July is a horse girl. It’s what her mother always told her when nothing else seemed to fit. But July’s mom left her with the horses four years ago to chase a dream, and she hasn’t come back…until now.

Winner of the Thoroughbred Times Fiction Contest in 2010, Whirlaway is the short story prequel to Stay the Distance.

July Carter is the daughter of a racehorse trainer and a jockey, always surrounded by other people’s horses. Beck Delaney is an owner’s son, his name connected to a growing horse farm in need of a trainer. July’s dad fits the bill perfectly. Now summers for July will be spent at beautiful Blackbridge Farm, training Thoroughbreds for the races at Saratoga, a horse racing paradise.

With Beck.

What could possibly go wrong?

Eclipse Award night in a deleted scene from Derby Horse.