PRICE: Negotiable

GENRE: Historical Drama

LOGLINE: Intrigue and betrayal surround a young immigrant as he attempts to rebuild an exclusive horseracing track in the early twentieth century. Inspired by the true story of Essex Park Race Track

SYNOPSIS: In 1903 amid recently rescinded gambling laws, a shady character named William McGuigan, a/k/a Umbrella Bill, so named for his habit of perpetually carrying an umbrella in public, emerges as the owner of a parcel of land being sought by investors to erect a new horse racing track in Hot Springs, Arkansas. McGuigan, a former jockey, banned for repeated race fixing, horse switching and other crimes, agrees to sell the appointed property with an interesting "saving clause”: If horse racing did not continue on the site for a continuous period of ten years, the property, with all improvements, would revert to his ownership, which sets the scene for treachery and betrayal. Meanwhile, a young Irish immigrant, Bobby Shannon, nephew of McGuigan, has just arrived with the promise from his uncle of training horses for McGuigan's racing stable. Bobby is immediately taken with the sport of racing and its colorful characters, the glamour of society and particularly one young lady, Elizabeth Costello, niece of McGuigan's moneyed competitor Louis Costello. After Costello successfully builds a new track in the city, dubbed "Oaklawn", and due to shady dealings on McGuigan's part, Essex fails and any hope of racing there is abandoned. In the ensuing years, Bobby, still holding out hope that he can somehow revive Essex and also gain the hand and heart of Elizabeth, manages to find investors willing to rebuild and reopen Essex. His dream finally becomes a reality in 1917 when the park stages its grand reopening. However, tragedy would again strike the seemingly cursed Essex, as after only one grand day of racing, the grandstand mysteriously burns to the ground. In the chaos of the fire, Elizabeth loses her life and Bobby's dream of Essex and the future he had planned with his beloved is forever extinguished. This fictional re- imagining is inspired by the true, but tragic story of the short-lived Essex Park Race Track.