Chapter Text
Aaaaand they’re off! in the one hundred and thirty-first running of the Belmont as Take Exit 60 will try to claim a Triple Crown! Dugong has come out quickly in the early going and Dugong is sent to the lead. A change in tactic for Dugong, there. Todd Got Odd is on the outside. Werewolf Weakness comes through an opening on the rail. Take Exit 60 is right there in the thick of it early, and Take Exit 60 is coming on and she’s got a short lead, now.
They say that horse girls are born to run. Born into a name from another world, inheriting the soul from it, always running towards their destiny, blah blah blah. No one knows what our future races will hold, yet we keep running. Aiming at the goal in front of us. You know the story by now. Sounds almost romantic when you listen to the Three Goddesses dribble. And, look, I’m not saying I don’t believe in the Three Goddesses! Or the rest of it! Fuck, I certainly know that I was born to run. It’s just… We’re not monoliths. None of us are so two-dimensional that you can even say you know us just because we’re horse girls.
Take me, for example. You look at my childhood, and I’m nothing like the legends you hear about. Or… would hear about if we gave half a crap for more than two seconds. Heh. Guess that’s one thing I learned over the years. America and horse girl racing isn’t the same as other countries and horse girl racing. Places like France, Britain, and Japan have whole cultures that swell around the most famous horse girls. Japan, especially, with their idolization really shows how much more we can be than just runners. Here, though? More than not we’re just another sport – an industry built on monetary gain and isolated pockets of power. Legacy here means so much less than legacy there.
It is Take Exit 60 on the outside who has gone to take a short early lead from the third favorite Werewolf Weakness second on the inside. Todd Got Odd ranging up on the outside in third, and Dugong races in fourth position, Sight and Sound is saving ground fifth. Strange New Worlds, sixth on the outside of Laying in Wait. Then it’s two lengths back to Orange Soda Kid, a break of five to longshot Tray Table, who’s followed by SculptedExcellence. Then it’s another five lengths to Buona Fortuna! She’s better than fifteen lengths for the lead already, and even farther back is Pinesap! The opening quar- half mile went in forty-seven and three fifths seconds, the pace is strong here.
Going back, though, my childhood wasn’t as typical. Where other girls had their training programs and youth divisions, I had a single dad and a town with no horse-girl-centric focus. Counties from the nearest raceways, and miles from the nearest tracks. Could I have run over a few township lines to get to something that wasn’t paved? Sure, sure, maybe, yes. Especially considering dad was almost always working. Again, single dad, he held two jobs to keep us afloat. However! We were just as far from the shore, and down there I had something better. …The sand.
Unconventional for a horse girl, I’ll admit, but even as a young girl I knew I belonged there. The feel of the salt breeze through my hair, the sounds of the waves driving me forward, and the feel of the dunes beneath my feet… Nothing compared. For years I told myself it was enough to stay happy, and for a time it really was. Dad would take me down on weekends, or let me go with family friends when he had to work late, and the beaches became my second home.
Champion Werewolf Weakness is in front. Take Exit 60 right up on the pace. On the outside, Todd Got Odd right there running in third position. Sight and Sound is now racing in fourth. Then it’s Strange New Worlds fifth at the midway point down the backstretch. Dugong is keeping close within striking range. She’s only five and a half lengths behind the favorite Take Exit 60 with five furlongs to go. Then it’s Orange Soda Kid. Tray Table making a bit of a move as the field moves into the far turn. SculptedExcellence is following that move, then it’s Laying in Wait, a break of another three lengths back to Buona Fortuna. Pinesap is way, way out of it. Around the far turn, they’ve run three quarters in one twelfth flat! And the leader is hanging tough!
Of course, young girls grow up, and in time they need a dream to chase. Horse girl or not, dreams are an important driving force in anyone’s life. Mine may have seemed silly to some, but to me it was at the very core of my soul. One wish above all else; I wanted to run the Belmont Stakes.
…No. That’s not quite right…
I wanted to win the Belmont Stakes.
Naturally, this was a bit of an uphill battle. As I said, I didn’t really have the same support a lot of my peers had. I never ran in any pre-debuts or open circuits or training meets – all places other horse girls could make a name and get scouted early. All places that fed into legacy schools and Division 1 powerhouses. Translation; If I wanted to make it to Belmont, I needed another route to a school that would get me there. Fortunately for me, I had one in mind, and I had the focus to get myself there.
Werewolf Weakness still maintains the lead, and now Take Exit 60 takes her cue as the field comes to the top of the stretch! two furlongs to go! On the outside, it is Todd Got Odd right there running in third! Sight and Sound in with an outside chance and behind the lead! Here comes Orange Soda Kid on the outside! They’re off the turn and into the stretch! Pulling further ahead is Take Exit 60! and Orange Soda Kid is off the pace as they come to the final furlong! Orange Soda Kid! Sight and Sound! Take Exit 60’s staying on ahead of the field! and she’s eight lengths ahead as she comes into the final sixteenth! It’s Take Exit 60! Take Exit 60 has Orange Soda Kid well-held with her final surge!
…Academically, at least. Guess one upside to being a latchkey kid was learning self-reliance. Yes, I ran down the shore every chance I had, but most nights I had my nose to the books. Hard study and good grades were always my best route to my first pick school, Long Island University. And by “first pick” I meant my “only pick”. Truth was, LIU Post had everything I could ever dream of… A D1 racing program, proximity to Belmont Park, participation in NYRA races, and still close enough to see my father on weekends. Or… my favorite beaches if he was busy. Either way you look at it, I had convinced myself by my senior year of high school that LIU was the only option for me.
You’ll have to imagine, then, the devastation I felt when my acceptance letter was met with my father’s faltering budget. Even with two jobs, he couldn’t pay my way. And even with my academic excellence, I was just another out-of-state nobody with good grades – not enough to earn a full ride. Worst of all, though, I never found myself on a track in front of scouts that could open doors for me. …Pin in that, because it’s an important distinction. Takeaway here is that my last months in high school were spent in the doldrums. Hell! My crush didn’t even ask me to prom! …Not that I could blame him, really… I was one of the only horse girls in our class, no one wanted to be seen with me like that.
Now, what does a horse girl watching her dream slip away do when she has nothing left? Runs down the shore, naturally. Wasn’t like I had any goal beyond that, I really just needed to clear my head. Hell, you’d think after so many years of learning to make do with what I had, I’d make do with finding a different purpose to my life. But… I don’t know, that felt wrong. Like, when you watch something happen and every fiber of your being is screaming that you’re in the wrong reality because the wrong thing happened. Maybe you flub an interview, or maybe your numbers don’t get called when the Powerball is at a record high, or… maybe something so much worse. It was like a static making every hair prick up, and I wanted to get away from it.
…So I ran.
Getting it done is Take Exit 60! Orange Soda Kid and Sight and Sound, very tight indeed! as they push to close, but Take Exit 60 isn’t giving in! Take Exit 60! Take Exit 60 is close- Oh no! Take Exit 60 falters into the rail! Yards from the finish and Take Exit 60 tumbles down to the dirt! The field is closing in! It looks like a photo finish! It looked like Orange Soda Kid got it, very tight indeed! with Sight and Sound and the Triple Crown will go unclaimed for the twenty-first year in a row as Take Exit 60’s dreams f-… …Take Exit 60’s dreams fall apar-… …Ladies and gentlemen, please remain seated. It seems there’s a problem on the track. Officials and medics are on their way to Take Exit 60, and the remaining field closes out the race. It looks like Take Exit 60 might be in a bad way. Please remain seated, ladies and gentlemen. Everything is going to be okay. The medi-
They say that horse girls are born to run. And we’re not monoliths, not all of us are. But I was. Call it the Three Goddesses, call it fate, call it luck, call it whatever the fuck you want to, but I ran. I ran down the shore, out to the sand, kicked my shoes off, and let go. Every thought and fear and worry fell behind me, and I ran faster than my pain could pace. Another few horse girls saw it as an invitation to join in, and they ran behind me. So I ran faster. Not that there was anything wrong with them, I just didn’t want the company – I wanted the solace of solitude. That said… Because they were running with me, we caught some eyes along the beach beside us. One set, in particular…
It wasn’t until I finally slowed to catch my breath that he approached me. He introduced himself as Scott Hurst, and I looked at him like he had twelve heads. Never said I was the best in social situations. Anyway, he went on to explain that he was down visiting family before summer vacation, and that he was from “Longk Island”. Trust me, the clicking “ing” gave as much away. My entire demeanor changed, though, when he clarified that he worked with the track and field programs for a school.
LIU.
Post.
He was a scout.
…And he had an offer for me.