~Ryan~
I had yelled until i lost my voice when Repossess won the Derby. And now, he was going to the Preakness. We might not have the horse that could win the Triple Crown, but we had owned him, and that was enough for me. My mom had died after a battle with cancer, and now it was just dad and I. He was working all the time to keep us afloat, so it was with money I had saved up from my own job that I paid for the Preakness day program. I flipped to the Preakness and looked through. It had been two weeks since the Derby, and I had studied what seemed like every 3-year-old in America who had a chance. I looked at the field. Lord of Kittens didn't seem to have much of a chance except that his sure, Animal Kingdom, had won the 2011 Kentucky Derby in his first start on dirt. However, both of Lord of Kittens parents were mainly turf horses, and this was a dirt race. Quality Codes didn't look too good either. His sire was Honor Code, who won the Remsen as a 2-year-old but flopped as a 3-year-old. Internat looked alright. His father was Barbados, who had some points on the 2015 Kentucky Derby trail, but wasn't overly successful. It was the same with his dam, America, except that she hadn't run in any Kentucky Derby prep races. Aur Top Dog had the right pedigree, but hadn't shown much promise, only winning a maiden and a couple allowances. He had never even been in a stakes race before. Gem of a Sheep also had the right pedigree, but he was scratched because of a minor foot injury.

That left the real field down to 7. There was Repossess, of course, and his new rival, Caradhras. His stablemate To Win and Repeat was also running. The third-place Derby finisher, Blank Fire, was also running, although I thought he would probably be a lot better as an older horse. Third place in the Derby seems to be a springboard toward a stellar 4 and 5 year old career. He was still in contention, though. Think About It had a nice pedigree, and Shack Attack would most likely be the favorite, as his sire, Shackleford, had won the 2011 Preakness over the Derby winner Animal Kingdom. The newcomer I was worried about, though, was Fine Line. His dam was a Breeders' Cup winner and his sire had won the prestigious Whitney Stakes over the likes of Mucho Macho Man and Fort Larned, both future Breeders' Cup Classic winners.

~Repossess~
Tower and I had had a lot of fun since I got to this new track. We galloped every day, but we couldn't race each other every day, which disappointed me.

People stopped by my stall every day just to look at me. I loved it, but it was also kinda creepy. Men with big cameras watched me even while I was sleeping. Teenagers came by with their cameras. Finally, the big day arrived.

I was led to the saddling area, where I walked in circles and tried to look pretty. Tower and I snorted to each other, and people took notice and laughed. Eventually, we got ready to go out into the track.