Once inside the barn, Ashleigh stripped his tack off, then led him out to the washracks. She rinsed him off, then clipped him into cross-ties. It was then that she noticed Samantha. �Hi.� Ashleigh smiled at the girl.
Sammy smiled back, albeit rather shyly. Making friends had never been easy for her. �Hello. I hope you don�t mind that I followed you.�
Ashleigh shook her head. �Not at all. I�m Ashleigh Griffen.�
�Samantha McLean,� Sammy answered, never taking her eyes from the colt. The colt returned her gaze, and cocked his head as if to say �Where did you come from?�
Sammy slowly walked forward and laid her hand on his blaze. The colt whuffed softly and pushed his head forward, begging for a scratching. Sammy smiled widely and obliged him.
Ashleigh couldn�t help noticing how quickly Pride had taken to the girl. He�d never done that before, not even with Ashleigh. She handed Sammy a brush.
�Why was he so upset earlier?� Sammy asked as she ran the brush over his silky coat.
�Because he�s miserable here. Ken lets Brad be too rough with him.�
Sammy frowned. Ken Maddock was the head trainer. While he was good at what he did, he did tend to let Brad walk all over him. �Why don�t you do something?� she asked.
Ashleigh sighed. �I don�t own any of Pride.�
�Oh.�
The two lapsed into silence as they finished grooming Pride. When they were done, Ashleigh turned him out in a paddock. The colt promptly dropped down in the grass to roll.
They watched him play for a little while, then Ashleigh tried to get a conversation started with Samantha. �What brings you to Townsend Acres?�
Sammy leaned on the railing, her gaze still directed at Pride. �My dad�s the new assistant trainer.�
�How do you like it so far?�
�I�m just glad we�re not moving from track to track anymore.�
Ashleigh could tell she wasn�t going to get much out of the girl that way, so she tried a different approach. �How long have you been riding?�
Sammy�s eyes lit up. �Forever. My mom was a jockey before she had me. Then she retired to help Dad.� Her voice softened. �She was killed in a track accident six years ago.�
Ashleigh gently laid a hand on the girl�s shoulder. �I�m so sorry, Samantha.�
Sammy shrugged. �It was a long time ago it seems.� She turned to Ashleigh. �You can call me Sammy.�
The two stood there at the fence a while longer, talking. Then Ashleigh glanced down at her watch. It was almost eleven! She turned to Sammy. �How about lunch? My treat.�
Sammy smiled. �Let me check with my dad.� The two girls walked over to the cottage where the McLean�s lived, and Sammy introduced Ashleigh to her father.
Ian shook her hand warmly. �I�ve heard a lot about you, Ashleigh.�
She laughed. �All good I hope.�
�But of course!� Ian assured her, his eyes twinkling.
�Mr. McLean, I�d like to take Sammy out to lunch.�
Ian glanced at his daughter. She clasped her hands together and put on her puppy dog look. Ian sighed. He just couldn�t resist that look. �Don�t stay out all afternoon.�
Sammy hugged him. �We won�t!� The two then left the house and got into Ashleigh�s car for the drive to Lexington. They decided on pasta for lunch, and once they�d been seated in the chosen restaurant and the waiter had taken their orders, they began swapping track stories.
After lunch, Ashleigh took Samantha to the huge tack store in the mall. Sammy�s jaw gaped as they walked. She inhaled deeply, the scents of leather and saddle soap mixing with that of new clothes and sweet feed. This, she was sure, is what heaven smelled like.
Ashleigh had a few things to buy, so Samantha simply wandered the aisles, dreaming about what it would be like to have her own horse. She thought back to her conversation with her dad earlier that day. He had finally let her start riding again three years earlier, but she missed the racehorse. Nothing compared to the soaring feeling one got when galloping on a Thoroughbred.
She stopped at the Breyer display and looked at the new horses. She still hadn�t unpacked all of her model horses. She still hadn�t finished her unpacking at all, for that matter.
A few minutes later though, Samantha was following Ashleigh out of the store and back to the car for the return trip to Townsend Acres.
�How did you get started as a jockey, Ashleigh?� Sammy asked once they�d left the city.
Ashleigh smiled as she remembered. �By riding Wonder. Charlie Burke taught me everything I know. If he hadn�t died last year, things would be different with Pride.�
�It�s almost as if he�s two completely different horses,� Sammy commented.
Ashleigh nodded in agreement. �He just broke his maiden two weeks ago. I had hoped he would be running in stakes company by now.�
Sammy�s eyes widened at that. It was the end of August, and Pride had just broken his maiden two weeks ago? �Do you ride him in races?�
Ashleigh shook her head. �No. And I start back to college in a week, so I won�t get to exercise ride him much either.�
�That�s awful!� Sammy exclaimed. �I can check on him for you.� The words popped out before she even knew what she�d said, totally surprising her.
Ashleigh braked the car to a stop in front of the McLean�s cottage and turned to the young girl sitting beside her. �That�s a wonderful idea, Sammy! Wish I�d thought of it first.� She reached over and gave the girl a hug. �Thanks for caring about Pride, Sammy.�
Sammy smiled, then stepped out of the car. She waved to Ashleigh as she backed out of the driveway and turned towards the main gate. A plan was forming in her mind, and she hoped she could pull it off.
Chapter 2
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
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