Midnight on the Track

Chapter Two

The next day, Sam decided to take Lizzie down to a race track and breeze Midnight. "Is Lizzie ready?" asked Dean. "I'll go get her," said Sam as he walked up to the barn. Lizzie was inside tightening Midnight's girth. Her legs had also been wrapped with red polo wraps.

"You ready?" asked Sam. "It's just training, Sam," said Lizzie. "I know," said Sam. "Thanks so much for letting me do this," said Lizzie appreciatively. "No problem," said Sam.

Midnight ran erratically around the track. "Lizzie's right,'' said Dean. "She is fast!" "Yeah,'' said Sam. "In every direction. Hell, she's so beat up it's hard to tell what she's like. I've got a feeling her previous owner had her so screwed up she forgot what she was bred to do. She just needs to learn to be a horse again," he had said.

"Well, how are you gonna do that?" asked Dean. Sam took Lizzie to a wooded area and told her to just let Midnight run.

"How far do you want me to take her?" asked Lizzie. "Till she stops," Sam replied as he slapped Midnight's hindquarters and she galloped off.

As they ran, Lizzie began to smile. " That's it girl! You're alright. Let's see what you've got, girl!" said Lizzie as she clicked her tongue at Midnight. "Ha! Ha! Ha!" Midnight accelerated. "That's it, girl! That's it!" said Lizzie.

They galloped through miles and miles of fields until Midnight finally stopped under an oak tree. "Ahh!" Lizzie sighed. "Well done, Midnight!" she said, petting her. "Well done!"

Midnight bent her head down and began grazing. "Okay," said Lizzie, dismounting. "I'll give you a rest,"

Half an hour later they returned to the Bunker. "How was the ride?" asked Sam. "She rides like a dream!" said Lizzie. "Good," said Sam

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The next day Sam took Lizzie to a local race track where she could run some laps on Midnight. "We've gotta see what she's got," said Sam. "Take her to the five-and-a-half pole and turn her loose." Lizzie raised her eyebrows. "Turn her loose?" she repeated. "Yeah, sweetie," said Sam. "She's a racehorse." He gave Lizzie a leg up onto the saddle, and they made their way onto the track.

Lizzie got to the five-and-a-half pole and tried to turn Midnight loose just like Sam had said, only this time, Midnight wouldn't speed up. "Ha! Ha! Come on!" said Lizzie, brushing the whip across her flank.

Dean, Cas, and Sam were watching from the bleachers. "Come on!" said Lizzie "Ha! Come on! I know you've got more than this! Let's show 'em, girl!" "How's she looking?" asked Dean. "Asleep," Sam replied.

"Come on!" Lizzie growled. "Let's show 'em Midnight!" she said, brushing the whip across Midnight's flank again. This time, Midnight sped up. "Whoo!" Lizzie cheered. "There it is!"

"Oh, wow!" said Cas. "Damn!" said Dean. Sam watched as Midnight continued to gallop down the track. "Yeah! You and me! Let's go!" said Lizzie.

Both Dean and Cas gazed astonished at Midnight as she and Lizzie passed the five-and-a-half-pole again and Sam clicked his stopwatch and stared at it. "What?" asked Dean. "Fast?"

Sam nodded. "Oh, yeah…" he said. "How fast?" asked Cas. "Midnight just broke the track record," Sam said. "Sometimes, they just – hanker for a little competition," Dean and Cas laughed.

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The following week, Lizzie entered in her first race with Midnight. They were doing really well, and Lizzie did exactly what Sam instructed. "That's it, Midnight," said Lizzie. "We're okay now. We're alright, girl. Yeah, we're okay. Nothing to worry about. All the time in the world, girl. That's it, Midnight. Nice and easy! Just like that! Whaddaya think, girl? You ready to do this? You and me, let's go, girl! Let's go! Ha! Ha!" Midnight accelerated, passing all the other horses one by one until she was at the front. They crossed the wire first - twenty strides ahead of the other horses. Sam, was in tears as he, Cas, and Dean hugged and cheered Lizzie. "She did it!" Cas cried, his pale blue eyes brimming with tears of happiness.

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Lizzie and Midnight went on to win six more races, and by now, she had become quite famous. Sam however, being Midnight's trainer, didn't care for all the publicity Midnight was receiving. He talked to Dean about it one afternoon in the Bunker. "She's not a parade animal, Dean," he said. "She's a racehorse!" "Sammy," said Dean patiently. "A little publicity hasn't hurt anyone!" "I can't get her to be a great horse, if I'm not given the time to work with her!" said Sam.

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Dean, bewildered. "She is a great horse!" "We don't know that yet," said Sam. "She's won six stakes in a row!'' Dean argued. "Against whom?" asked Sam. He took out a copy of the daily paper and tossed it across the table at Dean and pointed at the front page. "This," he said. "Is a great horse,"

The front page article featured another black Thoroughbred, like Midnight, only he was bigger – 18 hands at least. The headline of the article read 'War Admiral Stands Alone; Triple Crown Winner Has No Weakness!' "War Admiral?" asked Dean. "He's Crowley's horse,'' said Sam, nodding. "Seriously?" asked Dean

Sam nodded. "You know who his jockey is?" he asked. Dean shook his head. "Gadreel," Sam replied. Dean spat out the bit of beer he had been drinking. "Gadreel? As in…?" "The angel, Gadreel? As in the angel that possessed me? Yeah, that's the one," said Sam. "Son of a bitch!" Dean growled.

"Comparing these two horses is absurd," said Crowley to Dean one day later that same week. "My horse, War Admiral, is a real racehorse – He's won every prestigious race in America. That mare of Lizzie's is running on some cow track. If I responded to every fledging challenger who wants to make a name for themselves, it wouldn't be fair to us. And it wouldn't be fair to them either. "You wouldn't put Red Pollard in the ring with a stick of a jockey. And a female, no less!" Dean was looking furious as Gadreel stalked off laughing.

"Stick?!" asked Lizzie when Dean recounted what Crowley had said. "I'll kill him! I'll knock his goddamn block off! - Sorry – But he's chicken!" "I know, Liz. I know," said Sam patting Lizzie on the shoulder. "I know. We just need to flush him out a little bit." "How?" asked Dean. "Well, this is still America, right?" "Yeah," said Lizzie. "Cash," said Sam

He proposed that they have a $100,000.00 stakes race – the biggest purse in American history.

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Two weeks later, Lizzie was entered in another race, and Sam was giving Lizzie a pre-race pep talk. "There are still going to be the greatest horses in the world," he said. "And if we win this, they're gonna have to face us. Okay, Special Agent's pure speed. He's gonna go to the lead but he can't handle the distance. So don't get sucked in," "I won't, Sam," said Lizzie as she pulled on her right riding boot. "Indian Broom could be there too. We'll know they're holding him back if they use the ring bit. Now, the one you need to worry about is Rosemont. He closes like a freight train. And he'll fight you for it at the end. You've gotta have some momentum built up by the time he makes his move." Lizzie nodded, showing she understood. "It's still kind of soggy out there from the other day, so try and stay off the rail where it's deep." "Okay," said Lizzie. "I figured I'd sit back about three wide,"

Sam nodded "Yeah, that's fine, Liz," he said. "And other than that, just – Just try and feel it. She'll tell you when she's ready."

Lizzie made her way to the starting gate and walked in. Midnight whinnied. It was as if she was thinking Oh, yeah! The gate. I remember this!

Sam, Dean and Cas took their seats in the bleachers, each holding a pair of binoculars. A bell rang and the doors of the starting gate flew open and the horses took off across the track.

Lizzie brushed the whip across the right side of Midnight's flank. "Hyah, girl!" said Lizzie as she continued to ride.

Dean was peering through his binoculars "Come on, Lizzie! Go!" he shouted.

Lizzie rounded the corner and galloped toward the finish line. She thought she had the race in the bag. Trouble was, Rosemont was coming up on her left side. "Watch him, Lizzie!" Sam growled. "Watch him!" Lizzie looked to her left side as Rosemont came up beside her. She didn't even see him as they crossed the line together. The winner was Rosemont – by a nose.

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"It's not my fault – not this time!" said Lizzie later as she changed her clothes. "I said look out for Rosemont!" said Sam. "I thought I had him!" said Lizzie. "You stopped riding!" Sam yelled. "I couldn't see him!" said Lizzie, her voice cracking with emotion. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" asked Sam "He was flying up your tail!"

"Yeah? Well, I can't…!" said Lizzie turning around to face Sam. "What?!" Sam snapped. "See out there!" said Lizzie, tears streaming down her face.

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"She lied to us! She lied to all of us!" said Sam. "What are you talking about Sam?" asked Cas. "You honestly want a jockey that lies to us?" asked Sam. "Whoa, whoa, Sammy!" said Dean. "Hold on! Now, what are you talking about?" "She's monocular," said Sam. "She's almost blind in her left eye."

A moment later Dean sighed. "It's fine, Sammy," he said. "It's fine?" asked Sam. "Yeah," said Dean. "It's fine. You don't throw a whole life away just 'cause it's banged up a little bit. Night," he said as he went off to his room.