Try not to yawn as much through this recap as I did through the book. Thoroughbred #60: Taking the Reins

Taking the Reins
Thoroughbred #60

By Jennifer Chu

August 2003

It's time for Christina and Melanie to make some big decisions.

Christina loves being a jockey. But a heartbreaking accident at the Belmont track forces her to reconsider veterinary medicine. Working with a horse that has Charismatic's bloodlines reminds Christina of Charismatic's amazing story—how he unexpectedly won the Derby and the Preakness in 1999, only to go down in the Belmont with a broken leg. It would feel pretty great to help horses in similar situations. But how can she turn her back on Wonder's Star?

Meanwhile, Melanie finds her relationship with her cousin strained when she decides to ride a horse for the very couple Christina holds responsible for her accident. For Melanie, her prospects as a jockey seem clear, but her future with the people she loves—Christina, Jazz, and even Image—is less certain. How will Melanie prove to Christina that she puts the people she loves first?

The Summary:

I will give it a generous 2/10.  Yes, there is a heartbreaking accident.  Christina goes on and on about being a vet (again).  Other than that, everything, including that entire second paragraph, is bullshit.  Their relationship is strained for, like, maybe half a page.

The Cover:

Um, the less said about this travesty, the better.  Are there even stirrups on that saddle?  Why does Christina look like she's riding a rocking horse?  Why is that horse's head a veiny mess?  (Though to be fair, if I were having a "heartbreaking accident," my face would probably be a veiny mess too.)  Also, let's note that the front-cover tag says "Will Charismatic's tragedy cause Christina to give up her dreams of being a jockey?"  Sorry, HarperCollins, not even close.

The Plot:

This book zips back and forth between Christina and Melanie, until it doesn't anymore.  So chapter 1 is a Christina chapter.  We pick up after the Belmont—literally right after; Christina's still standing in the winner's circle talking to reporters—when Christina runs into Patrick and Amanda Johnston, those annoying California people.  They ask her to ride one of their fillies, Noble Answer (Nobie). Christina and Parker get back together … right before he goes back to England and she stays at Belmont for the rest of the summer.  Yeah, that makes sense.

Chapter 2:  Melanie wins a race on Blue Streak for the Johnstons.  She talks to Jazz on the phone.  Jazz tells her that Image is doing well, but Brad's served them with a massive bill, shocking no one.  Melanie angsts about whether she should give Image's first foal to Brad to pay the bills.

Chapter 3:  Christina rides some horses for the Johnstons and agrees to ride Matter of Time (Matt) in the Suburban.  She goes out to dinner with Aaron, and tells him that she got back together with Parker.  Burn.  Aaron gets sick, and Christina exercises Calm Before the Storm (Callie).

Chapter 4:  Melanie and Jazz have a hot date that includes walking Image and eating turkey and ham sandwiches.  Damn, they rival Christina and Parker for Passionate Romance of the Thoroughbred Century.  Jazz says he wants to buy another racehorse.

Chapter 5:  Christina rides Callie in a race.  He stumbles.  She's not sure what to do, but he keeps running, so she lets him … until he stumbles again.  He goes down, shattering some bones and tearing some tendons.  They haul him off to the vet clinic, which I think is the same as when they tell us at the shelter that a cat went to "the barn program."

Chapter 6:  Melanie asks Cindy for advice about being a jockey.  I’m not sure that Cindy is the right person to ask about this.  Melanie goes to Whitebrook for dinner with Ashleigh, Mike, Ian, Beth, Kevin, Sammy, Tor, Cindy, Ben … Jesus, what is this, a Whitebrook reunion?  These characters actually still talk to each other?  You could've fooled me. Christina calls to tell them about the accident.

Chapter 7:  The vet, Dr. Reuter, tries to operate on Callie, but he has "no chance of a meaningful recovery."  His owner, Marisa, agrees to have him put down.  Christina asks to see him, but the vet says that "he's in too much pain to recognize anyone."  Ahh, not bad work here, Jennifer, 'cause sometimes this is true.  (I may be a little bitter about this trope, having recently reread Goodbye, Midnight Wanderer.)  Christina gets all self-flagellating (wow, that sounds dirty) and blames herself for Callie's death.

Chapter 8:  Melanie goes to Belmont.  The Johnstons offer her a ride on one of their horses, Enigmatic, if Christina doesn't take it.

Chapter 9:  Christina is nervous and insecure about riding.  She lets Charisma get away from her during a work.  She's called to an inquiry about Callie's death.  She wonders if the Johnstons rushed him back to the track before he was sound.  Christina declines the ride on Enigmatic, and Amanda tells her that they already asked Melanie as a backup.  Christina proceeds to flip out and wonder how Melanie could possibly consider riding for such awful people who would kill a poor innocent defenseless horse.  Honestly, even for Christina, this is a stretch.

Chapter 10:  Melanie rides Enigmatic.  The stewards have dismissed the inquiry into Callie's death.  Christina is all sulky and crap, until Aaron shows her a tape of the race and she can't see the moment when Callie first stumbled.  After that, she's still all sulky and crap, but tells Melanie she just needs some time, and that she wants to be a vet.  Well, that wasn't so bad.  Only a few books of angsting and moaning; we're making progress here.

Chapter 11:  Christina tours Dr. Reuter's Super Secret Outer Space Other Hemisphere Ten Way vet facility and is all jazzed about being a vet, but decides she has to keep her word to the Johnstons and ride Matt in the Suburban.

Chapter 12:  Jazz comes to Belmont.  He tells Melanie that he made a deal with Brad:  they'll breed Image to Celtic Mist, and Jazz and Brad will share ownership of the foal 51-49.  Jazz and Melanie agree to look for another racehorse.

Chapter 13:  Christina rides Matt in the Suburban.  She's overly cautious, and at first he's 15 lengths off the lead.  Then she decides to snap out of it, and eventually brings him in third.  And thus ends Christina's racing career (I hope).  Thank God.  I've been waiting for this since book 40.

Points of Interest:

• This book is dedicated to "Barbara, Charlene, Cindy, Dominique, Marisa, and Patrick in honor of all our undergrad adventures," who all pop up as characters.  Barbara, Charlene, and Dominique are Melanie and Katie's friends; Marisa is Callie's owner, and of course Patrick is Patrick Johnston.  There's no Cindy, I guess because it would be too confusing with real!Cindy.  I can't decide if I find this sweet or annoying.
  
• We all know that Jennifer Chu was a fan of the books before she ever wrote any of them, which I normally like, but she's very hit-or-miss about the little details she throws in.  She tells us that Cindy missed riding Honor Bright, which is correct; she would've been eighteen (and in Dubai, then New York) when Honor was three.  We also find out that Honor and Glory's daughter, Honor and Glory (how's that for creative?  They must've really been missing Cindy's magic touch with the naming there), ran third in the Derby the year Christina was ten.  However, Jennifer also feels the need to remind us that "Cindy had played a large role in March to Glory's training. The horse had set a record in the Breeders' Cup Classic and had been named Horse of the Year after his three-year-old season."  As if anyone could have forgotten (and believe me, some of us tried).
  
• Also, Christina later rides March to Honor, another of Honor and Glory's foals.  I hope they didn’t have more than two; what would they have called it, March to Bright?
  
• In a well-meaning but misguided attempt to comfort Christina, Melanie tells her, "You have to believe that Callie will make it, just like Raven and Image did."  Yeah, that helps a lot, Melanie.  So far, I guess the accident count is Melanie 1, Christina 2.
  
• Whitebrook has a horse named Charisma, a daughter of Pride, not to be confused with Charismatic, who won the Derby and the Preakness in 1999 but broke down in the Belmont.  His jockey, Chris Antley, acted quickly to save his life.  Does that sound familiar?  I hope so, because that's your Famous Horsie reference of the book.
  
• Melanie thinks that maybe "Enigma" would be a good nickname for "Enigmatic."  She really has  been spending time with Cindy.
  
• Is it bad that I keep getting this book mixed up with Breaking the Fall?   Not on the basis of plot, just on the basis of title.  (Or maybe on the basis of plot after all; I think Breaking the Fall also features Christina and Melanie supposedly having a "fight" of some sort.)  I was always sort of glad that the Thoroughbred titling convention stayed far, far away from the Baby-Sitters Club-esque style of "Christina and the Broken Leg of Doom," but at the same time, it would be nice if the titles actually helped you keep the storylines straight.

Next up:  The hideously-titled Parker's Passion, already reviewed by Claire.  Next up from me:  I can't believe I'm about to say this, but in comparison to this festival of tedium, I'm almost looking forward to the Samantha Diary of Exposition.

TB #51: Distance Runner

Distance Runner
Thoroughbred #51
by Jennifer Chu

Christina and Star need a change of pace.

A competitive bug is sweeping through Whitebrook Farm. Image, Star, and Gratis are all contenders for the Triple Crown races, which begins with the Kentucky Derby, a little over a month away.

Christina can't stand the pressure. So, when she is given the chance to leave Kentucky for a little while and ride for another farm in California, where Derby fever isn't quite as intense, she packs her bags and takes Star with her. There, Chris focuses on making the most of Star's running style. He's always been a come–from behind–horse, but he sometimes misses his chance to beat the leaders. Christina is going to try to change that in time for the Derby. But it may not be as easy as she thinks.

Hey, guys! I have returned with another Thoroughbred book, which just so happens to be more Christina melodrama, so I'm sure you're all appropriately thrilled. Up there we have a book cover, in which Star and Christina are attempting to wedge themselves in between two horse butts and Star is probably about a half second from clipping heels with Horse Butt #1. You know, of all of these colored pencil drawings (or whatever they call themselves) I happen to be mildly okay with this one. There is action. For whatever reason, Christina is wearing green and white. It's just like Wildfire, you guys! How can I not like such randomness?

Well, anyway, Christina and everyone else she's ever known (that's almost in the literal sense) are at Keeneland preparing for the time-honored tradition of running a Whitebrook pony in the Bluegrass. Actually, Jennifer Chu really screws up the Derby prep race order in this book thanks to creative license, which is one of the many reasons the rest of the lead up to the Derby makes even less sense. But that's reality, and Thoroughbred doesn't do reality, even when it tries! (I actually really, really regret the attempts at inserting realism, but that's another story.) Christina exercises Star during yet another time-honored Whitebrook tradition: the three-furlong breeze. She notices, to her horror, that Star starts his breeze well enough, only to not try to rip her arms out of their sockets and leave her behind in a speedy fury in the second furlong, gradually speeding up in the last bit of the work.

As we all know THIS IS HORRIFYING. SO HORRIFYING. Ashleigh, Mike, Ian, Cindy, and probably even Melanie take one look at this situation and call it like it is: Star is a closer. A closer, Christina. This is how closers act in workouts, never mind actual races. But these people, of course, are not Christina and they can never know the sheer magic that courses from Star to Christina. Never! (Okay, I'm pretty sure Christina never utters the infamous "they don't know *insert horse name here* like I do!" line, so I'll hand it to Jennifer Chu for finding a new way to get that sentiment across without being totally aggravating.)

So here's the deal: since Star wired the field in the Louisiana Derby, Christina, for whatever reason, believes he is now a front runner, and must exercise as such forever and always. Christina apparently hasn't heard of flukes, or maybe Karle Dickerson just knew the easy way out of a race scene. Regardless, Christina now wants Star to be a front runner/awesome stamina-having sprinter of doom. I don't know. Star, of course, has no idea what he's in for.

Trying to avoid the crush of reporters that flock around her always, Christina runs into a horse having it out with a mechanical hotwalker. Because Christina keeps dozens of carrots in her pants, she whips them out and of course this distracts the horse from destroying the hotwalker and bashing open her head in the process. His trainers, the new kids in town from the West Coast called the Johnstons, immediately show up to give Christina the critical eye and proclaim her fit to ride their pack of nerves called Callie later that afternoon.

Chris rides the horse, they win, but Melanie rode Raven in the same race and decided to stir up some drama by calling foul. Get this: according to Melanie, Christina was over there waving her crop around in the middle of the race, and because Raven is a delicate Whitebrook horse, she flinched. Now, this is hard to believe just in general, but who actually uses crops at Whitebrook? Even though they all like to say that maybe the crop could be the miracle answer to all life's ills, and supposedly these devices are used on other, less fragile horses...seriously? I'm supposed to believe this?

Christina is crushed, and Melanie decides to glare at her for several days. They go to the birthday party of a friend (like we care who) and act like twelve-year-olds, and then Christina discovers Parker aimlessly stalking the broodmare paddock at Whitebrook in the middle of the night and they break up because they have no time and apparently this will eventually mean heartbreak and hurt somewhere down the road. Thus Christina can now take Star to California, and Parker can train for the Olympics in England, and maybe they will successfully date others who will never understand their miraculous bonds with their wonder ponies. Ha! If only.

Christina manages to convince Ashleigh to let her take Star to California, because Cindy helpfully dragged up all those time she was a bitch to people. Yes, fierce competition within family units is a horrible thing, something I was forced to read about for many, many books. Thanks for reminding me, Cindy. THANKS A LOT.

So Christina has her way and takes Star to California, because she does not have to be at school and her parents totally trust her with the farm's Derby runner, and apparently "exclusive" attention for Star in Christina-speak is training Callie, exercising every other horse in the West Coast, and then getting around to Star.

While in California, things continue to go to hell with Star as Christina refuses to believe he is anything other than a frontrunner. Meanwhile, new boy Aaron is here to offer a shoulder for Christina to cry on. He tries to take her out on the town in efforts to show her California, but in true Thoroughbred fashion, Christina freaks out over Star's poor times and shuns him, refusing to have fun because that is for the irresponsible. She decides that the only way to get Star's attention is to smack him with the crop, which of course Star literally cannot stand and falls apart. Christina does not know any other way to train her horse, so she keeps using the crop and things keep getting worse and let me remind us all that this is the girl that used her hand to smack her horse when he was panicking not two books ago. Two books! Two!

So at Santa Anita, during the big reveal for Callie's owners, nothing works out, both horses suck, and famous trainers rue the day that they asked a 17-year-old they don't know to train their horse. Or whatever was going on. Aaron comforts Christina as she has a breakdown in Star's stall, and then finally gets her to go to an amusement park with him.

This is probably the first time Christina has experienced non-horse fun in her life, so naturally she has no idea how to react. Poor girl. She backpedals to discuss Star at any and all opportunity, and has her moment of enlightenment: she's a moron! That's right! Star isn't a frontrunner. He's a closer! Looks like all those people that didn't know her horse like she did actually did know her horse better than she did. So Aaron and Christina decide to pull a Cindy and take the horses out at night in order to prove Christina's point that she was stupid. After some brilliant attempts to lure Star into running like his old self using motivational speaking, it turns out that, yup, Chris is stupid.

So Christina gets out of everyone's way, Callie wins his race, Star comes in second in his after narrowly avoiding disaster, and Christina tells everyone that Aaron should ride Callie in the Preakness before coming clean to poor Aaron that she just broke up with her lifetime forever love. But don't worry, Aaron. You've demonstrated to Christina that there are other things out there besides horses for girls to think about (i.e., males, of course!) Hooray Triple Crown!

• "Spectators" and "reporters" are not the same thing. 
• How is it that Image and Gratis are the horses to beat? Did I miss the point in the series where they were brilliant and actually won a serious race?
• Dude, the whole point of a race (and a breeze) is to go faster at the end than you're going at the start. That's what they call "building stamina" and how you win races. Stop complaining about nothing, Chris! (By the way, this is the Big Problem That Needs Solving in this book. Which means it's not a problem at all.)
• If Christina "is the only one" who knew how the Louisiana Derby really went down, she's not doing her job.
• How many carrots does Christina keep in her pockets at any given point in the day? A whole bag?
• Ooh, today Brad is wearing a tailored suit with gold buttons.
• A Jeep! It's been so long since I've seen a Jeep carting around a Thoroughbred series character, it almost makes me misty eyed for the good old days. With this and all the Cindy Era nostalgia I'm half tempted to just say it: Jennifer Chu is the New Generation's Joanna Campbell.
• Does anyone get the feeling of Gary Stu for Aaron? The book, as refreshing as it is in certain ways, has the stink of fanfic on it. Consider: main character dumps boyfriend, and suddenly a new love interest pops up who is, of course, perfect in all ways. I'm not saying Jennifer Chu wants to date Christina, but it fits a certain pattern.

Next up, I think we're actually going back in time to see what Melanie was up to in Florida. Because apparently she was there, and now she's back in Kentucky, and no one decided to talk about it at all in Distance Runner other to say she was there and there were "obstacles."  Yet one more perplexing decision brought to you by Thoroughbred!

Chris and Star Tour California! TB 51: Distance Runner

Ok, so I now have the time to kill and a hefty pile of select TB books next to my bed. Kind of like some 14 year-old's stash of porn...

I give you the review of Distance Runner, in which Jennifer Chu introduces some pointless characters and Chris and Star escape the pressures of Mel's bitchiness and get to do some touring on the side.

The Cover

I really hate this phase of covers from book 43-57... Star's mouth looks like his lips have been fused together and Christina is wearing Steve Urkel glasses. Her silks are also the wrong colours! Well, at least the saddle has a girth and stirrups and Christina is not wearing cowboy boots or a scarf...

The Synopsis

Christina and Star need a change of pace.

A competitive bug is sweeping through Whitebrook Farm. Image, Star, and Gratis are all contenders for the Triple Crown races, which begins with the Kentucky Derby, a little over a month away.

Christina can't stand the pressure. So, when she is given the chance to leave Kentucky for a little while and ride for another farm in California, where Derby fever isn't quite as intense, she packs her bags and takes Star with her. There, Chris focuses on making the most of Star's running style. He's always been a come–from behind–horse, but he sometimes misses his chance to beat the leaders. Christina is going to try to change that in time for the Derby. But it may not be as easy as she thinks.

The Plot

So, Christina is getting excited for the Kentucky Derby, but she is having problems as per usual with Star. Star isn't running flat out in his workouts, which is apparently a bad thing as that's what super-talented race horses have to do all the time. They are at Keeneland, prepping for the Blue Grass.

While Chris is wandering around the backside, she sees this insane horse fighting against one of those hotwalker machines. The horse is all tangled in his lead and Chris sets him free, a selfless act which will surely be the start of some miracle bond with this new nutjob. The horse's owners, the Johnstons, rush up, apprently remembering that they have left their expensive racehorse alone with a piece of machinery. Chris lands with her bum in the butter and get's to ride this new horse, Callie, in a race that afternoon.

Mel just happens to be riding Raven in the same race. Chris does, as per usual, a good job with Callie and wins the race but Mel lodges a protest against her in a bitchy attempt to change the results. The protest does not stand and Chris poses with Callie and the Johnstons are so thrilled that they want Chris to retrain Callie-poo in... gasp... California!

Ashleigh and Mike of course are against the idea.

Chris and Mel go to Katie's eighteenth birthday party. Normally, they would be indulging in some more adult activities at such a thing, but this is Thoroughbred. So it does not get any more interesting than gossiping in a hot tub and watching Indiana Jones. During the party, things are tense between our favorite cousins. It seems Mel can only be a nice person in her own books.

When the girls arrive back, Parker clearly had fuck-all to do but mope around the mare's paddock in the middle of the night. He and Chris break up, to save themselves more hurt, or whatever. I personally think Parker is sleeping with Kaitlin at this point, as she is not a main character and can be engaged in sexual activities. It actually has nothing to do with him going to England to train for Burghley. Parker is a man! He needs more than chaste kisses on the cheek!

Blah blah blah... Star is still not running full-out and Chris refuses to use a whip to beat some speed into him. She decides that a change of scenery is the way to go! Not that she and Star didn't go to Montana and then New Orleans or whatever... but help comes in the form of Cindy, who is in an unusually chipper mood due to her enlivened sex life with Ben. Cindy reminds Ashleigh that competition can be nasty between family and they all agree that Chris and Star can jetset off to Cali and run in the Santa Anita Derby! Yay!

Chris arrives in Cali and swoons over Dreamflight and their pretty facilities. Oh, and Aaron. Who just happens to be uber cute and focused on horses! Aaron gets chucked off this colt, Blue Streak Christina just leaps on the colt in her nice jeans and without a helmet rides him well.... as per freaking usual!

More drama over Star and his shitty fractions... Chris still refuses to use a crop, giving her horse far too much credit in the smarts department. Aaron offers to take Chris to Universal Studios, where he will have to chance to grope her in one of the dark rides. Chris is so upset over Star, she refuses, not at all aware of Aaron's intentions.

Callie and Star would make the perfect horse if they were moulded together. All Callie wants to do is run and could show Star a thing or two, or so Chris thinks. But she has to prove that she made the right choice (sound familiar?)

After much discontent with both Star and Callie sucking, Chris cries like a baby and Aaron comforts her and she basks in his warm manliness. They go touring around LA and Christina has the miraculous epiphany that she just needs to let Star and Callie do their thing without trying to change their style of running. Wow.

So Chris and Aaron ride Star and Callie together that evening without permission and both horses seem all fine and dandy now. The next day, Chris breezes Callie and the Johnstons and the horse's owner are happy.

Callie runs his race, the San Philipe stakes and wins it wire to wire and then Chris wins again with Star. All is well again and we leave California with promises of dinner dates and more work that never really get met as these people don't exist outside of Jennifer Chu's books.

Points of Interest

• Yeah, I bet people just randomly offer strangers to ride their horses in races that take place... like hours after they first meet them!
• Mel is such a bitch. She should be fucking grateful that she even has Image to race and that her body is still intact.
• Storm's Ransom gets an honorable mention. It seems the mere mention of his name still reduces Cindy into a blubbering wreck.
• At least Jennifer has some knowledge of TB history. Unlike, oh, any of the other NewGen authors.
• I find myself wishing that Aaron was in more books than just Jennifer Chu's. For the simple reason that he might have been less boring than Parker.
• Chris asks Aaron which horses are going to Santa Antia and his reply is "pretty much anyone who is sound." Ding ding ding! Warning bells, anyone?
• Does a theme park called California Adventure really exist?
• What is is with TB characters riding their horses without permission?
• Boy oh boy, I thought seventeen year olds were beyond crying when they do not get their way.
• Jennifer Chu likes name dropping brands, famous actors and all that, doesn't she?

Well, this book was pointless... but not as pointless as the next one on my list... the aptly named Perfect Challenge!