Taking over from her famous racehorse trainer father was something young Emma Williams never anticipated, but when he suddenly falls ill, she has no option but to desperately work to keep the historic Yorkshire yard going.

As pressure from owner Lord Daventhorpe intensifies, her world begins to collapse around her and jockey boyfriend Robert James promptly dumps her, leaving her with nothing.

With her father Richard in a care home, barely able to communicate, Emma has to make some important decisions to keep the yard afloat. However, when it looks like all is lost, mysterious Irish jockey Tom Doyle walks into her life.

Together they start to rebuild the once thriving yard, placing all their hopes in the beautifully bred two-year-old Flashdance who was discarded at birth by Daventhorpe after being considered physically incapable of ever becoming a racehorse. When he discovers the pair's plan to race the colt it soon becomes clear that he will stop at nothing to protect the web of lies he has so painstakingly woven in a bid to cover up the truth.

In a race against time, Emma and Tom search to discover the answer to a mystery that could save her, rescue the yard and turn her life around forever.

REVIEW

This is an astonishingly accomplished debut, thrilling, charming, and above all redolent with the absolute heartbeat of the racing game. If Beth Smart never writes another sentence she should be remembered for the lines: "Whoever said that when you ride a horse you borrow freedom was absolutely right. There is no feeling like it in the universe. An engine could never replace the flesh and blood of the thoroughbred.

Brough Scott MBE - British horse racing journalist