Chapter 4
Faith parked when someone pointed to, and hurried out of her truck to follow Naomi into the barn. They shook to try to warm up, and Faith nodded when she saw how clean and organized the barn was.
“Faith, this is my ranch manager, Cole Mercury. He runs this place while I run Broken. Eventually, I’ll probably take over the running of this place, but I trust Cole implicitly with everything. As I said, we have twenty-nine horses here.”
“Do you have trainers?”
“No, and before we go any further, I’m interviewing you for a weird position.”
“Which is?”
Cole spoke then after handing out cups of coffee. Faith took one this time, since her nerves had calmed down.
“We would like you to be the resident jockey for New Double.”
Faith reached out and gripped the desk she sat before. After shaking her head several times, she looked between the two, and didn’t see any grins, or expression of being punked.
“Excuse me?”
“You know how the race world works, you have a horse, an owner, a trainer, and a jockey for just one horse. The only thing we have are the horses, and the owner. That’s Naomi, I’m just the ranch manager. We have twelve horses ready to be run, along with twelve ready for potential buyers.”
“Do you have buyers for them?”
“Sort of,” Naomi said with a sigh. “They are showing interest, but until we can give them stats, they’re holding off even sending their trainer to look at them. Right now, they are only seeing them on our website.”
“Ah, and you want me to run them to get those stats?”
“Correct. I would like the new hire to work with you. He’s a great guy, but he’s a little green when it comes to horses.
I thought if you worked with him about what the stats are, the timing, and what to look for while you’re out on the track, he could catch on.
Like I said, he’s a great guy, but doesn’t know horses. ”
“Why did you hire him?”
“Because he came highly recommended by another worker here. I don’t know if you talked to Erin yet?”
“No,” Naomi said, and turned to Faith. “She’s the woman that started all this.”
“That’s right, what about her?”
“Erin believes in giving people a chance. Shay, the new hire, worked in the military for twenty years before retiring. He doesn’t have any family, and two of his previous teammates work for Erin.
Well, one for Erin, and one for Naomi. They invited him here to learn about horses.
Also, New Double isn’t struggling in funds, or horses, the only thing we’re struggling in right now is physical people to help. ”
They looked at her and saw she was processing everything, and Naomi spoke, “Before you say anything, there’s one more thing you need to know.”
“Which is?”
“First, with you being our resident head jockey, there might not be a chance you can run in a race. However, we have a horse that a buyer is interested in, but again, with no stats, he’s not willing to commit.”
“Okay, I can understand that. What aren’t you telling me?”
Naomi and Cole exchanged looks and both sighed heavily.
Cole leaned forward in his chair and placed his clasped hands on the desk.
“We don’t want to sell him. We want to keep him for ourselves, and your job, if you accept it, will be to not only be the head jockey, but in your spare time, you will be the sole jockey for this particular horse.
” He exchanged looks with Naomi, and turned back to her.
“We know the new guy isn’t good with horses, yet, but we also want you to talk to him, and train him on how to be a trainer. ”
“Is there any written contract between you and this potential buyer?” Faith asked in concern.
“No, and no verbal one. He contacted us stating interest, but no commitment until he knew his stats. We have not run him yet. He’s just come of the age that he can take training and racing seriously.”
“Who is it? Have I heard of this horse before?”
“Probably not, but his grandfather is famous.”
“Who?”
“Chocolate Champion.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Faith asked in shock as she jumped to her feet, and spun around a couple of times.
She turned back and saw their shock. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to swear.
I rode Chocolate Champion in his first year in the Triple Crown.
As I’m sure you know, we won. You have his grandson here?
” Faith’s entire face lit up at the thought of seeing the grandson of her favorite horse.
“Yes, and we want to keep him. We call him Champ.”
“Damn, I would love the opportunity to jump on his back and see what he has. If he’s anything like his grandfather, you’re going to want to keep him.”
“That’s our plan,” Naomi said. “Can you tell us why you only rode him once? And not for the next two times he ran the Triple Crown.”
“You know he only won that first year, right? The year I rode him?”
“Yes, and he came in third the second year, and fifth the third year. He was retired after that, and we were able to purchase his seed to breed one of our mares who had an extremely impressive bloodline also.”
“Well, to answer your question, after we won, some of the other trainers went to their bosses and told them that it was unfair that a woman was riding the best horse out there. The owner came to me and fired me as a jockey. The only thing I told him was not to come to me crying when Chocolate lost in the future. I’m not tooting my own horn, but all the races I rode him in leading up to that Triple Crown that he won, he either won, or came in second.
If he came in second, they had to go with the photo finish and it was seven times out of ten that he was determined the winner.
He only lost three races, and that was by about half a nose.
After the trainer fired me, I walked away.
I might be thirty-eight now, and I’ve been doing this for twenty years, but I still, to this day, get treated differently because I’m a female in a male dominated world.
” She looked at them, then sighed heavily.
“Oh, and after he lost the second Triple Crown he rode in, his owner did come to me, but I looked him directly in the eye, shook my head, and walked away, but not before telling him it was all his fault.”
“Well,” Cole said as he looked directly at her.
“We don’t operate that way here. We base our employees on their merits, not their gender.
If you are good at your job, you will be kept on and rewarded.
If you abuse the animals, or are shitty at your job, you’ll be out of here so fast your head will spin. ”
“Thank you. I have one question for you.”
“What’s that?”
“I don’t do it, and I don’t believe in doing it, but do you encourage your jockey to use the crop on the horse to get them to go around the track faster?”
“No, I know it’s not, but in my book that’s cheating. I’m glad you don’t do it. I believe a horse will know when to be faster if they have the right person on their back.”
“Thank you,” Faith said in awe. She had to take a couple of seconds to gather herself before she could continue. So far, she liked what she was hearing. She sat there thinking about what they had said, then drew in a deep breath to let out slowly before she approached her next issue.
“Are there any apartments for rent in town?”
“You won’t need one,” Naomi said, but held up her hand to stop Faith’s protest.
“Why not?”
“We have cabins available for our hands. Though, if you take the job we’re offering you, you’ll be the resident jockey, but you will still be an employee of New Double. We have two-bedroom, two-bathroom cabins, or bunktels.”
“Which are?”
“They are like bunk houses, there is a common area with the kitchen, living room, and laundry facilities, however, the bedroom portion isn’t just one room.
It’s like a hotel room with your own bathroom.
We modeled these after the ones built over on Broken Two.
Those were designed with the specific purpose for families with people with disabilities so they can stay together when their loved one goes through their rehabilitation program. ”
“Oh, wow. How much does it cost to rent one of them?”
“No rent, just pay for the utilities. All the empty cabins and bunktels have the power on, and it’s in New Double’s name, we’ll send you a monthly bill, and you pay that.
” Cole held up his hand to ward off the question he saw lurking there.
“Don’t worry, you’ll get the entire bill to see, you won’t have to take our word for it.
” He opened his drawer and pulled out an envelope to show her.
“See, they are listed by cabin number. When you pick out which one you want, then when the bill comes in, I’ll hand it to you.
It will be your responsibility to pay the utilities, purchase your own groceries, and anything else you want.
The cabin is fully furnished, you have the option to use what is there, or bring your own.
We’ll just store it until someone needs it.
The beds are brand new, so are the sheets and towels, along with the appliances. ”
“Is there gas, or is it all electric?”
“Both, and you have the option to turn it on. Each cabin has its own propane tank, and again, you would be responsible for getting it filled. Currently, the appliances are gas. Like the stove, furnace, and hot water heater. The refrigerator and washer and dryer are electric.” He shrugged.
“We have found that in these harsh winter conditions, and with us being so far out from town, sometimes it’s better to have both.
If the electricity goes out there are plenty of coolers between all the ranches to preserve the food.
We also have gas generated walk-in refrigeration and freezers in our community pantry.
” He smiled at her blown look of confusion.
“We’ll give you the tour, and you can decide for yourself.
Oh, and there is also a wood burning fireplace in the cabins. ”
“I just have one more question right now.”
“What’s that?”