The Fastest Horse
There was much noise at Keenland racetrack as my parents and I pushed past people going to and from the track as we headed for the barn to claim our horse. The young stallion we bought for $100 is a deep chocolate bay named Castaway. He’s small for a Thoroughbred, barely fifteen hands. His sire is Monarchos, the 2001 Kentucky Derby winner and the second horse to break two minutes in the Derby. We had no horse van to take him home in, so I ‘m to ride him one point three miles to our homely little trailer. Mom, a blonde with sapphire blue eyes, is wearing a simple brown dress with tan flowers, and is undoubtedly worried sick with my safety. Daddy, who is balding and never took off his old gray fedora and is now wearing his best suit, which was old and ragged, knew I could handle the small stallion, who I immediately renamed Casey
As I rode home from school one evening on Casey, the school bully Chris said my beautiful Casey was slow as a snail. I told him that Casey could beat his stupid old horse any time. Chris got so mad and suddenly I was afraid he would beat me up. Chris started after me on his sleek chestnut thoroughbred that I had no chance of beating. I told Casey to run as fast as he could but the chestnut kept gaining. Suddenly Casey put on a burst of speed that carried me quickly away from that mean old bully. Within a couple seconds Casey was at least five lengths ahead of Chris’s horse. This surprised me because Chris’s horse, Sin, was the fastest in school because his dad owned a string of racers. We passed the mile marker and Casey was still going strong and was actually trying to speed up even with my tight hold on the reins. We neared my house and I prayed for Casey to slow down, I thought I was going to fall off he was going so fast! Casey reluctantly slowed to a lope as we turned into our driveway.
After an hour of walking Casey around the yard I put him in his little one acre pasture and headed inside to do house chores. Mom had a note in her hand and her face looked very serious. She looked at me and started crying. I tried to comfort her but I didn’t know how. Daddy came in and saw us. He asked my mother why she was crying and she said something about foreclosure. I asked Daddy what it meant and he said it meant we weren’t allowed to live here anymore because we couldn’t pay rent. That also meant I couldn’t keep my wonderful Casey. I ran outside and flung my arms around Casey and cried into his neck.
Everybody in school was talking about Casey’s run against Sin yesterday.. Chris was even nice to me today. But all I could think about was losing Casey. Chris saw how down cast I was and asked “what was eating me.” I told him about our house and about losing Casey. He told me to race Casey. I hadn’t even thought about that. Casey was fast enough to race, and I believed in him. Later when I went home I told Mom that we should race him. But I forgot about one thing, it costs money to race, and we didn’t have any.
I told Chris the next day at school and he told me that I should find a sponsor. But I didn’t know how I could even start to look for one. Chris told me to ride to his house after school today, my parents didn’t know, but I went anyway. Chris and I went to the race track so he could time me. It was extremely fast, 1:59 and 2/5 seconds for a mile and a quarter, the equaling time for Secretariat’s record in the Kentucky Derby! We rode back to Chris’s house to show his dad. Chris and I talked Mr. Bardoul (Chris’s dad) into sponsoring and finding a jockey for Casey to run in the Kentucky Derby!
Tomorrow is Derby Day. My parents weren’t to happy about me going somewhere and not telling them, they weren’t happy about racing either. They think Casey will be dead last like in his claiming race, but I know my Casey can do it. We have to be there early so the jockey can work with Casey on the track before the race so I have to go to bed early tonight.
Derby Day! I am so excited. Casey is an 80 to one shot but I believe in him. My parents are worried Casey will lose. The jockey, Ed Daily, is very nice to Casey. My parent’s visited Mr. Bardoul while I was visiting Casey and Chris. At post time we all went to the grandstands. Casey and the jockey were wearing the silks I picked out, light blue with pink polka dots. They started in fourth post position, a perfect spot. They were off! Casey was bunched in with the pack. After a length the pack straightened out. Casey was third on the rail, right behind the favorite, Casanova. They were in the back stretch, I saw the jockey ask Casey for speed and suddenly Casey was just a blur of colors as he passed the leader with electrifying speed! He was eating up the ground! Casey passed under the wire ten lengths in front of the favorite who came in second! We beat the world record of 1:59 and 2/5 the new record is now 1:57 and 3/5, an almost impossible time! Our home was saved and I didn’t worry about losing Casey anymore
