The early morning air was crisp and slightly brisk as the warmth of the sun had not yet peaked over the horizon. The barn was still somewhat quiet, as horses called for their morning breakfast and paced in their stalls. However, one horse stirred more than the rest. While the rest of the barn was peaceful, one hellion of a colt thrashed about in his stall, striking out at the two handlers who attempted to saddle him. Lexi, the head trainer at Triple Krown Racing, fought with the colt as his groom and jockey, Mathieu cinched the saddle and wrapped the hellion's legs. Surprisingly, this was actually one of Rio's better days. He hadn't kicked OR bitten either Lexi or Mat yet, which was an improvement in itself. After finally wrapping all of his legs and managing to full saddle and bridle the colt, the two began to lead Rio out of his stall and towards the track.

After trying to run them both over, they managed to make it to the edge of the track. While Rio danced in place with a wild, frenzied expression in his eyes, Mat hopped up. Immediately, the massive blood red colt bolted across the track in a beeline for the rail. After nearly loosing his stirrups and grip on the reins from the sudden jolt, Mat regained a strong hold on the powerful young two year old. After being checked heavily, Rio tossed his head, fighting for the bit. Mat leaned back in the stirrups hard, not giving an inch. Rio seemed to get the hint that he was not going to win this time, and settled into a nice jogging pace in the opposite direction on the track. Rewarding Rio for his obedience with a big pat, Mat loosened up on the reins just an inch, allowing for the colt to stretch out a bit, "there we go, kid." Mat had a major soft spot for the furious colt. It didn't matter how many times Rio had bitten, kicked, or tried to kill him; Mat always had some of love for the hellion. Secretly, Mat believed that the reason he was the only one who could really get a handle on Rio was because he was the only human Rio somewhat liked.

As they neared the pole where they would begin their workout, Mat lowered himself over Rio's back and let the colt have just a inch of slack in the reins. Evidently, Rio had been waiting for this point as he immediately jolted forward like a catapult, lengthening his stride. Mat's eyes and cheeks began to sting as the wind cut through him like a blade; it was amazing. The rush he got from working Rio was unlike anything that he got from working the other horses at the barn. Rio was capable of eating up the ground so easily as his stride was just so large and came so quick. Not only did he have the body style for stamina, but boy could he go fast. Rio romped around the turn like a freight train, hugging the inside rail. Coming off the rail, Rio switched into a completely different gear as he switched leads and charged down the stretch. Mat could barely open his eyes with how the wind was cutting through him. Together they flew past the wire and Mat stood in the stirrups taking a strong hold on Rio in order to slow him down. Rio put up a good fight before finally coming to a manageable pace and obediently returning to the rail where Lexi watched.

Mat grinned as he rode Rio up to her. The colt pranced and flung his head about, wanting nothing more than to keep running, still full of energy. "What'd you think?" Lexi rolled her eyes and shook her head, approvingly. "I don't get how you get him to listen to you like that. You are the only one he runs like that for." Mat shrugged, "Maybe it's because I can actually ride." Lexi gave him a joking frown, "Maybe it's because you two are both arrogant." Mat rolled his eyes playfully before hopping off of the fire breathing dragon of a horse. "Whatever, you are just jealous that you don't get to ride such a beast of a horse." Secretly, he was partially correct. The only person who had managed to be able to jockey Rio was Mat, after all. Lexi had tried once early in his two year old year and that had ended quite badly; and by quite badly she had ended up in the dirt with a fractured rib and a pretty bad concussion, so Rio was off limits for her. Mat was the only one that the colt actually listened to. Lexi shrugged as they began to lead Rio back to the barn, "I'm just glad that you can ride him, because he is much too good to be sitting on the sidelines."