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Description
Falkens Srslyimabiach ridden by Joshua Sterns, from Falken Stud

The J.C. Monthly Show : March
Race 1: Maiden Special Weight, 6f, turf £35,000
Lingfield Racecourse

She was a grand filly for sure, and Joshua considered himself lucky to have the opportunity to train and ride her. He had assumed his racing days were over when their financial situation motivated a move to Sweden in order to work at his friend's stable; of course he didn't complain, as he did what was required to provide for his family when younger fitter jockeys began piloting the horses he had once been guaranteed a ride on, but it was not without some ambivalence that he settled into the new situation. However, it turned out that the Nordstrands wished to put his experience to use. Gone was his melancholy; in its place, a stubborn drive to prove that he wasn't past his prime until he said so himself, and that a single man from a nowhere country with anonymous horses could still pose a very real threat on the track. His string was small, and though nobody said it out loud, he knew it was an experiment, a test to see whether the racing division would pay off. Joshua intended to prove that fact beyond any doubt, and thus between young Siri and the handful of cantankerous arabians, rough stones were quietly being polished into diamonds in the sleepy Swedish countryside.

And what better place to debut his lovely diamond than on his own home turf dirt in the UK? International was the route to go if she were to be given the opportunities she deserved. Not that Joshua held any contempt for the Swedish circuit, no doubt there were good races and good horses who undoubtedly got plenty of recognition... somewhere... surely...

Ahem. England it was. Siri had handled the trip well, and Joshua was familiar with the track, even passing by a couple of old acquaintances as he strolled about the place. If she ran well, there were other races he was eyeing up, the Derbyshire Stakes in particular; after that, who knew were things would lead? But they had to get there first before plans could be made for anything else. Such was the joy and terror of racing- all the preparation in the world couldn't stand up to the whims of Lady Luck, and he most certainly had no objections to a little extra luck.

Of course, preparation was still necessary, and as they broke from the gates and took off down the track, Joshua discovered that the downside of having a single filly to train in the middle of nowhere was that she had no idea what to think of the unknown neighbor sprinting along beside her. And where preparation had failed, luck stepped in; Siri shied away, but as the stranger gained a length on her, Joshua discovered a previously hidden trait in his diamond: she was more stubborn than fearful. Her heels dug in and she bolted in hot pursuit of the rivals ahead, deeply dissatisfied over having been spooked off in such an embarrassing manner. It was only another filly, for goodness sake, a younger and smaller one than that! Joshua was fairly certain horses could not speak, but he was also fairly certain he heard a resounding hmph! from the creature below him. Well, if she had enough of that spirit, it could just be the hmph heard 'round the world... if she managed to catch up now, that was.

what is this
A bit of an experiment, wanted to try something more flowing and stylized in terms of anatomy and linework. Which the pen kind of destroyed, very intermittent ink flow, but yeah. Very little erasing done, mostly just to clean up some stray marks, main pose/anatomy is first-attempt original with just rough sketch and then inked over that in best-guess average. As is the background, colored straight on with no prior sketching, daring myself to be a little more spontaneous and try to incorporate mistakes into the finished work instead of nitpicking them into oblivion until I lose motivation and give up and cry in a corner AHEM this was pretty relaxing and enjoyable by comparison. Colors got pretty washed out in the upload, alas.

ANYWAY. This is a "flashback", so to speak, Siri's first race, ignore all the others she's entered, this was the first. It breaks canon a bit, BC Mile was supposed to be her first turf, so just... ignore all the grass in the picture, 'kay? Thought it would be nice to show a lower-level race at the beginning of her career.

Featuring: SVI Lady Tempest ridden by Megan Brewster, from Sunrise Valley International Ltd., © MistyofSunrise
Artwork, Siri, Joshua © Helsinge
No references used

Description
Falkens Srslyimabiach ridden by Joshua Sterns, from Falken Stud

The J.C. Monthly Show : March
Race 1: Maiden Special Weight, 6f, turf £35,000
Lingfield Racecourse

She was a grand filly for sure, and Joshua considered himself lucky to have the opportunity to train and ride her. He had assumed his racing days were over when their financial situation motivated a move to Sweden in order to work at his friend's stable; of course he didn't complain, as he did what was required to provide for his family when younger fitter jockeys began piloting the horses he had once been guaranteed a ride on, but it was not without some ambivalence that he settled into the new situation. However, it turned out that the Nordstrands wished to put his experience to use. Gone was his melancholy; in its place, a stubborn drive to prove that he wasn't past his prime until he said so himself, and that a single man from a nowhere country with anonymous horses could still pose a very real threat on the track. His string was small, and though nobody said it out loud, he knew it was an experiment, a test to see whether the racing division would pay off. Joshua intended to prove that fact beyond any doubt, and thus between young Siri and the handful of cantankerous arabians, rough stones were quietly being polished into diamonds in the sleepy Swedish countryside.

And what better place to debut his lovely diamond than on his own home turf dirt in the UK? International was the route to go if she were to be given the opportunities she deserved. Not that Joshua held any contempt for the Swedish circuit, no doubt there were good races and good horses who undoubtedly got plenty of recognition... somewhere... surely...

Ahem. England it was. Siri had handled the trip well, and Joshua was familiar with the track, even passing by a couple of old acquaintances as he strolled about the place. If she ran well, there were other races he was eyeing up, the Derbyshire Stakes in particular; after that, who knew were things would lead? But they had to get there first before plans could be made for anything else. Such was the joy and terror of racing- all the preparation in the world couldn't stand up to the whims of Lady Luck, and he most certainly had no objections to a little extra luck.

Of course, preparation was still necessary, and as they broke from the gates and took off down the track, Joshua discovered that the downside of having a single filly to train in the middle of nowhere was that she had no idea what to think of the unknown neighbor sprinting along beside her. And where preparation had failed, luck stepped in; Siri shied away, but as the stranger gained a length on her, Joshua discovered a previously hidden trait in his diamond: she was more stubborn than fearful. Her heels dug in and she bolted in hot pursuit of the rivals ahead, deeply dissatisfied over having been spooked off in such an embarrassing manner. It was only another filly, for goodness sake, a younger and smaller one than that! Joshua was fairly certain horses could not speak, but he was also fairly certain he heard a resounding hmph! from the creature below him. Well, if she had enough of that spirit, it could just be the hmph heard 'round the world... if she managed to catch up now, that was.

what is this
A bit of an experiment, wanted to try something more flowing and stylized in terms of anatomy and linework. Which the pen kind of destroyed, very intermittent ink flow, but yeah. Very little erasing done, mostly just to clean up some stray marks, main pose/anatomy is first-attempt original with just rough sketch and then inked over that in best-guess average. As is the background, colored straight on with no prior sketching, daring myself to be a little more spontaneous and try to incorporate mistakes into the finished work instead of nitpicking them into oblivion until I lose motivation and give up and cry in a corner AHEM this was pretty relaxing and enjoyable by comparison. Colors got pretty washed out in the upload, alas.

ANYWAY. This is a "flashback", so to speak, Siri's first race, ignore all the others she's entered, this was the first. It breaks canon a bit, BC Mile was supposed to be her first turf, so just... ignore all the grass in the picture, 'kay? Thought it would be nice to show a lower-level race at the beginning of her career.

Featuring: SVI Lady Tempest ridden by Megan Brewster, from Sunrise Valley International Ltd., © MistyofSunrise
Artwork, Siri, Joshua © Helsinge
No references used