destroy

CALAMITY QUEEN WORKS FOR THE ROSE MILE CUP

Roses are red, violets are blue.. will you win? No, I'll destroy you.. It was a little thing Stella had come up with when she'd found out Queenie was entered in the Rose Mile Cup. The filly was named Calamity Queen, after all, and synonyms of calamity were disaster, catastrophe and misfortune. It would be a disaster and a catastrophe for those who had the misfortune to run against Queenie in the Rose Mile Cup.. because she would be the one who made it over the finish line first, to the winner's circle. It was about time the grade three filly took a win - she had not won since the second leg of the Triple Turf Tiara, the Cotillion Stakes. She had beaten Innocent Passion in that race, but Bella Luna she had not beaten for some time, if ever.

Stella was determined for Calamity Queen to win this race. She needed it. She was capable of it. She wanted the win more than those other two fillies, who had both taken wins recently. They might even forget about Queenie, because they would likely be too busy battling each other to notice when she crept by them at top speed in the stretch. They would be expecting her to lead the race, since she had a tendency to do so when there was no actual front runner. But not this time. It was Stella's plan to push Innocent Passion and Bella Luna from their comfort zones. One of them would lead the race, and the other one may very well fight her for it. In any case, they'd be head to head in the stretch and Queenie would go wide and zip by them, all being well.

They'd been working on the closing style tactic for some time, and now they would finally put it into action. Words could not express how badly Stella wanted to win this race, and she knew her desires were mirrored in Queenie. The filly galloped strongly now, heading toward the first turn in her mile long workout. It was just days until the race, and this would be the final gallop for Queenie until then. it would be enough to take the filly's excessive energy off, so she wouldn't work herself up before the race even began, which she had had a tendency to do in the past. Stride by stride, Queenie covered ground quickly. She breathed in every time she brought her head up, and out every time she stretched her neck. The turn ended and the thoroughbred galloped up the backstretch easily.

Stella felt the filly's muscles stretch and contract with every step she took. She knew of the force that each hoof hit the turf with, but Queenie felt feather light as she galloped on. The second turn was ahead and the filly stuck to the rail as she rounded it, picking up speed now. Stella held onto her, not ready to release her just yet. The stretch straightened out before them and there was the two furlong marker. Stella let the reins slip and urged the filly on, feeling an explosion of power as the thoroughbred accelerated. Exhilaration shot through her as she realised Queenie was going faster than ever before, without any competition. And as they crossed the line, Stella knew the filly would run even faster on race day, because she wanted to win.