The horse had put on a few pounds since the Queen Anne Stakes, and Jackson wanted to monitor his diet. He suspected that the grooms and exercise riders at Woodbine had been spoiling the celebrated steed. At the farm he put him in the front stall in the main barn. There were a couple of mares in season in the other barn, and Jackson was afraid that the stallion would hurt himself trying to get at them if he was left out in the paddock. Sonny showed up midmorning, having been gone all night. Jackson wanted to talk to him about shipping the horse, but Sonny got out of his car and limped straight into the house. Jackson didn’t see him again for the rest of the day. Dean and Paulie arrived at noon. Jackson was in the tack room, heating soup on an electric grill. He looked at the pair when they walked in. Paulie wore jeans and a sweatshirt, work boots on his feet, that goofy hat. Dean was decked out in dark dress pants with a crease and a silky-looking shirt, black pointed-toe shoes. Jackson went back to stirring his soup.
