The Greatest Stakes are Always Paid with Blood

Schradder Falco is a girl living in poverty and despair after her mother is killed in a storm on the ocean. Left behind with her is a father, older brother and twin younger brothers. They are poor, barely surviving. Her father took all of them out of school because it was too expensive and he needed them to help make money. And faced with the realization that her father can't even look at her because she looks so much like her mother, he decides to leave for more opportunity elsewhere, planning to abandon his children to fend for themselves. Schradder decides the only way to keep her family together is to race in the deadly cross country horse race forbidden to women and mares alike. All she has is her small mustang mare, a gift from her parents when she was young. She enters the race and along the way befriends Ace Reid, a fellow rider and 4 time winner of the races, they encourage each other and against her better judgment and will, Schradder begins to fall for Ace even though she knows she can not follow through with her feelings for fear of loosing him in the race. She needs to have her mind right, focus on herself in order to win the race and save her family from the end of the rope they barely dangle from. Together Schradder and Ace face death and murder and natural disasters fighting their way through the races toward a better life, if only they can survive until the finish line.