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Post by Lisa Stillman on Apr 19, 2011 18:18:39 GMT -5
Fairfield Stables was established by Matthew Stillman in 1951, which he ran until his death in 2001. It is owned and operated by his daughter, Lisa Stillman, and the name 'Fairfield' is renowned for its world-class Thoroughbreds.  |
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Post by Lisa Stillman on Apr 25, 2011 1:33:04 GMT -5
Lisa Stillman decided that naming a brand-new foal was probably a lot like naming a newborn baby; not that she'd ever personally had any experience with the latter.
It was 7:00 AM in the morning, and she was seated in her private office at Fairfield in front of her computer. Lisa liked getting an early start to the day, and she was presently logged on to the Jockey Club's interactive registration site, plugging in name possibilities for a soon-to-be born foal. She had a ready-made list of several possibilities, but every name she entered into the online Names Book was already in current use.
How totally frustrating, Lisa grumbled to herself. I feel like I go through this every year...
The Jockey Club's rules governing the naming of Thoroughbreds were quite stringent, and Lisa found herself crossing off every single name she tried.
Dad was always so good at this, she mused. He was good at every aspect of the business. He would definitely have had some good ideas for names; original ones, too.
Matthew Stillman had died following a short illness 50 years after establishing Fairfield.
"Hmm... Let's try 'Original Matt'," Lisa said aloud, half expecting to find that it, too, had been taken; she was pleased to see a No Direct Matches message instead.
"Oh, good," Lisa said with a small smile. We've got our 'boy' name. Now what would Dad do for a 'girl' name?
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Post by Lisa Stillman on Apr 26, 2011 22:00:08 GMT -5
Lisa sat back in her ergonomically designed chair. With a wry twist of her mouth, she had to admit she was fresh out of ideas for a filly.
"I guess I'm just not that creative," she said with a sigh, and swiveled absently for a few moments, racking her brain. Her eye happened to land on the pamphlet she had picked up at Maggie's Diner the previous day. Lisa picked it up again and re-read the contents. She was reminded of the jump-off challenge Alice Gordon had issued for Saturday against Cindy Norton.
"Gutsy move," Lisa muttered, but decided she liked Alice Gordon's attitude and her desire to make things better for horses, especially at Briar Ridge.
"Aha!" Lisa declared, and fired off a query into the Jockey Club names book. With a grin, she saw that her latest brainwave was not in current use:
Alice's Gambit was free for the taking.
She shut down the computer and left for the stables with a lingering smile on her face.
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Post by Lisa Stillman on Jul 13, 2011 2:58:36 GMT -5
Lisa returned from Briar Ridge with her head full of ideas.
Val's obviously upset about that challenge Alice Gordon has laid down, she thought. And I'm 100% sure she's entering that W.E.N. event... If she's entering a team, two can play at that game. All I need is to put together a killer team...
Lisa sat in her office, plotting how she would go about assembling this 'dream team'. She wasn't doing it for glory or recognition; Fairfield was already famous enough. But with her thoroughbreds and training methods she was sure even Alice Gordon would approve of, Lisa decided a Fairfield team stood just as good a chance as anything Val Stanton could put together.
The trick now was finding the right jockeys for the job.
I'll need a few good men or women, Lisa decided, and started to put together a wish-list of sorts, smiling to herself as she imagined the look she expected to see on Val's face when the other woman found out there would be stiff competition.
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