James Lind, racing correspondent of the Sunday Clarion, just doesn't believe it when he is told that Dave Abbot, champion jockey for the last five years, is throwing his races. After all the reporter reasoned, there was absolutely no motive for his doing so.

But then Abbot falls, breaks his back, and reveals to Lind that he is being coerced into letting other horses win. A few hours later the champion is dead.

Seven days later his best friend, the only person who can identify Abbot's blackmailer is torn to pieces in a car crash. A car crash that was meant for Lind? Perhaps.

Lind is determined to investigate Abbot's tragic story... determined that is until he too is threatened with blackmail of the most insidious and revolting kind.