title: The Bounty of Illusionist: The inspirational story of a champion racehorse and her foals
author:  Renata Lumsden 
description: "From this heart wrenching story about a double-death crisis during a Standardbred birth emerges a fight-for-life sweepstakes at very long odds. Save the mare? Spare the foal? Split-second decisions and medical heroics make for a pulse-pounding race for hope and survival on the one-mile oval of life. You don't have to love horses to love this book...but you will."
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  ## **1 The Ambassador**
  
  The Titanide galloped from the fog like a fugitive from a demented carousel.
  Take a traditional centaur--half horse, half human--and paint it in Mondrian
  white lines and squares of red, blue, and yellow: that was the Titanide. She
  was a nightmare quilt from hooves to eyebrows, and she was running for her
  life.
  
  She thundered down the seawall road, arms held out behind her like the silver
  lady on a Rolls-Royce, steam snorting from her wide nostrils. Close behind her
  was the mob, riding tiny citipeds and brandishing fists and clubs. Above them
  a police Maria slid into position, bellowing orders that could not be heard
  over the hoot of its klaxons.
  
  Chris'fer Minor backed farther into the arched tunnel where he had hidden when
  he heard the sound of the riot horns. He pulled his jacket tight around his
  neck, wishing he had chosen another refuge. The Titanide was sure to head for
  t