“Asking for an Effort” by Nicholas Busselman

Unlike his infamous and legendary older brothers, Mitch lacks initiative and purpose. A halfhearted, months-long job search on foot finally leads him to Pimlico, where an attractive girl on horseback ignites a flame deep inside him. Suddenly stubborn and determined, he seems bound to become a fixture or a failure at the race track, where the thoroughbreds stand ready to run.

Asking for an Effort is a work of character-driven literary fiction set in the late 1970s to early 1980s. The patiently and beautifully narrated novella gives the reader a detailed and authentic understanding of the horse racing culture, social norms and family synergies of that era.