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High Stakes

dick francis

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Steven Scott is relatively new to horses. A successful, wealthy inventor, he takes up horse racing as a hobby--a hobby that soon brings him winner after winner under the inspired guidance of his trainer, Jody Leeds. Currently both their reputations are wrapped up in a beautiful black hurdler named Energise. But just when Steven is winning at both women and horses, he discovers deceit in his own stables. Termination of the troublemaker marks Steven for his own termination--and much sooner than he can imagine.

null pages, MP3 CD

First published January 1,1975
Literary awards
cwa silver dagger, 

This edition

Format
null pages, MP3 CD
Published
January 13, 2000 by Blackstone Audiobooks
ISBN
9780786192601
ASIN
0786192607
Language
English

More editions

About the author

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dick francis

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Dick Francis, CBE, FRSL (born Richard Stanley Francis) was a popular British horse racing crime writer and retired jockey.

Dick Francis worked on his books with his wife, Mary, before her death. Dick considered his wife to be his co-writer - as he is quoted in the book, "The Dick Francis Companion", released in 2003:
"Mary and I worked as a team. ... I have often said that I would have been happy to have both our names on the cover. Mary's family always called me Richard due to having another Dick in the family. I am Richard, Mary was Mary, and Dick Francis was the two of us together."

Praise for Dick Francis: 'As a jockey, Dick Francis was unbeatable when he got into his stride. The same is true of his crime writing' Daily Mirror '

Dick Francis's fiction has a secret ingredient - his inimitable knack of grabbing the reader's attention on page one and holding it tight until the very end' Sunday Telegraph '

Dick Francis was one of the most successful post-war National Hunt jockeys. The winner of over 350 races, he was champion jockey in 1953/1954 and rode for HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, most famously on Devon Loch in the 1956 Grand National.

On his retirement from the saddle, he published his autobiography, The Sport of Queens, before going on to write forty-three bestselling novels, a volume of short stories (Field of 13), and the biography of Lester Piggott.

During his lifetime Dick Francis received many awards, amongst them the prestigious Crime Writers' Association's Cartier Diamond Dagger for his outstanding contribution to the genre, and three 'best novel' Edgar Allan Poe awards from The Mystery Writers of America. In 1996 he was named by them as Grand Master for a lifetime's achievement. In 1998 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2000. Dick Francis died in February 2010, at the age of eighty-nine, but he remains one of the greatest thriller writers of all time.

Series:
* Sid Halley Mystery
* Kit Fielding Mystery

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 99 votes)
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99 reviews All reviews
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PhuocYuu
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Another enjoyable Dick Francis novel. The characters are always so interesting and enjoyable. This time the main character was a kid’s toy designer who became a race horse owner and was a victim of fraud and someone he trusted was stealing from him. How things got resolved was very creative and exciting.
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Aina-Chan
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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One of my favorites. Toy maker, newbie horse owner, great characters. Dick Francis is a master of inviting you in to the horse racing world that he knows so well. He excels on developing a feeling of menace without being gory. Always gives his protagonist good back up from friends. There are also believable villains.
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w12920
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This is an earlier Dick Francis book. It is a little slow out the gate, but the ending is pretty good.
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cabose12
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I am devouring these Francis books and this one is the best so far! Steven Scott is a rich and famous toy maker who has taken up owning horses in his spare time. Being a novice, he hires a trainer, Jody Leeds to show him the ropes. They have a fine working relationship for a few years with successful horses before Scott realizes that Leeds has been bilking him by padding the accounts with fake expenditures. As if that wasn't bad enough, he discovers that Leeds is in cahoots with a bookmaker and they have been running a gambling scheme to steal Scotts money by causing Scott's horses to lose when Scott bets them big and letting them win when the bet is smaller. Scott has had enough and fires Leeds after his horse, Energise, just won a big race. Leeds had encouraged Scott to bet him but he refused. But unbeknownst to Leeds, Scott did bet Energise, just not with Leeds's bookie. Scott demands that Leeds leave Energise at the track but he sneaks off and takes him and, when Scott sends his new trainer around to retrieve him, he discovers that the horse Leeds sent is a fake. He doesn't say anything for fear of a slander suit but sneaks off in the middle of the night to Leeds's stable and finds that Energise is still there but under an assumed name. The scheme Leeds is running is that he buys a lookalike horse and substitutes him in the races that he wants to lose. Now that he has Energise under an assumed name, he passes it off as his own, cheep horse and then sells it for big bucks when it wins a few races. Scott sets out to steal Energise back and trap Leeds. There is a whole elaborate scheme where Scott buys a look alike horse and sets up a road block on a day where his lookalike horse, the fake Energise and the real Energise will all be on the same road. While the drivers are distracted, Scott switches the horses and then sets up guards at his trainer's stable that night to catch Leeds. Leeds indeed shows up but instead of stealing Energise back, he has a disreputable vet with him who kills the horse. Except wait, it isn't Energise at all but the lookalike horse that Scott bought. Leeds is caught red-handed and Scott has Energise safe. Brilliant!
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mentosrush
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Short but a lot of fun. Dick Francis dreamed up two intricate plots in this book: one by the crooks and one by their victim to right the wrongs. Unlike some Francis novels, here you know who the bad guys are right away, and just how nasty they're likely to be. I enjoyed the read and the last act is "can't put it down" page turning.
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kempoecho
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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High Stakes is a classic Dick Francis story complete with a likable hero, his love-interest, and a corrupt villain set against the backdrop of the English racing world. I'd read this one years ago, but I couldn't remember specifics so decided on a re-read.

High Stakes is not a mystery. There's no murder and you'll know the bad guys from the start. It, however, is an engaging book that's a lot of fun.
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Nonua
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Can't stop, won't stop.

This one has its moments of fun for sure but the protagonist doesn't get to escape entirely unscathed. My bloodthirsty soul wanted his enemies stomped flat and himself triumphant, but Dick Francis is capable of more nuance than me. To tell the truth, Steven gravely toting up the costs of his revenge is one of the most powerful moments of the novel.
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