A Photo Finish

A Photo Finish picks up where the final chapters of Off to the Races left off, immediately after Violet Eaton wins the Denman Derby on the racehorse Double Diablo (DD). Her status as a rookie jockey compounds her shock and elation at winning. She credits her success to luck over skill and feels out of place as she approaches the winner’s circle, though the approval of Hank, the barn manager at Gold Rush Ranch, helps ready her.

Billie Black and Vaughn Harding, DD’s trainer and the owner of Gold Rush Ranch, respectively (as well as the protagonists and love interests in Off to the Races) congratulate and praise Violet. Violet introduces herself to handsome but cantankerous Cole Harding, Vaughn’s brother. He addresses her as “Pretty in Purple,” shocking Violet by alluding to their previous online romance (6).

Cole laments his decision to move to Gold Rush Ranch, comparing his “deep spark of revulsion” for the place to the instinct that helped him survive his military deployment to Iraq (8). He’s compelled to move to the ranch, however, due to a professional promise he made to the board of directors at the family’s other company, Gold Rush Resources: He promised to live in Ruby Creek until he turned a recently acquired business in the adjoining town profitable.