Baldwin Prince
By: Steph
Preface
"Do you think he's ready?" Brad Baldwin asked his best friend and head trainer, Zach Anderson.
Zach was seated behind a large, grand, mahogany wood desk in a spacious office. His desk sat in the middle of the room and was backed by an outrageously expensive, dark leather office chair. A sleek, black, flat screen computed adorned the desk top and an expensive collection of fountain pens sat in a holder in one corner. Several files were stacked neatly to the side. The desk was fronted with two leather chairs, Brad sat in one and the other remained empty. The walls of the office were decorated with every horse that Zach had ever trained. There were several picture of his family on the desk top.
One wall was completely glass and the offices occupants were marveled by an unexplainable view of one of Baldwin Ways, the prestigious racing, eventing and breeding farm, pastures. The pasture was unimaginably big. The grass was perfectly cut and vivid green. A pond filled with clear blue water shimmered at one corner of the field and sweeping weeping willows drenched the area in shade. Other trees dotted the pasture and the back of the field was bordered by thick woods. The sky was clear and blue and the early spring sunlight covered the field in light.
Several impeccably bred and trained horses of every which color grazed contentedly among the tall trees and grass. The sun beat down on their backs and warmed them to the core. They munched on the sweet grass and swished their tails lazily. The movement was not done to keep away the flies, oh no.
One lone horse stood by the pond. His haunches were angled toward the crystal water. His head and neck and chest were alight with the sun while the rest of his long, sleek, muscular body was given the cover of the shade. He lowered his long neck and snuffled at the grass.
A sudden breeze flitted through the towering willow and the horse's head flew up and he gave a snort before his haunches pushed him forwards into a springy, effortless trot. The horse was huge but he seemed to float across the ground. Just like a ghost, but this was no ghost. Oh no, not a ghost in the slightest. This was Baldwin Prince, the next champion of Baldwin Ways.
Baldwin Prince was two years old. Brad liked to say "The Prince is a breeding gone right" and boy was he right. He was sired by Make Way For The King, a Triple Crown winner of the Baldwin's about ten years ago. His dam was Little Woman, the first, and currently the only, filly to ever win the Triple Crown. He had impeccable bloodlines.
Baldwin Prince had inherited his sire's dark coloring and was jet black allover, save for the strip of white across his forehead; it looked just like a crown. Baldwin Prince stood just shy of eighteen hands. He was muscular and perfectly built. He was long and sleek with a long neck and an intelligent head.
He was indeed, in every which way, a breeding gone right.
The young colt had already started in seven races and had won each and every one. We was unbeatable, "a force to be reckoned with" as the newspapers had labeled him. Baldwin Prince had been given a fair two weeks off from the work that he loved and did without complaint. His next start would be in two weeks at Churchill Downs in Kentucky on Saturday May 5, 2006. The Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the prestigious Triple Crown.
Little Woman, Baldwin Prince's dam, had been the last horse to win the Triple Crown and that had been eight years ago. Baldwin Prince would be the horse to restore the Triple Crown glory to Baldwin Ways. Ever since his birth two years ago, Baldwin Prince's future had been laid down and mapped out.
If you traced Baldwin Prince's bloodlines back far enough you would find that he is a direct descendent of The Baldwin Way, the horse brought Baldwin Ways together. The horse that Brad Baldwin was forced upon on a visit to Kentucky. The horse that jumpstarted two young men's dreams with a jolt.
"The Prince or…" Zach trailed off suggestively. 'Or' may not have been present but they had all gotten into the habit of not saying anything directly. Only Brad, his wife Liz and their youngest song Lee, Zach and Zach's family were in on the plan. And, of course, Eduardo Perdo, Baldwin Prince's jockey, was in on it too.
Brad paused for a moment and looked out of the large window. "Both," Brad finally settled on.
Zach leaned back in his chair and the new leather creaked under the movement. He crossed his arms over his light blue polo shirt. Zach was dressed casually in a pair of dark jeans and the light blue polo. His once dark brown hair may have been streaked with wisps of gray but all his hair was there. His face was kind and had smile lines at the edges of his eyes.
"Well," he began and a smile lighted his face as he turned his chair to look out of the window, "The Prince is as ready as can be." Just then, as if he knew that he was being talked about, the magnificent horse angled his elegant head in the direction of the 'office' and the breeze ruffled his mane. Zach frowned at a sudden thought and turned back to face Brad. Zach folded his tan hands on top of the desk. "Say, for some reason, The Prince does not do as well as we hope in the Derby," Zach paused. "Now don't get me wrong," he quickly assured Brad and continued confidently, "I have every faith in the world that The Prince is going to win it for us but say he doesn't, by some odd fluke. Does the rest go as planned?"
"Yes."
"You think he's ready?"
"Yes. The boy will be eighteen, in roughly four years it will be him sitting here talking to you, no longer me. It's time for him to get started in the business, directly. Do you think he's ready?"
"No doubt. You've raised him right, Brad," Zach complimented his friend.
Brad smiled thoughtfully as he reflected on his eldest son. He shook his head lightly. "I haven't done much, just steered him in the right direction every now and then. He's got a good head on his shoulders. Smart, confident, level headed and reasonable are among the few things that he is. I can't think of someone better to take over all of this then him."
"He suspects nothing then?"
"Not a thing," Brad laughed along with Zach. "He's voice his questions to me on occasion. 'Why am I watching The Prince's workout everyday? You've never made sure I like a horse this much before,'" Brad kindly mimicked his eldest son.
"He's in for a surprise," Zach shook his head as he chuckled some more. "You've outdone yourself with this one, Brad."
Brad grinned widely, displaying two rows of perfectly white teeth. "What can I say? We Baldwin's like to be the center of attention."
"You sure do."
"But none of what we have now," Brad swept his arm around the office and gestured out of the window, "if it wasn't for you, Zach."
Zach laughed modestly. "Now, Brad, don't be turning all mushy and sappy on me in your old age."
"Remember when we used to tease Lizzy and Lolly?" Brad asked. Both men laughed brightly at the memories of their school days when Brad and Zach had endlessly teased Liz and Brad's younger sister Lolly. What a coincidence it was that Liz and Lolly were best friends. And how ironic it was! If you had asked their stressed and strained and tightlipped Headmistress Pierce about the future regarding Liz van Darren and Brad Baldwin she would have said "Why, they'll live on separate continents! Separate worlds would be better; the world is not ready for the antics of Elizabeth van Darren and Bradley Baldwin! For God's sake I'm not ready!" and now they were very happily married with two wonderful sons and a booming business that caused other racing farms to turn green with envy. And Zach was married to Lolly. (a/n: if you read Beau, for Short, Zach wasn't the friend with Brad in the first part but that's changed now and I think I said Zach's wife was someone else but now it's Lolly. Their kids are the same though. Sorry, just decided that it was better this way.)
"We were mean," Zach laughed. "Remember when you climbed up the tree with Lizzy's sweater? But of course you filled your pockets with acorns before hand and threw them at her." Zach's broad shoulder shook with laughter. "And when H.M Pierce came along… if you could have seen your face," Zach laughed harder.
Brad laughed with his friend. "Those were the days," the said thoughtfully, reminiscing on the past when he had been thirteen and enjoyed nothing more then torturing his now wife.
"It's going to be a good Derby day," Brad said several minutes later. "The best yet, I'm sure of it. The Prince will bring the Crown back to Baldwin Ways and we will all, once again, bask in its internal glory. The Prince will no longer be under my ownership after the Derby but things will be good. Things will be good…"
a/n: you're lucky, I wasn't even going to post this! Just thought I'd give you guys a short little teaser for the story. The rest won't be up until September, so sorry. Hope this was okay, don't know how good it was. I swear I'll get around to TP one of these days. Review! -Steph