Second Eastbrook Races

## Victor

* Sprankles (Pig Race)
* Tox (Horse Race)

The **Second Eastbrook Races** were a series of races held at Eastbrook Raceway on 4E:391.

The festivities were planned and hosted by HyperSilence.

It was the first event to be held at Eastbrook since the First Races on 4E:148. Due to the absence of the goddess Eris, the racetrack's facilities fell into disarray and had to first be repaired before they could be used.

Sharkberries was in charge of operating the starting gates when Hyper signaled the beginning of the races.

# Pig Race

The first scheduled event was a two-lap pig race. Participants were each provided a saddled pig by Hyper and carrots-on-a-stick could be purchased from a vendor at the pigpen across the road from Eastbrook.

There were four pigs in the field, ridden by Dolphin, Sprankles, Retro, and Tox.

Retro came out of the gate hard, taking an early lead with Dolphin not far behind. Tox made a quick move inside hoping to pass Dolphin, but he lacked the speed to do so and was passed by Sprankles to fall into last place. By the second corner, Retro had opened up a four pig lead.

On the last corner of lap one, both Dolphin and Sprankles made their move and surged past Retro. At the end of lap one, Sprankles led by two pigs, followed by Dolphin, Retro, and Tox as a distant fourth.

As the racers began their second lap, Retro coaxed some extra speed out of his pig and swung around Dolphin on the inside and by the second corner he was hot on the heels of leader Sprankles. Upon the far straightaway, Retro retook the lead. At this point, Tox had fallen behind the others by more than twenty pig lengths and appeared to be out of the chase.

Clearly, however, he had simply been conserving his pig's strength. With just half a lap to go and trailing the pack by another half, he raised his carrot-on-a-stick and rocketed forward with the fastest burst of the race. He briefly passed Dolphin and Sprankles and looked ready to challenge Retro for the victory, but he had miscalculated his timing.

As the group rounded the final corner of the race, Sprankles saw his opportunity. He, too, had apparently been conserving his pig's stamina for one last scramble. With just a few seconds left, he passed Retro and crossed the finish line to win, his second-straight victory in the Eastbrook pig races.

This was the exact same strategy Sprankles had employed in his victory at the First Races. Though Retro led for forty of the race's fifty-three seconds, Sprankles managed to sieze first place, a great reminder that you should never give up because victory could be waiting up ahead around the next corner.

Strangely enough, Tox recorded both the worst lap time and the best lap time of the race. Despite finishing third overall, during his second lap he set the all-time pig race lap record for Eastbrook Raceway with a time of 19.995.

### Standings

 2nd
 3rd
 4th

# Horse Race

The second scheduled event was a three-lap horse race. Participants were expected to provide their own horses and saddles.

There were five horses in the field, ridden by Dolphin, Sprankles, Retro, Jinx, and Tox.

After leaving the gates, Dolphin took an early lead on the straightaway with Tox and Sprankles neck-and-neck for second. Hugging the inside fence hard a horse length back was Retro and trailing the herd was Jinx.

At the first corner, Dolphin held a precarious lead over Tox and Sprankles. But by the second corner, Tox took the inside edge hard and gained ground. Dolphin took his chances outside while Sprankles sprinted forward in a close third.

   By the end of the first lap, Tox held a half-horse lead. Throughout the second lap, Dolphin continued to jockey for position, trying to slide inside. Sprankles followed a length behind, waiting for an opening as he did in the pig race.

To begin lap three, Tox had extended his lead over Dolphin to nearly a full horse length and they led third-place Sprankles by nearly four horses. Upon the opposite straightaway, Dolphin's upside-down horse split the difference and moved alongside Tox heading into the final corner.

Tox emerged ahead down the final stretch and won the race by half a horse with a time of 34.711 seconds. Dolphin finished a very close second at 34.77 seconds. Sprankles placed third, Retro fourth, and Jinx fifth.

Interestingly enough, Dolphin actually posted faster second and third lap times than Tox, but he couldn't make up the difference against Tox's faster first lap time.

Despite her embarassment in being lapped, Tox and Dolphin only passed Jinx on the victory lap, not the actual race itself. She received what Hyper called a "pity prize" for finishing last.

Due to some confusion with the relative strength of certain items, Hyper inadvertently awarded third-place finisher Sprankles better horse armor than the second-place prize winner, Dolphin.

### Standings

 2nd
 3rd
 4th
 5th

# Attendees

All those in attendance received a participation prize of x20 tokens.

# Gallery

Retro fantasizing about what it would be like to winTox and HyperSilence on the gatehouseRetro, NeonicDolphin, and HyperSilence in the stablesSprankles readies his horseRetro and Sprankles outside Katie's stablesClosest Retro will get to the victory podiumSprankles on top of the gatehouseThe grandstandRiders gather on the trackRetro practices pig archerySprankles in heatBoo with a carrot-on-a-stickSharkberries arrives, with HyperSilence in backgroundPig racers line upAudience in the grandstandHorse riders at the opening gateTox edges out NeonicDolphin in a photo finishJinx morose after last-place finishThat's some spooky shitSprankles, NeonicDolphin, and RetroRetroHyperSilence announces winnersRetro's horse kicks Sprankles in the headGabault in the corner being antisocialNeonicDolphin, Jinx, Paul, and SharkberriesNeonicDolphin prematurely begins fireworks celebrationSharkberriesAwaiting the resultsRetro, Gabault, Tox, and NeonicDolphinFireworks celebration underwayFireworks celebrationSprankles takes the victory podium and holds prizeNeonicDolphin ascends to the victory podiumJinx and PaulSprankles, Tox, and NeonicDolphin on the podiumGabault is just thrilled to be there :DBoo, Gabault, Retro, Hyper, and Sprankles