"♪ The baby was born ♪" "♪ nettles and ferns ♪" "♪ the evening, it chokes ♪" "♪ the candle, it burns ♪" "♪ this disguise ♪" "♪ covers bitter lies ♪" "♪ repeating the joke ♪" "♪ the meaning, it dies ♪" "♪ it's easy ♪" "♪ don't let it go ♪" "♪ don't lose it ♪" "♪ the bankers have bailed ♪" "♪ the mighty retreat ♪" "♪ the pleasure, it fails ♪" "♪ at the end of the week ♪" "♪ you take it or leave ♪" "♪ or what you receive ♪" "♪ to what you receive ♪" "♪ is eternited leave ♪" "♪ it's easy ♪" "♪ don't let it go ♪" "♪ it's easy ♪" "♪ don't let it go ♪" "♪ it's easy ♪" "♪ don't let it go ♪" "♪ don't lose it ♪" "♪ don't lose it. ♪" "Have you had contacts since your release or engaged in activities that may violate the terms of your parole?" "No, I haven't." "Any change in residence or contact information?" "No." "How are you settling in?" "Okay." "Good, thanks." "You're gonna have to give me a urine sample." "I have difficulty if someone's looking." "What'd you do inside?" "People made adjustments." "Shy kidneys." "Thank you." "You just got invited to lunch." "Yeah, huh?" "As far as Escalante is concerned, we can make that another day." "We'll fit this in." "How'd it go in there?" "The guy seems decent." "Yeah, it's me." "Yeah, my friend said to say that's fine." "Yeah, okay." "Supposed to put me back on my heels flying in without notice." "2,000." "All right." "When does the old man decide who's riding him?" "What's it look like I'm doing?" "I mean riding him when he runs." "Well, if you'd put me in, he's about to run right now." "Race-riding, girl." "Riding him in the afternoon." "You limp-dick idiot." "Why don't you stick to loading and let the old man train his horse?" "He's supposed to be a good one." "Yeah?" "Get used to the view, darling." "Sit down bigger table, Jerry." "Maybe you sell your house." "My aunt died." "Condolence." "Sorry for your loss." "Well, we weren't that close." "How about time?" "Player calls time." "Usually I come in short money." "Stop by $3, $5 game." "Win some of Jerry's chips to play over here." "That's 'cause this is your century, Lester." "A minute to play, Lester, or you're dead." "I got next 88 years." "Come on." "Come on." "Come on." "Come on." "Good lord." "Heaven help us all." "15 seconds, Lester." "Make my flush on the river, Jerry." "Oh, yeah?" "Congratulations." "I show you after you fold." "Why don't you show me how you take a raspberry douche?" "I put Jerry all in." "Call." "Call." "Straight." "Player has a flush." "Wouldn't lie to you, Jerry." "Too much respect for your game." "Jerry on tilt." "Maybe go get more money from auntie's shoebox." "I could punch you in the nose, Ace, with all you've been through, coming out, looking so good." " No tea party." " No, it's a disgrace." "They draw the line nowhere." "The Greek having fun off that jackpot he won?" "Oh, life of Riley." "We're driving out after this to see the horse he bought." "As many stunts as our floor guys pulled so that his guy could be the guy that played that slot..." " All right." " You want to fix yourself a plate, Ace?" "Before we start, Ace, can I quickly interject a message from Mike?" "Mike sends his best." "And anything you want to do, he will support in any form or fashion you suggest." "Should we start?" "The U.S. economy is in the fucking toilet." "The New York bankers with their three-card monte bond swaps about brought the whole fucking walls down." "Tremendous structural damage, the tax base, unemployment, plus my impression, tremendous, tremendous compression of the leisure gaming dollar." "100% accurate." "Well, then why look to buy a racetrack with all the added arguments against?" "The churn is slow, the unexploited square footage, the stables, the racing surface, the grassy grounds and flowers." "Because in California, established and passed by the legislature, horse racing is legal and casino gaming isn't, leaving aside for a second the fucking rain dancers." "And like the whole state economy, the track is desperate for new streams of revenue." "The perfect fucking Trojan horse." "To bring in slots and table games." "I put up the money, your name's on the signs, your end's 10 points, plus you got a 12-month option, up to 39 more, my purchase price plus my costs." "Those are some fucking costs, a full-court press in Sacramento." "The last I understood, option means your choice, 12 months stands for a year." "Here comes the famous Bernstein temper." "What you get for your 10 points, if you decide to nix the option, you get for us being friends." "And for our name on the signs." "Because I'm a fucking felon." "Anything else you want to explain to me?" "No." "What part Mike wants, he can take a piece of your piece." "You tell him that he can work that out with you." "Chester Bernstein, ladies and gentlemen." "The Ace is back in place." "Are they moving the way you predicted?" "Yes, they're gonna move on that racetrack." "The hook is sunk." "If they swindle Mike with your idea for a casino, they'll swallow it all." "Nothing Mike likes better, taking someone else's idea." "I still don't know how you ever got involved with this guy." "25 years ago, a different person." "And the best head for business by a lot..." "Until he started making it big." " Really big." " And that's what happened with that condo." " With that what?" " The condo." "Co-op." "Co-op." "We got it in New York for business, entertainment." "When we split up, I kept the co-op, he took the plane." "And then the grandson at N.Y.U. starts using it." "And Mike starts using my co-op to stash his dough." "He could have stashed it anywhere." "Yeah, well, you try to see his perverse logic, you'll go blind." "And my grandson's doing what he's doing." "He's swinging from a chandelier with six broads." "And then someone upstairs, a neighbor or whatever, drops a dime and they bring the K9s, they find the stash and my grandson says it's not his." "He wasn't lying." "It was Mike's." "All's I remember from that time is this little boy that was running around with his shoes untied." "Six kilos of cocaine?" "You couldn't send him out to buy six pounds of dog food the shape he was in four years ago." "The feds had to know." "Of course they knew." "They want me to roll over on Mike and his offshore bullshit." "I roll over on Mike or the kid takes the fall." "after you take door number three where you claim the dope and you do the time, the question is, Ace, what if it was all turned around?" "And the answer is Mike would have given me up in a heartbeat." "So what?" "I never ratted on anybody in my whole fucking life." "And I wouldn't do it even with that cocksucker." "Don't know why you wouldn't let me kill that prick." "Stop it." "Stop it." "Hypothetic, I'm saying." "Hypothetic." "That's enough." "And it's hypothetically." "Busy-body, always got his head out his stall." "He gonna take everything in." "Okay, I'll let him clock the action." "Jog him wrong to the wire, standing him as long as he wants." " Well, how was it?" " Fast." "Did you see him charging ahead of the other two when we broke out?" "Yeah, yeah." "Broke great." " No hesitations." " Suave." "Suave." "Okay." "A gentleman going in, Mr. Walter." "He stood there perfect." "And when they sprung it, he left like a champ." "He wouldn't blow a match out now." "And I'm saying out loud, us two really get along." " Yeah." " Whatever you think that's worth." "Well, anyways, take him on home to the barn." " Okay?" "All right." " Yeah." "Begging like some chancer on the dole." "Who he was, chalky, the bay just piss on his company working out the gate?" "That would be getting up morning, El Presidente." "He's a three-year-old colt by Delphi." "Yet to start." "By Delphi?" "He got a right to be okay." "Boy, I must need a vacation." "I nearly understood everything you just said." "Puto." "You understand that?" "He's okay." "He's decent." " Worked faster last week." " Couldn't stay with that bay." "Did you want me to ask him and get him sour?" "What I wanted was to not waste a workout." "Get him back to the goddamn barn." "Ain't I glad I got up early to hear you bitch and moan?" "I guess you ain't been fooling with those" "Dale Carnegie courses they got out here." " How are you, Mr. Smith?" " I'm all right." "It's good to see another Kentucky face." "You got yourself a fast three-year-old, sir." "He's a promising type." "Heard you took a bad fall." " I'm up and at 'em now." " That's good." "Why don't you stop by the barn?" " You got it, boss." " We'll tell each other some lies, huh?" "Slickest trainer on the grounds enters his horse cheaper off a win this week, which is like hanging a "Please buy this nag" sign off the animal's neck, and you propose we claim him?" "Yes, for the reason he was key to our jackpot pick six success." "Hey, you got any aspirin?" "How about if we get sentimental, we all hold hands around a men's room toilet, flush the eight grand we blow on the claim, and at least that way save ourselves the sales tax?" "So you'd have reservations?" "Mmm, nothing gets by you." "Here's Jerry." " Hey, Jerry." " Hey." "Looking half dead." "Jeez, I feel like a million bucks." "I'm going for a smoke." "Order up." "So what was the hit?" "You assume I lost." "I want to know what size game you were in." "All right, 10, 20." "Not that big a step up." "No photos we didn't allow." "No ceremony presenting us our pick six money." "All our precautions to keep anonymous and suddenly you're Johnny Big-Time at the poker table?" "You know, it's not like we robbed a bank." "Just like this mope here." "Wants us claiming Escalante's horse, drawing ourselves attention on that front." "Yeah, I saw Escalante's dropping the horse down." "Not to mention that jug-ear Lonnie." "Likely bragging to those biddies that he's banging." "Take it easy." "Go fuck yourself." "Here's the deal, Renz." "You're obligated to absolutely nothing until we claim the horse." "You'd look at the horse in the paddock, right, Goose?" "I know this horse of Escalante's so well," "I know every pimple on him." "You know Marcus, right?" "Marcus?" "He's a hall of fame ball-buster." "Yes." "Now, he'll be one of the partners that I'd hope to eventually involve." " Plus Jerry." " Jerry?" "Of course, Jerry." "Brilliant handicapper and poker room whore." "Lonnie" " I don't think you'd know Lonnie." "You know, horse ownerships tend to be fluid." "That's why pencils have erasers on them." "Some combination of fractions depending-- four partners, 25" " Well, you got the money on your own, right?" " Yeah." "All right, let's see." "Ballpark..." "Sales tax... 8,800." "Can you handle that?" "Yes, which I will put up individually, making the horse a present." "That's a beautiful and noble gesture, my man." "Let's go to the track." "Come on." " What, now?" "Right now?" " Yeah, right now." "Okay, there we go." "Good job." "Good job." "I just gave your $8,000 horse his $20 shot of Lasix." "You think I'm losing him this afternoon?" "Someone gonna drop in a claim?" "I don't know why you put him up for claim in the first place." "I'm gonna run him with front wraps this time, scare away all these vultures." "Bandages." "Sure, old-school head fake." "Whoa, back." "The money coming out to see this one later on." "Ace Bernstein that they calling him coming with his beard to see what his two million bought him." "He's doing great, Turo." "First he's to the track this morning." "Showed up all eyes and ears." "Agua." "Ace Chester Bernstein gonna look to butt in my business?" "Okay, Renz, first we need to get your owner's license." "Come on, let's get your fingerprints now." "♪ And when the valley ♪" "♪ is hushed and white with snow ♪" "♪ I'll be here in sunshine... ♪" "Hey, looking like a million bucks." " Well, if that ain't right the nose." " Hey, guys." ""Wononey, head up ass."" "As good as flashing it across the snoopy blimp." " Who?" "What?" " You." "Putting yourself in that suit to prove to those cock-struck broads what probably you already hinted at 50 different ways." "It so happens you got things backwards, Marcus." "Those women I've been banging bought this brioni for me." "Oh, sure, they did." "For your personal injury scam." "So when you take that insurance slip and fall they're setting you up for, you'll blend in with the foot traffic." "You think you're a real scamster, huh?" "Meanwhile, they probably got you signed to some life insurance policy or something." " Okay, Marcus." " No, you bought that suit." "You did, putting on airs and drawing scrutiny on all of us." "Yeah, maybe you're confused with my mother, Marcus, that I'm required to take your abuse." "Well, then maybe you, your circus outfit, your good fortune you had so much to do with, could put yourself in another section." "Yeah?" "Maybe I'll go you one better." "Oh, well, perish that thought." "Be still, my poor heart." "I appreciate our good fortune we had, but ball-breaking over my wardrobe is not my idea of fun." "And my mental adroitness is dulled by this constant negativity." "What?" "And don't think they mightn't have bad intentions towards him either, those insurance broads, they find out he scored." "Mental fucking adroitness." " Lonnie." " Huh?" "He got up on the wrong side of the bed." "Yeah, well, tell me a day he didn't." "It's a new situation, Lon." "It's a process of adjusting for everybody." "Why shouldn't that include me?" "I mean, it feels like he's in a movie falling off a building backwards." "If I said, Lon, that we could continue our partnership under a new concept, what would you say then?" "Renz, I'm O.D.ing on concepts." "Thanks for the coffee." "With money comes responsibility if you think you can handle it or not." "With some of his money, Lonnie bought himself a suit." "Yeah, and I have a right to object off him drawing scrutiny on me." "How does him in a suit draw scrutiny on you?" "From being included in his spotlight." "Same as you running up your come-and-get-me flag at that poker joint." " That puts scrutiny on you?" " Yeah." "Well, you sit down at a bigger table, right?" "Because you didn't win your bigger bankroll there, they recognize you won it here where you and me are known associates." "You want me to sit in a different section?" "You're gonna end up broke and alone if you know it yet or not." " Does he ever actually wash his clothes?" " Hey!" " Or do you like 'em with you while they rot?" " What it is to you," " you pig-faced, paper-bag-looking cunt?" " Whoa!" "Whoa!" "Yeah, you mind your business or you'll find out what happens." "I'd better back off." "He may cough at me violently while struggling for breath." "Hey, we're talking, Kagle." "All right, let me leave you with a song." "Three points a week, three points a week, put your cash to work on the street, boys, and make yourselves three points a week." "That's 7,000 I just lost for the week." "I'm 650 grand ahead." "You just lost 7,000?" "You know, maybe broke and alone is what you're afraid of." "And maybe that's why you're carrying what you're carrying in that fucking laundry bag." "I have no idea what you're talking about." "My ass." "See ya, Renz." "When are you coming back?" "Probably not today." "Yeah, so I'm this moment's excuse you're going back there to get your teeth kicked in." "What's your fucking problem now?" "I'm claiming that horse, Marcus." "You're kidding, right?" "You're invited to buy him with me in partnership." " Answer yes or no." " No." "And where do you think you're positioned to do so with no license or trainer and never mind the mental wherewithal?" "You-- you might be surprised where people were positioned if you weren't busy wading through their feelings left and right, hurting them." "I was thinking of getting a bear claw, Joey." "No, no bear claw." "No, I don't need you overweight riding back today for Escalante." "I was thinking I could do some extra roadwork." "Looks like Ronnie had a good friendly back and forth with that old man." "Yeah?" "That's good." "Did Mr. Escalante say how that horse is doing?" "It's not our place to ask." "I'm just saying, dropping him in with cheaper off a win." "And I'm saying you and me, try-trying to handicap a trainer like Turo Escalante..." "Remember what I told you that was called?" "Heavy lifting with light equipment." "You're worried might the horse be unsound." "I guess I am a little." "Let me give you some advice." "Acts of God and so forth, bad luck like that spill you were in" "to worry yourself afterwards about those can affect your ongoing performance..." "You worry about everything, Joey." "...by putting yourself in even more of the way of getting hurt." "Which was a factor with Ronnie, and only now he's coming back from, I hope." "Yeah." "Whatever you do, don't spell nothing wrong or the claim will be null and voided." "For "Owner," I put my name until my friends get licensed." "And for "Trainer," I put you." "Yeah, right there." "Yeah." "He's got those bandages on." "I can't see his front legs." "What would that be a sign of?" "He didn't wear them in his last race." "Either he's got a problem or Escalante's pretending he has a problem so nobody'll claim him." "Why is he pretending if he doesn't want him claimed?" "So he looks broken down so the odds go up, but he keeps the horse." "Let's go." "That's Escalante, huh?" "He puts his pants on one leg at a time, believe me." "Gentlemen." "Happy afternoon." "Turo Escalante, Chester Bernstein." "Good to know you, Mr. Bernstein." "Mucho gusto, we say in my country." "Don't interrupt yourself." "Stick to your routine." "I know he bring you to show you his champion in my barn." "First, I have to run this $8,000 bum." "He looks like new money, Renz." "And I wouldn't say that just to get you to claim him." "And now comes the jockey gonna ride him." "We calling him a bug for just starting out, you know." " Tell him your name." " Leon Micheaux." " How are you gentlemen today?" " Yeah, good." "You?" " Nice to meet you." " Come here." "Good luck." "Safe trip." "Hey, Ace, what is a claiming race?" "They set a price where you can buy any horse in the race." "When do you put up your dough?" "Before the race you got to put your claim in." "And then after he runs, you can pull your offer?" "No, you own him no matter what." "Unless there's more than one claim." " But you knew that." " I knew that." "Should I warm him up real good, Mr. Escalante?" "Why you ask a question like that?" "No reason." "You should be as sound as this fucking horse." "Riders up!" "Seems like a nice kid." "No brain, but he can ride." "If you wanted to make a bet," "I wouldn't tell you don't go ahead." "Oh, yeah?" "So you'd be pretty confident with his chances?" "If the bug don't fall off, they win longer than you can throw a rock." "Comprende?" "You understand?" "Si." "Yes." "Gentlemen." "Stamp it." "Hello." "Yeah, back at ya." "Who-'ya-on?" "Uh, the four." "Yeah." "Jesus Christ." "That lowball numbnut you're gonna use to train?" "Right this way, gentlemen." "Okay, kid." "Okay." "Thanks." "There isn't 300 people here today." "Ace, this is the biggest bet I ever made by $195." "Do you believe it?" "We're good." "You ready, kid?" "Yeah." "Yeah." "Keep going." "Easy now." " Yeah, we're good." " All right." "Okay, we got it, guys." "All right." "Hey!" "Hey, whoa!" "What's up?" "That's our horse, right, Goose?" "Hey!" "Hey, no!" "Stop!" "What the fuck?" "He should be pissing on these cucarachas." "This pinhead gonna make it an adventure." "No, papi." "No." "No." "No, papi." "Come on now, you conyo." "Now we show 'em who they in with." "Come on now." "Look at him go, Goose." "Look at him go." "Look at this, Ace." "Come on, horse." "Come on." "Come on." "Come on now." "Come on with that horse." "Ace, look at this." "This horse is gonna win." "Look at this." " Look at this beast." " Yeah!" " Yeah!" " Yes!" "Yes, yes, yes." "The horse won." " Ace, I had $200 on this race." " Good for you." "Don't ever knock this fucking country to me." "Easy money, eh, Escalante?" "He run good, yeah." "Hey, you won." "Leon." "Perfect." "Can't we be in the photo, Goose?" "First let's see if there's a shake." "What's a shake?" "Just come on." "Come on with me." "Aw, gee, Mr. Escalante." "He got claimed?" "Better hope I don't find out you ran your mouth." "I didn't say nothing to no one." "You know, for a guy who just won, he don't look none too happy." "There's another claim in for him, Renz." "Oh." "Oh, my gosh." "It's us and Mulligan." "We have a 50-50 chance of getting him." "My stomach's all butterflies." "Number one is Goose Kellogg." "Two is Chris Mulligan." "Two" " Mulligan." "We got outshook, Renz." "Mulligan gets him, not us." "I'm losing my horse to some fucking cowboy with different-sized haircuts." "Well, congratulations that at least you won." "Don't worry." "When I find who spilled out the beans," "I make the fucker a little sorry." "Yeah, good." "Sorry I worry just a little second with a problem of my own." "When can he see his horse?" "Right away, senor." "I take you both right now." "The knees are 100%." "You might find a case to tell him." " Okay." " And I'm refreshed." "And I'm enthusiastic." "Jesus Christ, Joey." "It's like you're walking me to school." "Yeah, yeah, right." "Okay." "Okay." "You go on ahead alone, okay?" " We'll have no problem making our weight." " Shut the fuck up." "I was gonna give him to my friends." "I don't know what's gonna happen now." "I know a guy who's got a two-year-old for sale." "Says he can really run." "He's good-looking, ain't he?" "Of course it ain't a beauty contest." " Lucky for the two of us." " Yeah." "And just about the picture of his daddy." "Delphi the father stamps his gait, definitely." "Did I ever tell you a strange story about you and this horse?" "Well, the second half-mile at Keeneland, which was the morning of the afternoon you were in the middle of that hell over at Pimlico..." "Some A-1 blue-blood assholes gave me a leg up on that hell." "Well, your filly had beaten them in the derby." "So they made sure the next one was gonna be hardball." "Then you were on the radio." "You laid into them getting interviewed." "And then when you talked about the Kentucky quality..." "You had me laughing in the stall." "Being blue blood don't make the triple crown your own private playpen." "That's when I first said to him that he could be something special." "Delphi's son." "Kentucky quality killed his daddy." "When the colonel died, they took over the farm and they spent all the money." "There was nothing left." "They took out an insurance policy on Delphi for $30 million." "Then they killed him." "They broke his legs." "They said it was his fault." "You know what breaking legs sounds like?" "Branches snapping." "I always wondered if maybe I could have done something." "Heard something." "Well, you got a chance with Delphi's son now, sir." "If I had known what..." "I'm sorry." "What did you say?" "You got a chance with this one, sir." "Yeah, you're right." "You're right." "I'll take it." "Let's go." "Thanks for coming on the site with me." "I appreciate it." "It's not often you get to go on the site, is it?" "I call." "Jerry love to gamble." "Love to draw." "A pair of queens." " Three 10s." " Son of a bitch." "Deal." "Jerry got money to win back." "You're taking him forever." "Keep it up, bug-eater." "I'll slap the slant off your fucking face." "Floor!" "I only wish I could give specifics, how my circumstances came to improve." "Well, obviously your situation has changed." "And you don't need our help any longer with what we were trying to arrange." "I regret the slip and fall insurance scam." "It didn't work out." "What I hope we can agree on-- we'll be eligible every so often to occasionally still have some laughs." "Sure, why not?" "That makes me happy." "I'm relieved." "What about now?" " As far as?" " A few laughs." "He doesn't want to." "He's letting us down easy." "He's never gonna see us again." "No, no, that happens to be bullshit and not to represent my feelings." "The arrangements you made, the forms," "I'm sick you went through all that paperwork." "And I thought you liked your cock between our titties." "Well, mmm." "Hello to the emperor." "Are you trying to wake up the sleeping giant?" "What are you trying to do, embarrassing yourself in front of him for?" "What's that?" "I hear a voice from inside my pants." ""What about me?" The emperor is saying." "I'm white and 21." "When did I lose my right to vote?" "Huh?" "Ladies, to laughs." "Cheers." "I got to say, he looks a lot better than he did from last week." "Well, you know, a lot of time people feel something they don't know about like from actually knowing, but they still go ahead and run their fucking mouth anyway." " Hey!" " Jesus Christ." "Keeping a civil tongue too tough?" "I ain't going to beg to keep him, if that's what you expect me to do." "His cold did get better." "And his feet got better." "We're giving him better shoes." "He's got a hell of a stride on him when he runs." "He showed me some of the tapes of his races." "Very smooth action." "He move very good on the track." "Two years ago, I got to start paying all his bills myself." "The owner skipped?" "My horse's both front legs went bad." "Bowed they called it, you know?" "And how they was bowed, you're supposed to give him away for nothing to someone you don't like." "And you lost him." "Looks you took a beat on a game you ran." "Ace, there's that goat." "You know, the one with the nuts the size of pumpkins." " Good." " This horse likes that goat." "Pushing him around with his nose." "He say that when this horse go to the track, the goat comes to the horse's stall and waits for the horse to come back." "He calling him Vicente because he have the same fold-over legs like the exercise boy Vicente have." " And what do you call him?" " Me?" "Goat." "What do they charge you for those carrots?" "I mean now, not when you started 30 years ago." "Maybe $15 a bag." "What do you care how much my carrots cost?" "You know I was in prison?" "That's what people say." "Maybe what else they're gonna say, this is some kind of mobbed-up project." "What do I know?" "I'm from Peru." "Can I pet him?" "Why couldn't you?" "Got a very plain head on him." " Oh, fuck." " You can do it." "Come on." " Come on, baby." " Come on, do it." "Christ almighty, this is humiliating." "Fucking disgraceful." "Why don't you help him, Lynette?" "Here, let me diddle your asshole a bit." " It never did it for me." " Don't give up." "Let a veteran mouth go to work." "And if you're not careful," "I might just take out my bridge." "Ow!" " The fuck you hit me for?" " Sorry." "Suck my titty." "Suck my titty." "Suck my titty." "What we insured, you moron, was your life." "Fuck, man." "Are you trying to kill me?" " Ah!" " Damn it!" "Adele, help." "Help." "You think you can double-cross people or lie on your word and your promises like our Muslim president from Kenya?" " You fractured my skull." " You fucking lying fag scumbag!" "Lynette, duck down!" "Aw, man." "Stop him!" " Man!" "Help me, man!" " Get him." "Get him now." " Hey, man, help me." " What's up, bro?" "They're fucking crazy, man." " Shit." " I got money." "I got money." "I can't fucking believe it." " Do you know the Oasis Motel?" " Go on, hon." " 25,000." " 25,000." "Sails up, ship's leaving." "This is a house ruling for this hand only." "Do not try this at home." "By agreement of both players, cash not on the table at the beginning of the hand has now been put into action." "All right, guys." "Turn them over." " Oh!" " Ace, queen." "Two pair." "Kings." "Give him his chips." "One-time ruling." "Normal house rules resume." "Floor, cash me out." "Yes, sir, Mr. B." "Make it back to Mr. B." "Come back tomorrow, I wipe the white off your face." " For you." " Thank you, Jerry." "Yeah!" "The boss out among 'em." " Rosie." " Did he eat up?" "Oh, yeah." "Didn't leave an oat." "Listen, I'm red in the face putting you on the spot about riding him." "Oh, no, Rosie." "That was my fault." "I just left you out there by not speaking up." "I wasn't sure." "There's my answer." "There's your answer with me saying to you you've done a lovely job to get him here." "I don't think anybody could have done it any better." "And I'm gonna be surprised if you don't turn out to be one race-riding son of a gun when you're working afternoons." "At Portland Meadows or the like." "Well, it's gonna be an easier place to start, you know." "I think I'll have a beer." "Can I spot you three at nine-ball?" "A while back, that'd be an offer you'd regret." "Have one for me, huh?" "I will, Rosie." "Lorelei, a bud for me." " Thank you." " Change." " Keep it." "Thanks." " Thanks." "How are you, sir?" "Joe Rathburn." "I got Ronnie Jenkins' book." "Oh." " Sit down." " Thank you." "You wouldn't know any jocks' agents up at Portland Meadows, would you?" "Tommy Swanson, sure." "Tommy, oh." "Well, the girl who's been getting on my colt, she's looking to try it up there." "Well, I've known Tommy for years." "She's won some in Ireland." "She's real smooth." "She's got nice, quiet hands." " You have her call me, okay?" " All right." "I'll put the two of them in touch." "Rosie." " Rosie." " Yeah." " It's an easy one." " Not once you get to know her." "You figure Jenkins will have rode a few by Saturday week?" "Yes, absolutely." "Okay." "Here you go." "Race number four." "Six furlongs." "Yes, sir." "I see." "My bay the girl breezed this morning..." "I was wondering if your guy Jenkins would like to ride him." "Yes, sir." "We sure as hell would, sir." "Yes, sir." "Yeah?" " Yeah, how you doing?" " Good." " We didn't get the horse." " Yeah, I saw." " First-rate pick, your trainer." " Goose?" "Yeah?" "You saw?" "Did he make it to the hall of fame yet?" "I forget." "Yeah, who is it?" "There's someone at the door." "All right, yeah." "Good night." "Can you hang on a sec?" "I'll be back." "If we could talk..." "Jesus Christ, Lonnie!" " Ow!" " I'm sorry." "I'm sorry." "Oh, God, I probably shouldn't be moved." " I think I got multiple fractures." " Marcus!" " What?" " How can I help you if I don't move you?" "I don't-- I don't know." "Jeez, you've got to get him inside, for God's sake." "He's right." "I got to lift you up gently, okay?" " All right, all right." " Okay?" "All right." "Oh, my God." "All right, sorry." "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry." " It's okay, you're fine." " Okay, okay." "I got him." "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry." "Okay, come on." "Get in there." "You gonna leave him on a cot outside?" "Come on." "I drive around to the track's back entrance just for a chance to wind him up, knock a nickel off his price of his carrots." "He'd scream bloody murder-- Escalante." "There's a picture for you-- Escalante behind a pushcart full of fruits and vegetables." "Him wanting to be on the inside training horses." "All's I think he knew was he was in a strange fucking country." "He hated selling vegetables." "And don't know to this day that it was you who got him through the gate." "It's him who took the bit between his teeth." "He's who made himself into something." "All I did was tell some trainer whose bets I book," ""Hey, there's a guy outside you should hire."" "Bring him in here into the stable to shovel horse shit." ""Give him a start."" "That's how I know what's waiting for Mike." "You don't leave no open contracts." "We need a go-between." "Between DiRossi, Cohen, Mike, and us?" " Yeah." " What about me?" "You get hot under the collar." " Well, yes, granted, but" " I take mine cold." "Okay, we get someone we trust or someone we don't?" "Somebody about whom that don't make a difference." "All that trouble getting them to fix that slot so they'd think I'd owe them." "Set a meeting tomorrow with my investment company." "I'll pick a go-between so we can do what we need to do to get these guys." "Please tell me I didn't let you down." "Huh-uh." "I wouldn't bullshit you." "Then let's go get these cocksuckers."