There are ninety-eight jockeys in the Racing Hall of Fame. Only one is a woman.

That’s ninety-seven men deemed outstanding, and one woman. At Santa Anita racetrack, there are four life-size busts of legendary jockeys, four men, and not one woman. Succeeding as a jockey is not a road that women set out to travel, but a mountain they choose to climb. The idea of a female jockey rising to the top of Thoroughbred horse racing is a dream worth dreaming and a mountain worth climbing. This is the story of one woman’s journey.

In that world of misogyny and testosterone, a woman’s got to be faster and smarter and extremely athletic. Jockey Syd Paul has been climbing the ladder for years, competing with the men. Just now she’s starting to get tapped for top horses in high-dollar races.

In her first race of the day, everything goes wrong in a second. She’s attacked and forced to fight while galloping at top speed on a thousand-pound horse. Her attacker: Top Jockey, Gerry Gervais. Syd thought they were friends. After rib bruising punches and a whip crack over her face, Syd is left with splintered goggles and a toe-hold atop her horse. Gerry falls to his death, leaving Syd standing in the winner’s circle wondering WTF? And it only gets worse from there.

Syd just wants to get to the Santa Anita Derby. A win there would earn her a golden ticket to The Kentucky Derby.

But things don’t go according to plan. She gets a phone call from an unknown man. He tells her to lose her next race. She can’t possibly do that, but how will it affect her safety and her career?