Unchosen Silk
Tom and Sandra having a quick videocall before the OPS Pine Stakes
"It makes me look pale!" Tom complained at the phone. Sandra, on the other side of the video call, laughed, obviously being really entertained by the jockey's complaining.
"It looks nice," she tried to reassure him, but she couldn't hold back the chuckle.
"No, Codi looks nice! I look like a clown. A pale clown."
Tom knew that being a jockey came with certain obligations, such as wearing the colors of whatever stable he raced for. However, he got quite accustomed to wearing the colors of Lovelyta Ranch, and was quite fond of the green and deep red that he often wore to races. However, this was different - this was one of those races that had pre-decided silks, and Tom was quite unfortunate to pull the number 7, which came with yellow silks. Now that he was wearing the color, he found it didn't compliment him at all.
"Don't care about the colors. You will be on the side, at least there won't be much of a tumult there," Sandra said, adjusting her phone so the camera wasn't slightly tilted anymore.
"I know, I know," Tom replied, but he didn't have his attention on the phone anymore - the groom was done with tacking Codi, and the stallion was fidgeting, starting to feel the atmosphere of the race.
"I need to go now," the jockey said, knowing he'll be needed to calm the horse and then accompany it into the ring, then to warmup and to the starting gates.
"Call me after," Sandra waved, and then the call disconnected. Tom threw his phone into his bag that was hung onto Codi's stall, then, forgetting about everything else, went to the horse.
"Good boy. You'll make us all proud today, won't you?" he patted the stallion. Codi, stopping his fidgeting now that he was getting some attention, turned an ear and an eye towards his jockey. Tom had absolutely no doubt that Codi could do this - he was fast, and his 3-year-old season was an absolute success, having won their first 3 races out of the 5 Codi was entered into. He had quite a heart, and Tom honestly hoped they'd get to show everyone out there what Lovelyta's team was made of.