The three shady characters gathered in a mildewy old trailer are up to no good. Dix, Rosemary, and Johnny have been hired by someone unknown to drug Cary McCutcheon's horse before it runs the Virginia Gold Cup next October.

At the party celebrating Darkling Lord's departure to Fayence Farm for special training, there's good reason for Connie Holt's unease around Rosemary, who's filling in for Cary's regular secretary while she's on vacation. An equine insurance investigator who works for Cary and his wife, Pam, Connie has grown close to Dark during the thoroughbred's time at the...