The Devil Child

I love Dee. I really really do.

And yes, he has a freakishly long tail. Like Whirlaway. Because I want him to.

WARNING: Freakishly long story ahead. Sorry! I got a little carried away.



Foal Pic and Bio

Racing Season: 2 Year Old
6 starts--4/0/0
$1,721,500
Important Wins: GIII Arlington Washington Futurity, GIII Summer Stakes, GI Champagne Stakes, GI Breeder's Cup Juvenile

Racing Stats

Total Wins: 6 starts--4/0/0
Career Earnings (in US currency): $1,721,500
Racing Style: Distance
Eclipse Champion 2yo Colt

Dee has definately lived up to his name. He was hell to break, and learned a trick very early on that locked his jaw so we couldn't get the bit in his mouth. Not even the thumb-in-mouth-pocket trick works on him. No one has a clue how he keeps his jaw shut like that, but he does. In the beginning months of his training, only TJ was able to get him to take the bit.

When we tried training him under saddle, he bucked and writhed and flung every rider off--including TJ. One morning, TJ succeeding in coaxing him onto the track. Being under saddle, he fought her the whole way, but we all figured she was the safest to do the nasty job; her he just balked with. The rest of us, he tried to rip the skin off our bones.

When his hooves hit the dirt track, however, an eerie calm settled over the 16.1hh colt. He grew utterly still and flared his nostrils. No one has any clue what came over him to make him so calm, but it didn't last long. Soon, he was back to his old self again, fighting and balking and throwing the biggest tantrum no human 2 year old could match.

So we set him loose, hoping he would run off some of his energy. We just stuck a very brave (and bribed) rider up on him and let him go.

The colt's fast. And he has serious stamina. Like, serious stamina. If only he didn't zig-zag like that...

The rider that we bribed up onto him that first time never made it back for a second go-round, as at one point Dee ran into the railing and threw the poor man into the grass. He wasn't hurt too badly, but he's even more afraid of Dee now and refuses to ever get near him again. Finding a brave jockey is going to be Hell. Or perhaps, a fleet of brave jockeys is more accurate...


Race 1: Maiden Allowance Race; 8F (1 mile)
By the morning of Dee's first race, we had a brave soul signed on to ride El Diablo--this particular jockey had ridden previous unruly BCC horses before and management figured he could handle Dee. Hopefully.

Cameras flashed and people oohed and aahhed at the now 16.2hh, pure black two year old that thrashed onto the track. Yes, thrashed. TJ had convinced him to take the bit, but he still didn't like the saddle, so instead of walking or prancing out into the sunshine like the rest of the maidens, Dee writhed his way onto the dirt.

When his hooves hit the track, however, that eerie calm settled over him for a brief moment, as it did every time he encountered the track. Management isn't sure why he does this--maybe it's the expectation of running, or the change in surface beneath his hooves. Whatever the reason, it gave his five (yes, five) handlers time to boost the jockey onto his back.

The demon in Dee returned as they made their way through the post parade (without a pony, thank goodness) into the gate, forcing the helpers to shove him into the gate riderless.

The bell rang and the field of 13 jolted from the track. Dee broke slowly due to his size and trailed behind, not accelerating like he usually did. Instead, he resumed writhing and bucking, but this time at extremely high speeds.

The jockey, however--bless his soul--knew how to handle the unruly colt and used Dee's rebellion against him by pulling on the reins. Which of course made Dee go ballistic (he doesn't like to be told what to do) and run faster.

Amazingly enough, they came in fourth, three lengths behind the leader.

Race 2: Arlington-Washington Futurity (GIII); 1 mile
Graded stakes time. It's been about 2 months since Dee last started, and he's settled down. ...Sort of.

We figured out that holding his head in tight to his chest in the beginning of the race makes him run fast and stay focused, versus when we give him his head, he flails and zig-zags all over the track.

The track was slow and sloppy, but the big ebon colt didn't care. He broke slowly and ran with his head forefully tucked into his chest, trailing behind the last runner by half a length until the turn for home, when Robby Dolorez--his now main-jockey for he's the only man who's been able to semi-control Dee while racing--released his head. The speed we had seen during his morning workouts burst forth and it was if he took flight, powering past the other racers as if they stood still. His last quarter was faster than the lead racer's first quarter, and he finished in first by 4 1/2 lengths with a time of 1:37 flat.

Race 3: Summer Stakes (GIII); 1 mile (T)
Dee still had too much energy for our liking after coming off the Futurity win, but there were no real challenging races to put him in, so we decided to try him on the turf.

At first, he hated it, but after we got him accustomed to the different surface and convinced him to stop trying to eat the turf, he took to it like a proverbial duck to water, powering home in the Summer Stakes to win it by 5 lengths with a time of 1:38:42.

Race 4: Champagne Stakes (GI); 1 mile
Ah, sweet victory. Management just about peed their pants in excitement after the Summer S. win. Now the whole team is back for more, but we've upped the stakes a bit. Back on dirt, against the best of the best of this years 2yo crop.

Once again, Dolorez held Dee's head in tight for the first half of the race, then let him loose around the back turn. He was blocked and forced to go 6-wide around the field, but his ears just perked forward and he stretched those ungodly-long legs out to eat away at the distance between him and the leader. An adorable rose-gray by the name of Acute--another Thalion colt, we learned--put up a small fight near the last furlong pole, but of course he didn't stand a chance against our Devil.

First GI win secured. Now what? Breeder's Cup Juvenile, you say? YES PLEASE.

Race 5: Breeders' Cup Juvenile (GI); 8.5F
At this point, El Diablo was a press favorite. He had fans and loyal watchers. No one ever got close to him, though. Heaven forbid he actually CALM DOWN as he grew into his bones.

He loaded uneasily into the gate, as he often did, but this time, instead of breaking slowly, he burst from the gate as if he were aiming to take the lead straight off, thus banging his left shoulder into the gate as it sprung open. He stumbled, but recovered soon enough and settled down in his normal last place with his head tightly tucked into his chest.

Around the back turn, he stumbled again and lost ground, falling behind until he was 11 lengths off the leader when they rounded the far turn.

Somehow, some way, he still managed to power home in that now-famous closing sprint from last to first. He won by a head over his opponent, and was breathing hard when he came off the track.

But his ears were pricked forward and he fought Dolorez and the poor track pony and rider pair who got stuck with bringing him in. He still wanted to run.

Race 6: CashCall Futurity (GI); 8.5F
Management wanted to give him a break from racing and have him return as a 3yo, but he threw such a fuss in the mornings after the Juvenile win they decided to run him one last time in December and then set him loose later in the spring for the Derby Trail.

After destroying his opponents in every single one of his graded starts, they expected this race to be easy for him.

Of course, this was El Diablo--nothing ever goes as planned where he was concerned.

He broke smoothly and followed his normal pattern--hang in the back, begin to take the far turn, then zoom up to steal the lead and power home to win. A furlong from the wire, Dolorez and the surrounding jockeys heard the dreaded 'SNAP' and a second later, a fierce shriek erupted from Dee's throat and he went down.

Dolorez, thankfully, sailed over the rail and out of the way from the thundering hooves, but he landed hard and did mild damage to his right shoulder. El Diablo, lying next to the rail, didn't move. The crowd present at Hollywood Park and all the tv-watchers across the nation gasped and jumped to their feet as the announcer went crazy over the PA system, shouting, "the Devil is down! The Devil is down! El Diablo has collapsed and isn't moving!"

The ambulance zoomed up and the horrifying, dreaded blue screen went up to shield the giant colt from the audience's view.

Horses are strange creatures. The gentlest beast can be set off by the oddest happenstance. Or the craziest devil can be calm during a time when few creatures would be.

Dee was fine--or at least, as fine as one could be with a fracture in your front left cannon bone. The surgeons said that his not moving after collapsing on the track probably saved his life. It was as if he knew that if he moved, he wouldn't get to race again--he wouldn't get to terrorize the stablehands or steal carrots from TJ's pockets in the afternoons. So he stayed still and let the healing take its course.

Will he race again? At this time, we are unsure. Will he live? Some would say, "unfortunately, yes." Barring any strange happenstances, he'll live and grow into a fine stallion who finds thrills in terrorizing the poor stablehands and foolish reporters who get too close.


Art and Character (C) Me
Ref: ~xrockinrobynstock