Shadow reared back, thrusting her front legs out and yelling. She dropped back down and reared back again. I clung to the reins and willed her to stay still. She snorted as Grace came up to her side.

"Easy girl." I said. "I don't get it. She was doing fine in the heat."

"Today's different." Grace said, nodding her head towards a cream and gray stallion.

"That's not one of the horses." Then, I saw Yin on the horse's back.

"Looks like he wants to race you."

"Looks like it."

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT TTTTTT

"You ready?" Grace asked me. I gave a quick nod of my head and she opened the gate. I kicked Shadow in the side and she raced out. I kept my heels down and my body close to her. I pulled on the reins as we rounded the corner then kicked her in the side again as we raced to the finish ride. I slowed Shadow down and walked her to Grace.

"How was she?" I asked. Grace didn't answer. She just ran her hand slowly down Shadow's neck. "That bad, huh?" I climbed down.

"Same as last time. We can try again in a bit."

"Take her back to the stables, please." I walked out of the gate and Patrick joined my right side.

"Don't let it get to you." Patrick said. "I mean, Shadow just needs more time."

"The next race is tonight. I'm starting to think Shadow's not that problem."

"Come on, no body rides her better than you do."

"Yeah. Well, I used to think that were true. Now, I'm not so sure."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HH

Grace opened the gate and Shadow raced out. The wind cut at my cheeks and dirt attacked my unprotected skin. The drum of Shadow's hooves soothed me but didn't relax me. I would be relaxed if she picked up speed. I crossed the finish line and walked Shadow over to Grace.

"Any better?" I asked Grace.

"Maybe half a second." Grace said. I climbed down.

"So, we'll go again."

"That's it for now."

"Yeah, but we're just getting started."

"You need to take a power nap." I sighed, knowing that she was right. But Patrick's plan was all we got and I can't afford to lose.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEE

Shadow kicked up dirt behind her and rounded the corner with ease and crossed the finish line. I climbed down and went to Grace.

"You want to tell me what's going on?" Grace asked.

"Nothing." I said.

"You lost four seconds from last time."

"Sorry."

"She knows your mood. And she knows you're stressed and so do I."

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

I walked Shadow back out onto the track to see Patrick hooking a speaker up by the fence.

"I downloaded some recordings of the track." Grace said, walking beside me.

"So it'll sound like a real race?" I asked.

"That's the idea."

"You really think Shadow's going to go for that?"

"I had this horse, Fiyero. Always in the money. But before he started winning, his breeze times were terrible—a minute twelve, thirteen. I tried him with other horses, nothing worked."

"So what did you do?"

"So I realized the horse was probably just bored. He knew his workouts didn't mean much and he didn't see the point in running hard. So I made his workouts seem like a race. Dressed him up." Grace helped me up into the saddle. "Played crowd noise. Had an announcer. His first time, he cut off eight seconds off his time."

"Well, I only hope that works for Shadow Ghost."

"Me too. The boss just showed up." I looked to see Wayne and Teresa line up on the fence with Patrick and Kimball. Grace pulled the horse into the gate and Patrick started the recorded. As soon as the announcer started to speak, Shadow's head jolted up and perked her ears. The gate opened and Shadow left that gate so fast, I almost fell backwards. Her hind legs propelled her forward, her front legs gathering up ground. We crossed the finish line and went over to Grace. I climbed down. "A minute and one. You shaved off five seconds."