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Racing Dreams

Lightning Fortune Horse

By Ulysses TuggyPublished 10 months ago 24 min read
1

Maya loved weekend walks down the trail behind her house in Fayette County, Kentucky.

After a rained-in week of school and two stormy weekends in a row keeping her indoors, she could not be happier about the first Saturday of April being so sunny and bright.

Lily, her Yorkshire Terrier, turned her dainty nose up as she waited for Maya to finish gathering the choicest clover and green grass on her family's little rental property as it swayed in the afternoon breeze.

She heard the soft damp thudding of approaching hoof falls.

"Howdy," Maya called out to the demure mare and old gelding now standing at the fence, shoulder to shoulder and exactly one post apart, bay and chestnut respectively, both of them retired racing Thoroughbreds.

"Y'all like two peas in a pod," Maya remarked as she smiled and presented the chestnut gelding's favorite clover, fresh from the sunniest side of her house, "I know you're mighty picky, Lucky Break, but I'm sure there's some four-leafs in this here..." Lucky Break was already eating out of her hand as she spoke, tickling her dirty fingers with his whiskers. She laughed and petted the Derby contender's nose.

"And for you, Fortune's Lady," Maya said as she offered a gift of wind-brushed and sun-warmed grass to the mare of the pair.

As Fortune's Lady ate quietly, Maya could not help noticing that the bay mare was thinner since last she saw her, looking tired but calm and content. She must have finally borne her foal sometime in the last two weeks.

She thought about her new foal, likely having been cooped during those storms just as much as Maya had been, waiting for the sun to stay a while, provided the Lord was willing and the creek didn't rise.

"I'd stay and chat a bit more, sir and ma'am," Maya said as Fortune's Lady finished the last of her neighborly offering, "but..."

She peeked over Fortune's Lady's shoulder toward the trees, the barn, and the seemingly endless fields of green beyond, all interspersed with matching fences. She was hoping to see a sign of that new foal, but all she saw over yonder were her usual four-legged neighbors roaming around.

Lily yapped and reared up on Maya's pant leg.

"All right, all right," Maya bend down to pet Lily, "we're off."

The neighboring Jamesons had a lot of acres for their horses to roam over so it was quite a walk to to cross their property on the way to the Langfords', but Maya still took time to lean on the fence posts here and there, watching the horses near and far as they roamed, grazed, even raced each other with all the whimsy of the wind. Just being out there was a joy to her like no other and she took it all in, no matter how impatient Lily became all the while.

Further into her walk, with the shadows stretched a little further out from the fence-side tree branches to give Maya a little shade as she went, she noticed something peculiar at the corner of the Jamesons' land where it met the Langfords'.

One of the rails on the Jamesons's perimeter fence had fallen down.

Just as Maya noticed that, she heard a spirited galloping from behind her in the distance somewhere past the grove of oaks and buckeyes and plum trees. The sound was light, yet she realized it was coming from closer than she had thought. She started to turn around as Lily suddenly barked then darted to the side.

The hairs stood up on the back of Maya's neck. Before she knew it, she had already leaped into a sideways rolling tumble right alongside Lily, making way just in time for the small bay blur that galloped by the both of them like a bolt of lightning.

The bay colt stopped and reared, all spring to his gangly steps. He was all ears around the bristly fuzz of his mane, fresh and wild just like springtime grass. After a brief pause, he spooked, rearing up with hooves out.

Maya couldn't help but giggle even as she caught her breath and brushed the dirt off her arm and shoulder.

"Whoa there," Maya said with outstretched hands as she rose, "whoa!"

Lily barked once, but to Maya's surprise, it was the bark that caught the colt's attention, making his ears prick up as he approached her brave little Yorkie.

Lily wagged her bushy tail and lifted her chin as high as it could go. The flighty colt dipped his own muzzle down until they touched, nose to nose.

Maya looked up and down the road, relieved that there was, so far, no sign of any cars, tractors, or any other potential trouble that she and her newest neighbor might get into if she couldn't get him back to the other side of the fence in time.

"Howdy," Maya started to slowly reach out with an eager smile, "I'm Maya, your next-door neighbor. How'd y'all get out here anyhow?"

Lily barked out a disapproving warning, but it was too late and the truce was off. The flighty colt snorted, twisted in place, and kicked up wet dirt with a Thoroughbred gallop through and through, easy and fast like greased lightning.

As Maya winced and wiped the speckles of mud from her face, a spirited motherly whinny sounded out from behind her that also caught the colt's attention.

Fortune's Lady had come galloping up from the other side of the fence. She seemed anxious, frustrated, and worried about her wayward son and the mischief he had already been up to.

Maya wagged her finger at the colt. "That's right," she said, staying put to avoid provoking him into dashing off again, "listen to your mama. She's worried, and so am I. No more mischief, ya hear? Let me find something to leash you up, get you home..."

Lily advanced on her own, doing a play bow and straining her leash. That made the colt dip his head, following her motion.

Maya took a risk and reached for the colt, touching the slightest bit of the bay fuzz of his brand new baby coat.

He whinnied, spun around her in tight circles, and almost trampled over Lily before bolting off again.

Maya grunted in frustration, Lily barked her disapproval, and Fortune's Lady whinnied in ongoing distress.

The colt was once again out of reach, now even further along the roadside.

Maya took a moment to think, remembering books and her movies and her shows, and recalled how much foals seemed to like scritches, especially over the top of their tails.

She pretended to lose interest in the naughty colt, instead wandering under the shade of the oak tree bent over the fence.

"I got this, don't you worry," Maya assured Fortune's Lady as she spotted a sufficiently long stick on the ground that was just within her reach past the Jamesons' fence. She then cleared her throat, intending to command her Yorkie for a change instead of the way things usually went on their walks.

"Sit!"

Lily complied, even if she was probably still annoyed about the shenanigans leading up to that moment.

"Beg!"

Lily dutifully raised her paws, drawing the colt's attention just as Maya hoped.

"Speak!"

Lily's barks came out like operetta verses, prim enough to intrigue instead of startle the colt. Maya's confidence in Lily was not misplaced.

The colt wandered closer to Lily with his ears swiveling forward and nose dipping down.

Maya anticipated another mud-flinging skedaddle, but to her relief, when her stick made contact and scratched around the colt's tail, he leaned into it.

"That's right," Maya said with returned confidence in her cheeky smile, "I got plenty more where that came from. Just relax. Good boy."

The colt backed up slowly, his ears swiveling toward her cautiously, but he seemed to decide that he wanted more of that stick.

His mother was quiet, maybe even holding her own breath with anticipation, as Maya dropped the stick and scritched with her fingers.

So far, so good.

With her other hand, she carefully unclipped Lily's leash and encircled the colt's skinny neck, twisting the ends of the lead rope to make the loop smaller and more secure.

Unfortunately, the colt liked the sensation of leash less than he liked the scritching, and he started to rear and buck in place.

If he had pulled just a little harder, Maya would have gone straight into the dirt.

Maya held her ground all the same, doing her best to be like those horse whisperers she had watched, going with his movement instead of against it. As long as he didn't panic or build up momentum, she had this.

As the colt eased down just a little, she started scritching him again, and Fortune's Lady nickered soothingly and not a moment too soon. That calmed the colt and he accepted some more scritching in return for putting up with that leash a bit longer.

"Let's bring you back to mama," Maya said as she guided him along, slowly and patiently.

So far so good, but the colt still acted very uncertain about the leash. He was too young to know how to lead yet, so this was all new to him.

When Maya brought him up to the fence, his mother nuzzled him, and Maya bit her lip.

"All right, now what?" Maya asked herself out loud. She looked back the way she came, and saw how far off the gate still was in the distance, sighed, and decided to take the chance.

"C'mon, pardner," she gently urged the colt along, nice and slow.

The colt obliged so far, looking annoyed but following along without too much fight, and his mama followed along from across the fence with a snort here and there.

A minute later, Maya felt him gathering steam for another run, but she walked him in a little circle to distract him and keep him from trying anything funny.

Their little dance repeated, step by step, a few times more, until she finally she brought the wayward colt all the way up to the Jamesons' gate. After catching her breath and hoping the colt didn't try anything funny while she did, Maya pushed the button on it and spoke into the box while Fortune's Lady swished and fretted on the other side of the gate.

"Ms. Goldey," Maya started, invoking the name of the Jamesons' ever-present farm manager, someone that she had met only a couple of times, and usually only saw from afar. She felt kind of shy about talking to her, especially under the present circumstances, but at least Lily was already raising her paws to keep the colt's attention. "This is Maya, your next-door neighbor. I'm sorry to be a bother, but I think Fortune's Lady's new colt broke loose. I have a handle on him... for now... but could you..."

"Lightning's Fortune? Again? Oh, naughty boy!" Ms. Goldey said through the speaker, which startled the colt just enough that Maya had to hold on just a little tighter all the while, coming that much closer to trying the full extent of a dog leash and a 15-year-old's strength. "Much obliged, dear. Be right out."

"Lightning's Fortune, huh?" Maya addressed the naughty colt by his name for the first time. Unlike when Ms. Goldey said it, hearing it from Maya's lips seemed to calm him instead of rile him up, which was fortunate because Ms. Goldey was taking her sweet time limping out to the gate.

Ms. Goldey had her gray-streaked chestnut hair all braided up, her squinting wrinkled face lightly toasted like a cinnamon bun. She wore her frumpiest frayed flannels and jeans, all in all looking dressed up for reclining with a good book rather than forking hay or handling stray colts.

The old lady finally made it up to the gate and took a moment to affectionately brush Fortune's Lady's mane before she swiveled her neck as if it were a hinge to peek her sharp amber eyes toward the trouble waiting for her past the gate.

"Howdy, Maya," Ms. Goldey greeted, then she bent slightly down and to the side, "howdy, Lily."

Lily barked her howdy back as Ms. Goldey opened up the gate and limped closer.

"And as for you, little feller," she said as she reached out toward the wayward colt with a smooth but confident lunge, putting a little more strain on her bad leg than usual but also demonstrating decades worth of quiet mastery of her trade with every motion, "so help me, I'm gonna learn ya."

Maya stepped back and watched Ms. Goldey's body language, using confidence and assertiveness alone to drive the colt with the force of a whole posse of wranglers, giving him no opening to turn to but the open gate where he belonged.

Lightning's Fortune sped off through the gate, reunited at last with his mother.

"And they're off," Ms. Goldey said as she clapped the dust off of her hands and smiled down to Maya in a way that was conspicuously wider than she had ever seen from her before.

"You and that there colt are like two peas in a pod," Ms. Goldey remarked with that sunny burnt-cinnamon smile all the while, "one of you horse crazy and the other a crazy horse. Bless your hearts."

Maya giggled at that, but as she did, she was surprised by Ms. Goldey reaching into her pocket to press a warm damp bill into Maya's hand.

"Twenty dollars," Ms. Goldey announced, "for the trouble. Much obliged."

Before Maya could say anything more, Ms. Goldey had already swiveled her head back the way she came, looking over the new mother and her new son running happily together. "Goodness, that little feller's got more run in him than Carter's got little pills."

"He sure does," Maya nodded along as she kneeled down to pet Lily to soothe her agitation about the prolonged stop on what was supposed to be their routine weekend walk.

"Say," Ms. Goldey glanced back toward Maya, "got any experience with groomin' horses? How about with muckin'?"

"None in particular," Maya started saying with a sinking feeling she didn't have the skills that Ms. Goldey was looking for, "but..."

"But nothin', dear," Ms. Goldey interrupted, her smile maintained, "I'll learn ya, if you're up to it. Provided your folks approve and you got the time between your studies, I could use another pair of hands around the barn... especially with Thunder Over Louisville comin' up. How's that sound?"

"That sounds wonderful!" Maya reached out to shake the old lady's hand with both of her own. She had a belly full of butterflies and already felt like she was floating off of the ground. "Thank you, thank you, Ms. Goldey..."

"See you tomorrow mornin,' then," Ms. Goldey said, "for now, you better git going before Lily drags you away."

Maya resumed her walk with Lily, but she could hardly think about anything else but what tomorrow would bring. In her imagination and with a heart full of hope, she was already hearing Derby bugles between her ears...

***

Maya's next two years ran by as fast as races. Before she knew it, she had been promoted to exercise rider for the Jamesons' stable. Ms. Goldey's limp had gotten a little worse all the while, which made her trust in Maya more and more as the seasons came and went.

It seemed like only yesterday that Maya was pulling Lightning's Fortune back to the gate with a little dog leash, and now the professionals had come from over yonder and were now putting the precocious colt through the most rigorous 30 training days of his young life.

Maya was there whenever she could be during those 30 days, attentive and eager to volunteer, even if it meant fetching things from the barn, cleaning equipment, or discouraging mischief from her favorite charge.

Near the end of those 30 days, the Jamesons' colt starter and family friend, Anne, took notice enough of Maya to ask her to ride Lightning's Fortune in a fake race against a 2-year-old peer.

"Jog him for a half mile," she instructed Maya with a rosy smile beneath her gold-trimmed blue helmet and behind her polarized eyewear, "then breeze him for a half mile, then walk back him back to the barn, slowly, so he doesn't get in the habit of running back home."

Maya rode Lightning's Fortune onto the track just as she was told to do, taking no risks and following those instructions to the letter. The jogging was going well, but as soon as she turned him the right side of the track and signaled for just a little more speed, he dashed like an unbottled bolt of bay lightning instead, blasting past his counterpart with a prideful snort.

"Whoa, Lightning!" Maya pulled and pulled at his reins, trying to pull him down to a medium gallop, "whoa!"

Lightning's Fortune finally obliged after having his fun, but Maya's sense of exhilaration didn't stop there. Her heart was still racing as she brought him back to Anne.

She hoped she wasn't in too much trouble; an exercise rider was supposed to develop an internal clock and be strong enough to keep the horse down to the right pace per furlong.

But they had just gone so fast.

She couldn't even be sure, between colt and rider, which of them just had more fun.

"Did you see that?" Maya said, very near hollering, "did you see how fast..."

"I sure did," Anne said, "and it was not quite the plan I had in mind, but... I have to admit, your little Lightning has a competitive streak for sure..."

Maya nodded and she felt her heart skip a beat as she sensed that Anne's eyes were looking right at her through those polarized lenses.

"...And so do you."

***

After Anne said her goodbyes to Ms. Goldey and departed from the Jamesons' estate, Lightning's Fortune moved to Keeneland with an official racing trainer. Maya remained his official weekend groom and exercise rider. All throughout training sessions, fake races, and sometimes just routine chores, Maya was there whenever she could be. When she was, her parents and Lily came when they could, cheering her on.

One day, she had what felt like dang near half the countryside's eyes on her just before the start of Lightning's maiden race. She was anxious and felt those old butterflies flapping around under her skin, but her colt seemed calm, but ready to impress.

Crouched over his back in the starting gate, she reminded herself to breathe. Every nerve in her body felt like lightning was tracing along it and she felt the electricity in him, too. His whole body was coiled like a snake about to strike.

When the doors sprang open, they were out in a flash, but not quite as fast as Maya anticipated as she got a faceful of dust from horses ahead.

The competing pack hurtled towards the first turn. Maya did her best to let her years of training take the reins inside her head and she felt her muscles act instictively, guiding and urging him on.

Even so, Lightning seemed to falter a bit more when another horse cut him off. Worse, the yelling crowd started to distract him, and yet another competitor pushed past.

"Tarnation, Lightning," Maya muttered under her breath, not even hearing her own words because of the mighty thudding of hooves around her, "where's that competitive streak?"

She clucked her tongue several times, and as if that was all her colt needed to hear, he started to go like a runaway train, gaining on his competition one by one, with so much power rumbling beneath Maya that she could barely keep her balance on him. He was going so fast that the crowd became a blur, and the thunder of hooves to dirt was all she could hear between her ears.

All she could do is hold on and hold tight... until she realized her eyes were squeezed shut.

When she opened her eyes amid the hooting and hollering past the finish line, she realized they had, somehow, won his first race.

By two lengths.

***

"Tarnation," Mrs. Jameson exclaimed with a playful exasperation as she did some final review of some of the necessary papers on the courtesy countertop right alongside the registration desk at Churchill Downs. She was wearing a nice cocktail dress, despite it being midday in October. They were about to go to a party for Lightning afterward to celebrate yet another winning race.

Mr. Jameson was nearby, wearing a nice if stuffy suit. He must have been hot in there, because he kept patting his round red face with a handkerchief while waiting to hand over a signed check.

Maya still could not fully believe that Lightning's Fortune was getting registered into the Kentucky Derby.

The number of zeroes after the number that Mr. Jameson scrawled on that check spooked her.

Was Lightning's Fortune really worth that kind of risk?

"It's your fault, you know," Mrs. Jameson said as she fanned herself with one of the papers, using it as an improvised fan to stave off the stubborn autumn heat wave that just didn't have the courtesy to quit.

"I had exams I couldn't miss, Mrs. Jameson," Maya said, flustered, "if I could have been there, I would have." She had been absent, against her will, for one of the most important of Lightning's qualifying races. He had won without her, but only just barely, literally by a nose.

"I forgive you, dear," Mrs. Jameson said with a wave of her velvet-gloved hand, "but I don't want our Lightning anywhere near the track again without his good luck charm, ya hear?"

Maya felt those familiar butterflies flapping around inside her again. She felt lucky to have Lightning's Fortune in her life, but it felt like a lot of pressure to have other people consider her to be some sort of good luck charm for him.

***

Ms. Goldey, Anne, and some family friends were all crowded into Maya's little house on her 18th birthday. She had never seen the place so crowded and filled with such commotion.

To her surprise, Mr. & Mrs. Jameson themselves had come all the way from Louisville. Maya had no idea what they were doing in her little house, and why they had gone out so far of their way just for a slice of cake and a little praise to the Lord before passing the gravy. She was flattered they were there, though. Sometime during the party and just a little after she had scraped her plate clean, Anne caught Maya's attention with a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Would you look outside?" Anne asked during a brief quiet moment in the crowded noisy house, "I thought you might like to take a gander at one more birthday present."

Maya rose and approached the window. It seemed everyone present already knew what the surprise was, because things got real quiet real fast.

Out the window, she saw Lightning's Fortune already helping himself to a little choice clover and sun-warmed grass and wearing a funny party hat all the while.

Maya looked over her shoulder back at everyone now smiling at her.

"It's a might unusual, but as I've told the Jamesons," Anne explained, hiding her own exuberance behind a professionally pinched lip, "nothing else has consistently kept that horse on the straight and narrow quite like having you around, Maya."

"The party hat was my idea," Ms. Goldey remarked before sounding out in the cheeriest hollar that Maya had ever heard from her, "Y'all just got a 10% share in your little Lightning's future. Happy Birthday, Maya!"

She felt hot tears suddenly soak her smiling face. "Thank you!"

She felt like the luckiest girl in the world, but would that luck last until the Derby?

***

Lightning's Fortune had become a very energetic and strong 3-year-old stallion. He enjoyed rearing and misbehaving whenever possible, and liked playing pranks on people such as standing at his door with a mouthful of water to drop on unsuspecting people who passed by in his reach.

He behaved better for Maya than anyone else, but the Jamesons did the sensible thing and hired the most experienced jockey they could.

No one had ever expected a horse with passable but middling genetic heritage to even qualify for the Kentucky Derby, but luck could only go so far, and Maya accepted that.

Luck continued to do what luck tended to do, because without warning, that same jockey broke his arm riding another horse, and no jockeys of that caliber were anywhere to be found on such short notice, at any price.

The trainer called Maya, and with the most peculiar tension in his voice, offered her the job. Maya's next few days were full of lectures, riding in every other race that trainer had a horse in, and showing tapes of previous Derbies and other races to give her a crash course in the finer points of such a monumental event.

Her little Lightning's odds at the betting window had dropped from 50 to 1 to 120 to 1 as soon as word got out about the new jockey. No one seemed to believe that she would be able to get the kind of performance necessary from an equally inexperienced young Thoroughbred, especially one that probably had the least impressive breeding in the race.

Maya felt as if she was underwater as she weighed in with her saddle. It all felt surreal.

She was dressed in brand new green and gold silks, looking the part, but the seasoned, wiry jockeys all around her looked at her somewhat pityingly.

May went out to the paddock where all the horses were being saddled, surrounded by their trainers, grooms, and even some owners. Mrs. Jameson was there, holding Lightning's Fortune as the trainer finished tightening the girth of his saddle. She was carrying a larger purse than usual, looking a bit heavy.

Did the purse just bark at her?

Maya spooked almost like a filly, but then smiled as Lily poked her little nose out of that purse.

She patted her stern but loyal Yorkie's fluffy head, but then locked eyes with her little Lightning.

All that underwater sensation drained away.

She remembered that little colt, how they met, and how close they had become.

She let go of her fears. It was time to mount up.

Lightning's Fortune moved smoothly under her as they cantered down the sun-baked track, warming up. Other horses fought with the starter assistants, not happy to go into the small starting gate, but her Lightning went in like he was greased. Maya suspected he was too relaxed, given the circumstances, but he had more bottled energy in him than ever before, thrumming along like a circuit that she could feel.

He was ready.

They were ready.

***

Time slowed to a crawl within the #3 stall.

She saw hopeful, worried, and excited faces in the stands, the short grass waving in the infield next to the starting gate, and the warm glow of the late afternoon sunshine.

She drew one more breath.

"And they're off!"

They leaped out of the gate with an explosion of speed amid the finest horses and jockeys in the world.

Maya aimed her little Lightning toward the sweet spot near the rail so they would not get boxed in, nd they settled into fifth place by the first turn.

The clock ticked in her head. So far, so good.

The pace was blazing fast, so she reined Lightning in just a little. She didn't want him to use up all his energy so early on.

A chestnut galloped alongside and her ride surged forward to match, but she slowed him just a little and let their rival ease forward.

She then heard a roar from the crowd... and it was not for them.

A black horse swept between the frontrunners and flew to first up ahead.

Maya knew that one.

All the jockeys did.

Night Cat.

It was time to unbottle her Lightning.

She asked and he answered, stretching out low to the ground, galloping and squeezing left amid the pack.

Amid an avalanche of hoofbeats, they pulled ahead by two more horses.

The runner on the outside drifted, tiring, and they pulled past him.

Before they knew it, the home stretch was just ahead.

"Now!" Maya shouted into the whipping wind, "Give 'em your all!"

Her Lightning heard her, and he flew... no... struck like his namesake as she held on for dear life, settling down over his stretched out neck as he came closer and closer to the lead.

Night Cat, still ahead, kicked back enough dirt to cake over Maya's goggles.

"More!" Maya shouted indignantly with all of her remaining might and against all sense of what her horse could do, having already given his all.

Lightning somehow obliged... giving more than his all, as they thundered past the finish line.

Maya caught her breath, wiping her goggles as she stood in the stirrups, slowing down.

The announcer's voice echoed all around from every speaker on the track.

"With a last second push, Lightning's Fortune has come from behind and won the Kentucky Derby! 120 to 1 odds, folks! History was just made today!"

With proud tears soaking her smiling face, Maya stopped before the pony horse got to them.

There was no better time to show everyone the one trick they had found the time to practice in the years leading up to now.

In front of all the cameras, with a little Yorkie barking amid the applause and cheers, the winning horse and rider performed a beautiful bow.

Young Adult
1

About the Creator

Ulysses Tuggy

Educator, gardener, Dungeon Master, and novelist. Author of the near-future mecha science fiction novels Tulpa Uprising, Tulpa War, and Tulpa Rebirth. Candidly carries Cassandra's curse.

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