Chapter 10: Aintree
April in Liverpool is pleasant enough, Rin supposes. Coyote Blue hated the trip, but seems to have settled in decently at Aintree now. Her works are going well, but she's not a favorite. There's one other mare in the race who technically has a better race record, but Rin only counts Coyote's record since they bought her, and that one is one of the best in the race.
The Topham Chase is in two days, on the eve of the National. It's a little over two and a half miles over all sixteen fences of the National course, two of which they will jump twice. It's a longer distance than Coyote Blue usually races, but shorter than her most recent win.
There's no gate at Aintree, and there are twenty-nine runners in the Topham. Rin and the Lochlanns have been schooling Coyote Blue on her start, and she seems to like it better. She still lets out a scream or two while she's waiting for Rin to let her run, but she makes a faster, cleaner start without the gate. That's reassuring for next year.
The morning of the race, Haruka sets up live coverage from home. Makoto and Kou sit on his bed, watching the laptop with hearts racing. There's a bit of coverage on the horses and jockeys – other than the National, this is the most anticipated race of the meet – and Coyote Blue gets her own story. She's a rags to riches tale, and everyone's a sucker for those. The Lochlanns bought her for eight thousand pounds. The winner's purse in the Topham is nearly seventy thousand.
A reporter manages to corner Rin, who behaves like a deer in the headlights.
"How do you feel about Coyote Blue's chances?" the woman asks.
"All right," Rin says stiffly.
"You and she are both first-time runners at Aintree, and you're going off 40-1. Nervous?"
Rin shakes his head, but he looks a little green.
After a few more questions, the reporter leaves Rin alone and the coverage shifts to a couple of clips of Coyote Blue's races. When they go to film the mare in her stall, Rin is nowhere to be found and Charlotte shoos them off.
Thousands of miles away, Haruka can't tell whether he can laugh or not.
Rin walked the course last night and this morning, and shit, The Chair is huge and Becher's is scarier in person. He's never been this nervous before a race.
He sits in the jockey's room in the Lochlann silks, staring at his knees. He's the youngest jockey in the race by five years. Nine of the entries are older than Coyote Blue, but every one of them has run this race before, and among them are three former winners.
The call comes, and the jockeys head out to the paddock where their mounts wait. Coyote Blue can't keep her feet still, and Charlotte holds her with a look of exasperation mixed with nerves on her face. Eric stands by.
Rin takes a leg up, and he wonders if Coyote Blue can feel him shaking. She certainly knows he's nervous – she doesn't settle like she normally does.
The moment Coyote Blue's hooves touch the track, Rin's nerves melt away and the mare calms. He is cool and confident, and she takes heart, behaving more like the old veterans than the greenhorns.
They canter a circle, and twenty-nine horses take off toward the first of eighteen fences.
Two horses fall at the first fence and another one throws his rider at the second. Rin can't afford to think about them. He settles Coyote Blue in the middle of the pack, on the outside where she won't be in trouble. He's not worried about the stallions bothering her – Coyote will not hesitate to bull another horse out of her way, and Rin doesn't want to foul anyone. The other mare, Dancer's Cat, is ahead of them by two lengths, boxed in on the inside.
The Chair is next. Five-two of fence preceded by a six-foot ditch. Three horses refuse. Coyote Blue is not one of them.
To the Water Jump now. The whole field makes it over that one somehow.
Across the dirt road they go, charging to the fifth.
Five, six and seven are a blur, but then Becher's Brook is ahead, looming, five feet with a ten inch drop on the other side. Two horses stumble and pitch their riders on the landing. Rin and Coyote Blue gallop away clear.
There are thirteen horses left in the field, and Rin and Coyote Blue run in sixth. Foinavon is a non-issue. Coyote Blue doesn't quite understand the Canal Turn and thus runs very wide, and Rin asks her for more when they get back on his preferred path. She rockets past two laboring geldings within two strides and the mare in another.
Three horses run in front of them. The nearest is half a length ahead, the leader two lengths.
Rin's heart leaps into his throat when Coyote Blue misjudges Valentine's and tears a foot of brush off the top, nearly going down on the landing. The error would have put them back if the third place horse hadn't made a worse one and fallen. So they're in third.
Five jumps to go. It would be a miracle even to finish. Rin is one of the few jockeys not pleading with God, but he sends a request to whatever powers might be: Please don't let her get hurt.
Makoto, Haruka and Kou are all on their feet. Kou is screaming at the screen, Haruka has had a vice grip on Makoto's wrist since Coyote Blue stumbled, and Makoto himself is white as a sheet.
They can't speak, can barely breathe. They've watched seventeen horses drop out of the race, and by some miracle, Coyote Blue and Rin are still running.
As the bay mare approaches the last two jumps, still a length behind the next horse, Haruka suddenly understands why Rin is a jockey.
The last two fences are child's play – Coyote Blue is tired, but she barely touches the spruce – and they're in the stretch, flying, positively screaming down the turf. Rin suspects it's too late to catch the hard-running stallion in front, who came in second last year.
The announcer is shrieking.
"It's Quintessential followed by Sparrow's Landing, and there's Coyote Blue on the outside! The long shot mare with the seventeen-year-old jockey is going to finish in the money, she's overtaken Sparrow's Landing now and is gaining on Quintessential – "
Rin can't even hear him. Coyote Blue reaches Quintessential's shoulder a stride before the wire, but he beats her by a head. She passes him a stride after, and seems extremely offended when she isn't led to the winner's circle.
Rin's heart is racing, his legs tremble, and he's positively soaked with sweat. He knows he'll need to be in better condition for the National, which is nearly twice the Topham's length. But for now, he tries not to think of the future. He leans forward to pat Coyote Blue's neck and tell her she won, they just made a mistake. The mare snorts and prances off the track, where Charlotte and her father are waiting.
"You gave me a bloody heart attack, you know that?" Charlotte tells the horse, pulling Coyote's head down to her level. "You knew better than that nonsense on Valentine's. You kill that boy and I swear I'll have you pulling a cart." Coyote Blue is tired and has the decency not to bite Charlotte, but does sneeze in her face.
Rin hops off. His knees buckle when he hits the ground, and Eric grabs his arm to hold him upright.
"You thought you were ready for the National this year? It's not just the horse that needs to be in shape, Rin."
Rin shakes his head, grinning sheepishly.
"I guess not."
Haruka sits on his bed, dazed. Kou is replaying the end of the race – she has no interest in the interview with the winner.
She goes back just a little too far, to the moment that Rin nearly falls at Valentine's, and Haruka feels ill again.
They almost miss the interview with Eric Lochlann, who says he couldn't be prouder of horse and jockey; yes, he is thinking about the National for next year; and no, Coyote Blue is not for sale and won't be anytime soon.
The three of them send Rin their congratulations, but it's not enough for Haruka. He has to see Rin. He has to talk to him.
End Chapter
Fanfurl: I might go back and add in some more guilt. I realized that I didn't make Rin quite as conflicted as he should have been, but he has been understandably very distracted by racing and school and Ireland in general. But I'm glad you liked the chapter! :D