Turfmen and the Prodigal - John M Cunningham - Bog

In the early 1850s Gideon Deshler, distraught over his wife's and baby son's deaths, falls in love with a turfman's evil daughter, Elvira Sturgis. Blaming her former fiance for deserting her at the altar, she feigns a mutual love, but he's a pawn in her plans to exploit and destroy him, the first victim in her vengeance crusade against all men because of what her fiance did to her. Joe Quarles, a bitter rival of Gideon's friend Owen Washburn, accuses Owen's late father of killing his horse farm's champion, Green Legs. To regain the farm's status and keep a promise to his dying father, Joe's hope lies in an ornery Thoroughbred named Johnny Boy and a big match race against Owen's champion. If Johnny Boy loses, Joe risks falling into depression and killing himself. Only Gideon can discover Green Legs's real killer and save Joe from suicide, but Elvira's tricks and his sufferings may prevent this, especially if she destroys his life and his soul.