Hold your horse? Rob the betting cash register while frightened spectators leave the stands in droves? Slip a drugged carrot to the favorite of a prestigious steeplechase? Yes, that's the world of horse racing. And the reasons for this are greed, pride and envy - the eternal vices of man. Dick Francis is true to himself: life, even on such a small piece of land as a racetrack at a hippodrome, is unpredictable, sometimes cruel and infinitely varied.