Emily Wright

Serendipity

Jermaine is a fixture at the Old Hilltop. He isn’t anyone’s employee, but all the trainers respect his presence; it’s a rare morning when he isn’t at the clubhouse turn of the track at the crack of dawn, watching the early workouts with a stopwatch in hand. He jots down the racers’ times in a little black notebook, which he keeps in the inside pocket of his tattered overcoat. When he goes to make his bets, the bookies greet him by name. He keeps all conversations short and to the point. The employees at Pimlico Racecourse know better than to try and chat with Jermaine Montgomery, the bitter old man who only talks to the horses.