For a bloodline forged in the fires of war, the finish line has become a betrayal.
Their ancestors were heroes, carrying soldiers through the mud of the Great War and charging against fascists in the fields of France. They were symbols of resilience, surviving economic collapse and serving with honor. They died for a cause.
Now, their descendants-sleek, powerful, and bred for impossible speed-die for sport.
In Chase Page's devastating new novella, BETTING ON BROKEN BONES, the glorious legacy of a noble horse lineage is ground to dust under the cold machinery of the modern racing industry. Stripped of dignity, these magnificent animals have become mere numbers on a betting slip, their catastrophic injuries and meaningless deaths hidden behind the glamour of the winner's circle.
Opposing the morally bankrupt federation is the "Death Watch," a small band of whistleblowers and activists determined to expose the truth. But as they fight for the voiceless, the horses themselves tell their own story-a raw, poetic, and haunting chorus of fear, memory, and pain.
BETTING ON BROKEN BONES is a gut-wrenching look at the dark side of a beloved pastime, a story of exploitation, and a desperate battle for the soul of an animal that has given humanity everything, only to be repaid with cruelty.
Their names were once whispered with reverence. Now, they are whispered in sterile veterinary rooms.
From the battlefields of Europe to the dust-bowl farms of the Great Depression, the Ironheart bloodline was synonymous with courage. They were more than horses; they were partners, saviors, and heroes whose sacrifices were etched into history.
Today, that same blood runs on pristine tracks for the entertainment of gamblers. Their heroic legacy has been traded for a purse, their lives commodified, and their frequent, violent deaths are simply the cost of doing business.
BETTING ON BROKEN BONES, the powerful novella from Chase Page, charts this tragic degradation. It plunges readers into a world where tradition is a mask for cruelty and profit is the only god. As a shadowy racing federation reaps billions, a small group of outcasts known as the "Death Watch" risks everything to document the suffering.
Told with sharp, immersive realism and interspersed with the haunting first-person perspective of the horses themselves, this is a story that gives a voice to the silent victims of a brutal industry. It is a profound and unforgettable exploration of what happens when a noble creature's worth is measured only by the money it can win-or the insurance policy it pays out.
They were bred for glory. They are being broken for greed.
In the past, the Ironheart horses died as heroes on battlefields. Now, their descendants die on racetracks, their shattered legs a footnote in the day's betting results.
Chase Page's BETTING ON BROKEN BONES is a stark, unflinching look inside the American horse racing industry, where a legendary bloodline is exploited for profit. While a corrupt federation sanitizes the truth, a handful of activists-the "Death Watch"-fights to expose the carnage.
Told in part from the raw, haunting perspective of the horses, this is a story of systemic cruelty, lost honor, and the few who dare to stand against it. It will change the way you see the "Sport of Kings" forever.
