New Kentucky Derby Short Story – Out Now!

Racing last to reach farther forward.  Racing fast through the gaps shown.  And when horses close, the whip!

            No!  Not to the outside.  It is too much further!

            Horse and rider are one in the Kentucky Derby.  And this race will form up from dust into a biblical allegory.

            Puny humans, thinks the horse who is accelerating.

            Now it is I who will take over.  Hold on, here comes your brother!

            How can it happen?  A horse that runs so much faster.  Legs longer, each gait broader.  Moving ahead of each one slower.  The other riders see it, back to the whip they are going.  Their arms are windmills trying to catch the wind crossing.

            But now it is a two-man race.  Me and my brother.  And we are just riders on bolts of lightning.

She was from Chicago, Illinois.  Saddlebreds brought her to Kentucky, and she was a trained rider.  But Bluegrass breeds are strong, so she was drawn to tending foals on a thoroughbred farm along Gist Creek in Shelby County.  Helping the mares, caring for their young.  Some were scouted out and sold at the Keeneland auctions to be trained for racing.  She longed to be racing also.

            The one that was left was a filly.  Too small, not strong enough.  Maybe she could become a Saddlebred.  So the stables kept her on the farm.  And the young woman stayed on to help her there.  That’s when the trouble started.

Click here for the entire story.