Audi's Race! 'Riders Up!' 'Star-Crossed'!

vickyearle
Jun 27
6 min read

Rizzmo (Toby) is having a rest in his large, comfy straw bed. We didn't want to disturb him when we visited the other day!

Audi's World finally ran his race! The video is included below.

I've also included a video I took of him being led around the 'paddock' where the horses are usually saddled up and the jockeys mount their rides.

Here's a story I wrote for the most recent Uxbridge Writers' Circle word challenge (the words I had to use are in italics). You get to read it before the meeting because we were fortunate to have Steve Burrows (of birder murder mystery series fame) join us during our June meeting and didn't share our writing (next month!).

Star-crossed

You could say Caroline’s life was star-crossed. But rather than wallow in self-pity, she accepted her fate. She must have been born under the wrong star, in the wrong place, and at the wrong time.

And this day was no exception. She’d invited forty people to her fortieth birthday party but only fifteen could make it. She suspected that the twenty-five who couldn’t join her were going to the critical Maple Leafs game. Caroline knew the team would lose, but she supposed her friends would enjoy the game despite the result. She hadn’t told anyone she knew the score because no one would want to hear it, and some would want to know how come she believed she knew. Caroline was secretive about her premonitions. They came out of nowhere and suddenly. They scared her sometimes, and she believed that the one hundred percent accuracy of these strong, undeniable visions of the future would frighten anyone she shared them with.

She prepared for the dinner party for sixteen with good humour and looked forward to welcoming her fifteen guests into her new home. She’d told them not to bring anything, not even wine, and certainly not gifts. She didn’t want anything and certainly didn’t need anything.

The bad luck that seemed to follow Caroline ruthlessly was made all the worse because she often knew it was coming. Despite trying to on several occasions, she was not able to alter the future—nothing she did could stop her premonition coming true. It didn’t matter what shenanigans she got up to, the outcome was the same.

A sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach and a pounding in her head shook her as she reached for the flower arrangement destined to adorn the centre of her huge, solid wood dining table. She felt as if she was about to swoon and slowly slid her back down the fridge door and sat on the floor.

The dinner party would be a disaster. She saw blackness, and noise, and chaos. There was screaming and running. As abruptly as the vision came, it vanished, but she was left trembling. There was no point in contemplating how to stop this disaster from happening because she knew nothing would work.

Caroline got back on her feet and did her best to focus on food preparation. Perhaps all that’s going to happen is the power will go out, she thought. Having reassured herself that it could simply be a power outage, she quickened her pace and had all the food prepared well ahead of the guests’ arrival.

Caroline had planned to wear her new dress, which hugged her figure and complemented her blue eyes and strawberry blonde hair. She hoped she looked seductive in it, since she planned to flirt with Joe, despite his apparent disinterest and the lack of a premonition of a ‘happily ever after’ life with him. But—she assured herself—that was no reason to believe that it couldn’t happen.

She hesitated in her dressing room and put the dress back on the rack. She chose the trendy baggy pants, which she didn’t like. She paired them with a pale blue cashmere top, which just reached her slim waist. It didn’t seem appropriate to contemplate flirting with anyone, especially Joe, whom she liked a lot, when disaster was about to strike.

The dinner party started well. The smoked salmon appetizers were washed down with prosecco and laughter. Caroline suggested a stroll around her beautiful and extensive garden before she served the gazpacho. The garden was full of scented shrubs, and their perfumes hung in the air. But the vibrant, eclectic colours were fading as the evening light dimmed and dusk arrived.

Caroline was the first to hear a curious low rustling sound. It seemed to throb slowly as if coming and going. Joe pointed up to a swirling flock of birds and told her it was a murmuration of starlings. The birds displayed an incredible synchronized dance and flew together as if they were one huge pool of black liquid.

A gunshot rang out, then another. The birds swooped down towards Caroline’s garden, presumably in panic. Caroline saw one hit the ground. Her guests screamed and ran into the house, closing the four patio doors behind them. But Caroline stooped down to check out the starling with its starry, shiny feathers. He was a fellow star-crossed creature, she thought.

“You made a mistake moving here,” Joe said. “I didn’t think it was my business to tell you, but I should have.” He picked up the bird and held it gently in his large, warm hands.

“What do you mean?”

“Drake Hudson lives two doors down and he’s known for his belligerence. He’s an angry guy—hostile to everything and everyone. No one challenges him because he came back damaged from a so-called peace-keeping mission. You should move. I’m serious.”

“I’ve only just settled in. I love this place.”

“There are plenty of other beautiful places. Have you ever seen any of your other neighbours outside?”

“Well, I haven’t been here long. But no, I don’t suppose I have.”

“They are scared of him and his guns. They won’t even report him to the cops for fear of retaliation.”

“I’m not easily intimidated.”

“I’m not suggesting you are. I just think you should move. I have a huge place, as you know. Far too big. I rattle around in it. You could stay with me for a few days while you figure out what you want to do.”

“That’s kind of you. I think I’ll do that. I do need time to think.”

“Ah, this little fellow is stirring. I don’t know what happened to him, but he couldn’t have been shot. Let’s put him on that stone wall and leave him be for a bit.”

Caroline and Joe walked into her house. All her guests had left, and a man was standing in her dining room holding a gun which he had slung across his arm.

“Too many people. I told them to go.” His booming voice echoed around the large room.

“Thank you,” Caroline said, her palms suddenly clammy. “Time for you to go now.” She opened the front door and, much to Joe’s amazement, Drake left.

“I could be wrong. Perhaps you could develop some kind of rapport with him.”

“Did you see his eyes? I don’t think so.” And Caroline didn’t want to. She was happy at the prospect of a stay in Joe’s house.

She yearned for a premonition of a long life of happiness with Joe, even though she knew it wouldn’t come. Premonitions didn’t work that way.

She and Joe glanced out of the window at the right time to see the starling stretch out its wings and soar upwards into the darkening sky. Caroline smiled. At that moment, she had her very last premonition. Her bad luck had flown away, like the bird.

Joe poured two glasses of merlot and toasted the flight of the starling, and poured some more to toast her birthday—the best one ever, Caroline thought.

They say ‘life begins at forty’ and Caroline knows they’re right.

'Riders' Up!

You might not hear the command 'riders up' unless you listen carefully!!

You'll see that the trainer, Julia Carey gives some pre-race guidance to the jockey.

And Audi gets to run at last!