The Trickster Diaries/Chapter 98
The smart money on Native Diver—the inside dope, the strategy, the theory—was that you could neutralize his style, mess with his speed and the way he controlled a race by attempting to stay with him early, push him to go even harder. Otherwise, it was theorized—especially in races of a mile to a mile and a quarter—he’d set such quick early fractions, put so much distance between himself and the field he could then cruise going into the far turn, relax, allow the field to think they’d caught up, then kick again.
It was a theory no trainer and no jock and no other horse was ever stupid enough to test. Alternatively they held on to a faraway hope the wild black gelding would become distracted by a seagull in flight or the crowd rising to its feet as he accelerated through the turn for home, ears pinned, alone.
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