was a messy take-off. She lurched forward and her front legs made it over the fence, but her hindquarters didn't. Dragging her legs over, the mare twisted and tumbled. There were shrieks of horror from the sidelines as Bendigo Queen went down on her back in the water—with Shane Campbell trapped underneath her.

On the sidelines the All-Stars had watched in horror as Bendigo Queen fell on top of Shane. Stella let out a strangled shriek and immediately began to run towards the water jump, with Avery right beside her.

Bendigo Queen was already back up on her feet before they could reach her. She looked terrified, the whites of her eyes showing as she stood quivering in the water, but she was clearly unharmed. Miraculously, Shane was still holding on to her reins as he stood up beside her. He had emerged from beneath the murky pond surface gasping for air and soaked to the skin, but otherwise unhurt.

Ryan reached his side first, and took the reins to
lead Bendigo Queen out of the way while Shane searched in the muddy water for his whip which had floated off when they fell. As he waded out of the water, Stella came rushing up to him. Issie couldn't hear what they were saying, but it was clear from the way that Shane was vigorously shaking his head and pointing at the jumps with his whip that he was angry with himself and bitterly disappointed with the fall.

When an ambulance arrived moments later at the side of the water jump, Shane waved it off and insisted that he was all right to walk. He had retired from the competition. There was no point in continuing after his dunking. Any fall on a cross-country course kills a rider's chances by adding sixty faults. Shane Campbell's score would be of no use to the Super Roos today.

As the other Super Roos began to attempt the course, however, many of their scores were no better. The three riders that did try to take the short route into the water complex like Shane were all eliminated. The water was proving to be the real bogey fence, but there were other problems with the course too. Nicky had a clear round, but was over the time and Kylie
incurred faults when her horse had a run-out at the corner combination at jump number six. Bret had two refusals at the country-style wooden gates which comprised fence fifteen, earning him forty faults, plus time faults.

Avery had been right about the event being decided on the cross-country field. The Super Roos who did actually finish the course were incurring massive penalties. The Australian team had previously looked hard to beat. But they had been totally annihilated by the cross-country course. Now the All-Stars' target was within their sights as the Super Roos sat on a group score of 262 points!

There was every chance that the All-Stars could win now, but the mood in their camp was far from cocky. As Kate lined up on Costa in the starting box, Avery gave her some last-minute advice on how to handle the course. Then Kate gave a nod to indicate she was ready to go. There was a bang and the flag dropped and Costa sprang forward from the box, riding against the clock.

Stella, Morgan and Issie were off and running too. The three girls were the last ones in their team to ride,
which meant they were the first ones in the pit stop with Tara. This was totally different to their practice sessions back at Havenfields. This was the real thing. In a few minutes Kate and Costa would be in the pit stop and the clock would be ticking. They had to be prepared and there was no room for silly mistakes.

Kate got the team off to a brilliant start in the showjumping ring. She was always strong in the showjumping phase and the big half-Clydesdale Costa was a naturally careful jumper. The partnership left the jumping arena with a clear round and as they galloped into the pit stop, they were actually ahead of the clock!

Kate vaulted down from Costa's back, Issie grabbed the reins and Stella and Morgan raced forward holding her cross-country gear.

Kate stripped off her jacket and then Stella began to dress her in the jersey while Morgan stood ready with the back protector to slide over the top. There was a moment's panic when the jersey got stuck on Kate's head.

“Here!” Morgan said. “Let me help!”

“Got it already!” Stella snapped at her.

There was lots of fumbling to get the back protector Velcroed on, and then Stella and Morgan found themselves both scrabbling for the helmet. Morgan let go, raising her hands to show that she surrendered, and let Stella take over.

“Stella?” Morgan said as she watched her doing up the helmet straps. “I'm really sorry for what I said before—being mean about your boyfriend and all that. I felt really bad about giving you a hard time, especially when he crashed at the water.”

“That's OK,” said Stella. “I understand why you got upset. But honestly, just because I'm going out with Shane doesn't mean I don't still want us to win…”

“Hey, you two!” snapped Tara. “Can you have your little kiss-and-make-up conversation later? Where are the gloves? We're running against the clock here!”

There was a mad search as everyone realised the gloves had gone missing, and much relief when Issie found them hidden underneath Kate's showing jacket.

It had been a slow pit stop—seventy seconds. Any lead that Kate had gained in the showjumping ring had just been lost.

“It doesn't matter,” Tara said as they watched her take the hayfeeder. “She can make it up on the course.”

Kate didn't look hell-bent on making up the time, however. She rode at a solid pace, taking all the fences as fast as she could, without losing her head. At the corner combination she acted sensibly, knowing that many riders had incurred run-outs here, and slowed right down to a steady canter to take the angles with ease. At the water jump, despite Tara's instructions to stick to the fast route, she took the longer option. Issie looked at Tara's face as Kate cantered down the bank rather than jumping the double brush route and saw her frown.

“She's lost ten seconds there.” Tara shook her head.

But at least she hasn't had a fall or a refusal
, Issie thought to herself. With the Super Roos' tally of four riders eliminated, suddenly it seemed more important to get round clear than it did to make a good time.

By fence number nineteen it did look like Kate was going to go clear. She leapt over the wooden bridge and galloped hard for the last fence of the course, the flower bed.

But the burst of speed came too late. Even though she had managed the first clear round of the day, she definitely had time faults.

Tara shook her head as she clicked her stopwatch. “She's more than a minute over.”

“How bad is that?” asked Stella.

“There's a time fault for every five seconds that you are over,” Tara said.

Kate's time faults had earned her an extra eighteen faults. Added to her dressage score it gave her a total of sixty-eight. It was good enough to give them hope, but with seven riders to come, there were no guarantees that the All-Stars would win.

“If we all take it slowly though, and no one gets any refusals or a fall, then our group score would be good enough to win it, wouldn't it?” Issie reasoned.

Morgan shook her head. “We can't rely on getting four totally clear rounds. That's just not going to happen with the difficulty factor of this course. Even with eight of us riding. You've seen how tough it is out there. We have to take risks or we won't beat them.”

There was no time to debate tactics at this stage. Charlotte, the next All-Stars rider, was already on the
cross-country course, and Laura was under way in the showjumping ring. Stella had already raced back to the trailers to get ready to ride, and as Kate came sprinting across the arena to take over the duties in the pit stop, Morgan ran off to get Arista ready.

The next half-hour was a rollercoaster ride as the fortunes of the All-Stars rose and fell on the cross-country course. Charlotte almost came to grief a couple of times and took the long, slow route through the water complex. In the end though she went clear with just a few time faults. Her solid dressage score meant she was on sixty-nine points.

Laura and Emily came next, and the two sisters, renowned for their cross-country skills, both came unexpectedly unstuck. Laura decided to take the short route at the water, but her chestnut mare disagreed, dumping her suddenly in front of the second element, giving her an instant sixty faults for the fall. It wasn't a dramatic tumble like Shane's, but the result was the same—Laura retired, wet and shaken.

Emily didn't fare much better. Her Skewbald, Jigsaw, caught a leg at the trakehner and injured himself. It wasn't a bad cut, but it looked grim with
blood streaming down his foreleg, and because of this, the stewards were obliged to pull her up and ask her to retire.

Issie was in the warm-up arena getting Victory ready to ride when Dee Dee entered the start gates. “Wish me luck, roomie!” Dee Dee gave her a wave. But it turned out that Dee Dee didn't need luck—she had skill instead, and it showed. Her showjumping round was clear and her cross-country was also clear. Dee Dee had taken Floyd on the long route at the water and at the bridge, chalking up two minutes of time faults, but even so, her brilliant dressage score kept her ahead and she made it home with only sixty-six points. The best so far that day!

With three really strong rounds so far and three riders to go, things couldn't have been more tense as Stella entered the start box.

The Super Roos had a total score of 262. So far, counting their three best scores, the All-Stars had accumulated 203 points. The lowest team score on the day would win it, so the All-Stars needed to score less than 262 total. That meant they needed one of their remaining riders to score less than sixty to bring the cup home.

Even before Stella set off, Issie knew that she could never make it. It wasn't that Issie didn't have faith in her friend—it was simply impossible for her to do it. Although her test was tidy, Stella's dressage score was one of the worst of the day. She already had a hefty sixty-two points on the board and Woody wasn't the fastest horse at cross-country. There was absolutely no way she could deliver a winning score.

“Are you ready?” Avery asked Stella in the box. “Get set…go!”

Watching Stella from the warm-up ring behind the start box, Morgan had figured out the same maths and realised, just like Issie, that Stella couldn't save this competition for them. No. It had to be Morgan or Issie. Both of them currently sat on solid dressage scores. Morgan's dressage test had left her with just forty-five points. Issie's test had been slightly less good so her total was forty-eight. That put both of them in with a chance of beating the sixty-point margin. Neither of them could afford a refusal on the cross-country—that would cost them a massive twenty faults. And they couldn't afford to go too slowly either. Too many time faults would be enough to push them
over the tipping point as well.

“Are you ready, Morgan?” Avery reached out a hand to lead Arista by the reins into the start box. Morgan cast a sideways glance at Issie.

“It's down to you and me now, huh?” She took a deep breath.

“Good luck out there,” Issie said to her.

“You too,” said Morgan. Then she turned her eyes to the showjumping arena ahead.

“Are you ready, Morgan?” Avery asked again.

“I'm ready.”

“Get set…go!” Avery called and the stopwatches were set. Morgan was off!

Issie watched as Morgan and Arista made their way around the showjumping ring. On the sidelines she could see Araminta Chatswood-Smith holding her breath before every single jump, willing her daughter to do well. There was so much riding on this for Morgan, and Issie could see it in her mother's eyes. The will to win, the determination to be the very best, was so strong in their family. What must it be like to ride with such pressure on you?

Either the pressure was too much for Morgan or it
was just bad luck. When Arista reached the treble—the last combination in the ring—she dropped one back leg over the middle element. The tap was enough to send a rail falling. Four faults were now on the board. There were another four faults at the oxer and then on the last jump Arista's leg sagged again and another rail fell. Twelve faults. Morgan's total score now sat on fifty-seven.

“Can she still make it?” Issie asked Avery. Her instructor looked at his watch. “I doubt it. Her time isn't good enough and she knows it. She's slow in the pit stop right now. Even if she races through the cross-country phase, it's going to be almost impossible because of time faults.”

Issie felt the bottom of her stomach drop away as Avery said this. The All-Stars' hopes were riding on her now. She needed to tackle the course with everything she had and bring Victory home fast and clear to win.

In the start box Issie's hands were shaking as she reached over to reset her stopwatch. Every second was going to count on this ride and she would have one eye on the clock the whole time.

“Are you ready, Issie?” Avery asked her as she lined Victory up and focused on the fences ahead.

“Ready.”

“Then get set and…go!”

From the moment that Victory shot forward from the start box, Issie felt like her body was running on pure adrenalin. She was still calm and clear-sighted, but her mind was in overdrive, her muscles primed to react as she approached the first showjump with a perfect stride and popped Victory straight over it.

Beneath her the brown gelding was keyed up too and ready to perform. This was when the quality of a schoolmaster like Victory really showed through. With the crowds cheering all around him, the horse knew that this wasn't a practice run. He sensed the pressure in the atmosphere, but wasn't fazed. As the applause followed him from fence to fence, he rose to the occasion, taking the jumps with perfect poise.

Issie was riding him beautifully, never missing a beat. As they came down to the final fence and took it cleanly, there was a huge cheer from the stands. They were clear through the showjumping phase and on their way to the pit stop. Only the cross-country could stop them now!

In the pit stop Issie flung herself down to the ground, landing nimbly on her feet as Kate took Victory's reins and Laura and Emily rushed forward to help her dress.