The next day, as soon as Pilar finished her schoolwork, she ran out to the main barn and found Jorge finishing up some chores.
“Should I go get Prince saddled up?”
“No, chica, we need to go over some race details first. I want to describe to you what the race will look like, what the property looks like, and what will be happening. Then we are going to talk about getting Prince into shape to beat those horses. There will be some great horses there, and I want him to be ready. Then we will talk about getting you ready. We’ll be thinking about racing and nothing else.” He pulled out a few pieces of paper and a pencil, as if he’d had them in his pocket, just waiting for the opportunity.
Pilar leaned eagerly onto the table with her elbows, intently studying what Jorge was doing. He was drawing, she saw, and explaining as he drew.
“Here is where they will be doing the race,” he said. He drew a large circle on what she recognized as a sketch of the massive Vargas ranch. This ranch was older than Arroyo Ranch, and run by the fourth generation of a very large and wealthy family that sold cattle and bred horses. Martin Vegas, the grandfather, and his son ran the ranch now, and had been doing so for some time. Martin and his wife Ana had four children, and they’d had children as well, and these days the entire family lived on the ranch—much as they did here at Arroyo. Pilar had never been on the ranch, but she’d heard much about it, and knew that it was far more successful than any other ranch in the area.
It was, she thought, the model for what her mother wanted to do with their ranch. Vargas was what Arroyo would one day become. And they had the horses to prove it. She and Prince would have to be well-prepared if they were going to win this race.
“Here is the barn where you will keep Prince before the race. You will need to walk him from the barn to over here.” Jorge pointed to where he’d drawn a starting line. “There will be an official there, waiting. This is an official race, and it will be far more formal than what we do here. I will ride my horse along with you, to make sure that you get there safely. After that, you will be on your own.” He gave her a long look, then continued. “The track is both sand and clay, and can be soft, since it is part of the pasture where they allow cattle to roam. If it rains before the race, the ground will be muddy and sticky. It would be better if the ground were dry and hard—safer—so let us hope for dry weather.”
Pilar leaned forward to get a closer look at the map of the large ranch, listening carefully. It was the first time anyone had told her to hope against rain, and she suddenly felt very lucky that Jorge was willing to spend time teaching her these things. He had been around for a long time, and knew much about the horses and people. Surely he would be able to help her win.
She’d seen the way her mother’s eyes lit at the mention of the prize. And she’d do anything to be the cause of that. Anything to win this race.
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