Dick Francis

10 lb Penalty     3 hours     abridged     Martin Jarvis  

At eighteen, easygoing Benedict Juliard has no stronger ambition than to ride as an amateur jockey in steeplechase races. His father, driven toward a life of public service and politics, asks his only son to enter into a pact that neither of then will commit any act that could destroy the father's growing reputation and burgeoning political career. Ben agrees lightheartedly, but as his father moves toward prime ministership Ben finds himself targeted in a vicious attack mounted by his father's enemies. The father is to be discredited and destroyed through the son, and Ben is plunged into a frightening morass of lies and treachery. In practice, a 10 lb. penalty is the maximum extra weight a winning thoroughbred is normally set to carry in a horse race.

For Kicks      3 hours     abridged     William Gaminara  

Australian horse breeder Daniel Roke has resisted the exorbitant sum of money offered by a suave Englishman to investigate a scandal involving drugged racehorses. But after another investigator dies mysteriously, Roke agrees to fill his shoes--and learns that men who would give drugs to horses would do much worse to human beings.  

Wild Horses      3 hours     abridged     Simon Jones

Directing a film about the mysterious suicide of a local Newmarket beauty, Thomas Lyons hears the dying confession of an aged friend. When he becomes the target of murder attempts, he uncovers the truth about his film project. 

Long Shot      3 hours     abridged     Kenneth Branagh  

His agent has always known that John Kendall, writer of travel guides to harsh terrains, is impulsive. But taking an assignment because he needs money hardly seems a rash act, as Kendall ventures to rural England to interview a successful racehorse trainer. But the perils described in his survival manuals pale next to the dangers in the English countryside. "Impulse will kill you one of these days," his agent had warned. Kendall should have listened, but he didn't--not by a longshot. . . .

Mrs. Angela Hart looks back and realizes the moment she fell in love with her jockey. It was just before the treachery, the accident and the very lucky break.