Fred Grove byl významný americký autor, známý především svými westernovými romány. Jeho díla často prozkoumávala hluboké etické otázky a složitost života na americkém Západě. Grove byl ceněn pro svůj realistický styl a schopnost zachytit ducha doby i lidské povahy.
Horse trader Dude McQuinn is on the move with his two sidekicks, Coyote Walking and Uncle Billy Lockhart. Dude is the good-looking front man, who talks as fast as his horses can fly. Coyote is the whip-smart jockey with Comanche breeding and a college education. And Uncle Billy is the horse doctor, the grizzled veteran of the quarter horse circuit who can fix anything — including a race.
Dude McQuinn is at it one more time. He's got himself one hell of a horse. A real flyer named Judge Blair. Better than that, he's got the smoothest snake-oil salesman in the country, Billy Lockhart, as his trainer; and he's got his old Comanche pal, Coyote Walking, as his jockey. Best of all, he's got a sucker. A feller willing to lay two to one that Judge Blair will finish second in a two-horse race.
After Victorio's death, the Southwest had simmered down. Without their chief, the Warm Springs Apaches abandoned the murderous campaign against the blancos and the Mexicans who had invaded their tribal lands, and serenity had returned to the arid territory. But bitter memories lingered . . .