Willow King (16 page)

Cindy was always difficult, but ever since the horse show two years ago—and especially since she'd found out Jason had been spending so much time with Katie—Cindy had become even worse. She constantly found fault with Katie's work, even when there wasn't any, and she threatened to tell her father. Normally, Katie wouldn't have cared, but she needed the facilities to train King, and she enjoyed the company of the people she worked with.

“Daddy won't let me ride any of the racehorses, and you're not any older or better than I am. Why should you get to do it?” Cindy frowned and stood with her hands on her hips, glaring at her.

Katie was at a loss for words. She had assumed anything John wanted to do was okay with the stable owner. It never occurred to her that Mr. Ellis might not know that she had graduated from groom to exercise rider. Now that she thought about it, they had been galloping King very early in the morning. Mr. Ellis usually showed up later to watch the older horses work out. He had never been there when she had come off the track.

John stepped forward and put a lead shank on King, walking him off the track. “You just run along now, Miss Ellis. I say Katie's riding this colt, and that's that.”

“We'll see.” Cindy turned in a huff and ran off toward the house.

“Are we in trouble, John? Can Cindy prevent me from riding Willow King?”

“She can try, but what it all boils down to is what's best for the horse. As long as you do well by this colt, Mr. Ellis won't have any reason to complain about you riding him.” John waited for Katie to slip the bridle from King's head, then he put the halter on and buckled it.

“But he's
my
horse.”

“That may be true, but this is
his
farm, and this colt is running under
his
stable name.”

Katie felt like kicking something, most of all Cindy. Why didn't the girl just leave her alone and mind her own business? What did Cindy care if Katie got to ride on the track? The girl was such a poor rider, she would probably get somebody hurt if she was allowed to exercise the racehorses.

The next morning John surprised Katie by telling her that King was ready for his first timed workout and that she would be the rider aboard.

“We're only going to breeze him a quarter of a mile. I don't want him going full out,” he instructed. “Back him up just a little bit, then gallop him around easy. When you come up on the quarter pole, ease him over to the rail and cluck to him. Leave your whip here, ‘cause I want him working on his own. I don't want you pushing him.”

King must have felt her excitement because he chomped at the bit and pranced all the way to the track. “Easy, boy,” she soothed. “We don't want you running off before it's time. You don't want to make me look bad, do you?”

As she rode King down the backstretch, she spotted a patch of yellow along the rail. Cindy was standing at the fence beside her father and John. The two men had their heads together and seemed to be in a heated argument. Cindy smiled sweetly and waved as Katie rode past.

Katie's heart dropped. Judging by the victorious grin on the brat's face, this would be the last chance she would have to ride King while he was in training. The colt felt the trembling in her hands and jerked at the bit.

“Not now, boy,” she said as she brought the colt under control. “This time we're going to do it perfect.”

When they approached the quarter pole, Katie looked over her shoulder to make sure there wasn't another rider coming up behind her, then eased King down next to the rail. She loosened her reins just a bit and clucked him into a faster stride. When she was fifteen yards from the red-and-white pole, she squatted into a jockey position and let King have his head, being careful to still keep a snug grip on the reins for support. The colt surged ahead, lengthening his stride as the dirt flew under his hooves. Katie felt the sting of his mane as it whipped against her face in a wild frenzy. They were flying!

All too soon, they passed the finish line. Katie stood up in the irons, letting King run a few more strides before she started to slow him from his blazing pace. If he were pulled up too quickly, he could seriously injure himself. She gently applied pressure on the bit, speaking softly to him, easing him back a little at a time. King acted as if he wanted to continue his run, but he responded to Katie's commands, slowing to a gallop, then pulling into a trot, then a walk.

“Good going, Katie,” John said as he stepped up to grab King. The colt pranced off the racetrack, dragging John with him. “Whoa there, fella. No need to be getting headstrong just because you had a good workout.”

“How'd he do?” Katie was excited, but she was also afraid to hear what Mr. Ellis might have to say.

“He worked in twenty-three and change,” Mr. Ellis said. “Not bad for a colt's first breeze. That's better time than some of my older horses are working in.” He looked to the trainer and nodded his head. “I think she'll do, John. Just keep going as you have been. If problems arise, we'll handle them when we come to them.”

Katie sat up straighter on King and gave the stable owner a big smile. “I won't let you down, Mr. Ellis.”

“I know you won't, Katie.”

Cindy sulked behind her father. For once, she hadn't gotten her way. Katie waited until both the adults' heads were turned, then gave in to a childish urge. She turned to Cindy and stuck out her tongue, making a horrible face in the process. If Jason were here, he would call her a Stooge, but she didn't care; it felt good.

As the summer wore on, Katie didn't see much of Cindy, except when Jason was around, but she knew that Cindy wasn't done with her yet. Somewhere, her jealousy would raise its ugly head, and then there would be a price to pay.

King was to be shipped to Portland Downs racetrack in August, so he could be readied for the September meet. He had to have two officially timed workouts on record before he could start in his first race. John and Mr. Ellis also wanted to put a few races into the colt before the big Futurity.

Once at the track, King would be introduced to his new rider. Katie didn't have her gallop license yet, and no one was allowed on the track without a valid track identification. Besides, she would be in school then, and Portland was an hour away. She didn't have a license to drive a car either, so it would be impossible for her to get back and forth.

King worked well through the summer. He had grown in muscle and height, and he was moving well out of the starting gates. The only worry John had was for his legs. Most colts usually bucked their shins within the first sixty days of hard training.

“It's kind of like shin splints for an athlete,” John explained. “They get a warm, painful swelling on the front of their cannon bone, and they have to be laid off for at least thirty days. Fortunately, it rarely ever happens to them twice.”

One day as she was finishing up late, Katie heard footsteps coming up the shed row. The horses had been put to rest hours ago. It was unusual for someone to be in the barn at this time of night. One of the grooms always did a check around ten o'clock, but that was still an hour away.

She fastened King's bandage and stood to greet whoever was there. She rose just in time to see Cindy open the tack room door, looking in both directions before she quickly stepped inside.

Katie's curiosity was piqued. What was Cindy doing in the race barn? All of her tack was kept in the upper stable.

Katie ducked down to see through the crack in King's stall door. Cindy wouldn't be able to see her. Within a few minutes, Cindy emerged with a race bridle and one of the exercise saddles over her arm. She quickly closed the tack room door and hurried down the shed row.

Katie let herself out of King's stall and followed at a safe distance. She peeked around the corner and saw Cindy disappear into a stall halfway up the barn. A few minutes later, she led a horse out. It was Jester, and he was wearing the racetrack gear.

Katie pulled back quickly when Cindy mounted and turned Jester down the aisle. She ran back to King's stall and waited.

In a few moments, Cindy rode past. She had her irons raised to the height the exercise riders used, and she was trying—not very successfully—to stand in the stirrups the way the jockeys did.

What was she trying to prove? Katie wondered. Was she hoping to get good enough that her father would let her gallop his racehorses? The day that happened was the day Katie would stop riding at Willow Run. Cindy Ellis on horseback was an accident waiting to happen.

Her heart went out to Jester, but she told herself that the day was swiftly approaching when she would be able to get Jester back. She waited until Cindy and Jester turned the corner, then quickly let herself out of the barn.

As August came, John wanted to give King one last breeze before they sent him to the big track, so Katie was up early on a Saturday morning to ride. Jason had promised to stop by and watch the workout before he left for a cutting horse show in Portland. She hoped Cindy was staying in bed. It was always uncomfortable when the three of them were together.

On the way to King's barn, she stopped by to say hello to Jester and give him a treat, but he wasn't in his stall. She thought it odd but figured that with the nice weather he had been left out in the pasture overnight.

Jason was helping John tack up King when Katie arrived at the barn.

“Are you ready to set a new land speed record?” Jason teased.

John adjusted the pads and placed the saddle on King's back. “Don't be giving her any crazy ideas. I want a slow workout today.” He tightened the girth, then signaled for Jason to give Katie a leg up.

Jason grinned as he helped her onto the horse. Katie could feel her cheeks burning. She felt giddy inside when he smiled at her like that.

“Good luck, Katie. Show 'em what you got.” Jason gave her a thumbs-up sign.

“Thanks.” She smiled and turned her concentration to King. This was an important day. She couldn't afford to divide her attention.

John gave her instructions on the way to the track.

“I want a nice, easy breeze for a half mile. Nothing fancy, just enough to leg him up for his official work at the big track.” He stopped before they entered the gate. “Make sure he doesn't get away from you, girl. He's got some heat in those legs. We don't need him bucking his shins now. We need to get him in one of the first races, so we have a race date under our belt. If he wants to blow his shins after that, we can afford to give him a month off, but not now.”

Katie nodded and gathered her reins. King had a nervous edge to him this morning. He pranced and threw his head around, straining at the bit. Each time a horse would race past him on the inside rail, he would jump, trying to get away from Katie so he could go with the other horse.

“Whoa, boy. What's eating you today? You ready to take on the world?”

She had to backtrack him an extra quarter mile to get him settled down, but when she turned and trotted him off, he seemed more relaxed. On her first pass down the back, she noticed Mr. Ellis standing by the outside rail. She smiled at him in the early morning light and held King to his steady pace.

As she galloped down the front stretch, with almost three furlongs to go before she hit the half-mile pole, King flicked his ears and threw his head in the air, trying to snatch the bit from her grip. “What the—?” Katie muttered to herself as she knuckled him back under control and looked about for the cause of his spooking. A moment later she heard a loud cry and looked over her right shoulder to see Cindy on horseback, swooping down upon them.

As Cindy flew past on the outside rail, spurring her horse, Katie noticed with horror that the poor beast was Jester. The only resemblance the animal bore to her once-beloved horse was the white star on his forehead. Everything else about him had a wild look. His eyes were rolling back and forth so the whites showed, and he was drenched in sweat from head to hoof. White foam flecked from his mouth and blew on them as he passed.

“Catch us if you can, slowpokes!” Cindy yelled as she flew past them.

King wasn't used to having a fast-working horse approach him from the outside, and the screaming and pounding of hooves spooked him out of his calmness. He tossed his head in the air again and again until he almost unseated Katie, then he grabbed the bit and surged ahead, trying to catch Jester.

Katie stood in the irons and pulled with all her might, but it wasn't enough to slow the colt. King flattened his ears against his head and ran full out, his legs pumping like pistons, until he caught up to Cindy. Jester was no racehorse; he knew when he was beaten and he tried to lessen his pace, but Cindy drew her whip and flogged him.

King leaped ahead and continued to open the distance between them. This was the first time he had ever raced against another horse and he was in his glory.

This couldn't be happening. It was like a bad dream that she couldn't wake from. Katie continued to stand in the stirrups. She was going faster than she ever had aboard a horse. If she hadn't been so miserable, she might have enjoyed it, but she knew what the fast pace would do to King's legs. Especially over the distance they were traveling.

Jester finally dropped out, making it easier for her to slow King down. By the time she broke his pace, he had traveled a mile at the wretchedly fast clip. She pulled him up on the back side of the track. King took several faltering steps. By the time they reached the exit gate, the colt was limping so badly that she had to dismount.

Tears streamed down her face, but she didn't have any more control over them than she had over King's wild workout.

Jason grabbed the reins and quieted King, while John pulled the saddle off.

“It wasn't your fault, Katie girl. You did everything you could,” John assured her.

She could barely talk for the tears choking her throat. “It doesn't matter whose fault it was, John. King is injured, and now we're not going to be able to get him in an early race. How could Cindy do that? Where is she?” Katie turned, looking frantically around the stable area.