Westover Racetrack is a fictitious racetrack set just outside the city of Westover, located somewhere in North America. (I don't know if you want me to be more specific, or you can just imagine it is in a neighborhood somewhere near you.) Westover was built about forty years ago, and is home to a number of stakes races, including the Westover Derby for three-year-olds, which is run in May, and the International Derby, held late in the year, for three-year-olds and upward.

For those who are interested in horses, especially thoroughbreds, and racing, you are invited to join. You can be an owner, a trainer, jockey, groom, hotwalker, jockey agent... whatever. My character's name is Steven Tanner, a racehorse owner in his early forties, who has loved horses since he was a boy, and now owns a string of two dozen horses. Some of these are at his farm, while others are stabled at Westover, waiting for their next race.

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Steven Tanner ran his hand down the filly's near foreleg. He couldn't feel anything wrong with it, so he couldn't explain why she was suddenly limping after she came back from her five-furlong workout. She had been running really well, according to her exercise rider, but she suddenly seemed to slow down to a crawl. Her rider had dismounted immediately, and led her to where Tanner was waiting.

"So what's wrong with her?" the exercise rider asked.

Steven could hear the worry in her voice. "Maybe she's not ready for the Thatcher Handicap," he said. "I'll have Doc Willis take a look at her." The Benton Thatcher Handicap was going to be run this Saturday, but he wasn't going to risk Willow Branch if there was something wrong with her.

Thanks, Anonym0usPrincess. I'm hoping that this thread will fly. It's more down to Earth than my other posts (I'm more into the science fiction field). What I'm looking for is characters (owners, trainers, jockeys etc.) that interact with the Westover Racetrack as a background.

Character profile edited --

Name: Brooklynn Petra
Age: 22
Gender: Female
Years Riding: 17
Appearance:
Personality/Bio: Brooklynn is your average college student. She takes her schooling very seriously and enjoys the simpler things in life. She tends to be more melancholy, unlike her more optimistic and boistrous younger brother. After an accident during a horse show the year before, Brooklynn quit riding in tournaments. While she frequents her parent's property in the country on the weekends, she has barely ridden since.
History with Westover: Practically none. While she rarely attends the races anymore, the only time she visited the track was for the few horse shows that were located there. Unlike her brother, she never raced.

Name: Austin Petra
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Years Riding: 14
Appearance:
Personality: Austin is an adrenaline junky. He'll do anything and everything at least once. He enjoys the rush that comes with racing. Plus, he's good at it. His father used to race when they were younger, but retired after his horse went lame. Austin took up the reins, so to speak, and has been addicted ever since. Coincidentally, racing is the only thing he takes seriously in life.
History with Westover: Austin is one of the better known jockey's on the track with his horse Caramel Latte.

Name: Piotr
Age: 4
Years Owned: 2 1/2
Appearance: http://www.freewebs.com/goulburnvalleya ... anfair.jpg

Name: Caramel Latte
Age: 3
Years Owned: 3
Appearance: http://www.thompsonbarrelhorses.com/ima ... _solid.jpg


"Hey loser!" Brooklynn called as she leaned against the white fence. Her brother, Austin, who was currently sitting atride his horse looked up at the familiarity of his sister's voice. A bright smile broke out onto his face and he quickly dismounted. He ducked under the fence and picked his older, but shorter, siter up in a tight hug.

"The prodigal sister returns," he teased as he pulled away. "I thought that college of yours was going to send a ransom note or something." Brooklynn tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and nodded.

"Yeah it's been awhile, but I sort of missed my dorky little brother. Besides, I couldn't not come when mom called and told me you were in the big race this weekend! congrats little bro!"

"Yeah it's pretty cool," he said shrugging. Brooklynn crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow. "Ok it's freaking sweet," he said and they both laughed. "Come on, I'll show you Latte. She's looking really good." He helped her climb over the fence and the trainer who was holding tha palomino in place steered the blonde haired mare over to the two siblings. Brooklynn ran a hand down the horse's side, a small smile on her face. It had been awhile.

Steven was studying the condition book in his office when Doc Willis arrived. He went outside with the vet and took him to Willow Branch's stall. Her exercise rider, Tanya Baker, stood beside the filly, stroking her neck.

"You explain to the doc here what happened," Steven said.

Tanya told Doc Willis what had transpired during her 5 furlong sprint aboard Willow Branch. It seemed that when she had begun her exercise run everything seemed to be fine. It was only during the last furlong that she suddenly seemed to be in some kind of agony.

Well, Steven thought, there is always Blaze of Glory. He chuckled to himself. Blaze of Glory... 2 wins in 8 starts so far this year. One stakes win to her credit. He shrugged. But she was the second best filly in his stable; the others were nothing more than overpriced claimers.

"Hey Tess," Austin said in a friendly voice. "She's all yours," he said handing her the reins and pulling off one of his riding gloves. He looked confused for a moment. "Are you new here? I don't think I've seen you before." Not that he would remember. How many trainers were there? A million? "Kind of young to be a trainer aren't you?" Brooklynn elbowed him in the side.

"Excuse my idiot brother," she said to Tess. "He's fallen off his horse too many times. Apparently it knocked the manners right out of him. He's Austin and I'm Brooklynn and you don't have to answer his question."

"Sure she does," Austin argued, "she's taking my horse! I should probably know a few things about her." Brooklynn rolled her eyes as Austin looked back at Tess with a playful smirk.

Austin was going to giver her leg up, but the flow of her mount was swift. She'd obviously been riding her whole life. He should expect as much. To be a trainer at such a young age she must have. The fact that she was related to the owner made sense. Not that she would be incapable otherwise, but because Westover was known for only the best trainers, riders, and horses.

"We can watch for a bit," Brooklynn offered knwoing her brother was very devoted to his animals. "Then we'll hit up the town?" she offered.

"Yeah sure," Austin said slightly distracted as he watched Tess. "Do you mind running up to my room and grabbing my clothes? I want to watch for a bit. Then maybe we can go into town for coffee." Brooklynn rolled her eyes and sighed. Her brother hadn't heard a word she'd said. Then again, what did she expect? A Pretty girl riding a horse...definite distraction.

"Sure," she agreed and left him sitting on the fence as he watched. Brooklynn made her way into the barn knowing that her brother's chaning room would be upstairs. She passed several stalls and stopped to look at all the horses. Some were deep brown, others pale, and there were even a few paints. It made her stomach churn as she thought about the agony it was not riding anymore...then again, it beat out the pain that came with remembering why she stopped.

Brooklynn saw a doctor standing with two trainers as he examined the horse's leg. He was clearly favoring it as thoug it hurt to walk. Brooklynn ignored the wash of pain.

"Have you checked her shoe?" Brooklynn asked. It probably wasn't her place, but she hated seeing the animal in such pain. They were focusing on the leg, but perhaps that wasn't the problem. She felt stupid for speaking and started walking away toward her brother's room.

"Wait a minute," Steven called after her. He didn't know who this girl was, but any suggestions would be welcome. If he had a choice he would rather run Willow Branch than Blaze of Glory. "What makes you think it might be her shoe?"
He looked at Doc Willis, who just shrugged. "Wouldn't hurt to check," he said.

"Well," Brooklynn said turning, "if there's discomfort in the leg and hip tbut there's no swelling or problem with the bend and rotation, I can only assume it's the foot," she reasoned. "I mean, there's only so many parts of a leg," she laughed and stuffed her hands in her jeans pockets as she glanced from the man to the doctor.

The horse was obviously in some sort of distress due to the widness of her eyes. Without thinking Brooklynn walked toward the animal and stroked her nose while whispering softly. "It's ok sweetheart." Not trying to be rude or get in the doctors way, but also being incredibly impatient, she ran a hand down the horse's leg and coaxed her into bending it. "Oh..." she said wincing. "She's got some gravel stuck in the frog of her foot." She touched it gently. "Looks like she might have thrush, you should clean her feet with bleach water tonight if you plan on racing her anytime soon." She glanced between the three of them and felt suddenly out of place. This wasn't her element anymore. "You-uh, should probably grab a hoof pick and clean it out before it gets infected," she stated as she let the horse's foot drop. She pat the horse's side one more time before quickly walking from the area to her brother's room.

The door was unlocked so she entered and saw his clothes sitting on a bench near a locker. She smiled as she saw a picture of her and Austin taped on the inside. She grabbed his clothes and headed for the ring again.

((I'm not sure if I want to continue this. Welcome to Westover Racetrack is supposed to be a story about a thoroughbred racetrack, you know, like Belmont, Santa Anita, Arlington etc. etc., but somehow it seems to have gotten away from that. The horses in this story are all thoroughbreds, the only other horses that should be mentioned would be the lead ponies that accompany the thoroughbreds on to the track.
This is supposed to be a story that takes place along the backstretch, in the stable area, in the paddock, on the track... The characters in this story would be owners, trainers, jockeys, grooms, patrons, etc.
Sorry if my introduction confused people, but this thread is about thoroughbreds and life on a racetrack.))

((Well, I've never raced horses. All I know is Horse Showing because that's what I used to do. Thought that's where we were headed were to horse races, but if it's not then my mistak.))

I was thinking of making a thread about life on a horsefarm (different kinds of horses and maybe different kinds of disciplines?), but I don't know if I want to. It seems that just about every thread I'm in dies.

If it's worthwhile to make up another one, let me know. Otherwise I'll just forget about it.