The Dick Francis Thriller: The Racing Game - Season 1 (1979)

After being hurt in a fall during a race, champion steeplechase jockey Sid Halley decides to investigate a number of strange accidents of Seabury race course. Sid's former father-in-law thinks Howard Graves, an entrepreneur looking to buy the course and build a large shopping complex on the site, maybe trying to lessen its reputation so as to reduce any purchase price. Sid doesn't think he'd make much of a detective but decides to give it a go. Slowly, he pieces together Graves' plan and soon uncovers an inside man at the racecourse.

In the high-stakes sport of horse racing, the rich only want to get richer. As Sid learns to use his new prosthetic hand, he and Chico investigate why a winning horse keeps losing to long shots. They uncover race fixing, blackmail, and murder and realize that nothing is what it seems.

When a valuable horse dies in a suspicious road accident, Sid and Chico are hired to investigate a possible insurance scam. They unearth an international swindle, meet a beautiful woman who bets on a losing mare, and travel to Milan to discover the truth.