A SPORTING LIFE

Olivia Palmer had lived a comfortable international life with a series of husbands and lovers, the last of whom had died and left her $100,000. Wanting to race horses, she hires Frankie Collins, an expert trainer. They obtain Capitan, a magnificent horse of almost unlimited possibilities and he wins at New Orleans and Belmont. Back in New Orleans, he is ahead in the big handicap when a freak accident causes his fall and the shattering of his leg. Olivia and Frankie, heartbroken, their horse destroyed and along with it their dream of greatness at the track, drift back into their old lives. She becomes the mistress of a U.S. Government employee in Rome, and Frankie as a trainer of ordinary nags. All in all, a racy treatment of the racing scene, informed and with considerable pace.