Comet and the Champion's Cup (16 page)

Dan, meanwhile, was unloading Madonna from the horse truck and had led her past Issie, tying the chestnut
mare up next to Ben's brown gelding Max. He walked around the truck to where Aidan was busy plaiting up the big black horse's forelock.

“Ummm, Aidan?” Aidan looked around and saw who it was.

“Yeah.”

Dan put out a hand. “I just want to wish you luck, man.” He seemed to mean it as he stuck his hand out.

Aidan too looked like he genuinely wanted to make friends as he grasped Dan's hand and shook it firmly. “Me too. I mean, good luck to you. May the best man win and everything…”

“Do you think they're serious?” Stella said, watching the boys as she stood next to Issie and Comet.

“Uh-huh. Totally,” said Issie.

“That is so lame!” Stella giggled. “You have to tell them you know all about their stupid bet. Let them know they can't get away with it!”

“I was going to say something to Aidan yesterday,” Issie groaned, “but it was just too embarrassing. It's all so stupid!”

“It's kind of funny though, isn't it?” Stella grinned at Issie. “So, come on. We're best friends, right? And you still haven't even told me–which one do you want to win?”

“That's the whole problem,” Issie sighed. “I really don't know.”

The Horse of the Year Show had already been underway for two days. Today was considered to be the big day for showjumping, though, with all of the big prize money competitions happening in the main arena.

Dan and Aidan had already reported to the competitors' trailer to get their numbers, which they now wore on their chests. The hacks were jumping first today. Issie would ride in the afternoon in the pony ring.

“They're on in twenty minutes,” Stella said, looking at her watch.

“You go ahead to the grandstand and save me a seat,” Issie told her. “I'd better go check in at the riders' tent first.”

The schedule of the day's events had been posted up on the pinboard outside the competitors' trailer. Issie ran her eyes over the competitor list for the pony Grand Prix to see if she recognised any of the other riders. One of the names on the list leapt out at her.
Ohmygod
, Issie thought.
Just my luck!

“Well, well, Isadora!” Issie turned around and saw the familiar sour face and stiff blonde plaits of her arch pony-club nemesis–Natasha Tucker!

“Hi, Natasha,” Issie said. “I was just checking the competition lists. I see we're both entered in the pony Grand Prix.”

Natasha looked at Issie suspiciously. “I didn't even know you were riding at Horse of the Year,” she said. “The last time I checked you didn't even have a horse to ride!”

“That's my horse. The skewbald over there,” Issie said, pointing to Avery's horse truck where Comet was skipping about and trying to steal hay out of Max's hay net.

“Really?” Natasha tried unsuccessfully to suppress a cruel giggle. “Ewww! A skewbald! They're so ugly! How can you stand to ride him?”

“I think he's beautiful,” Issie said, defending Comet. “Anyway, I'm not concerned with how he looks. It's how he jumps that matters.”

Natasha sneered. “Well, he doesn't look like Grand Prix material to me!”

“I guess we'll see,” said Issie flatly.

“I'm riding the Grand Prix and the Puissance today,”
Natasha continued. “I'm on Fabby, of course. He'll do for this competition, but I'm hoping to pick up a new ride while I'm here as well. You know Ginty McLintoch, don't you? She trains all our horses and Mummy has asked her to keep an eye out for a new pony for me. Mummy says she's willing to spend mega-money on a really special pony that can take me to the Pony-club Champs this year.”

“But what will you do with Fabby?” Issie was aghast at the way Natasha chopped and changed ponies as if they were nothing to her.

Natasha ignored this question and looked over Issie's shoulder, her eyes narrowing as she spied Dan mounting up on Madonna next to Avery's horse truck. “Is that Dan?” she asked. Then a slightly bitter tone crept into her voice. “Is he here with you?”

“Uh-huh,” Issie said. “He's riding in the next event–novice hack over one metre twenty.” Issie paused and then added, “Aidan is riding in it too.”

“Ohhh,” Natasha said, “I might go and sit in the stands for that. It sounds like it will be worth watching.”

“Yes,” Issie had to agree, “I guess it will be.”

“What is she doing here?” Stella pulled a face as Issie arrived with Natasha in tow and sat down next to Stella and Ben in the grandstand.

“Don't ask!” Issie rolled her eyes.

Kate was in the grandstand too, trying desperately to wrangle the kids. “It's like herding cats!' she grumbled. “They all keep dashing off in different directions!”

“Bottoms on seats now, everyone! You are representing the Blackthorn Farm Riding School–show some manners!” At the sound of Avery's booming voice, Lucy, Sophie, Arthur, George, Tina, Trisha, Kitty and Kelly-Anne all immediately fell silent and sat as still as statues.

“Hi, Issie!' Kelly-Anne beamed up at her, waving furiously. Issie smiled back. She was glad she had managed to convince Aunty Hess to let Kelly-Anne stay on after all.

“I really think she's learnt her lesson this time,” Issie had said, standing up for Kelly-Anne. And it seemed that she had. OK, she was still a bit of a know-it-all, but at least she was trying. At their last riding lesson on Saturday, Kelly-Anne hadn't uttered a word and had done everything Kate told her to do. Not only that, she'd helped out with the younger kids too, unsaddling Lucy's
horse for her and helping Sophie to mix up Pippen's hard feed after the lesson was over.

“Why isn't Aunty Hess here?” Issie wondered as she looked around. She could have sworn she saw Kate give Stella a strange look at this question.

“Umm, Hess had to go and pick something up. She'll be back soon,” Kate said.

There was a crackling noise over the tannoy and then the announcer's voice came through crisp and clear. “The next event in the main arena here today is the novice hack over one metre twenty. This event will be judged on the total points accumulated over two rounds. All riders will complete two rounds.”

Issie looked down from the grandstand at the horses warming up below. She could see the boys working in their horses. Dan on Madonna and Aidan on Destiny. She felt a tight knot growing in her tummy.

“I'm going to get an ice cream,” Stella said. “Do you want anything?”

“No, thanks,” said Issie. “I'm really not hungry.”

The knot in Issie's tummy got worse as the competition progressed. Dan and Aidan were the last two riders to go, and so far no one ahead of them had gone clear in the first round.

“It's a difficult course,” Avery noted approvingly. “The fences aren't huge, but there are lots of tricky questions for the horses to answer.” Avery pointed to the red and white triple that finished the course. “That's the bogey fence,” he said. “Hardly anyone has made it clear through that triple.”

Issie could barely bring herself to look as Dan rode into the ring on Madonna. The chestnut mare looked stunning, her coat glowing in the sunlight. Dan too looked handsome with his black showjumping jacket and crisp white jodhpurs. As he took the first fence, Madonna tucked her feet up beautifully and cleared it easily, and Issie felt her heart beginning to race. Would Dan go clear? It certainly looked like he might as he took the second, third and fourth fences with ease. As Madonna approached the double she did a funny stride and then had to pop in an extra stride at the middle of the fence, which meant that she bashed her hind legs on the rails.

The crowd held their breath, but the rail didn't fall. Dan was still clear. Over the next three fences too his luck held. Now all that was left was the triple. Madonna approached the triple with a perfect stride, ah-one she was over the first fence, ah-two and the
second, ah…no! There was a collective sigh of disappointment from the crowd, who were hoping that this would be the first clear round of the day. Instead, Madonna managed to knock the very last rail with her front legs and down it came. Four faults!

“That still keeps him in the front running,” Ben said, watching intently. “And there's only Aidan to come.”

Aidan looked tense as he brought Destiny into the ring. Issie could see that Destiny was straining against the reins, making it hard for Aidan to hold him and get his striding right between fences.

As they came through the start flags Issie saw Aidan check the black horse firmly to let him know he meant business. Destiny arched his neck and his canter became bouncy and forward as he popped neatly over the first fence. The crowd clapped as Destiny took the second, third and fourth fences with ease and then romped over the double as if it wasn't even there. By the time Aidan came down the final line to face the triple, he hadn't knocked down a single rail. If he went clear through the triple then he would be the only rider to make it through the first round with no faults.

Issie held her breath as Aidan took the last turn into the triple a little too tightly, not leaving himself much
time at all to settle Destiny into a steady stride before the first fence. Destiny seemed to manage it though. The black horse took the first fence…one, then two…he was clear so far. You could hear the silence as the crowd waited to see whether he would make it over the last fence–and then came the thunderous applause as the black horse cleared the final fence and raced through the finish flags. Destiny had gone clear! Aidan had done it.

The man on the tannoy crackled back into life again. “Aidan MacGuire on Blackthorn Destiny goes clear, putting him out in the lead as we enter the second round.” He explained, “So with four riders sitting just behind Aidan MacGuire on four faults each, we still have a real battle on our hands!”

“Can Dan still win?” Stella whispered to Issie.

“Uh-huh,” Issie said. “He's only got four faults. It's accumulated points and there's still one more round to come.”

The jump-off course had been tightened down to eight fences and, as was the tradition in these events, the rider with the worst score from the last round rode first. That meant the leader from the last round, Aidan, would be riding last.

As the riders took their second round it became clear that, once again, the triple fence was the bogey. None of the riders seemed to manage a clear round. Then it was Dan's turn. Issie watched as he circled Madonna around in a warm-up lap.

“Go, Dan!” Ben shouted from the stands as Madonna came through the start flags and positively flew over the first fence. The kids were shouting out too, cheering every time Dan went clear over a fence. Issie, meanwhile, sat quietly watching. She wanted Dan to do well–of course she did. But did she want him to beat Aidan and win the bet?

As Dan lined up for the final triple she felt her heart catch in her throat. Madonna took the first fence beautifully, and the second and…as Dan cleared the third fence for a clear round Issie heard the crowd go crazy. Dan had done it! He had gone clear!

“Now this makes the competition interesting!” boomed the tannoy man. “Dan Halliday has gone clear in the second round. That means our last rider, Aidan MacGuire, has to go clear also with no time faults. If he collects a single rail, he will slip back in the rankings to equal Dan Halliday. If he takes two rails, he'll fall behind Dan to second place!”

The tension showed on Aidan's face as he brought Destiny back into the ring. Aidan nodded to the judges and heard the bell that signalled that he could start. He pushed Destiny into a canter and the black horse took the first fence with a clean take-off, clearing it neatly.

“Go, Aidan!” Kate, Stella and the kids were shouting their heads off now as Aidan took Destiny over fence after fence without a fault.

As Aidan turned to face the triple Issie felt her heart pounding. She had been so confused for so long about Dan and Aidan that she didn't know what to think. Now, as Aidan lined up to take the final jump, suddenly her heart made up her mind for her. She realised she had been jumping with Aidan over every single fence. Wishing him over the jumps. At that moment, she knew at last how she really felt.

“Go, Aidan!” she yelled so loudly that Stella and Natasha, who were sitting next to her, nearly jumped out of their skins.

Aidan looked at the triple ahead of him and managed to judge his stride perfectly at the first fence. Then trouble struck. Destiny miscued his take-off for the second fence and took down a rail. The error left him disunited as he approached the third fence and
the top rail fell from that one too. There was a collective sigh from the crowd as the man on the tannoy crackled back to life.

“A very unlucky eight faults there for Aidan MacGuire, putting him back to second place. That makes our winner of the one metre twenty novice hack event…Mr Dan Halliday on Madonna! Second place is Aidan MacGuire on Blackthorn Destiny and third goes to Justin Jones on Tribesman. Would all the riders come into the arena for prize-giving please?”

“Issie?” Stella looked at her friend. “Are you OK?” Issie shook her head. She wasn't OK at all. Dan had won. Aidan had lost. Issie had finally made up her mind and she knew what she wanted…she knew who she wanted. And now it was too late.

Issie wasn't even looking at Dan and Madonna as they took their victory lap around the arena. Her eyes never left Aidan. From the grandstand she watched as he slid down off his horse. She saw him quietly whisper something to the black stallion as he stroked his muzzle, as if horse and rider were consoling each other over their loss.

Then she saw Aidan look away from Destiny and up at the grandstand, his eyes searching for Issie. At that moment he looked so heartbroken, so miserable, that Issie realised she couldn't stand it any longer. She had to talk to him! She stood up and began to move towards the exit.