The Belmont Stakes

By Elizabeth Huffaker

One and a half miles. Seven thousand nine hundred and twenty feet.

That alone stood between Reese and the Triple Crown.

And eight other horses, but who cared about them? Not Reese, and certainly not her horse, Paddock Pizzazz, who butted his metal head against the starting gate, impatient. Smoke blew from the metal plates covering his nostrils, filling Reese’s lungs with acrid exhaust. None of these pieces of junkie scrap metal were going to take their victory. The Belmont Stakes were theirs.

Hulking, behemoth machines covered in squealing metal plates took their places at the starting gate, eyes aglow with fire.

Mane Attraction, who looked more like a dinosaur than a horse with a set of metal spikes spurting just to the edge of regulation, screeched into place a few stalls to the left. Reese had almost been gored by those spikes during the Preakness when they’d gone head-to-head. But Mane Attraction, however deadly, was not the real threat.

All eyes were on the newcomer, Bit of Bliss, currently loading into the starting gate to Reese’s right.

She was beautiful. Her oiled joints moved with such quiet grace that Reese stared in dreamlike wonder, almost certain she was a spirit emerging from a cloud. A curving horn rose from the painted star across Bliss’s brow, and a shimmering mane and tail floated in some ethereal wind.

Where the other horses were often clunky, ferocious beasts that could cut through the air like a diving eagle, Bit of Bliss had almost floated rather than trotted in her warm-up, an angel among devils. She had forsaken a defense even as simple as spiked withers to push away opponents in favor of speed. Rainbow waves of perfectly melded elements—some new type of alloy, Reese assumed—shimmered in the sunlight.

The petite jockey—Ren—remained mostly hidden under her helmet and goggles, but she had painted her lips red; an odd choice for such a dirty competition.

“Good day for a race,” Ren greeted Reese, a light trace of a Quebec accent decorating her words.

“Sure,” Reese answered, not wanting to get too friendly. Another look at that beautiful piece of machinery, though, and she had to say, “She’s real pretty.”

“Yes,” Ren answered simply.

Reese could feel the critical gaze boring down on her and Paddock Pizzazz.

“Do you miss the days of live horses?” Ren asked. “A truer beauty exists in what is natural, no?”

Reese shrugged. “Can’t say I miss it.”

“No, I don’t suppose you would.” Ren’s oddly pointed tone made Reese’s back stiffen.

The announcer shouted for them to make ready before Reese could think of a response.

“Steady, Pizzazz,” she whispered to her Triple Crown hopeful. “We got this.”

Her horse’s ears flicked back and then forward again with a tiny clink of metal, indicating understanding.

As the gun fired and the gates swung wide, Paddock Pizzazz exploded into motion. Shrieks of metal and bursts of exhaust sounded all around them as jockeys fought for position. Reese angled Pizzazz into an early lead. They’d powered past Mane Attraction before he could wield his spikes in their direction. He was a smoking, pulverizing monster. As Reese turned the first corner, she could see the victims of his brute force fall to pieces on the track. But Mane Attraction was too bulky for the length of this race, and by the mile marker, Reese could smell his heaving engines even from her position.

Reese glanced backward to see if he’d quit, but as she did, the shimmering splendor of Bit of Bliss overwhelmed her vision as she stole first.

Where had she come from?

Forgetting Mane Attraction, Reese urged Pizzazz forward, fighting to regain their lead. After a quarter mile, they’d only just managed to close the gap enough to nip at Bliss’s spectral tail. Faster than the wind itself, Bit of Bliss galloped like a gleaming streak of physics-defying iridescence.

No. No! Reese was not losing the Triple Crown to a French-Canadian who had shown up to the most important race in lipstick.

She leaned in, reached around Pizzazz’s neck, and pulled the hidden latch there.

With a screech of metal, armor began to fall and scatter behind them in an obstacle course of wreckage.

Pizzazz sped on, now unhindered by the weight of the metal disguise. His brown hide was slick with sweat that dripped down his four legs of matching white socks.

They overtook Bit of Bliss, driving a full length ahead to snatch their coveted victory.

Reese rode Pizzazz to a halt and raised her fists into the air, utterly triumphant.

But as she turned around, she found the stands were not cheering as they should have been. A hush had fallen on the stadium as everyone watched Paddock Pizzazz—a living, breathing animal. A real horse had carried Reese and a suit of armor to victory in the three most important races in America, beating out state-of-the-art robots considered superior in all regards.

But bitterness tainted the victory. As the silence shifted to a dull murmur, Reese knew what would happen before the results were ever echoed over the loudspeaker. They were disqualified with no chance for appeal, and all previous victories rescinded. No Triple Crown winner this year.

As Ren rode past, she leaned over to whisper in Reese’s ear, “If you wished to use a natural engine, you should have invested in biological engineering.”

“I couldn’t afford it,” Reese snapped before she realized what Ren was implying. She looked at Bliss’s beautiful alloyed skin, the flowing mane, the glimmering hooves.

She was so smooth, so sleek, so… alive.

Biologically modified.

“She’s… not a machine.” Reese stared in awe.

“Prove it.” Ren quirked those painted lips into a smirk, then walked away to claim Reese’s ring of roses.

For this year, anyway.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elizabeth Huffaker grew up in Southern California and currently resides in Maryland. She spent several years living in China, where she became semi-fluent in Mandarin. She makes a living helping students craft impactful stories about their lives as they apply for college, but her true love is in building fantasy and sci-fi worlds to play in. She can be found seeking adventure with her trusty penguin plush, Xiao Heihei, who accompanies her everywhere.