Fiction

The Horse Track

Make your pick

Matthew Donnellon
The Inkwell
Published in
4 min readMay 6, 2024

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There are exactly two sights more beautiful than the final corner of a horse race where a dozen thoroughbreds come barreling by, and that is the silhouette of a woman in the moonlight and a nice stretch of country road twisting and turning as you leave town behind.

Perhaps, the sunset in the woods if it’s a summer day and the sunlight’s hitting the leaves just right turning everything into a golden kingdom.

But that’s it.

If you haven’t been down by the rack when the mighty animals come charging past bringing the sound of thunder with them as though God himself conjured up a small storm and sent rushing by I suggest you try it.

You see, I spend a little too much time at the horse track.

I spend way too much money at the horse track.

I couldn’t pick a winning horse to save my life. If I bet on the only horse in a one horse race it would get hit by lightning or the jockey would drop dead of a heart attack before the finish line.

I’m cursed with bad luck. I’m half sure my mama had me under a ladder while a clowder of black cats walked by.

But the track is fun and I don’t have much money to begin with so I can’t really lose that much. That’s how I justify…

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Matthew Donnellon
The Inkwell

Matthew Donnellon is a writer, artist, and sit down comedian. He is the author of The Curious Case of Emma Lee and Other Stories.