This episode sees Frank in the United States, where he has been employed to transport Daksha, a champion race horse, from its stables in Kentucky to the race course in New York where it is to take part in the prestigious Belmont Stakes. It won't be an easy journey though; somebody is determined that Daksha won't be competing. In order to confuse the opposition Frank and Alice, the Jockey, head off in a vehicle pulling a horsebox while Jules drives a removal van that actually contains Daksha. Inevitably they have a few run-ins with the thug trying to harm the horse while Daksha's owner, Rae Henson, is trying to find out who is behind it all; she is convinced that it is the owner of a rival horse that is second favourite in the race. To further complicate matters it becomes apparent that Daksha isn't in perfect health and Alice fears that while Daksha could still win the race it is possible that the exertion could be fatal.
I've been enjoying this series but as other reviews have pointed out there are just too many silly things in this episode you don't need to be an expert in horses to know that setting off a loud alarm when horses have got loose in a barn is just a way to make matters worse. This was in an early scene and things don't get more believable later. The whole episode reminded me of series from the seventies and eighties where the protagonists would help a different person each week and the action wasn't particularly intense. The early twist, where we learn that the horse was in the removal van rather than not the horsebox was so obvious, even without Alice's comment about the horse being quiet this meant the scene where the bad guy tried to run them off the road wasn't very tense. On the plus side if you can ignore these faults there are some moments along the way and it was good to see Linda Thorson appear as Rae almost fifty years after she found fame in the final season of 'The Avengers'. Overall a rather disappointing instalment; not terrible but not up to the standard of most of the series.
I've been enjoying this series but as other reviews have pointed out there are just too many silly things in this episode you don't need to be an expert in horses to know that setting off a loud alarm when horses have got loose in a barn is just a way to make matters worse. This was in an early scene and things don't get more believable later. The whole episode reminded me of series from the seventies and eighties where the protagonists would help a different person each week and the action wasn't particularly intense. The early twist, where we learn that the horse was in the removal van rather than not the horsebox was so obvious, even without Alice's comment about the horse being quiet this meant the scene where the bad guy tried to run them off the road wasn't very tense. On the plus side if you can ignore these faults there are some moments along the way and it was good to see Linda Thorson appear as Rae almost fifty years after she found fame in the final season of 'The Avengers'. Overall a rather disappointing instalment; not terrible but not up to the standard of most of the series.