Lily hopped onto her horse and watched as they led the horse onto the track and helped the groom on the horse’s back. The young lady saw Lily watching and frowned. Lily trotted away from the group because Black Knight was growing restless. He’d been like that ever since they arrived at the barn. He seemed to be anxious to run the race already and he was excited. Samuel often laughed the eagerness that horse had and Alan took it as a sign that Black Knight would be ready to run on Derby Day.

            The groom galloped past Black Knight to show off; probably at the owner’s orders. Lily only shrugged and continued to trot Black Knight though he was chomping on the bit. He tried to yank it out of Lily’s hands and started prancing, but Lily kept a firm hold on him. Finally, when the other horse was farther down the track, Lily galloped Black Knight. He stretched out into a run long before Lily could stop him from it and soon they passed the other horse and left them in their dust. It made Lily so excited that she whooped as they went by. She closed her eyes and imagined herself back on the island where she’d first taken a ride on Black Knight’s back. She could feel the spray of the ocean water on her face and she could hear the seagulls calling overhead.

            Lily urged Black Knight onward at full speed until they reached the group of people who had come with the other horse. Then they stopped abruptly. Lily looked directly at the owner of the other horse. The young lady was furious that Lily had dared to challenge her darling horse on the track when it wasn’t race day. Lily smiled a greeting and nodded, but the young lady only sniffed. Then Lily said, “Hello, I’m Lily Starr and this is Black Knight.” The lady frowned, “My name is Victoria Tudor. That beautiful champion over there is Ebony. His racing name is Victoria’s Ebony. Under who’s authority did you challenge my mare?” Lily started, “Your mare?” Victoria sniffed again, “Yes, my mare. You didn’t answer my question.” Lily frowned, “I didn’t challenge your horse. Black Knight is racy and doesn’t like to be held back so I let him go.”

“And does that horse’s owner know that you were going to do that?”

“Yes. Of course, she always knows what’s best for her horse and she lets me do whatever I want.”

“Ha! I doubt that.”

“Why?”

“No real owner does that.”

“Well, this one does.”

“And who, pray tell, is that horse’s owner?”

“Myself.”

 “I should have known you would say that.”

Lily laughed and then galloped off again.

Lily went back to the barn half an hour later with Black Knight and found Princess Sara waiting for them. She greeted her warmly and put Black Knight in his stall and told Sara about the rude lady. Sara laughed when Lily told her of the conversation she’d had and how the lady discovered that Lily was the owner. Sara then told her, “Well, that doesn’t surprise me. Victoria hates opposition and she is desperate to win that race. I guess she was probably hoping that this race is going to be easy. And proof of that hope is the fact that she brought a mare to race in the Kentucky Derby; a race that only one mare has won in all horseracing history. Victoria thinks that her last name entitles her to bossing everyone else around. She will probably not be a good person to be around when the race is over. Victoria is a very sore loser and a very dramatic young lady and I don’t pity her one bit. She’s had her way since she was born and it was only chance that gave her the win that made her come here. It’ll be hard for her when the race is lost by her horse.” Lily agreed.

            Victoria acted like she was royalty and she knew that the young lady was a spoiled one. The young lady had been raised with the belief that she was related to the royal house of Tudor and that belief had grounded a demanding attitude in her. All her twenty years in life Victoria had demanded all of life’s pleasures and had received whatever she wanted. Now, the young lady would get opposition and it wouldn’t be pretty.

For the next few days, Lily avoided Victoria. Not because she was afraid or because she thought of her in any bad way, but Lily had no desire to be on the wrong end of her anger. Nobody did and nobody visited her stable for that same reason. Only family members of Victoria went to see Victoria’s Ebony. Lily stayed far from her, but she didn’t mind being on the track when Ebony was out there. It caused Black Knight to be more competitive.

            Soon, there were ten horses at a time racing on the exercise track every morning and Lily loved it. So did Black Knight. Lily and Black Knight galloped around the track at full speed many times passing the horses. The only horse who kept ahead of Black Knight was Jet Black.

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Posted by Kaitlyn Sanger

Your book reviews are GREAT!!!!!!!!!!

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