Most like he's riding in this race to show off his jacket, not because he has any hope of winning.

That hoss ain't any type of range--" "Perhaps you think it's a thoroughbred ?" asked Marianne.
Corson sighed, feeling that he was cornered.
"Raised on the range, all right," he admitted.

"But you'll find freak hosses anywhere.

And that chestnut is just a plug." "And yet," ventured Marianne, "it seems to me that the horse has some points." This remark drew a glance of scorn from the whole Corson family.

What would they think, she wondered, if they knew that her hopes centered on this very stallion?
Silence had spread over the field.