The Major Cast !

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James Atkinson, Head Trainer

James is the forty year old resident trainer at Shamrock. Easily recognized by his intentionally messy hairstyle and his height (he stands just under 6' 5"!), James could most easily be described as eccentric. He's Quebecois, and although he's usually surprisingly articulate in English despite a thick accent, when he's excited he tends to drop his articles, ramble, go off in strings of non-sequitur, and sometimes to lapse into his native French for long periods of time without realizing it.

He was the trainer for another small operation before coming to Shamrock, but was quickly disowned because to date he has never produced a major stakes winner. He's fiercely passionate about his job, however, often spending late nights at the stable... talking to horses. He seems to believe that this will help somehow, even if it's a little strange.

His strategies are a bid... odd... as well. He seems to believe that a huge part of having a successful racer is having the horse be in a good mood. That's not to say he lets fitness fall by the wayside, but he tends to fold easily if a horse is being aggressive, sad, or generally in a bad mood. He is, however, extremely flexible and willing to try new things every day of the week. Perhaps his best quality is that, on occasion, he can get a horse considered unraceable to pull off a good run. His worst quality is that, maybe as a result, he tends to think that every horse and capable of a win and if it was up to him, he would claim every sorry-looking loser there was. Luckily, he lacks the means to do so.

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Geoffry Wingo, Assistant Trainer

Twenty-two year old Wingo wishes that he was older and had more background in horses. He's highly intelligent, but in a totally different way than James. Much more strict and traditional than the head trainer, Wingo, despite his title, tends to be the one making most of the hard decisions for the horses and assuring that they get worked when they need it, even if they're having an "off day." Despite the fact that their ideologies clash, him and James are on friendly terms and if the horses weren't dividing them would probably be best friends.

Wingo's family has no background in horse racing, and he's still learning. He worked as a groom for a while and sought work as an assistant trainer the entire time, without luck. In fact, he probably only obtained his current position because of James's eccentricity. He's yet to show his true colors when it comes to training, but his personality tends towards bitterly sardonic and perhaps a bit hard-handed. Nonetheless, he's a genuinely good guy and tries his hardest one hundred percent of the time.

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Elisabeth Hampton, Stable Owner

Lisa's late husband, Frank, was the original owner of Shamrock. When he was diagnosed with stage three liver cancer, they sold off all their horses and him and his wife retreated into obscurity. He died a year later, leaving Lisa to mourn his loss and carry on her name. Now-forty-three years of age, Lisa has returned to the thing her husband loved the most: horses. Though a bit of an ignoramus when it comes to the complexities of horse racing, she's a shrewd businesswoman and seems to gain closure from her times around the horses.

James tends to walk all over her, and she usually lets him have his way... but when he gets too pushy and annoying, Lisa can show that she still has backbone to spare. Lisa is usually busy with her accounting job, and runs Shamrock only for the sake of her husband's memory and for her own pleasure. She's not often seen around the stable except on Sundays, her day to relax and enjoy life a little. She's a little aloof, doesn't make too many race appearances, and lets James and her son report to her about the goings-on around the stable.

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Calvin Hampton, Groom/Stable Hand

Lisa and Frank's only son, 18-year-old high school drop out Calvin does odd jobs around the stable and lives on the grounds to earn his keep from his mother. Honestly, he could care less about the horses, but Lisa was smart enough to request that Wingo tell her quickly if Calvin wasn't doing what he needed to. So, usually, Calvin pulls his weight.

He does, however, harbor a slight grudge against Wingo, and, by extension, James. He sees it as his official job to rat on James whenever he has half a reason to and raise a stink whenever possible. Lisa sees this as mostly crying wolf, but sometimes she does get involved and quite peeved with her oddball of a head trainer.