Equine insurance investigator Connie Holt has a string of good fortune at first. Friend and employer Cary McCutcheon has acquired a fabulous Thoroughbred, Darkling Lord, to run in the Virginia International Gold Cup steeplechase. Her friend, Arabian horse breeder Earlene Collins, finds what could be an original Henry Stull equine painting in the attic of her pre-Civil War home and assigns Connie the pleasant task of finding an art expert. And Connie reunites with a man never out of her mind. But she doesn’t know that someone has hired three desperate people to drug Cary’s horse—for reasons that go far beyond winning or losing a race.Thirteen days before the Gold Cup, Connie discovers the conspiracy. With almost no information to go on, she and Cary must start a relentless, time-starved investigation to learn the truth and save Darkling Lord.