Riding Star by Stacy Gregg Page A

to truck the ponies for us,” Georgie said. “He says he can fit seven ponies onboard.”
    Daisy dug her cash out of her pocket. “I better start shopping,” she said to the others. “I’ll meet you back here later with my new polo string.”
    Emily followed along after Daisy. Georgie and Alice took Marco off to tie him up to the Conways’ truck, and by the time they returned to the railside there was a new group of Thoroughbreds coming out for their trackwork.
    In amongst the group of jockeys Riley emerged on to the track on a big black horse that Georgie recognised straight away.
    â€œThat’s Talisman.” She pointed the big, black gelding out to Alice. “I rode him the last time I was here.”
    Georgie gave Riley a wave as he rode past and he diverted course and brought Talisman over to the railings.
    â€œHave you bought anything yet?” he asked.
    â€œOne chestnut gelding,” Georgie said.
    â€œI thought they had to be mares?”
    â€œWe’ve loosened up our criteria,” Alice replied.
    Riley nodded. “I’ve been asking around in the stables. Apparently Bart O’Malley has a couple of horses that have been on a mean losing streak.”
    â€œWhich ones are they?” Georgie asked.
    Riley scanned the track. “Look for Bart’s stable colours – purple and red diamonds. I can’t see them out here right now. But they’ll be around.”
    He smiled at Georgie. “I better go breeze Tally before Dad catches me slacking off.”
    â€œThanks for the tip,” Georgie said. She watched Riley as he rode off at a trot on Talisman. When he reached the first furlong marker Riley rose up into his stirrups, asking Talisman to move up into a gallop, and then he began to work the horse round the track.
    Riley was a naturally confident rider, utterly at ease in the saddle. He never seemed to do much, but somehow he got the best out of a horse. She watched as he asked Talisman to step up the pace as they came round to the final three furlongs. As they passed another horse, a big bay, she saw Riley bend down a little lower over Tally’s neck, his hands urging the big black on. Tally surged forward and now he was thundering home in the straight, Riley perched up on his back, looking like there was nowhere else in the world he would rather be. Georgie remembered that night at the School Formal when Riley had turned up out of the blue, all dressed up in a suit, his dark hair slicked back off his face. He’d come, despite his feelings about the snobbish Blainford elite, making the effort just to be with her. Now, watching him ride, she felt guilty for putting him through that. Riley didn’t belong at Blainford. Out there on the track now, riding for all he was worth, that was Riley as he was meant to be. Was that why he hadn’t called her after the dance? He’d always tried to tell her that they were from different worlds.
    â€œGeorgie?” Alice grabbed her arm. “Come on! Are you going to stand there staring at Riley all day or are we going to the stables to find these horses?”
    *
    Bart O’Malley did have two mares that he was apparently trying to get rid of. There was a skittish young bay, only about fifteen hands high with not much in the way of muscle and a slight ewe neck.
    â€œShe’ll be all right once we feed her up,” Alice insisted. “I like her.”
    The other mare was a dark brown standing at fifteen-three, which made her a little big for polo, but the girls decided she would do.
    â€œHow much do you want for them?” Georgie asked the russet-haired trainer.
    â€œNeither of them are going to win a race,” Bart O’Malley admitted, “but the brown mare has good bloodlines. I could put her in foal and get a good colt out of her, so I’m in no hurry to sell.”
    â€œHe’s bluffing,” Alice muttered to Georgie. “He wants to sell them