Through The Dirt and Fame (major revisions)

Chapter Thirty-Three

The Travers was so far Emily's best performance, she convincingly beat Unwanted even with a tardy start and getting cut off and taking tons of dirt while sitting in the back. Emily was now training for the Whitney, where we had already confirmed her to be going along with Unwanted and Prince Sham. Duchess had made her stakes return after her injury the same day as the Travers. The gray filly won the Kings Bishop.

The Daily Racing Form and Bloodhorse showed Emily in her triumph in the Travers. They were captioned with:

"The First" in the Travers and Emily's March to the Top.

Racing fans have already started on the Eclipse Honors, saying Emily is going to push Unwanted out of his Crown and steal the year end title of Horse Of The Year. Of course I don't want to steal the Triple Crown winners well deserved title, but you can't control Emily's performance. She practically has already got Champion 3 Year Old Female in the bag.

The Whitney draw was in two weeks and I sure do think Emily can over come any post and any trouble. She just wants to win. She has only one black mark on her career and she knows it, that being her heartbreaking loss in the Kentucky Oaks. Since the Black Eye-Susans Emily has filled out, and is flashing some impressive muscle. Instead of looking like a fragile filly, she looks like a robust colt. If you compared her appearance at the Oaks and her appearance at the Travers you would see a definite difference. The muscles difference, the height, the style, stride and fight to win. Before her loss in the Oaks, Emily thought she could win even without trying, since then she has given her best in her races.

I have not seen the same filly I bought from the sales ring at Emerald Downs since her first start.

She's won her maiden, Landaluce, Frizette, Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies, Gazelle, Black Eye-Susans, Mother Goose, Haskell, and Travers. She's won 9 out of 10 starts in her life time. All of her wins in record setting time, resembling the great Ruffian's feat by doing that.

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I sat down at Jacks table, in his hotel room. He sat with his Daily Racing Form and I ate my sandwich while TVG was on.

"The 4 in race 3 at Santa Anita looks good." I was referring to the Eurton owned, Ashlie's Babe who was trained by Larry Zap. I saw Jack nod his heady

"I like the 7." He liked Daring Bet.

"12 to 1." I said to him and raised an eyebrow, Jack rarely picked longshots even of he knew they were going to win.

"Good confirmation, should have better odds. Won by 3 3/5 in her last start over Katy going 8 furlongs. She came through the rail after a rough trip. Should have better odds in my opinion." I nodded.

"Good call."

The field was going to the gates and the only one that looked unlikely to win was the 2, Fiftyshadesofnight. She was soaked in sweat and I could tell she wasn't good in her left hind. Then all of a sudden Jack sat forward and looked at me.

"Kings Bishop winner Duchess Of Winter is pointed towards the Whitney to face top horses such as Haskell, Travers winner Emily The First, Triple Crown winner Unwanted and runner up to Unwantes, a Prince Sham. The owner of Duchess Of Winter claims she's confident her filly will perform well and could possibly defeat the field of elite horses. Duchess Of Winter disappearie after the dead heat in the Black Eye-Susans defeated sprint champion I've Had A Vision (by Visionaire) and Cape Dangerous (by Cape Blanco) and set a record for the historic race, winning by 19 lengths and clocking a one minute flat. Proving she is back and better than ever."

Jack closed the Daily Racing Form and looked at me.

"We have some unwanted company in the Whitney Nathaniel." Jack said, the race started behind him but I didn't see the break.

"Your puns are amazing." I took a drink of my beer and looked at him. "But I can't help but agree. We need to prove that we are a force not to played around with."

He smiled and high fived me.

"Let's win ourselves a Whitney."