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THE COLT RACING WITH HIS SHADE
The city hippodrome where the horse races were made was too crowded. The grandstand was jammed with people. The races would be held in which the big prize would be given to the one coming first that Sunday as it was given every Sunday. The biggest candidate was a horse called Black Bomb. He was the only and the unique dominant of the races which had been held in that city for nearly two years. He was always the hugest of the horses with his jet-black colour, big eyes and with his height like a giant. It was guessed that he wouldn’t have the championship snatched for a long time.
The other racehorses were Storm, Goblin, Paw, Surprise, Strong, Rabbit and Yekta. Yekta was attending a race like that for the first time and he was quite excited. He had been trained well at the racehorse - farm though, but his being young and inexperienced made him feel frightened. What if he wouldn’t be able to come first..? He even wouldn’t like to think that. He would fall into a condition like an ordinary racehorse and then this condition might continue like that forever. Becoming the first in the races; where thousands of racing tricks were made, and where was full of ruse and intrigue, was not only being fast and strong. For instance, in some of the races Rabbit used to make rabbitness. As soon as the race started, he would come front and speed up, and would tire the horses and would give up the race. At the last plain, Black Bomb would become the first with a rashness he made. The racehorse called Paw was Black Bomb’s other helper. While the race was going on, he would take care of the horses with high performance, would hit them, would come in front of them and lessen their speed and would make Black Bomb come first in the race.
The horses lined up regularly at the starting point. As soon as the pistol’s sound was heard, eight strong horses ran forward. Rabbit, whose start was very fast, moved front immediately. Despite all his attempts, Yekta stayed at the second line. “Damn it, I have missed Rabbit..! Essentially nobody had been able to overtake Rabbit until the last flat place. I have to overtake him before coming to the middle of the race. Let’s faster, faster, Yekta…”
While the 1500 start was being passed, Rabbit was nearly 3 heights in front of Yekta, who was at the second line. “Where is Bomb, it is needed to turn back and look. Rabbit can’t finish the race with this speed. Oh, Bomb had been just behind me! What the hell is going on, what tricks are they playing? He had been hiding until the last flat place. They certainly got uneasy about me.”
The middle of the race: As the 1000 start was being passed, the racehorse called Rabbit came out of the running track and gave up the race. Yekta overtook him very fast and came to the first position. But there were 1000 meters to the end of the race and Black Bomb was coming gradually close to Yekta.
Yekta and Black Bomb entered the last flatness (the last 500 meters) with the ends only just meeting. After a breathtaking struggle, Yekta’s killing departs made him win the race with 2 heights of distance. Yekta was happy now because he was able to come first in the race although it was difficult. Yekta raced with Black Bomb and his group for many other times. He became the first at each race he participated. That city had started to become too small for him then. He had to go out, had to make his name heard in broad environments and had to win bigger races. When he won the region championship he participated, he increased the frequency of his trainings to take place in the country championship, which was going to be held one month later.
A lot of racehorses on the race - horse farm, where he was training, told Yekta about the races they had taken place at different times. Yekta listened to them very carefully. He increased his experience and his knowledge. According to Yekta there was no end of knowledge and learning. Each new knowledge would teach something new. What important was to obtain “original knowledge” by adding your own ideas to the ones you learnt. It was possible to think correctly only by knowing yourself very well. This would provide “auto control” namely the talent of controlling yourself, which was necessary for personal virtue. Auto control talent’s being regular would force the limits of perfection.
Days passed after each other. Each passing day was adding power to Yekta’s power. He had started to run faster and cross the distances in a shorter time. There had been 7 days left for the big race. In the afternoon they had made Yekta get on the lorry, which was specially prepared. The lorry set off after a short while to go to the biggest city of the country. Just as they had passed half of the way, the lorry rolled over a ditch at the edge of the way with a big noise. Then there was a deep silence. Nothing had happened to Yekta by chance. He waited his door’s being opened. There was nobody passing by. He succeeded in breaking the lock after struggling for a long time. He jumped out with fear. He went to the road. A few lights were able to be seen far away. The place where the race would be held should be there somewhere. It was also possible without the lorry. He thought to himself “I can reach there even I am on my own”. He started to run. He ran and ran…
More than an hour passed. It started to get dark and Yekta started to get surprised. What was happening? Why wasn’t it sunny all the time? Was there anything more meaningless than darkness? He had the right to be surprised. He used to train during the day and go inside before getting dark. The lights used to be on during the day and night. He had never stayed in darkness until that time. Yekta shuddered immediately after running slowly for kilometres under the moonlight. There was an indistinct figure on his left side and it was trying to overtake him. He turned his head quickly. A horse!
Yekta thought to himself: “Who is this? Where has he suddenly come out from? It’s not my business who he is. What important is his being about to overtake me. I won’t surely let this..! Nobody has been able to make me swallow dust. Let’s see what’s he going to do after raising my speed?” Yekta’s effort to overtake his shade lasted all night long. At dawn, while darkness was leaving his place to daylight, Yekta’s shadow was wiped away. Yekta couldn’t see it at a moment when he turned his head left. He looked right, it wasn’t there again. He looked behind and looked far behind. He thought that his rival couldn’t keep in step with him and gave up the race. He lessened his speed gradually.
Yekta continued to run some more at a slow speed for about an hour. Now the first houses of the city, where the race would be held, had started to seem. Yekta asked a packhorse he came across on his way where the hippodrome of the racehorses was. He continued his way as it was explained. As he was crossing the main street swelled with pride and holding his head high, the cars had stopped and having seen this magnificent colt in the newspapers or magazines for many times before and about whom they had read the articles written, the people in the street were applauding crazily. Making use of the hippodrome’s open door, Yekta entered inside. He had come to the running track a few minutes later. The country championship, which was 6 days later, would be held there. Yekta, who was touring with slow steps on the running track, was thinking of becoming certainly the first in that race.
His owner, who heard that the lorry bringing Yekta turned upside down, had come to the place of incident. The driver and the stableman were taken to the hospital injured. Yekta’s owner started to look for Yekta in the morning and when he heard that he had gone to the hippodrome, he went there too. When Yekta’s owner entering the hippodrome saw Yekta running with slow steps on the running track, he shouted “Yekta… Yekta…” and ran to the running track. He ran quickly and reached Yekta and embraced him around his neck. Yekta realised the situation after a short while. His owner had looked for him in this strange city and had found him.
Yekta’s owner took him to one of his friend’s racehorse farm. Yekta, who was very tired, passed that day and the following day relaxing. Starting the running trainings later, Yekta became fitter than before. He was ready now and he saw himself the luckiest to become the first.
Yekta ran like a tornado in the race. He came front with the terrible attack he made just in the first meters. He was running crazily. Turkey’s best racehorses became desperate because of his speed. He became the first with a great difference and record degree. This championship had become by the help of his combining the theoretical and practical in the best way. As a result he had achieved the perfection and had got the reputation of “unovertakeable”.
The city hippodrome where the horse races were made was too crowded. The grandstand was jammed with people. The races would be held in which the big prize would be given to the one coming first that Sunday as it was given every Sunday. The biggest candidate was a horse called Black Bomb. He was the only and the unique dominant of the races which had been held in that city for nearly two years. He was always the hugest of the horses with his jet-black colour, big eyes and with his height like a giant. It was guessed that he wouldn’t have the championship snatched for a long time.
The other racehorses were Storm, Goblin, Paw, Surprise, Strong, Rabbit and Yekta. Yekta was attending a race like that for the first time and he was quite excited. He had been trained well at the racehorse - farm though, but his being young and inexperienced made him feel frightened. What if he wouldn’t be able to come first..? He even wouldn’t like to think that. He would fall into a condition like an ordinary racehorse and then this condition might continue like that forever. Becoming the first in the races; where thousands of racing tricks were made, and where was full of ruse and intrigue, was not only being fast and strong. For instance, in some of the races Rabbit used to make rabbitness. As soon as the race started, he would come front and speed up, and would tire the horses and would give up the race. At the last plain, Black Bomb would become the first with a rashness he made. The racehorse called Paw was Black Bomb’s other helper. While the race was going on, he would take care of the horses with high performance, would hit them, would come in front of them and lessen their speed and would make Black Bomb come first in the race.
The horses lined up regularly at the starting point. As soon as the pistol’s sound was heard, eight strong horses ran forward. Rabbit, whose start was very fast, moved front immediately. Despite all his attempts, Yekta stayed at the second line. “Damn it, I have missed Rabbit..! Essentially nobody had been able to overtake Rabbit until the last flat place. I have to overtake him before coming to the middle of the race. Let’s faster, faster, Yekta…”
While the 1500 start was being passed, Rabbit was nearly 3 heights in front of Yekta, who was at the second line. “Where is Bomb, it is needed to turn back and look. Rabbit can’t finish the race with this speed. Oh, Bomb had been just behind me! What the hell is going on, what tricks are they playing? He had been hiding until the last flat place. They certainly got uneasy about me.”
The middle of the race: As the 1000 start was being passed, the racehorse called Rabbit came out of the running track and gave up the race. Yekta overtook him very fast and came to the first position. But there were 1000 meters to the end of the race and Black Bomb was coming gradually close to Yekta.
Yekta and Black Bomb entered the last flatness (the last 500 meters) with the ends only just meeting. After a breathtaking struggle, Yekta’s killing departs made him win the race with 2 heights of distance. Yekta was happy now because he was able to come first in the race although it was difficult. Yekta raced with Black Bomb and his group for many other times. He became the first at each race he participated. That city had started to become too small for him then. He had to go out, had to make his name heard in broad environments and had to win bigger races. When he won the region championship he participated, he increased the frequency of his trainings to take place in the country championship, which was going to be held one month later.
A lot of racehorses on the race - horse farm, where he was training, told Yekta about the races they had taken place at different times. Yekta listened to them very carefully. He increased his experience and his knowledge. According to Yekta there was no end of knowledge and learning. Each new knowledge would teach something new. What important was to obtain “original knowledge” by adding your own ideas to the ones you learnt. It was possible to think correctly only by knowing yourself very well. This would provide “auto control” namely the talent of controlling yourself, which was necessary for personal virtue. Auto control talent’s being regular would force the limits of perfection.
Days passed after each other. Each passing day was adding power to Yekta’s power. He had started to run faster and cross the distances in a shorter time. There had been 7 days left for the big race. In the afternoon they had made Yekta get on the lorry, which was specially prepared. The lorry set off after a short while to go to the biggest city of the country. Just as they had passed half of the way, the lorry rolled over a ditch at the edge of the way with a big noise. Then there was a deep silence. Nothing had happened to Yekta by chance. He waited his door’s being opened. There was nobody passing by. He succeeded in breaking the lock after struggling for a long time. He jumped out with fear. He went to the road. A few lights were able to be seen far away. The place where the race would be held should be there somewhere. It was also possible without the lorry. He thought to himself “I can reach there even I am on my own”. He started to run. He ran and ran…
More than an hour passed. It started to get dark and Yekta started to get surprised. What was happening? Why wasn’t it sunny all the time? Was there anything more meaningless than darkness? He had the right to be surprised. He used to train during the day and go inside before getting dark. The lights used to be on during the day and night. He had never stayed in darkness until that time. Yekta shuddered immediately after running slowly for kilometres under the moonlight. There was an indistinct figure on his left side and it was trying to overtake him. He turned his head quickly. A horse!
Yekta thought to himself: “Who is this? Where has he suddenly come out from? It’s not my business who he is. What important is his being about to overtake me. I won’t surely let this..! Nobody has been able to make me swallow dust. Let’s see what’s he going to do after raising my speed?” Yekta’s effort to overtake his shade lasted all night long. At dawn, while darkness was leaving his place to daylight, Yekta’s shadow was wiped away. Yekta couldn’t see it at a moment when he turned his head left. He looked right, it wasn’t there again. He looked behind and looked far behind. He thought that his rival couldn’t keep in step with him and gave up the race. He lessened his speed gradually.
Yekta continued to run some more at a slow speed for about an hour. Now the first houses of the city, where the race would be held, had started to seem. Yekta asked a packhorse he came across on his way where the hippodrome of the racehorses was. He continued his way as it was explained. As he was crossing the main street swelled with pride and holding his head high, the cars had stopped and having seen this magnificent colt in the newspapers or magazines for many times before and about whom they had read the articles written, the people in the street were applauding crazily. Making use of the hippodrome’s open door, Yekta entered inside. He had come to the running track a few minutes later. The country championship, which was 6 days later, would be held there. Yekta, who was touring with slow steps on the running track, was thinking of becoming certainly the first in that race.
His owner, who heard that the lorry bringing Yekta turned upside down, had come to the place of incident. The driver and the stableman were taken to the hospital injured. Yekta’s owner started to look for Yekta in the morning and when he heard that he had gone to the hippodrome, he went there too. When Yekta’s owner entering the hippodrome saw Yekta running with slow steps on the running track, he shouted “Yekta… Yekta…” and ran to the running track. He ran quickly and reached Yekta and embraced him around his neck. Yekta realised the situation after a short while. His owner had looked for him in this strange city and had found him.
Yekta’s owner took him to one of his friend’s racehorse farm. Yekta, who was very tired, passed that day and the following day relaxing. Starting the running trainings later, Yekta became fitter than before. He was ready now and he saw himself the luckiest to become the first.
Yekta ran like a tornado in the race. He came front with the terrible attack he made just in the first meters. He was running crazily. Turkey’s best racehorses became desperate because of his speed. He became the first with a great difference and record degree. This championship had become by the help of his combining the theoretical and practical in the best way. As a result he had achieved the perfection and had got the reputation of “unovertakeable”.