Fantastic Flights, Gearing up for the Racing Season.

Today the field was all aflutter with displays of aerial prowess. Warm ups for the upcoming racing season started just after sunrise with a display of acrobatics from one of Tropicana Sand's darlings, Monte Carlo Mambo. This little dish dazzles both on land and in the air.

A practice sprint had Bellezza beating out Stardust Starlet and Dulcinea by nearly a length. Its going to be an amazing season watching these three beauties battle things out on the track.

The specialty tracks are looking gorgeous under the expert care of the Tropicana's house mage Hector. The tracks are magically maintained courses that exist just outside of normal place and are products of Hectors imagination. I once complimented Hector on his work and his response was " Magical creatures need magical tracks that only a dream could match. I just make it real for them."

All in all we here at the Twist are looking forward to the start of the racing season. We will see you Ladies and Gents there!

The Dynamite Darling and the Dare.

I spent a delightful afternoon with Elly owner of Pumpkin Fields, one of the newest stables of the RPRA. Elly is a delightful little spitfire who runs a charming little Atelier just outside of town. Just don't wear your good shoes to go visit.

Elly seems quite excited about the racing season saying this of her horse Peggy, "When I heard about the races that were starting up, I just had to get her involved, and when I saw I could get more, I just had to~! They weren't as pretty as Peggy, but they were close~! I feel like I should involve myself more in what goes on since I'm a celebrity~"

The sweetheart then went on to tell me about her plans to go to war with a snake woman named Lacerta. Apparently Miss Lacerta, a snake woman with unfashionable blue hair is jealous of dear Miss Elly.

Miss Elly would like to offer Miss Lacerta an alternative to war, a challenge. Elly challenges Miss Lacerta to open a stable and meet her on the racecourse. There we will see who really is the better woman.

I'm just thrilled with the way this is shaping up to be a fascinating race season. We will see you all at the track, and hopefully I will have more tidbits from our stable owners tomorrow.

Stacking the Odds

Rumor has it that Tropicana Sands Bookie Vinchenzio "Vinnie" Martinelli was seen about town passing out racing forms and trying to raise interest in the upcoming pre-season races. If anyone can bring the ladies in its Vinnie. He has a sweet boy next door charm that the girls seem to love.

The pre-season races went up yesterday, and the betting offices opened up. Some of the local gambling addicts were spotted getting their bets in early. Out on the track we saw a new last minute arrival, Lyndria Stables. Run by a pretty little vixen named Charna.

Its turning out to be harder than anticipated to get tidbits from the stable owners, but I did manage to snatch a few minutes with Lion's Pride owner Kinadria Falconne this morning. I have yet to see this woman looking less than classy. She told me a bit about her husband and children. Apparently her children love spending time at the stables. The two Freelance owners registered to race are Mrs Falconne's oldest son Tobias and his new wife Whisper. Apparently the Pegasi were given as wedding gifts. So sweet.

Look forward to seeing who turns out at the races tomorrow! We can only hope our fellow reporter Mr. Franco turns out too to give this event the "Who's Who" coverage it really deserves.

The Posts and the Post.

The deadline for race entries was pushed back this week because of reported overhauls in the Rhydin Postal Service. Management at the track wanted to make sure that all of the stable owners had time to get their entries filed in light of the delays. This means Poor Vinnie will be either rushed off his feet at the betting office with last minute bets, or have such a slow weekend he can take an unexpected vacation.

Some new faces spotted around the tracks, Pretty little Uriko Belarus owner of the new Sweet Innocence stable. For all her pretty sweetness we expect this little spitfire to be fierce competition this racing season. Its like watching popcorn on a skillet, you never know when its going to pop.

We noticed something today when we were at the news stand. Our fellow writer Marc Franco mentioned some of our darlings in his little scandal sheet. Marc, lovely come spend an afternoon with me at the races so I can introduce you to the who's who of our feathers and fur set. We can share a glass of wine and swap stories in age old reporter fashion.

Look for our special race writeup of last weekends Event, sometime in the next couple of days. I hope to see more of you at the races this coming weekend.

Practice makes perfect

Things are gearing up for the mid month event at Tropicana Sands, with the house running practice sprints for the beauties in the claims races. RUDE's Great leader Cor W. was out and about looking over the offerings and whispering his picks in the ear of the charming Mrs Isabel Bobivich, who despite being invisible always looks fabulous when she shows up at the track.

My personal favorite in the claims (a darling little number called Killing me Softly) seems to be shared by Miss Belarus, who spent part of the morning watching the warm ups.

Also seen at the track was Lion's Pride's Kinadria Falconne, and the lovely Charna Lyndria of Fox Trotter stables. The two were seen in the Fly by Night grill, chatting about weddings and children. Mrs Falconne's daughter Katyana is one of Miss Lyndria's jockeys. The two stable owners are very close, even sharing a stable master and buildings. Their stable master is a total character, a sweet ancient china man by the name of Ou Chi. He tells the most delightful stories about the pegasi.

Work continues in the massive tent outside the entrance to the Arena. Still no word on what it might be, but this morning just before dawn a half dozen massive crates were delivered.

Rumor has it that Mister Martingale is slipping of for a romantic tour with Miss Porcia, his long time love affair. We wish them a happy vacation, and wish Vinnie luck keeping things in line while Sal's away. According to Vinnie, "Things just go on like us'al Doll. Sal knows I'm good for it."

Good luck to everyone at tomorrows races! I can't wait to see what Miss Elly is wearing.

Delays and Debuts

Darlings we sincerely beg your forgiveness for our unpardonably late publication this week. When I was rushing our copy for the special event coverage to the printers I was run down by some lout smelling terribly of fish claiming an emergency in Dockside that he just HAD to get printed.

Anyway after the better part of the week having our fractured wrist tended to by our favorite dandy Vinnie Martinelli I've finally gotten around to re-writing the ruined copy.

Our past few editions we have been leading up to the big unveiling happening during the June Jamboree, and let me tell you darlings it was fabulous. The stable owners were invited to a luncheon provided by the master chef at the Bellerophon, where Sal Martingale unveiled Tropicana Sands new crowning glory, a lovely work titled Flirtation with a Zephyr. A fountain standing twice a man's height with beautifully carved pegasi dancing in the spray.
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And the best part? At noon each day, thanks to Hector the hedge mage, The dancing sculpted pegasi take flight for a ten minute aerial display. It has a grace and magesty only matched by watching the real thing on the tracks.

Speaking of the tracks, This week has been a busy one with both the weekly races, and the Events of the June Jamboree. The first event of the day was the Claims Races. Owners waited anxiously in the boxes to see which of these darlings they would get to take home with them. The week saw several stables growing in size by at least one or two beauties.

Next up were the races themselves, The standout moment of the week, Katyana Falconne, the RPRA's youngest registered jockey took her very first Win, on Speedy Tod in the Dandelion Down Handicap, for Fox Trotter Stables. Another impressive performance, two solid third place finishes by The Nimble Thimble, owned by Piper Tippet. Miss Tippet is justifiably proud of her horse, as Nimble has placed in at least one race every week she has been entered. The Nimble Thimble is fast becoming one to watch.

The hardest race of the Event day was the Wild Waves Torch, expect a more detailed writeup of the race in our Special Event Edition. For now a quick recap, After making slow but steady progress up through all four checkpoints, Oh Great Drunken Leader of RUDE Attitude, snuck in at the last second to edge out Pumpkin Fields Orange Rum for the win.

I know there is more to report but I am still recovering Darlings! Perhaps later in the day or early tomorrow I'll cover the weekend races for you!

Remiss, have we been missed?

Darlings I am so sorry about the delay. Things went from bad to worse with my wrist injury, and I ended up having minor corrective surgery. So I'll just have to catch you up on two weeks worth of races at once!

The stables had a gem of a week for the last races of the month, starting with the Innocent Ivory Invitational. Pegasi who had never placed in the races were invited to compete in a special maiden race for a token purse. Taking home top honors were Emerald Isles of Windsong Stables and Butter Cream of Pumpkin Fields. We hear owner Elly is mustering troops for her war on the evil Lacerta. We wish her the best of luck on that.

Other standouts for the week, Windsong Stables owned by Raye Howard made its strongest showing yet, bringing home four purses. Two of those purses were brought home by Emerald Isle who until that pint had never placed in a race. Owner Raye Howard (one of the only owners to fly her own pegasi) And her twin sister Faye Windsong also took home purses.

And our little darling The Nimble Thimble, one of my personal favorites must have needed a week off, not placing for the first time since her registration by owner Piper Tippet. But Nimble did not stay down long coming back in the special For All The Points races with a third place finish and securing a first place finish in the Blackbird Pie stakes. This gives The Nimble Thimble 16 points in the official standings and the honor of being this seasons first Grade 1 pegasi.

Congratulations Piper and The Nimble Thimble.

Another milestone worth mentioning in the July 7th races Sweet Innocence took home the largest total purses of any stable to date with a grand total of 1700 silver crowns.

And because we have been remiss, I want to welcome new stable owner Brian Ravenlock of Ravenlock Stables, and Myllyana Sliver Freelance owner of Kirin Prince. We wish them and everyone luck at the races.

Flying Free as a Bird

Last week was the week for freelance Pegasi. The Nimble Thimble continued her dominance at the arena coming in in the money for both her entered races. Our Pretty little Piper Tippet has got to be the luckiest woman alive, because not only Nimble brought home the bacon but newcomer Smut did as well. Boarding her darlings at Lions Pride does not seem to have done anything but improve the performance of the pair.

Another Freelance Highlight, Shadow's Smile Owned by Lucius DeAuster also more than made up the money, placing in both her races. Welcome to the RPRA Mr. DeAuster, and may I say what a Bravo start you have made. I hope we can count on many repeat performances.

Now last time we reported on a pretty little filly by the name of Gossip, whom we were trying to convince Salvatore Martingale to give to our Dear Marc Franco. Well Sal made good. Gossip has a new home with Mr. Franco, and we look forward to seeing the shocking pink blur who like her namesake moves like the wind in future races.

On a less entertaining note, be sure and check the Memos From Mister Martingale and Vinnie the Bookie on a regular basis for important information pertaining to the races.

We look forward to seeing many of your faces at the upcoming races, and don't forget the general stock sale opens today. You can purchase up to 4 pegasi a month through the auctions, stock sales, and claims.