Horse Race

by Bonnie Bryant

  Deborah glanced at her over her shoulder. “I’m not surprised, for two reasons,” she said. “For one thing, Cookie Cutter really should have been okayed before this—especially since she’s already been worked today. Most trainers wouldn’t time things like this, since the horse could be so tired out by all the exercise that she’s not in top shape for her race. Garvey is really leaving things to the last minute, and I get the distinct feeling it’s because he plain forgot to do it earlier in the week.”

  “Yikes,” Carole said. “What’s the second reason?”

  Deborah smiled. “It probably never occurred to him that you’d be interested,” she said. “In case you haven’t noticed, he’s not a very gracious host.”

  Stevie rolled her eyes. “Believe me, we’ve noticed.”

  When the group reached the grandstand rail, they saw that the starting gate was just being set up on the track nearby. It was a large metal structure, with about a dozen separate starting stalls. A huge tractor pulled it into place. During longer races, the girls knew, the tractor was also used to take the gate out of the way before the horses rounded the track.

  “Look, there’s C.C.,” Carole said, pointing. The filly was prancing just inside the gap. Toby was on her back, patting her and talking to her soothingly.

  “I see you’re on a nickname basis with her already,” Deborah said with a laugh. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

  They all leaned on the rail and watched as Toby rode the chestnut filly toward the back of the starting gate. The back doors of all the stalls were standing open and ready, and Toby aimed C.C. toward one near the middle. Two other men were standing nearby, watching carefully.

  “Those are the assistant starters,” Deborah told the girls. “They’re there to help load the horse into the gate if necessary.”

  But it wasn’t necessary to help Cookie Cutter. She paused for a second just outside the narrow stall, but at a little urging from Toby, she carefully stepped forward, then stood quietly inside as one of the assistant starters closed the door behind her.

  There was a second’s pause; then a bell rang and the front doors of the starting gate clanged open. Cookie Cutter sprang forward and raced a short way down the track before Toby pulled her up, patting her on the withers and looking pleased.

  “She did that like a real pro,” Carole said admiringly.

  Deborah nodded, but she looked distracted. “She sure did,” she said. “Look, there’s Garvey. I’m going to try to catch up to him now while he’s not too busy. I’ll meet you back at the shed row, okay?”

  Deborah had hardly hurried away when someone else took her place. It was a tall, thin boy who looked a few years older than the Saddle Club girls. He was wearing khaki pants and a clean white shirt.

  “Hello,” he said. “I hope you don’t mind me coming over like this, but I couldn’t help noticing you here. Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Josh. Josh Parker.”

  “Really?” Stevie blurted out in surprise before she could stop herself.

  The boy looked a little confused, but he nodded. “I’m working here at the track for the summer. I hadn’t seen you girls around before, so I thought I’d come over and say hello.”

  Stevie and Lisa exchanged glances. Josh’s words seemed to be directed at all of them, but he was looking at only one of them—Carole.

  “We’ve never been here before,” Stevie told him. “We’re just visiting for the weekend. I’m Stevie, and this is my friend Lisa. And this is our friend, Carole. Carole Hanson.”

  “Carole,” Josh said with a smile. “What a pretty name.”

  Lisa giggled, and Stevie kicked her. “Oh yes,” Stevie told Josh with a straight face. “It’s a beautiful name. We’re all just green with envy about it.”

  Josh didn’t seem to hear her, but Carole did. She shot Stevie a very dirty look. “Um, what do you do here at the track, Josh?” she asked. “Are you a groom or something?” Judging by the cleanliness of his clothes, she doubted it.

  “Nope,” Josh replied. “I can hardly tell one end of a horse from the other, I’m afraid. I mostly help out selling tickets at the front gate, but sometimes I fill in at the snack bar or the program booth. My uncle is the track manager here. He got me a part-time job as soon as I turned sixteen this past spring.”

  “Sixteen, hmm?” Stevie murmured. “An older man …” This time she spoke quietly enough so that neither Carole nor Josh caught her words. But Lisa heard them. She giggled again, and Carole definitely heard that. Her blush grew deeper.

  “Where are you all from?” Josh asked. Once again, he looked only at Carole as he said it.

  “We’re from Willow Creek, Virginia,” Lisa supplied helpfully, noticing that Carole looked rather tongue-tied. “We all ride together at a stable there.”

  “That’s terrific,” Josh said, still staring at Carole. He hardly seemed to notice that she wasn’t the one who had spoken. “I bet you’re really good riders. That’s just terrific.”

  “Look, it’s really nice to meet you, um, Josh,” Carole said quickly. “But we have to go. We’re helping out a friend with his horses, and I’m sure he needs us to walk the one that just broke out of the starting gate.”

  Lisa gave Stevie an amused glance. Carole must be desperate to get away from her new admirer if she was calling Garvey a friend.

  “Okay,” Josh said reluctantly. “Maybe I’ll see you around later. You did say you were here for the whole weekend, right?”

  “Right,” Stevie confirmed. “See you around.” The girls hurried away. As soon as they were out of earshot, Stevie turned to Carole with a grin. “What do you think of that?” she said.

  Lisa laughed. “Two Joshes in one day, and they both like Carole. What are the odds of that?”

  Carole sighed. “I don’t know,” she said. “But I think it’s pretty weird. I don’t look any better or worse than either of you. Why would a guy pick one of us over the others when he doesn’t know any of us?”

  “Love works in mysterious ways,” Stevie replied.

  Carole rolled her eyes. “Come on,” she said, purposely changing the subject. She would have to think more about these strange developments later. “Let’s go walk C.C.” Even though the filly hadn’t run very far after her break from the gate, Carole knew that she would need to be cooled down and groomed as carefully as if she’d just raced in the Kentucky Derby.

  When they reached the shed row, the filly was already unsaddled and blanketed. Toby was walking her around the row, with Deborah beside him.

  “We’ll take over if you want,” Lisa offered, hurrying up to take the horse’s lead line.

  “Thanks,” Toby said, handing it to her. But he and Deborah continued to walk with the girls. “Deborah told me you saw C.C.’s debut out of the gate.”

  Carole nodded. “It was very interesting. I never really thought about it before, but it must take some careful training to get them to do that.”

  “Sure it does,” the jockey replied. “Anything you want a horse to do requires training—except maybe eating.”

  The girls laughed. They all knew how true that was. “Well, C.C. seems to have learned her lessons pretty well,” Lisa said, giving the filly a pat on the nose.

  “She’s a good horse,” Toby said. “With luck, she’ll prove that to everyone tomorrow by winning the race.” Smiling, he reached up and rapped on his skull with one fist. “Knock on wood.”

  “I hope she does well,” Deborah said. “I was talking to Leprechaun’s trainer—he’s another one of my story subjects—and he’s pretty confident about his own horse.”

  Toby chuckled. “Sure he is, and he should be. That’s what horse racing is all about. I’m sure Garvey is just as confident about C.C.”

  “I wouldn’t know,” Deborah muttered.

  Lisa noticed her anxious expression. “Isn’t Garvey answering your questions?”

  Deborah shrugged. “Some of them,” she said. “The trouble is, I’d planned to make him t
he centerpiece of my story. I figured that since he was from Maskee Farms, I’d be able to follow up with him back home—you know, add some human interest stuff …”

  Stevie nodded wisely. “Too bad. You found out he’s not human.”

  That made Deborah laugh. “He’s not that bad,” she admitted. “Still, I wish he would be a little more forthcoming.”

  “Well, if there’s anything I can tell you to fill in the gaps, just let me know,” Toby said. “I’ve ridden Mr. McLeod’s horses for a long time, so I’m pretty familiar with his whole operation, even the mysterious Garvey Cannon.”

  Stevie suddenly looked interested. “It’s funny you should use that word, mysterious …,” she began.

  But Toby didn’t hear her. He had just spotted a slender young woman hurrying along nearby. “Hey, there’s the trainer I was telling you about,” he told Deborah. “I really think you should talk to her for your article. Do you want me to introduce you?”

  “Definitely,” Deborah said. “With Garvey not talking, I’ve got plenty of space to fill. See you later, girls.”

  The two adults hurried off to catch up to the trainer, leaving the girls with Cookie Cutter. “Now,” Stevie said, turning to grin at Carole, “I think it’s time for a Saddle Club meeting. We have to talk about this very interesting situation with Carole and her not-so-secret admirers.”

  Before the others could reply, Josh—the first one—rounded the corner of the shed row and spotted them. He hurried toward them, smiling gleefully.

  “Uh-oh, here comes one of them now,” Stevie muttered. “We’re going to have to start calling them Josh A and Josh B.”

  Lisa giggled just as Josh A reached them. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

  “Oh, nothing,” Lisa said quickly. “Um, Stevie was just telling us a joke.”

  “Really? Let’s hear it,” Josh said. “I love a good joke.”

  Stevie thought fast. “What has four legs and eats off the floor?”

  “What?” Josh asked.

  “A horse with no stable manners,” Stevie replied. “Get it? Stable manners …”

  Josh laughed. “That’s pretty funny,” he said. He turned to look at Carole. “Do you know any jokes, Carole?”

  “No,” Carole said, carefully keeping her eyes trained on Cookie Cutter rather than meeting Josh’s adoring gaze. “I don’t like jokes.”

  At that, Lisa rolled her eyes and Stevie snorted. Carole liked a good joke as much as anyone, if not more.

  “You’re more the serious type, huh?” Josh said, nodding agreeably. “I admire that. I could tell you were kind of quiet and thoughtful from the moment I first saw you.”

  Stevie and Lisa could hardly keep straight faces at that. Carole might be considered thoughtful, at least if you defined thoughtful as thinking about horses day and night. But quiet? Never.

  Before Carole could come up with an answer, she heard another voice calling her name.

  “There you are,” Josh B said, running up to them. Cookie Cutter snorted a little at his approach and took a step backward.

  “Careful,” Carole said quickly. “It’s not a good idea to run around horses. Some of them spook easily.”

  “Sorry,” Josh B said, looking chagrined. He gave Carole an apologetic smile. “My uncle has told me that a million times. I guess I was so excited to see you that I forgot.”

  “I don’t think we’ve met,” Josh A said, stepping forward. His normally cheerful look had been replaced with a suspicious one. He stuck out his hand. “Josh Winfield, Bartlett Stables.”

  Josh B shook his hand, looking just as suspicious as he glanced from Josh A to Carole and back again. “Josh Parker, Bluegrass Park.”

  “Uh-oh,” Stevie whispered to Lisa. “Showdown at the Josh Corral.”

  Cookie Cutter had calmed down as soon as Josh B had stopped running, and Lisa quickly had her moving again. The whole group trailed along beside her.

  “So, you work here?” Josh A asked Josh B.

  Josh B nodded. “I was just telling Carole about it a little while ago,” he said, turning to smile at Carole. “Right, Carole?”

  “Um, right,” Carole said.

  “I was telling her about my job, too,” Josh A said quickly. “I’m working with some of the top horses at this meet. Maybe you’ve heard of some of them. Leprechaun, Speedy Bee—”

  Josh B cut him off with a shrug. “I don’t really have the time to keep up with every single horse that runs here,” he said. “I’m too busy making sure the whole track runs smoothly.”

  Lisa raised an eyebrow. Manning the snack bar didn’t seem all that critical to her. On the other hand, she noticed that Josh A hadn’t bothered to mention that he was only a part-time assistant groom. Instead, he seemed to want Josh B to think he was training the entire Bartlett Stables string himself.

  Lisa glanced at Carole and saw that she looked as uncomfortable as Lisa had ever seen her. It was time to do something about the situation. As amusing as it might be to her and to Stevie, Carole obviously wasn’t having any fun.

  “Hey, Carole,” Lisa said. “Isn’t it about time for you to go inside and take care of that errand Garvey wanted you to do?”

  “What?” Carole said. “Oh! I mean, yes, I think you’re right. I’d better get going.”

  “What kind of errand?” Josh A asked.

  “Perhaps I can help,” Josh B added quickly.

  “Um …” Carole looked at Lisa for help, but Lisa’s mind was a blank.

  Luckily, Stevie came to the rescue. “There’s no time to stand around talking about it,” she barked out, giving Carole a shove. “You’re late already. Go, go, go!”

  Carole didn’t have to be told again. Even though she never ran when there were horses around, she broke into a brisk jog as soon as she was a safe distance from Cookie Cutter.

  Lisa shot Stevie a grateful glance. Stevie grinned back. “So, boys,” she said cheerfully. “Now that Carole’s gone, I guess you’ll just have to settle for talking to Lisa and me.”

  The Joshes looked at Stevie and Lisa. Then they both glanced in the direction Carole had gone. “Um, my uncle probably needs me in the office,” Josh B mumbled, backing away.

  Josh A nodded and looked at the ground. “I think I’d better get back to my barn,” he added hastily. A second later, both boys were gone.

  Lisa and Stevie continued to walk with Cookie Cutter, who seemed much more interested in the stray patches of grass along their route than in her human companions. “Call me crazy,” Lisa said, “but Josh didn’t seem to be heading toward his own barn.”

  Stevie nodded. “And the other Josh was going the opposite direction from the track office, unless they’ve suddenly moved it to an empty stall in the Maskee shed row.”

  “Where do you suppose they were going?” Lisa asked with a twinkle in her eye.

  Stevie shrugged. “Beats me,” she said. “But I think it’s a good thing Carole had a head start!”

  “THAT WAS GREAT, Deborah,” Lisa said. “Thanks for letting us tag along.”

  “You’re welcome,” Deborah said, sinking deeper into the comfortable chair in the hotel lobby. It was early evening, and The Saddle Club and Deborah had just returned from an afternoon of touring some of Kentucky’s horse country. Deborah had needed to visit several local racing and breeding stables for her research, and since the Maskee horses weren’t in any races that afternoon, the girls had gone with her.

  They had seen a lot of beautiful farms and even more gorgeous horses, from broodmares with their half-grown foals to retired stallions standing at stud. The owner of one stable had even invited them to watch some of his yearlings being trained. The frisky colts had already been taught to accept a bridle and saddle, and the yearling trainer was teaching them to accept a rider’s weight. The Saddle Club had seen similar training sessions at Pine Hollow and elsewhere, but somehow it all seemed new and different here in Kentucky.

  “I really liked that one yearling,” Stevie mused. She was per
ched on a love seat next to Deborah’s chair. Carole was next to her, and Lisa was standing nearby. They were waiting for a table at the hotel restaurant. A long day in the fresh summer air had made them all very hungry.

  “Which one?” Carole asked.

  Deborah grinned. “Let me guess,” she said. “The bay with the white feet that kept trying to turn around and look at the guy who was riding him?”

  “That’s the one,” Stevie confirmed. “He had a real sense of humor.”

  The others laughed. The clownish colt had been funny to watch, and it was no surprise that Stevie liked him.

  “Most Thoroughbreds look so serious and businesslike on the racetrack,” Carole said. “It’s easy to forget that each one has its own unique personality.”

  “Speaking of unique personalities,” Stevie said, lowering her voice, “check out the tourist convention across the way.”

  The others glanced at a group of seats nearby, where a family of three was clustered. The father was wearing shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. Two cameras hung around his neck, and he held a small, late-model camcorder in his hand. He was pointing it at his wife, who wore a Kentucky Horse Park T-shirt and floral shorts. She was posing for the camera with a boy about Lisa’s age, who had to be her son. He was dressed in denim shorts and a T-shirt that matched his mother’s.

  Lisa and Deborah couldn’t help giggling. “It looks like they’re having a nice time in Kentucky,” Carole said with a smile, giving the family one more glance.

  As she did, the boy turned and met her eye. He looked surprised for a moment to catch her looking at him. Then he smiled.

  “Uh-oh,” Carole whispered, turning away quickly. “They caught me.”

  But it was too late. A moment later the boy was standing in front of her. He was holding one of his father’s cameras.

  “Hi there,” he said. “I noticed you guys sitting here, and I was wondering if one of you would mind taking a picture so that my whole family can be in it together.”

  “Sure,” Stevie said. “I’d be glad to.”

  She started to stand up, but the boy was already pushing the camera into Carole’s hand. “This is totally cool of you. I—um, we—really appreciate it,” he said, giving her a big smile.