A Horse's Head

Andrew Mullaney has the money to get to Aqueduct Racetrack, but nothing to bet once he gets there. It's a tragedy, because today he's got a sure thing: a filly named Jawbone who's guaranteed to win. Desperate, Andrew asks every hood he knows to spot him fifty bucks, tapping chess hustlers, pool sharks, and hoodlums of every stripe, until, finally, he asks the wrong man—who responds by tossing Andrew out the door and down a flight of stairs. For this degenerate gambler, life is hard . .…