Thoroughbred: Cindy's Last Words (or Hope, I guess.)

Cindy's Last Hope
by Mary Anderson

Will Cindy have to scratch Gratis? for insane reasons we don't even bring up in this summary?

Cindy McLean and her totally platonic, sarcasm-using partner, Ben al-Rihani, can't find a jockey professional enough to ride Gratis for two minutes on a training track in the Kentucky Derby. The only person besides Christina Cindy who can handle the difficult horse is a persistently annoying stubborn and inexperienced groom/secretary/exercise rider groom named Wolf, whom Cindy wants to punch in the face. But Cindy ironically doesn't like Wolf's attitude, and refuses to give him a chance instead of firing him for being insubordinate. Besides, he doesn't even have his jockey's license yet. (Hahahaha!)

Cindy wants to ride Gratis herself probably bareback and alone, like every other time, risking irreparable damage to her already injured shoulder. Ben won't allow it. But stubborn Cindy is hard to stop. Will someone come to our her rescue before it's too late?

There, fixed!

Now to the cover. My feelings about this one have always been somewhere between sighing deeply and confusion. For one thing, the main character of the story isn't even looking at us. Is this because she's 32, and therefore horribly old, her decrepit appearance unsuitable for a book cover meant for tweens? Or is it because the cover artist decided to be really faithful to the book, wherein Cindy stands around staring at things a lot? If so, why couldn't they have taken this scene from another angle? An angle where we can see Cindy's horrifying thirty-something face? Other thoughts: Gratis looks like a carousel horse. I'm not even sure if that pose is found within any natural stride. The neck on that poor creature astonishes me as well. Also, everything about what I assume is Wolf on that cover amuses me. He looks like he's completely forgotten something important, like how to ride the devil horse underneath him which currently looks asleep. And finally, Cindy's hair. What mysteries does it possess?

So this book is yet another pre-Derby book in the span of volumes that overlap each other in a tangled mess that is hopeless to understand. It is maybe a week or two or five or eleven billion away from the Derby, but the Derby is right on top of us and will be here any second! Or maybe not. Maybe we have time for a race or two or five or...you get the idea. We even have time to drag in a few extra ridiculous books about Parker and Lyssa, because why the hell not? 

We begin this book with Cindy staring at Champion, asking Ben if he's ever seen such astonishing beauty. Ben replies that of course he has, because he's looking at Cindy. Cindy has never looked more "radiant." Because they're both mentally eleven, blushing commences and they have to talk about that time when Cindy and Champion lived in Dubai and how they "belong" in Kentucky. But with all this small talk and blushing, they've totally forgotten about Gratis and his upcoming jockey try out. Which is about to start...with no one present at the track at all besides the horse and maybe Wolf, this kid we'll get to in a second.

So Cindy and Ben speed over to the track, just in time for Gratis's groom to quit in a huff because he's been bitten one too many times. The nerve of that animal! So then Gratis goes and dumps his new potential jockey, who also storms off in a huff. Then, like the equestrian miracle she is, Ashleigh descends on Tall Oaks with her proteges Christina and Melanie to tell Wolf that he can't race yet, for he has no experience. Everyone agrees, despite all of their collective history muttering in the background that they are all horrible hypocrites with the memory of goldfish. 

Wolf is the new kid at Tall Oaks, along with Beckie, the Australian groom. That brings the total of employees at Tall Oaks up to exactly five, if you count Ben. And I suppose we have to count him, since he owns a truck instead of a "European sports car," which means he is less "rich owner" and more "I haul heavy things and sometimes work with my hands." So we'll count him. Wolf has a way with Gratis, but because Cindy is harboring dreams that her wrecked shoulder will magically be okay to race ride again, she's hesitant about doing the obvious thing and get the kid a jockey license. Wolf is arrogant! And persistent! And annoying! And inexperienced! I hope we all see the writing on the wall.

So then Brad pops up to tell Ben that it turns out he doesn't think Champion was ever legally sold, beginning the most ridiculous scheme Thoroughbred has ever tried to force onto Brad. And, naturally, Brad almost succeeds because these people are morons. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Upon hearing this news, Cindy immediately dashes for Champion's paddock in a panic, convinced that Brad has already used his supernatural powers to spirit Champion to Townsend Acres. As it happens, Brad shows up to wave papers around in Ben's face, but gets distracted by Gratis and starts to mumble about Affirmed and Alydar, both being in the colt's pedigree. So he informs Ben that he can either take Champion, or Tall Oaks can drop out of the Kentucky Derby.

This is pretty insane, actually. Since Gratis hasn't exactly done anything (you know, at all) there's no real threat to Celtic Mist at Tall Oaks. I'm going to assume that Brad does these things just to mess with everyone around him. Maybe he's just bored. But what really gets me is that everyone totally falls for it. They actually think that they might have to give in to this craziness, which is only possible because Clay is off in Europe and can't be reached by phone, e-mail, snail mail, fax, telegram, smoke signals, or carrier pigeon. Also, Ben's dad is apparently at death's door, or is old and ill and no one wants to disturb him or whatever. So Ben starts to think that yes, maybe they will have to scratch Gratis, because Brad might be right, and while they're trying to prove whether or not Brad is right...they're just going to let him do whatever he wants? What? The hell?

So now Cindy is really panicking. She wants desperately to ride Gratis, but her doctor won't let her. Even Ben's thoughtful reminiscing about those grand, emotionally turbulent days in Dubai cannot calm Cindy. So Ben decides to go buy some "desert horses." Ahem, I mean Arabians, with which they can trail ride around on the farm to cheer up Cindy, who only takes it as an opportunity to go dashing off and nearly giving Ben a heart attack. But Arabians are harmless! What possible trouble could she get into?

Then there are like five chapters saying the same thing. Cindy angsts, jockeys don't work out for Gratis, Brad and his lawyer threaten to take Champion away after they discover that Tall Oaks probably won't run Gratis in the Derby anyway, and Ben says over and over that he thinks Brad is going to win this little battle as he scrambles around for a document that says something coherent and sends his operatives to Europe to track down Clay, who is probably holed up in the Alps somewhere.

Eventually Wolf gets bored with everything that's going on around him and makes a comment about how Cindy is a has-been, causing her to flip out and fire him on the spot. Then she stalks over to Gratis and decides that today is the day she will ride him. On the trail. Where he has never been. By herself. Of course! So she does this, and naturally a quail convinces Gratis that the world is ending, and he bolts through the wilderness with a visibly hurt Cindy attempting to stay in the saddle. Then, of course, Wolf rides bareback up to Gratis on one of Ben's "desert horses" and saves the day. And he's still irritating. So Cindy tells him to take her to the hospital as repayment for saving her life.

So, now that Cindy has proven that she cannot ride Thoroughbreds anymore, she is sure that Gratis will not race in the Derby and Brad will sneak off with Champion. But, magically enough, Ben's dad speaks from Dubai and sends the necessary paperwork to prove that the whole sale was legal in the first place. Huzzah! Brad stalks off, plan foiled, probably thinking on the new details of his next dastardly plan as he drives off in his European sports car.

Then Cindy has her come to Jesus moment concerning Wolf, who is still irritating, since Ben has been dropping comments all over about how much he thinks Wolf and Cindy are alike. They are both equally irritating. So she gives in and gets Wolf his gate test, and decides to put Gratis in some unnamed prep race. Possibly the Derby Trial? Or something at Churchill Downs. Whatever. It isn't important. Gratis and Wolf win, and Cindy takes a moment to wave at Brad from the winner's circle before Ben kisses her in the win photo.

Yay. I guess.   

Oddities

"I remember the year you spent at my father's stable." - Yes, Ben, I'm sure Cindy does remember. Were you afraid she'd forgotten again? After having spent twelve years brooding about it?

And then Ben attempts a "joke" that he then "laughs at." Meanwhile, Cindy rolls her eyes.

Ben tells Cindy all about Brad's nefarious "I still own Champion!" declaration and Cindy's first reaction is RUN. Followed by Ben catching up with her and asking her why she ran and Cindy becoming confused and saying..."I panicked?" I can't tell if this is satire...or not? Maybe it's a Joanna Campbell homage?

"Alydar and Affirmed had both raced in the Triple Crown series years earlier." Try decades earlier. Also, this is a completely ridiculous sentence that doesn't even come close to indicating the gravity of Alydar and Affirmed.

As it turns out, Ben did bring back all that tack Cindy bought in Dubai and failed to give it back to her with all her other stuff because it would "remind" Cindy of her unhappiness at the time. Like a diary couldn't have done that, or anything. Not so sharp, Ben. 

Ben's heart can't take surprise anymore. How old is this person? 

"You may be a small Arabian, but you have the spirit of a true Thoroughbred." Stupidest statement of the book award, right here.

 Ben asks Brad's lawyer what Townsend Acres "will do with the stallion" once Brad reclaims Champion. And the lawyer says ominously that this is essentially privileged information, and Ben cannot know what torture Townsend Acres has devised for a Triple Crown winning stallion. I'm sure it will involve lots of horse sex, and maybe a big stall, and a paddock, and more horse sex. Those bastards.

ETA: Ben's dad does give half-interest in Champion to Cindy by the end of the book. Without her knowledge, as if that is possible. Because he has apparently mellowed in his old age, and internet stalked Cindy while she was in New York, and eventually grudgingly admitted that she is kind of okay. 

So, we're almost there, you guys. I have a non-Thoroughbred book to post next, and then we're back to the adventures of Parker and Lyssa. The important thing to realize is that we are officially done with Cindy's point of view. Perhaps we are not done with her stupid decisions, but we at least don't have to hear about them first hand. So there's the slight silver lining to Cindy's Last Hope. I knew it was there somewhere.

That one time when Cindy freaked out over nothing for twelve years.

Cindy's Bold Start
by Mary Newhall Anderson

I have a soft spot for this cover, only because I think this is the best depiction of Cindy in the history of Thoroughbred book covers. At least, the best depictions of adult Cindy, and considering there were only three of those covers and one of those only showed the back of her head, it doesn't have a lot of competition. The rest of it brings up some questions, mainly involving the horse and the tack. That's a huge horse. Look at all of that space between Cindy's knee and the front of the horse's chest. It's like a racing Clydesdale. Also, that is not a racing saddle. Plus, there is no view to speak of at Belmont Park, but I still like the overall composition.

What will Cindy do now?
When Cindy McLean goes back to Belmont to clean out her apartment, she finds her old diary and is taken back to the days when she started racing in New York, after she fled Dubai...

Find out what happened in Cindy's own words as she struggled to compete against the best male jockeys in the country. She was new to the tough Belmont trainers and had trouble getting rides. But Cindy never stopped trying, and in time she was winning big races on a filly no one else thought could run.

Now that Cindy can't ride anymore, her life has changed drastically. She'll need to tap some of that old determination as she sets off boldly in a new direction.

This is a really horrible summary. Why read the book now? Not only do you know what happens, they don't even bother to spark your interest. Cindy struggles, Cindy succeeds, Cindy must tap some old determination and guzzle it down like a binge drinker at a keg party... What is the point?

Cindy's road trip to success and glory.

Cindy's Desert Adventure
by Mary Newhall Anderson

Has Cindy given up hope?

While recovering from surgery, Cindy McLean goes back and reads what she wrote in her diary so many years ago. Cindy is ure her racing career is over now, but years ago, it was just beginning...

Find out what happened in Cindy's own words as she travels to Arabian shores--the ancient birthplace of the horse--to work for Sheik al Rihani. There she learns that women are treated differently, especially women who want to race against men. But the more challenges she faces, the more determined Cindy becomes.

Will the injured Cindy find inspiration in her spirited younger self?

Oh, where to begin? Mary started to set us up for Cindy's Desert Adventure back in Fallen Star, when Cindy had unrestrained feelings of rage toward Ben al-Rihani for simply existing. Little did we know then, but Mary was actually plotting what is known as the Lost Diaries, or this book and Cindy's Bold Start, which explains what happens to Ashleigh's second baby, the disappearance of Wonder's Champion, and how Cindy wound up in New York. She'll be back later for Samantha's wedding/Ireland adventure/baby drama that was, for whatever reason, ushered in with far less fanfare.

If we weren't slap happy before, we should be by now. TB #23: Cindy's Honor

Cindy's Honor
Thoroughbred #23
by Karen Bentley
Published: 1997

Here we are, ready to tackle the book where Harper Collins finally decided that they'd had enough. Really, what took them so long?

This is one of those covers that's unintentionally misleading. Who is this boy wearing Whitebrook's silks and why is he smiling at Cindy? we all must ask ourselves. At first it appears that Cindy's dating some new jockey and they've had a lover's quarrel that's left Cindy bitter and he's either over it already or ignorant that she's actually quite pissed off. Actually, the cover is pretty telling of their relationship. Jeremy is a nice guy. He's a professional jockey not much older than Cindy and by any normal standards is good at his job, but the problem is he's taken Cindy's ride on Honor and that means that, no matter how much of a natural he is at riding or how polite and professional he may be, he does not love Honor enough and therefore is ruining her! Ruining! Therefore Cindy pouts and scowls and starts acting all paranoid. Thus we have this book cover. Also, either that fence is tiny or Honor and Jeremy are giants.

Who's riding Honor?

Honor Bright, one of Cindy Mclean's favorite horses, is old enough for her first racing season! Cindy can't wait to be her jockey. So Cindy is terribly upset when she has an accident during a training session and the doctor says she wont be able to ride for a while.

Now Jeremy Correll--a young, new jockey--will get to race her special horse. Jeremy is an excellent jockey, but Cindy believes that only she can ride honor to victory. Will Cindy be able to swallow her pride and watch Jeremy race Honor? Or will she ignore her doctors orders and try to ride again?

Plot:
No one ever taught poor Cindy McLean how to fall off a horse, so instead of jumping ship she stupidly stays on Honor as she rips through the inner rail of the training oval. Welcome to the opening chapter of Cindy's Honor, where Cindy quickly falls unconscious. Unfortunately she has to wake up and whine about things, so the book picks up again in the hospital so Cindy can shriek and flip out about Honor. While we're in the hospital, Cindy takes some time to process the information that her shoulder has been broken and she cannot ride for some time. Naturally Cindy ignores this bit of information because she's stubborn to a fault, which encourages fantasies of me smacking her around. Oh, that would be such bliss.

Eventually she leaves the hospital and in the meantime Ashleigh has committed the ultimate betrayal. She has gotten someone else to ride Honor. Oh, the horror. The horror. (Rolls eyes.) Meet Jeremy, Lavinia's cousin. Why Lavinia has a cousin who is an accomplished jockey on the West Coast is anyone's guess, but that's what's on the page so we'll roll with it. Cindy is not pleased with this development, has some brief flash of anger at Ashleigh for daring to continue with her plans to train her horse without Cindy (I don't know what Cindy was thinking would happen exactly...it's not like the farm shuts down when Cindy's not around...or does it?). Jeremy rides Honor around on the track and is just too professional for Cindy's taste because he's all trying to make Honor mind his authority! Holy hell! Who does he think he is, just pushing that poor, sensitive, blushing petal of a filly around like that! Whitebrook Farm, as we all know, just uses their never ending flow of love to convince horses to want to do what's asked of them. Jeremy is not in on this sappy little girl logic, and Cindy's pissed about it.

So there's all this crap about Honor getting a saddle sore, which Cindy rushes to blame on Jeremy although no one's really explaining who saddles this horse up every morning because it certainly doesn't look like Jeremy's doing it. Then it's like Jeremy is too professional and Honor's all confused because she expects love and leniency all the time and Cindy worries some more. And then she worries ever more because everyone's like SO thrilled that Honor is training so well, while Cindy bitches and moans about Honor supposedly not training well. It's essentially everyone's more knowledgeable opinion vs. Cindy's intuition, and everyone else pretty much wins out. Jeremy actually moves into Ashleigh and Mike's house, which I can't even begin to imagine, and everyone and their dog is just so in love with the guy that Cindy's sheer hatred of him would make for a retelling of Body Snatchers if this story was at all interesting.

Then, because Honor needs help, Cindy tries to ride Champion and fails miserably. Yeah, you try figuring that out because I'm done trying to find reasons for Cindy's asinine actions. Anyway, because Cindy is right and everyone else sucks, Jeremy acts like a lunatic waving a crop around in Honor's first race and Ashleigh takes him off of the filly as Cindy delivers the dire warning that Honor's career might be over! And Ashleigh apologizes to Cindy and lets Cindy ride Honor and Cindy lies about the pain she's experiencing and she wins some race and finally this stretch of books is over.

Oddities:

• Cindy demands to go to the barn after she gets back from the hospital and, being a slave to her every whim, Max carries her down there where she winds up collapsed on the floor. This is where Jeremy pops in to announce his presence and Cindy says bluntly, "Who are you?" Wow, Cindy. Manners, much?

• Don't you just love Karen's random attempt to stick as much description as she can into an awkward spot? Cindy's collapsed on the floor, Jeremy's aimlessly standing next to her, and here comes Ashleigh with Christina. Karen MUST describe Christina, so she packs in her features and then ends it with: "Christina sat down on the stable floor and began to arrange bits of straw into a tepee."

• Max asks Cindy how she thinks it will go with Jeremy riding Honor, and Cindy immediately insists it will be awful. "Honor doesn't even like him." I think someone is projecting her emotions.

• Cindy "will just have to believe that Ashleigh knows what she's doing." Yeah, because after that whole issue that was Cindy feeling inferior to Ashleigh, she now feels like she's somehow surpassed Ashleigh and now knows all! Only Cindy could possibly understand that another bad ride could end Honor's career! Only Cindy could know that hiring Lavinia's cousin is crazy! Why don't they all just listen to Cindy so they can stop repeating these silly mistakes that take whole books to resolve?

• Let us all take note that Cindy is no longer mad at Ashleigh for hiring Jeremy. Thank goodness, I was so unaware that she was actually mad.

• Jeremy breezes Honor and afterward she's sweaty and breathing a little hard. Everyone acts like this is normal except for Cindy, who's ready to flip out at any tiny damn thing, and she's all shocked when no one really reacts to her query over how Honor seems so upset. Doesn't anyone understand how sensitive Honor is? Yeah, for the horse that was beating up every other foal in the paddock we're now supposed to believe she's a delicate flower?

• Does anyone else think that Jeremy shouldn't be expected to groom Honor? Perhaps Whitebrook should bite the bullet and finally employ some grooms.

• The crop finally makes another appearance, and Cindy immediately protests its use even though Ashleigh justifies it by saying Jeremy can't allow Honor to run through the rail again. Only then Honor comes off the track favoring not one, but both front feet and Cindy knows exactly what the problem is. Jeremy smacked Honor with the crop and made her go off balance or something equally stupid.

• Max arrives and informs Cindy that the doctor just called to announce that her recent x-rays show her shoulder is healed and she can start physical therapy. Cindy instantly takes off her sling to do something triumphant with her arm (I'm sure) and is all shocked that she can't move it. Someone clearly needs to inspect Cindy's head instead of her arm.

• "You're not the kind of person who would make things up just to get another jockey off a horse you want to ride." *giggle/snort* Really, Max? Really? I'd take a long, hard look at that statement.

• I must say, it is hugely gratifying to see Cindy struggle to lift her arm two inches when she was so super confident she'd be riding again after one physical therapy session. Like, I love watching her in pain. This is probably because she's been putting me through so much crap for the last few books that I'm starting to feel vengeful.

• Out of nowhere Cindy decides to ride Champion, because if she can ride the most difficult horse on the farm she can ride any horse, including Honor. At least, that's her theory. One would think that she might want to reconsider this when she realizes she's not strong enough to lift a saddle onto Champion's back. But not Cindy. Oh no. She just decides to ride him bareback. Seriously, someone should lock this kid in her room. She's a danger to the community.

• Cindy insists that Honor is in trouble! Hence: "I just feel like Honor's on the edge, and it wouldn't take much to push her over." Max replies: "And no one else sees it? That's a little hard to believe." Why, yes! Max, you are so right. It is hard to believe. It's so hard to believe that I'm wondering why there's a whole book based on this idiotic premise obviously dreamed up by a nitwit with a bitchy streak.

• Perhaps Cindy should consider that if she's the only one who can see that Honor isn't happy, it's probably because she's wrong.

• Jeremy says something about how Honor thinks she can get away with misbehaving after she tries to dump him, or something, and Cindy's all with the how dare he! Yeah, who is that jackass who thinks he can just state fact like that! Only Cindy can think and/or comment on Honor's actions in any slightly negative, but mainly positive way!

• Cindy wants to stay in Honor's stall, but Jeremy points out that the filly is finicky and shouldn't have to get used to sharing her space the day before a race. A completely logical point! And Cindy turns to Ashleigh for the ultimate decision and Ashleigh sides with Jeremy. That backstabbing bitch! Cindy is all betrayed now and she's going to go be petulant and annoying and invariably piss the reader off again! Damn it all.

• "There's no time for misunderstandings in a race this short," Ashleigh groans, or moans or says or whatever. You know, there's also no time for this much talking in races this short either, but the Whitebrook crowd manages it time after freaking time. Something tells me Honor could do a back hand spring down the track, jump the rail twice and then cartwheel across the finish and still finish in the top three. So please, Karen, spare me the complaining.

• Great, so after Jeremy's sudden turn around into a completely incompetent rider, Ashleigh apologizes and states that she should have seen it all along. How random and convenient. Cindy can smile and be gleeful now. Her competition is gone. Joy!

• Cindy is going to go ride Honor in one of those grand Thoroughbred experiments that could very possibly end in disaster but always wind up in triumph. Mark tells her, "We'll go get front row seats. No, seriously, if we make you nervous we don't have to watch." For some unexplainable reason I am filled with love for Mark now.

• During the Magnolia, Cindy manages to force herself to stay conscious. Which I have to say is testament to her super jockey powers!

Well, we made it. Now we can move on and pretend this never happened.

One book left! One book left! TB #22: Arabian Challenge

Arabian Challenge
Thoroughbred #22
By Karen Bentley
Published: 1997

I remember picking this book up in 1997 and scoffing at it. A Thoroughbred book called Arabian Challenge, I thought? It just had to be bad. I put it back. Right there I saved myself 201 pages of torture. But, being too curious for my own good I had to read it sometime and now I'm rereading it because apparently I just like to enrage myself. Anyway, here it is. The book that is endlessly worse than Glory's Rival. To the cover!

There isn't a lot to complain about here. In fact, it's easily Champion's best cover. The color scheme even works with the image, and that doesn't happen often. Cindy's smile is even somewhat convincing, although there is an air of annoying superiority in it that makes me wish she'd fall off the horse and then die in the desert of dehydration. I find all of this quite unfortunate considering Arabian Challenge is probably the book that most enrages me. At least of the Cindy books. I haven't read the majority of the New Generation, so who knows what's awaiting me.

Will Cindy win her biggest race as a jockey?

For as long as she can remember, Cindy McLean has longed to ride a Thoroughbred in a world-class race. And now that she's sixteen, Cindy's dream is finally coming true. She'll ride Wonder's Champion, the Triple Crown winner, in Arabia's Dubai Cup!

Cindy will have tough competition. She'll be racing not only against the best horses and jockeys in the world but also against her friend and teacher, Ashleigh Griffen! Is Cindy ready for the challenge of her life?

Don't you just love the "Arabia's Dubai Cup" line? It's exactly how you'd dumb down a more complicated phrase for a four-year-old. Sort of like "That's beer, and no you can't drink it" turns into "You don't want to drink the bad juice, it's icky." You know?

Plot:

We're skipping another year here, with almost no mention of what happened after Champion's Belmont Stakes because, hey, who needs all that pesky backstory? I'm sure Cindy moped about something and Champion won a few races and all was well with the world. We've got more interesting things to get to, like Cindy's apprentice jockey license! Which she's somehow applied for at the age of 15 because she starts off this book in a gate test, which she passes with flying colors and an extra handful of glitter for extra measure. Afterward there's all this talk about how much Ashleigh and Cindy understand each other now that you get this distinct feeling that Cindy thinks she's in some uber special girl jockey club with Ashleigh, which must mean their minds have melded and no one else can understand their super powers. Despite this, it is painfully clear to Cindy that she is only the lowly sidekick to Ashleigh's Wonder Woman, and she is desperate for Ashleigh's compliments and opinions. She'll learn to disregard these later, of course.

Immediately upon returning home, Cindy starts taking herself a little too seriously. If she's going to be a (top) jockey now she must devote all her time to her career, which would apparently mean sitting around on her ass thinking about riding in races because she sure as hell hasn't been asked to ride in any yet. Thus she alienates all of her friends in a mere two pages. This doesn't bother Cindy. They'll come around, she tells herself, and then frolics off to think about racing some more. However, because Ashleigh and Cindy are in the same super girl jockey club, Cindy gets home to Ashleigh offering her a ride on Black Reason! Yay! All her thoughts are now justified; she is a Real Jockey. At the age of 15, which one book ago was impossible (not to mention in this fabulous thing we call "reality"). Just as Cindy's riding her high of getting to race, Ashleigh brings her down by reminding her that it's not her entire life and thus Cindy concludes that Ashleigh takes her whole life for granted. Ashleigh will never understand her determination!

As it turns out, no one understands her determination. Cindy starts getting up at 3am every morning in preparation for her first race. As if riding one more horse every morning (bringing the grand total up to two horses each morning) will prep her perfectly for race riding. All she accomplishes is exhausting herself and developing these ridiculous flashes of anger at anyone who dares question her grand plan to super jockey stardom.

Of course, Cindy doesn't win her first race and decides it was that pesky problem of being forced to attend these public education facilities called schools that derailed her glorious vision of winning and being presented with roses and trophies and rapt attention from everyone. So she decides to cut everything out of her life, including her friends. Who needs them, anyway?

So the instant her friends and family start reacting to Cindy's putting them...oh, about last on her list of priorities, she's all with the drama, repression and pissiness. Anyone's attempt to talk her earth-sized head down to a diameter that will at least fit her through a doorway is met with antagonism and defensiveness, but while Cindy is causally driving everyone she likes away from her and secretly developing a very frightening jealousy over Ashleigh, she's getting everything she wants. A second ride on Black Reason, leading to promised ride on Champion in the Dubai World Cup.

Then, right in the middle of avoiding everyone (because at this point she's convinced herself everyone is against her), Cindy has her moment of enlightenment! Oh, it's like the pure joy of a thousand gleaming diamonds falling from the sun! Cindy decides that she's been focusing too much on herself and winning, not enough on her horses and winning. Or Max and winning...or something equally vague. Her moment of enlightenment isn't exactly as clear cut this time, but it has something to do with being less selfish, but still caring deeply about winning.

So she patches things up with Max and then wins her next race on Black Reason, so now she's all sparkles and happiness, with only occasional (meaning every two to three pages) completely insane glimpses of irrational envy, jealousy, overreacting to innocent statements, irritation and obsession.

When they finally get to Dubai, Cindy's convinced Ashleigh doesn't really want to talk to her. Which basically means Cindy's the one that doesn't want to do any talking. In fact, she turns her back on Ashleigh when she tries to talk strategy concerning the sand surface, and Cindy decides she needs to concentrate without Ashleigh, which means riding Champion at night on the track without anyone else around. Naturally this doesn't go well. The ride is a complete failure, and Mark catches her on top of it. No one is happy, least of all Cindy.

Instead of being forced to deal with the repercussions of Cindy's crushing stupidity, she gets everything she wants in the end, wins the Dubai World Cup, and Ashleigh forgives her. Yay. Sunshine, rainbows, and butterflies!

Oddities:

• For as long as Bentley has gone on and on about this Very Important Fact that you have to be sixteen to ride a horse on any race track, Cindy says to herself in monologue on the very first page during her gate test that she's "almost sixteen." She just couldn't wait, could she?
  

• After Cindy passes her gate test, Samantha congratulates her and looks "wistful." This is because Cindy has accomplished what Samantha never could, and obviously Karen has to take some time out to focus on how Samantha was just too tall and heavy and therefore just not as happy with her life as Cindy obviously will be.

• Sometimes my life is just too good to be true! Cue sunshine and rainbows! Where are the butterflies, damn it!? We need butterflies here, stat!

• Cindy knew that everyone at Whitebrook simply expected her to become a great jockey. Yeeeeah. I'm sure they do, Cindy. I'm sure.

• Reason's great to ride, but he doesn't move like my Triple Crown Champion! You know, Karen Bentley probably thought she was being so clever when she named Wonder's Champion. I'm sure she was just tickled to death by all the annoying ways she could use the horse's name in a sentence.

• Also, someone probably should have explained to Karen that "Arabia" and the United Arab Emirates are not the same thing. As a former editor, you'd think she would have caught that.

• Oh, the infamous "the Nad al Sheba track is sand! I don't compute!" moment. All dirt tracks involve sand in some large quantity. The Churchill Downs track, for instance, is 75% SAND, 23% silt and 2% clay. Nad al Sheba has roughly the same percentages of the same stuff. Basically, it's like saying Ashleigh can train horses on Bluegrass but not Fescue.
  

• Since when is an airport waiting room sterile? If anything it's one of the most disgusting spaces one could ever be so unfortunate to occupy for even a few minutes.

• Again the word exquisite pops up twice on one page. Imperious is Karen's other favorite word, mostly reserved for Champion when he's feeling like a haughty jackass. It's just that every horse is exquisite and seriously what the hell is wrong with words like dainty, beautiful, elegant, graceful...fine-boned, even! For Christ's sake, crack a thesaurus once in your life!

• Pathetically enough, Mark and Cindy have more chemistry than Max and Cindy could ever hope for. No wonder they were doomed.
  

• You notice how Karen keeps calling Whitebrook's colors sky blue and white? Is she unaware that blue and sky blue are are entirely different colors or is she just a huge UNC basketball fan? Was she even looking at the book covers that were coming out before and during her writing tenure?
  

• Ashleigh and Cindy visit the inner sanctum commonly referred to as the jockey's room. Ashleigh informs Cindy that she's riding later on, but she's here to keep Cindy company. Then, no more than two paragraphs down the page, Ashleigh jumps up, says she's going to go change, and proceeds to abandon Cindy. What is up with that? Not to mention, once Ashleigh walks into the jockey's room she's not leaving until her race is run. Like hell she'd be able to lead Cindy back out of the room and into the walking ring for Cindy's race.
  

• Cindy comes in third in her race and immediately breaks into tears because she didn't win, thereby letting down everyone at Whitebrook. Or something equally horrendous because she will never win! She hasn't won and she never will! Why did she even bother trying! Black Reason doesn't deserve her! Cindy stops just short of breaking out a razor blade and slitting her wrists on the track.

• Unfortunately Cindy pulls it together and decides to act professionally by congratulating the winning jockey. The winning jockey is about to tell her she did pretty well as Cindy then turns on her heel and walks off, because "pretty well" is not good enough! Screw this professional thing. Who needs it, right?

• Oooh, not only is Cindy pissed off that she lost her race, she's pissed off because Ashleigh won hers with Champion. Ashleigh's won so much and Cindy has never won, therefore she can't find it in herself to be happy for anyone else's success. All of a sudden. Seriously, this kid needs to seek therapy. Possibly she should be on medication.

• If all of this wasn't enough, Cindy convinces herself that Max and Laura are going at it behind her back. Those backstabbing whores! Cindy's going to go cry now and you'll all be sorry! You'll all be! (I'm getting a really odd vibe that Cindy's about two steps from becoming suicidal in the middle of this book...she's acting like a lunatic who's taken one too many anti-depressants.)

• Ashleigh and Cindy go out on their trail ride, and switch horses for absolutely no reason other than it gives Karen another chance for Cindy to whine because Ashleigh can ride both Wonder and Honor like it's nothing and Wonder, like, slightly hesitates for Cindy which is OH MY GOD HORRIBLE! But then Ashleigh informs Cindy that she'll get the ride on Champion in the Dubai World Cup if she does well in her next race, and believe her, it's not a favor to Cindy. Oh no. It's because Cindy and Ashleigh are in their super duper girl jockey club and no one else can be trusted.
  

• Cindy decides that if she wins the Dubai World Cup and beats Ashleigh everyone will take her seriously and stop asking her to, like, go to school and do homework and have a life. It totally doesn't cross her mind that people would write her off completely even if she won the Dubai World Cup because she happened to be riding a TRIPLE CROWN (sigh) CHAMPION. They could stick a potato to Champion's saddle and probably get the same result.

• Heather and Doug have an "exciting" dinner for Valentine's Day. What were they doing? Espionage?
  

• Well, finally Samantha hits the nail on the head: The way you act now, I'd think that all you care about is winning your races, rather than the actual horses...or any of your relationships. Cindy's reaction is disbelief and shortly replying, "I'll just stop talking about racing to you, then." You know, all of this would be interesting if Karen Bentley had any clue and had made Cindy at all likable in the many opportunities she had before this book.
  

• Cindy cries to Honor, "Why didn't I win when I tried so hard?" Here's the thing. It's called odds making, and with each additional competitor your overall odds worsen. Even if you're riding an overwhelming favorite, there's still the chance you're going to lose. If you bet against the favorite, there's still a good chance you're going to get a payback. This is how the majority of gamblers make money. Cindy does not understand this, obviously. At her rate, I can see her playing the lottery and going into hysterics when she doesn't win because she picked her numbers with such care! Give Me A Break.

• Cindy's a good ice skater now? Since when does she have time to practice that? Anyway, she and Max get into their little fight and he informs her that he's actually not seeing Laura. You know, for once in this series I would like it if their worries were actually justified. If Max had said, "Yes, I'm seeing Laura because I realized you're not interested" I would have respected Karen a little more because that would have been so cool.
  

• Why don't they just homeschool Cindy? She's taking what looks like the whole of March off from school, which doesn't exactly work in the public system.
  

• Apparently Cindy's been eating a lot of French food at tracks around the country, which surprises me given all she eats at racetracks is backside kitchen food, which I'm am SURE does not involve anything I would call French cuisine.
  

• During a bit of bored skimming I ran over a sentence involving the words "Cindy" "Max" "hand" and "roaming" and nearly had a heart attack. Unfortunately, after a second read through, it was just a day dream about roaming around the desert while holding hands. I am so disappointed.
  

• Cindy wins her next race and everyone lavishes her with praise. Praise such as "Your first win, and you're already practically in the record books" and, not to mention: "a win like this is good PR for Whitebrook." Okay. She didn't set a record and it's an allowance race, which is one step up from bottom of the barrel. What, pray tell, is so great about this?

• Although I will say that having Cindy riding in the races is the best move Karen could have done for her race scene writing. Finally the talking stops.

• Mark makes some innocent comments and Cindy completely flips out in inner monologue, accusing Mark of thinking she's a second-class jockey. Nooo, but I would say everyone thinks she's an apprentice. Which she is. Which is not any sort of class.
  

• Nothing beats being a jockey! Cue sunshine and rainbows! Where are those damn butterflies?

• Oh, man, fantastic comedy. Ashleigh and Cindy have some match race at Gulfstream, and Ashleigh deliberately pulls Limitless into Champion's flank to interfere with him. Then she speeds on to win. Cindy is so pissed off she actually expects an apology, and when Ashleigh just bursts out laughing (because this was supposed to be lighthearted, but as we all know Cindy doesn't do lighthearted.) Cindy goes back into "near tears from frustration" scene and thus we end the chapter with Cindy assuming Ashleigh is going to play dirty in the Dubai World Cup. Which is just so funny I cannot express my glee properly.
  

• Welcome to Dubai! Within a page or two Karen compares a mosque to the Jefferson Memorial. So I'll just stop there with any possible discussion of what she thinks the rest of Dubai looks like.

• Hey, everybody! It's Ben! I wonder what miracles he'll perform this time!
  

• Now Cindy has it in her head that Ashleigh's not talking to her about training and then she has her second enlightenment, which is laughably wrong. Cindy discovers that Ashleigh isn't talking to her because she's afraid she'll lose the race if she gives Cindy any tips! How remarkably stupid. Just...no, stupid.
  

• Yay. Clover's back, only now he's Al Sha'ar. Cindy's read all about Al Sha'ar but apparently she was too dense to figure out he was actually Clover.
  

• I've never been so disappointed in anyone. Don't talk to me, Cindy. See, that is awesome. If only Karen had kept up the Cindy hate through the end of the book.
  

• On the phone to Max, Cindy actually says that the worst part of the conversation was when Ashleigh told Cindy that Champion wasn't her horse. Yes, that would be the worst part according to Cindy. Facing reality must be very difficult for her. Far more difficult than having someone tell her that they're so angry they can't abide listening to her talk.
  

• She supposed Ashleigh did have a right be frightened and angry when she saw Cindy and Champion out on the track. What? Kinda like she has the right to tell Cindy that Champion isn't Cindy's horse because he's, you know, ASHLEIGH'S? (And Brad's, but we won't get into that now because had Brad been at the track with Ashleigh he probably would have killed Cindy with the strength of his glare.)
  

• Ah, Ben does have a purpose. He tells Cindy that she has to listen to Ashleigh's advice and not let it be a slight to her self-esteem. Or her giant freaking ego that probably has several satellites the size of planets by now.
  

• Yeah, you know, kudos to Ashleigh for being the bigger person and approaching Cindy first before the race...but I would have been much happier if she'd let Cindy sweat for at least another book.
  

• The way Karen writes the Dubai World Cup racing scene, Limitless should have won. The only explanation for Champion winning is his special bond with Cindy and his extra superdrive, or whatever, because if he's written as tiring enough to look it with a quarter mile left in the race with Limitless in the lead, he's toast. Easy as that.
  

• How does Ashleigh feel about losing? Cindy wonders to herself. I can say, without a doubt, she doesn't feel like crying her eyes out and making a fool out of herself. Unlike some people I know....

Long story short? Cindy is insufferable. I'm shocked it took the publishers eleven books of this hell before pulling the plug on Cindy and Karen Bentley. Seriously, what was the point of this book other than learning you can be a bitch with no redeeming qualities and still get what you want if you push hard enough and then cry for added sympathy? Because that's what this book was throughout. A complete trainwreck.

One book left. One book left. One book left.

Brown streamers because Champion's brown, silly! #21 Wonder's Champion

Wonder's Champion
Thoroughbred #21
by Karen Bentley
Original Publication: 1997

Ehhh....

Three things we know for sure from this cover:
1. Champion wins the Belmont Stakes, and apparently no one was there to witness it besides Ashleigh and Cindy.
2. Cindy cannot dress herself. Pink shirt, green pants...what exactly was she preparing herself for? She's at the Belmont Stakes and apparently it was laundry day.
3. After all of that scowling and shrieking I'm guessing that Cindy's forgotten how to smile. I assume the look on her face is supposed to be joy, but if you stare at it long enough she begins to look pissed off. That's not a smile on her face...that's Cindy's attempt to not bitchslap anyone.

Also, Champion looks bored to within an inch of his life, Cindy has no right arm, and I love how Ashleigh's carrying that giant trophy around like it weighs next to nothing. No wonder Cindy looks up to Ashleigh so much. She's got a rowdy racehorse in one hand and a trophy as big as her torso in the other and she doesn't even realize how amazing the feat is. Surely we should look up to her also.

The moment Cindy has waited her whole life for...

Cindy McLean's colt, Wonder's Champion, is facing the three most challenging races of his career. To win the Triple Crown, he has to sweep not only the Kentucky Derby but the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes as well.

Cindy has trained Wonder's Champion to become Whitebrook's greatest runner yet. But her work is far from over. Illness and injuries threaten to ruin her colt's chances of winning. And now it's up to Cindy to prove to everyone that her colt is truly a winner.

This is such a piss poor attempt at blurb writing. Really. Or perhaps that really is the plot in a nutshell, which would basically be: Champion will win! Only he keeps getting sick/injured! Damn it! But he wins anyway!

Plots:

So, here we are at the beginning of Champion's three-year-old campaign. He races in some Kentucky Derby preps, winning the Fountain of Youth before coming in second in the Florida Derby. This causes everyone to really look at his whole issue with going after horses during a race, and Cindy comes up with the solution. He must formally greet every horse and person he comes across. First impressions, after all, are everything. Everyone pretty much thinks that's the stupidest idea they've ever heard (much to my relief), but Cindy is adamant that they try out her theory on Freedom's Ring. Naturally her theory works, and it works so well they don't have to formally introduce him to any other horses. Champion is cured!

So he goes on to win the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, although he's injured after the Preakness -- a superficial, most likely self-inflicted cut on his heel. Yes, this is the great and horrendous injury/illness that was spoken of on the back of the book. Although all of a sudden they run him in the Belmont Stakes anyway, and he wins, so like that was a big deal. Thus Whitebrook Farm has its first Triple Crown winner! Yay! Blue, white and brown streamers for everyone!

There's also a little subplot about Mandy being irritating. She wants another horse! A bigger one! A thoroughbred! But she doesn't want to sell Butterball! Good God, what is a rich, snotty child to do!? And Max kisses Cindy in front of many people, who seem to forget about it immediately afterward.

Oddities:

• Cindy, Beth, and Samantha help prepare the house for the New Year's Eve party and Samantha takes it upon herself to buff the floors. I'm a little curious about this, considering buffing hard wood floors is like a day project. Not a quick tidy-up-the-house project.

• "Like Cindy, Heather rode whenever possible, although Heather didn't have her own horse." As if Cindy does?

• Oh right. Cindy informs us that Ashleigh takes into consideration each horse's needs and assigns them riders. Cindy essentially hopes she'll ride Honor. Uh-huh.

• Tor arrived late to the party after he "finished caring for the horses in his jumping stable." I will say this for Bentley: she writes Tor out of the story most of the time, and if he's around she always throws in a "he's just so busy" line in there somewhere. It makes for high entertainment on my end.

• How Glory's Joy is just fine despite being a month early never fails to confuse me.

• You're going to be Glory's Joy -- and mine too. I'm convinced that Joy would have been officially Cindy's had Bentley kept going with the series. She would have been 18 when Joy was three, so it falls into place perfectly.

• Cindy's offering up a ride on a Whitebrook horse as a raffle prize at their upcoming school dance. I love how she just randomly makes these decisions without really informing anyone who actually owns the horses she's offering.

• Cindy mentions that Pride's first foals haven't done well on the track, but then they're only two-year-olds. Okay, you know what? It's freaking JANUARY. No kidding they haven't done well. They haven't raced yet.

• Cindy's an alternative music fan. I find this both odd and yet fitting.

• Max kisses Cindy! Let's all be mortified now! Although, honestly I'd be pretty damn embarrassed. It works out like this: Cindy and Max and friends get into Beth's car at the end of the dance. Presumably Beth drives them home. However apparently they go to Whitebrook to drop Cindy off first because before we know it Cindy and Max are at the front steps of her house, with the whole car full of friends in the driveway. Max leans down to make a snowball, but abruptly abandons that idea and decides to kiss Cindy instead. With a whole car of kids and Beth watching. I think Bentley meant to say that Max's mom was bringing them home, because as it is I have no idea what the hell was going on.

• Yay. More brunch.

• About the incident with Far Sailor: Mandy's such a manipulative bitch. Frankly, she's far worse than Cindy.

• It seems that every book Samantha has to remind us that she was born in Florida. That's great, Sammy. Really very interesting. No one cares.

• Cindy tells Chelsea that she "didn't have a horse either" at Chelsea's age. Perhaps Cindy's hallucinating because she still doesn't have one.

• I feel that Bentley should have come up with some synonyms for "exquisite" by now. Instead she's using the same word twice in one page. That's exquisite torture.

• There's some weird jostling at the end of the Florida Derby, and Champion comes in second. Again we're met with grim faces all around. Cindy's over there berating herself for thinking Champion would win all the time, and Ashleigh announces that Champion's pattern of bad racing manners is back. After one race. Since when is once a pattern?

• Again we're back to the "he's hypersensitive to everything" crap. This time Cindy worries that Champion may not want to win and Ashleigh comes up with the following: "we do want him to win, and so he's trying to intimidate the other horses." Yes! That must be it! It's something that couldn't possibly be corrected with gelding, of course.

• The poor kitten that Cindy adopted had a cute name for a moment (Kitcat), but the instant it associated well with Champion it's name changed to Best Pal. Who the hell names a cat Best Pal?

• Oh, no. Cindy has her moment of enlightenment! If she shows Champion that it's okay to like other people and animals, if she introduces him to them properly, he'll like them! It's like...the best plan ever! Yay! Let's skip off and get Vic so we can introduce him to Champion and see if he won't get kicked in the head!

• To Ian's credit, he starts laughing when Cindy tells him that Champion made a new friend. I can just imagine the daggers shooting from her eyes in response.

• Cindy tells Ashleigh she'll go slow implementing her plan. She'll start right now! Someone has got to teach this kid patience.

• I have suddenly started to wonder what Cindy's going to do in order to convince Champion that Vic is an okay guy. What's she going to do, rub herself all over him? For some reason I have it in my head that the only way this can possibly end is with someone screaming statutory rape.

• Ah, instead she just rubs herself all over Freedom. And we wisely skipped over the part with Vic. This is disappointing because I'm sure that was hilarious.

• God, Bentley gets the post position draw for the Kentucky Derby so wrong it pains me.

• Ian yells during the Derby that Sky Beauty hasn't been tested at a mile and a quarter. That would be because none of the horses have been tested at a mile and a quarter.

• In the winner's circle Cindy spots the reporter who was all critical of Champion. She snidely told him that she thought Champion would win the Kentucky Derby in response to his critical remarks after a race when Champion was two. Naturally she takes the time to be smug about this.

• The end of the year dance is all about Cindy. Of course it is.

• I suppose Karen has forgotten that Wonder won the Belmont, considering Cindy's remark on how a filly hasn't won it in over a century.

• Now Limitless Time is black instead of bay. I can overlook this because Limitless beats the crap out of Champion in their work. Ah, sweet justice.

• I have news for Cindy. The post position in a mile and a half race doesn't matter.

• The way Bentley writes the Belmont, there's no way Champion would have won the race going away. He would have been hard pressed to even win it when he's using himself up in the backstretch.

• Reporters ask Ashleigh if they're going to run Champion in the Dubai World Cup next year. I honestly don't think any reporter would ever ask that after a successful Triple Crown attempt when they're still in the winner's circle.

I really stand by my first opinion of this book, which is it would have been better overall if they'd split it in half. The Triple Crown only takes up the last quarter of the book, which gives it a rushed, inadequate feeling. Of course, this is the Thoroughbred Series, where every horse is saved and expected to perform well based on how much love it receives, so it would have been inadequate no matter what.

So, now that we're done with our fictional Triple Crown trail...who wants Big Brown to win the Belmont?

The emergence of the infamous superdrive: #20 Champion's Spirit

Champion's Spirit
Thoroughbred #20
by Karen Bentley
Original Publication: 1997

He's Wonder's "strongest" offspring, not to mention her most fabulous, speediest, and magnificently headstrong colt. He's chestnut...or brown...or bay, or possibly black. He's been touted as Whitebrook's "first" Triple Crown winner since he was a foal. I give you Wonder's Champion:

Let's go back to our tally...
Cindy's expressions on covers so far:
Scowls: 2
Smiles: 2
Fear: 2
Expressionless: 1
Frightening Motivation: 1
Heartbreakingly Emo: 1

This is one of those covers that encourages squinting and pondering. Champion's hooves, for example, are incredibly boxy. The people holding him never cease to confuse me as well. The girl I assume is Ashleigh, and the guy...well, who knows. Only I keep staring at it and the more I look at it the more I'm convinced he's biting his lower lip.

Is Wonder's Champion too wild to be a winner?

Cindy McLean is sure Wonder's Champion will be Whitebrook's fastest colt yet--if he ever gets to the track. Wonder's Champion just won't behave. He acts up in the saddling paddock, chases the other horses in the walking ring, and rears in the starting gate.

But when he runs, he's almost perfect. Wonder's Champion has strength and speed like no horse Cindy has ever seen. But she knows the competition at the Kentucky Bonus Series races is tough, and the colt is going to need more than sheer force to come out on top. Can Cindy get the rebellious colt to behave before he ruins his greatest chance for victory?

This blurb apparently doesn't take into account that Wonder's Champion breaks his maiden on his first time out and wins a stakes race his second time out. He's wild, sure, but it isn't exactly hampering his ability to win.

Plot:

So here's the thing: Storm's dead. It's months later and Cindy isn't over it yet, but she's keeping that mainly to herself. Or so she thinks. She's off visiting Storm's grave more often than she likes to admit, and most of that time she's spending pruning the flowers. Half that time she drags Champion along with her, and he's apparently pretty resentful about this. God help him if he tries to eat the flowers on Storm's grave, because Cindy isn't having any of that.

Champion isn't doing too well on the track, although he's winning a good percentage of the time so everyone's having a hard time deciding if they want to complain because he's not winning by enough or because he's being a terror while he wins. Yeah, it's a hard life for the Whitebrook people, but they try so hard. Anyway, Cindy comes to the awestruck conclusion that she's been comparing Champion to Storm too much and because of that she's going into his training sessions expecting him to act up, thus causing him to act up. Or something along those lines. So she decides she's going to love him ever so much, believe in him, and let him do his thing out there and presto! He's winning without trying to kill people.

There's also some development with Max and Cindy. He asks her to a school dance, and she flips out because she doesn't think about Max in a romantic sense. She tells him they shouldn't go to the dance and he overreacts and stomps off before she can clarify, resulting in weeks of avoidance. Then, right after her great moment of enlightenment with Champion she tells Max that she was an idiot and that she was just afraid he wanted her to be his girlfriend and that they should go to the dance. He apparently doesn't like like her either and all is well. They go to the dance and have a good time. Kudos to Cindy and Max for managing to figure that whole thing out.

Oddities:

• Some horse kicks the fence and Cindy's all "maybe it's Honor!" because Honor is her favorite and god forbid something happen to her. So she discovers it's actually this Hero's Welcome horse that kicked the fence and I actually expected her to feel selfish relief at this. Unfortunately I got something that looked like concern and an out of no where explanation for why Hero kicked the fence. "I'll bet a fly was bothering her," Cindy informs us, because she is RIGHT ALWAYS. She is so right that she's right about THINGS SHE DIDN'T ACTUALLY SEE.

• You know, Honor is a bitch of a horse. She and Cindy were made for each other.

• Just for the record, I do like the name Honor Bright. It's the only good name Cindy ever came up with.

• Okay, just to get this straight, people seem upset that Champion isn't winning his races by large enough margins. He has an attitude problem = Champion only wins his races by a nose = they have to get through to him so he'll win by greater margins. Yes, that's right. It's not only obsession with winning, it's obsession with crushing the nonexistent competition.

• Mr. Wonderful comes in second in the Hollywood Gold Cup and there's another classic instance of moping and declaring that his career might be over because he faded in the stretch. I don't know, perhaps he faded and came in second because Brad isn't there to whip his horses into condition.

• This is really the book that recreates Thoroughbred Series history. Bentley informs us that Ashleigh jockeyed Wonder in the Kentucky Derby, Pride won the Belmont Stakes, and that Jocko (blast from the past!) beat Townsend Victor, who never ran in the Derby according to Bentley.

• Mr. Wonderful comes in a close second in the Pacific Classic and again everyone acts like someone just died. Ashleigh throws in the towel, declaring that he's going to be retired to stud. After two second place finishes in Grade One races. It's just...irrational logic. If Bentley wanted to retire Mr. Wonderful she should have come up with something better...like drawn on that supposed unsoundness issue she was all about insisting Wonder passed on to her foals. That would have been logical. Two close second place finishes? No. Absolutely not a reason to retire a horse. Where the hell is Brad to slap some sense into these people?

• I would also like to point out that Mr. Wonderful now sparkles and Champion glitters. If anyone has ever seen a horse do this without the assistance of cosmetics, please inform me and back up your claim with photographic evidence.

• It occurs to me that if this book was supposed to solve Champion's training problems perhaps he shouldn't be winning every race he's entered in. Just a thought.

• *gasp!* Max asks Cindy to a dance! I must say, I really didn't remember Bentley taking this long to shove the two of them together.

• Who breezes a horse (a two-year-old, mind) four days after a race? It's not like Champion is prepping for a two week turn around, here.

• Champion has a superdrive and Cindy ponders to herself what sort of gallop a superdrive is. Here's the answer: the fictional kind.

• Cindy notes that they're running out of time with Champion. Out of time for what? It's not like any of the stewards have formally told them to fix the colt's attitude or anything. They have no deadline whatsoever, as far as I can tell.

• Secret Sign's jockey and Ashleigh get into it at the end of the...whatever race where Champion loses. Ashleigh's playing the overly dramatic card, essentially saying "you whipped my horse and he could have fallen and we could have DIED!" and Secret Sign's jockey actually uses the words "your ill-mannered colt." I can't begin to visualize this conversation, but I'm pretty sure no jockey would say "ill-mannered" whilst yelling.
  

• Cindy has her miracle light bulb on! moment concerning Champion's problems. He's reacting to her mood! Ta-da! He's not a brat, he's just extremely sensitive. And now we're expected to love him, because everything annoying about him has supposedly been Cindy's fault.

• Oh, yay. Max isn't actually interested in Cindy that way. They're almost absurdly mature for "best friends" of opposite sexes. I'll give them that.

• Yes. A loose rein, love, and belief are the fundamentals behind training every horse at Whitebrook. Along with hugs, plenty of quality time with infants and being forced to share their stalls with sleeping humans.

• I honestly don't think Karen understands what "rate" means in racing. She mentions it practically every race, but it's always in a weird context. "She's trying to" or "she's going to" or "she was trying to"...why are we mentioning this damned word so much? Half the time she can't even remember if a horse was rated in a previous race or not.

• It took six pages for Karen Bentley to write the last race scene. Six pages. Six boring, dialogue-packed pages.

Overall impression? Okay. Even if the solution to Champion's problem was pretty lazy. In any case, we've got the Triple Crown next. And after that? Let's say that I ordered every Joanna Campbell book (non-Thoroughbred, for a change) I could get my hands on from the Pittsburgh library system. We're going to have ourselves some book rec fun!

Sparkling horses and metallic sunsets! #19: Cindy's Heartbreak

Cindy's Heartbreak
by Karen Bentley
Thoroughbred #19
Original Publication: 1997

I have nothing to say leading up to this installment. So I'll just jump straight to the cover:

Cindy's expressions on covers so far:
Scowls: 2
Smiles: 2
Fear: 1
Expressionless: 1
Frightening Motivation: 1

I suppose we can stick this under the category "crushing sadness" or perhaps "heartbreakingly emo." Whichever works. Then there's Storm, who looks like some wild pony who hasn't been properly groomed for some time. At least not to racehorse standards, at any rate.

A heartbreaking decision...

Cindy has trained Storm ever since he was a colt. Now he's a full-fledged racehorse and he's blindingly fast. In his three-year season at Gulfstream Park, Florida, he piles up victory after victory. Cindy is sure that Storm is on his way to becoming a champion.
When they get back to Whitebrook, though, disaster strikes. Cindy discovers that an incurable disease has spread through the area. Then Storm tests positive, and the vet warns that if they don't put Storm down, he may spread the disease to the other horses. Cindy is heartbroken at the thought of losing her beloved Storm. But can she risk putting other horses in danger to save Storm's life?

Plots:

1. Storm. So we skip forward about a year in this book. Storm is turning three and Champion is turning two. For some reason, after buying Storm specifically because they wanted him to be a sprinter, Whitebrook starts entering him in races at a mile and a sixteenth. Which he kinda sucks at, naturally. So after freaking out about a loss in one of these races, they put him back in sprints and yay, he's a natural.

2. Champion. He's like Storm's polar opposite. He's being a brat and Cindy's apparently challenged in getting him to train. That's pretty much it. Just Champion being a royal pain and people complaining at his antics.

3. EIA. I'm not going to bother getting into the fiction and the reality of EIA, because honestly I don't know what I'm talking about any more than Karen Bentley, and I have a feeling she doesn't know much. So here's the problem: Equine Infectious Anemia is sweeping around the country in this book, and Storm is infected. The plot comes to its natural conclusion.

Oddities:

• Cindy asks Ian if Champion looks like last year's two-year-old champion, Satin Romance. Ian says: "He doesn't look like him anymore, Satin Romance is dead." Oh, Ian, way to transition! We could all learn something from this man.

• Someone needs to point out to Karen that a dark brown horse, a dark chestnut horse, a liver chestnut horse and mahogany wood are all very different. Yet Champion's color resembles all of these. Which one is it?

• How the hell are you supposed to accomplish riding a deranged horse in a "wide circle" on a training oval?

• Now Storm is going to be the fastest horse in the world(!). That makes three fastest horses in the world at Whitebrook, including Princess and Glory.

• Cindy remarks to herself that Storm was the easiest horse she'd ever trained. No kidding. Are we supposed to be awed by this?

• Storm glitters like mica. There's something so very wrong about this image. (And yes, it might have something to do with my sudden realization that Storm is like the equine equivalent to Stephenie Meyer's Edward. The speed! The sparkles! The crushing, whiny angst! Woe!) But really. The horse sparkles. I'm sure Champion is going to glow in an ethereal light by book 21.

• Cindy ponders if she'll be one of the top jockeys in the world. Heather remarks that she'll have to win a race first. Oh, Heather. You're back!

• It's Christmas! And Cindy is shocked and awed that she has so many presents. Because she is an orphan and it still hasn't sunk into her thick hide that she's privileged now, apparently.

• Cindy gets a saddlecloth with Storm's name on it and she's all overwhelmed. They did the same thing for Glory and I'm at a loss as to how this is like an amazing fantastic gift. It's a saddlecloth. What's she going to do with it? Don't all their horses have saddlecloths, or are they reserved for Cindy's special horses?

• Since when does it snow a freaking FOOT in Lexington, Kentucky? In December? Honestly. You want to know how warm it was in Lexington on Christmas Day in 1997? 45 degrees F. How much snow was recorded that month? Two whole inches. A foot of snow my ass.

• Ashleigh remarks that this Christmas is better than last year's as she almost died in labor the year previous. Funny how her opinion was exactly the opposite in Christmas Miracle. Plus, who says stuff like that? Oh, yeah, this Christmas is so much better because I almost died last year trying to give birth. Like anyone around Ashleigh might have possibly forgotten about that.

• Yay! Get the cots, Cindy's sleeping in the barn again!

• Okay, Karen Bentley has these absolutely crazy descriptions concerning sunlight. Before the Holy Bull Stakes the horses load into the gate and she says, "the afternoon sun shone on the still horses, making them look as if they were frozen in amber." What the hell?

• Storm finishes third in the Holy Bull and Cindy starts crying, wondering how her horse can try so hard and not win. Here is where I wish someone would have gotten in her face and told her to suck it up.

• Cindy utterly overreacts to Storm's loss in the Holy Bull. She literally starts thinking the dramatic "his career might be over!" line that warrants eye rolling.

• In preparation for the Hutcheson Stakes, Cindy and Storm go through some sort of training akin to Rocky IV. She grooms him, she walks him, she gives him attention from infants (what?), and sleeps with him every night. Yeah, that makes a racehorse in the Thoroughbred Series.

• People come up with the stupidest training ideas in this book. Storm won't perform in a breeze against two allowance horses because they didn't pose enough of a challenge. Uh-huh. So Cindy thinks they should breeze him against Mr. Wonderful for a half-mile. Because Mr. Wonderful poses more of a challenge and Storm will really have to race. This makes me want to repeatedly hit something.

• Just to make sure that we know Storm is special, Karen throws in a comparison to Bold Ruler. Like that's probable or something.

• You know, why does Ian even try to be firm with Cindy? Every time he sees Cindy with Champion he forbids her to work with him and in two paragraphs she changes his mind.

• Now Karen Bentley is likening a sunset to cinnabar. I don't know what her deal is with colorful/shiny minerals in this book, but I'm pretty certain cinnabar is the last thing I think of when looking at a sunset.

• And here's the infamous part where Storm beats that quarter horse at some distance supposedly close to a quarter mile and we're supposed to ooh and aah because this should mean "maybe no horse has ever been as fast as" Storm. Here's the thing: the world record for quarter horses at a quarter of a mile is :20.686. This spring two thoroughbreds breezed a quarter of a mile in :20.2 and the most recent world record stats I could find on thoroughbreds list the world record at two furlongs being :20.4. So you tell me what's impressive here, because the numbers suggest there isn't anything impressive about it at all.

• At thirteen Cindy should be able to differentiate between caution and full blown panic. She seems not to be able to handle rational thought.

When it's all said and done, I actually like the end of this book. I like that Storm died. I like that Ashleigh had to pull Cindy away from the stall. I like the last chapter, when Cindy decided to start looking forward instead of focusing on her pain. I liked all of that. So I guess I would say this is Karen's strongest effort. It was the ending Wonder's Pride should have gotten, really. Love didn't cure all and crying and doing nothing didn't miraculously fix everything. So. Yeah.

Cindy's still annoying, however. And now we're walking right into Champion, just in time for the Triple Crown....

Much Ado About Nothing: #18 Glory's Rival

Glory's Rival
by Karen Bentley
Thoroughbred #18
Publication Date: 1997

So let's start off this installment. Glory's Rival -- the book that worked toward an event that never happened. I greatly dislike when authors do this. They spend the majority of the book dwelling on the great point of conflict, lose their nerve entirely, give us an unexpected and shoddy ending, and we're left feeling cheated. Cheated, I say! Cheated.

I don't have a whole lot to say about this cover other than the motion is a little stagnant. Glory and Shining look like they could very well be plodding along into a head wind. I do find the crops interesting, given that Glory is whip shy. Then there's the expressions. Does anyone find amusement in this? The look Samantha is shooting Cindy, who's completely oblivious to everything besides this driven need to stare straight forward, is priceless. It pretty much sums up their relationship, I think.

Will Shining ruin Glory's chance for victory?

Cindy Blake wants Glory to win the Breeders' Cup Classic more than she's ever wanted anything in her life. A win will make him a legend like his famous grandsire, Just Victory. Cindy has been training Glory for months, and she's determined to show the world what a winner he truly is.
But Cindy wasn't counting on the fact that Samantha McLean would enter her horse, Shining, in the same race. Shining has beaten colts before, and it's possible she could steal the trophy right out from under Glory's nose.
Now Cindy has to decide which is more important to her: keeping her friendship with Samantha or making sure Glory wins the biggest race of his career!

One point that has me interested here is the suggestion that Cindy will write off Samantha if Shining raced against and (God forbid) beat Glory. She's deciding between her friendship or making sure Glory wins, odd things to decide between because it seems to me one can do both. The implication that Cindy has to decide irks me.

Plots:

Maybe it doesn't matter if Shining does run -- I really think Glory will win it no matter what. So why don't I feel good about that? (Cindy, page 48-49). This really sums up the book. Cindy worries that Shining will run against Glory, Cindy thinks Glory is really the better horse, Cindy wants Glory to win by a mile and set a new track/world record. Then she feels bad about wanting said things. This continues until Samantha tells her she's entering Shining in the Distaff.

I don't think we have to worry about her too much anymore. ( Cindy, page 195) Ashleigh & Co. bury the hatchet with Brad and Lavinia. This pretty much writes them out of the series instead of creating an interesting dynamic I would have liked to see, especially since Brad's training with Glory pretty much won Whitebrook their Breeders' Cup Classic. Yup, seems crazy, but it happened. I swear it. In any case, say goodbye to the Townsends. We won't be seeing them for a while.


Oddities:

• Ashleigh actually looks at Wonder's Champion and says out loud, "I think he'll be Whitebrook's first Triple Crown winner." Oh. Really?

• Shining has a comparison to Ruffian. Yeah, I don't see it.

• Cindy's hopes for Glory not only include a victory in the Breeders' Cup Classic, she wants him to break the track or world record for a mile and a quarter. Is demanding he win not enough now?

• The amount of sentences that start with "Cindy knew" is starting to annoy me. Lavinia can live at Townsend Acres and soak up the horsey atmosphere for years and still be accused of being clueless; Cindy can spend one year at Whitebrook and she knows all, including how to train a yearling.

• Of course the popular cheerleader crowd would be envious of Cindy. They sit with Cindy and Heather at lunch and this leads to a whole session of Cindy bragging and occasionally feeling bad about it. This, naturally, doesn't stop the bragging. Then she starts into the advice on riding technique, because Cindy is right and perfect ALWAYS. DO NOT QUESTION CINDY, damn it.

• The popular girls suggest doing this three times a week, or something, and Cindy thinks it's a fabulous idea. Of course she does. It's a willing audience.

• Heather always looked a little scared on a horse. Since when? Poor little Heather really became the shy, stupid, scared, pathetic foil for Cindy, didn't she?

• Heather endeavors to say that she hopes Mandy will teach her, I don't know, technique or something and Cindy immediately shoots off, "you can't be the best at everything." Seriously. Bitch.

• I'm trying to decipher Brad and Ashleigh's argument over Glory's schedule when Ashleigh finally tells him Lavinia has no clue, squashing Lavinia's feelings and making her run off in a teary mess. But then Bentley goes back into this made up history where Brad had Wonder whipped and I just roll my eyes and move on.

• Cindy takes the time to ponder to herself that Glory will be running against all the other horses who have ever won the Breeders' Cup and she wants to win against all of them. Fiercely. I don't know what the motivation is here for Bentley's desire to make Glory "the best" horse in the series by theoretically pitting him against every past horse and suggesting Wonder and her progeny are unsound, but it's juvenile and makes me cranky.

• Ashleigh says Mr. Wonderful is technically a two-year-old, and then goes on to mention he was born in May. That doesn't "technically" make him a two-year-old. It makes him two. You can say he's younger than the other horses, since he was born in May, but you can't imply he's actually younger than two when he actually is two.

• Karen Bentley really loves writing the following scene: horse and rider are on the track, getting ready for breeze/full out run/whatever, and just as the horse finds its high gear the sun comes out of the clouds and spills light all over the track and makes the horse all glittery! The cosmos and the Whitebrook horses are clearly aligned.

• Samantha notes that Glory and Flightful are closers. Like this is an interesting fact, or something. Only I can't recall Glory ever actually closing in a race. This is accented by the fact that in the race both horses jump to the lead and start a speed duel. Um, Karen, honey, I think we need to take a look at our horse racing terminology.

• Cindy cries, "he's going to run a Just Victory race!" Mike asks, "What?" Right there with you, Mike.

• Can we just call Wonder's Champion a liver chestnut and get it over with? All this brown/chestnut description is driving me a little nuts.

• Wow, Karen Bentley actually got a fact down that Joanna never managed to figure out: racehorses do use both leads during a race. Joanna seemed to be under the impression that they just ran on their left lead all or most of time, which would never happen. Just sayin'.

• It's so great being in charge at the farm, Cindy thought...who the hell gave her charge of the farm? More importantly, why?

• During Cindy's stint as farm manager, or whatever, Brad shows up and decides that he wants to see Mr. Wonderful breeze. First he has Cindy ride the horse around, and then when she refuses to run him faster Brad does the breeze. I'd like to say this is the silliest moment in Bentley's tenure, but that wouldn't be true. It is, however, the most unexplainable evil thing the Townsends were ever pushed into doing by an author. So kudos, Karen!

• It also strikes me that everyone goes to brunch just a little too much in Karen Bentley's books. These characters don't really strike me as the brunch kind, to top it all off.

• Ashleigh's all broken up about Brad galloping Mr. Wonderful, but strangely the first things out of her mouth are: "I should have never given the Townsends a half interest in Glory." As if that would have stopped their interest in the horse they owned already.

• Ashleigh goes off to talk to Brad about his romp around with Mr. Wonderful and he walks all over her. Like, walked all over to the point where she could have saved herself the trip to Townsend Acres and shrugged Brad's actions off as expected instead. But then we wouldn't learn that Brad wasn't the one who had Glory ponied in the Jockey Club Gold Cup! Dun dun DUN! The plot thickens....

• Mandy freaks out after being disqualified from her show, and Cindy's monologue cuts in to inform us that Mandy's lost sight of everything except winning, like Cindy's actually learning a lesson or something.

• Oh sure, now everyone worries about Cindy and Storm's combined inexperience being a "lethal combination." After 110 pages of Cindy training Storm practically by herself.

• Great, we're back to Lunch Time Riding Advice featuring Cindy Blake/McLean! What's today's advice, kids? Well, Laura seems to have forgotten how to balance herself properly in the saddle, despite exercising racehorses every morning for her father, whom you'd figure was a highly knowledgeable person to talk to! What's the answer, Cindy? ... Put the stirrup on the balls of your feet when you ride? Why, it's amazing! Doing what every beginner learns in their first lesson actually does work! Thanks, Cindy Blake/McLean! You've saved the day! (Please let these stupid lunch time chat sessions end. Please, please, pretty please.)

• Glory and Cindy have some serious co-dependency going on.

• Samantha and Cindy have their heart-to-heart where Cindy supposedly learns her lesson about not always being able to win, and I don't think she gets it. At all. Proof being when she says at the very end of the conversation: "Won't it be incredible when Glory wins the Classic and Shining wins the Distaff?" *cough* Yeah. Sure. Lesson learned.

• Plus, she never apologized to Samantha. Karen seems to think an apology was in there somewhere, but it wasn't. At all.

• Lavinia says, "see you in the winner's circle" after a completely non-evil visit and Heather questions if Lavinia is trying to sound like a horseperson. Yes, Heather. Only people directly involved with training horses can say "see you in the winner's circle." That would out you, however. So shut up.

• I find this very abnormal: Brad's apparently been training Glory, resulting in what Ashleigh admits is a "very fit horse." Implying that Brad has done a large measure of good. Then Cindy asks if the Townsends are going to ruin Glory's race. It's interesting watching an author at war with herself.

• No, Ashleigh. No one is going to count Glory's drugged up race as a win. It's counted as a disqualification. Hence he's disqualified. I know it's hard to wrap your brain around, but intentional or not he was drugged. Live with it.

• Yay! More sleeping at the track! Let's get the cots!

• Cindy goes to visit the Secretariat statue at Belmont and muses that Glory is one of "them" now. Gotta enjoy the little tidbits of foreshadowing before Bentley rips into history.

• Yes. Cindy doesn't care at all about winning. La la la winning? What? It's not like she mentions how she thinks Glory's going to win three times in two pages...no, not at all. She's totally over her obsession now. *rolls eyes, moves on*

• Cindy wonders if Samantha isn't nervous because she gave herself the talk she gave Cindy. Perhaps she cared too much about winning too. Somehow, I really doubt that. Stop dragging Samantha down, Bentley. Screw around with your own character.

• Let's all groom Shining! Yay! Group grooming!

• Wow. In the course of two pages we learn that Lavinia, not Brad, had Glory ponied in the Gold Cup, and then she only did it because she thought she was helping. Then Ashleigh admits that she was wrong about a lot of things concerning the Townsends. They're, like, so great! There you have it, folks. The two pages (184-185, for anyone interested) that clears Brad of all wrong doing since book 1 and effectively writes them out of the series until Racing Parker.

• The way Bentley just throws out these giant numbers has me so confused. The Classic reads like it's fairly close. Perhaps Glory is winning the race by a few lengths at most, and is drawing away. Then suddenly it's 20 lengths. Exclamation Point! Out of no where.

• So Glory wins by thirty lengths in the Breeders' Cup Classic, sets a world record for a mile and a quarter, and wins Horse of the Year all at once. I don't see a reference to thirty-one lengths, actually, but in any case it's ridiculous. That it happens at Belmont is all the worse. It's like spitting on Secretariat's accomplishments while at the same time trying to hold him up as the best in the sport. It just doesn't work that way.

Well, the biggest thing here is mourning Brad Townsend. The poor guy has been written out because he's not going to be a problem anymore. He's no longer the antagonist, but I suppose I'll have to make do by telling myself he's there in the background secretly training Wonder's Champion because the way this book goes, plot-wise, Brad is the one solely responsible for Glory's thirty-length, world record, Horse of the Year winning race. Yes. I said it. Brad.

The second biggest thing: I really wanted Shining to beat Glory. Simply put.

Next up: more tragedy, and this time love doesn't save the day!

In which we fill time before the Breeders' Cup. TB #17: Ashleigh's Farewell

Ashleigh's Farewell
by Karen Bentley
Thoroughbred #17
Originally Published: 1996

Our second joint review. We find that going through the Cindy era together is better than going it alone.

Mara: I remember back when this book first came out, wondering just where Ashleigh was going. I mean, with a title like Ashleigh's Farewell she had better be going somewhere. Looking at the cover, I can't help but wonder if Ashleigh has decided to retire from racing and live in that little shack on the hillside. Perhaps she's striving to become a hermit. Also, look out! The denim is back!

Monique: I was wondering the same thing. At least Glory looks like a TB on this cover! Note Cindy's pants. They are so high, they could double as a bra. Oh, and that "The Bestselling Series" rosette thing? Yeah, that they can stick right over Cindy's face, even though she is smiling on this cover.

Who will ride Glory?

Glory is facing the biggest race of his career, and his jockey, Ashleigh Griffen, won't be riding him because she's going to have a baby. Cindy Blake, whose family owns Glory, hopes that they can find a new jockey fast.
But jockey tryouts are a disaster. First Glory bolts, then he tries to throw the jockey. Can Cindy help get Glory back on track before her dreams of a championship are lost forever?

Plots:

1. Incompetence!
Ashleigh gets pregnant and can no longer ride Glory. The sky practically falls. The rest of the book involves various jockeys who were successful before they met Glory trying to take Ashleigh's place. Then Ben miraculously appears and decides that the solution to Glory's problem is a trail ride with Just Victory. Like that's a cure all, or something. Then Felipe Aragon shows up, works Glory in company, and miracle of miracles they win the Travers by 15 lengths! Really, all of this could probably have been avoided had they worked Glory in company from the start.

2. Brad!
He somehow manages to get Ashleigh to give him half interest in Glory in exchange for letting Ashleigh keep Champion at Whitebrook. Honestly, I think breeding rights could have covered that but of course that's not dramatic enough. So now Townsend Acres owns Glory also and Cindy's all woebegone about it.

Oddities by Mara:

• I don't know what it is, but Ashleigh insisting that Glory should know she's pregnant makes me roll my eyes. Oh, I know why. Probably because it's stupid.

• Notice how the first thing Cindy does after discovering Ashleigh's pregnancy is to be self-absorbed and worry about her future with Glory? She doesn't even congratulate her. Oh, to be reminded of why I hated Cindy.

• Cindy is intimidated by a girl wearing a black miniskirt, black tights, a "gold-spangled" shirt, and black "chunky" sandals. Because the girl doesn't seem to register that Cindy is actually two feet from her, Cindy pegs the girl a snob. Because she didn't notice the brilliance of Cindy, or her faded green Churchill Downs t-shirt? Exactly how many strangers is one expected to smile demurely at in the course of a day? And why doesn't Cindy have anything to wear besides dirty jeans and faded t-shirts? If she's easily intimidated by spangles, perhaps she should try...I don't know...buying new clothes occasionally.

• Wow, am I not sympathetic to Glory's plight.

• All of a sudden Brad's training and riding the horses himself instead of relying on "stable hands" to do such tasks for him. I guess Maddock has left the building. Also, Dandy as He Does? I know I complain about the lack of originality in some of these horses' names, but Dandy as He Does?

• Glory's new jockey keeps holding the horse back as Mike moans about why the jockey keeps, um, holding him back while the description is outright stating that Glory is bolting. Brad mutters "because the horse is running away." See, this is why I love Brad. He calls it as he sees it.

• Yet again, Miss Perfectly Dressed doesn't give Cindy the time of day. The horror!

• "Cindy hated bad sports." The irony!

• I think I have the problem pegged now. Anne (Miss Perfectly Dressed) and Cindy (Miss Never Launders Her Clothes) are both spoiled brats. Naturally this would cause some conflict before they both realize that they're inclined to fall into a friendship forged by mutual snobbery.

• Yeah. Cindy? Snobby? No! Perish the thought!

• The talking. During the races. Must. Stop.

• Yes, Cindy, that one tiny second place finish has ruined Glory's career. Yup. Sure.

• Ah, my beloved Pittsburgh is mentioned and disrespected by being called "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania" as if there is another Pittsburgh. Where would this other Pittsburgh be, Karen? Where?

• I'm trying to figure where this horse hotel (or whatever) would be if they could see the lights of Pittsburgh from their hotel room. I've determined that this is impossible.

• Apparently the sight of downtown Pittsburgh makes Samantha cry. Not quite sure why other than the extremely vague "I was here before..." explanation that degenerated into backstory we basically already knew.

• Champion suffers his first color change. He appears first as a dark brown, and now he's a dark chestnut. At some point in this series I think he's also described as black and mahogany, so this is just the first of many changes.

• Cindy informs Heather that she needs to buy Ashleigh a present and Heather asks, "Why? Are you just being nice?" Clearly this concept is foreign to Heather also.

• Yes, to ride western you must have: chaps, cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat. They are essential!

• Yay. Ben has descended from on high to proclaim that Cindy should ride Glory. Yay.

• You know, Storm's Ransom has a pretty pedestrian pedigree. His father had "few winners" and his dam's other foals sucked. Exactly what is supposed to be appealing here?

• Karen Bentley has this obsession with the word "exquisite." With Joanna, it was Jeep Cherokees. With Bentley, it's the impulse to call every horse exquisite.

• So Ben's solution to Glory's issues is a trail ride with Just Victory. Yeah, that makes sense. Sure.

• People thought Just Victory's white hind hooves were a disadvantage? When did Just Victory race? The 1940s?

• Just Victory won the Kentucky Derby by 20 lengths. Yeah, so thrilled.

• Cindy is shocked that Felipe Aragon, Flightful's jockey, could ride Glory. Probably because he's a jockey and doesn't care?

• Why Ashleigh gives Brad something for nothing has always astonished me.

• Samantha remarks that Felipe is hand-riding the colt. Like this is special and unexpected. Glory freaks out at whips, or have we forgotten again?

• We end the book with a completely unnecessary scene involving Brad yanking Glory's lead rope and checking his legs. This is supposed to be evil, but I can't for the life of me figure why.

Interesting Points by Monique:

• In the first chapter alone, Cindy is timid once and shy twice. I think she is also coy a few times too later on... who would have thought.

• Ok, so Ashleigh is pregnant. Wow. I didn't see that one coming. I bet I can guess the birth date and name of the kid too. ACM, anyone?

• Why is a new jockey such a crisis? I could understand if Glory was scared, but hell. Cindy can ride him, so a jockey with one leg can too.

• What is the purpose of Anne Tarin? So Cindy can have another person to brag to who isn't as good as she is?

• Ah, so Ashleigh admits that she doesn't like leaving Whitebrook in the hands of the grooms. Well, you know, that took her long enough.

• Glory loses! And it's the jockey's fault, of course.

• Anne states that she "is used to losing horses" does she means horses that lose or horses that go away? You know, I bet some snide voice in Cindy's head asked that same question.

• Four Leaf Clover is sold and is going to Arabia. Cindy wonders if they will keep his name. Yeah sure, Cindy. They are really big into naming expensive Thoroughbreds after My Little Pony characters there.

• Ms. Bentley thinks that tacking "Time" onto the end of a random word makes a good name for a racehorse.

• Yeah freaking right. If Just Victory is such a famous horse, why would his owner let a random 19 year old just ride him... and gallop him no less?

• Miracle upon miracles! We find a jockey that listens to what people tell him and that Glory likes! Rah, rah. It's Flightful's jockey, Filipe Aragon, who is also known as Strider... wait... I am getting my books confused...

• All ends well, aside from the fact that Glory is now co-owned by a whip-toting Brad Townsend. You know, I really wish they could think of a new device for conflict.

Monique: I suppose I am hitting Glory's Rival next. In which the rivalry never really happens and I yell out loud at the book.

Mara: Damn. I need to take another break, I think.