Pulp Fiction, 1943 · page 65 of 100
12 Sports Aces, May 1943 — page 65: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis This is an interior story page from a pulp magazine featuring the opening of a short story titled "Homestretch Headache" by David X. Manners. The page includes a dramatic illustration of horses and riders galloping, followed by the beginning of prose narrative. The story concerns Jackie Reed, a jockey who feels anxious and unfamiliar with his surroundings as he prepares to ride a horse named Bad Boy in the fifth race, despite not having raced in eight months. The visible text establishes an atmosphere of unease and hints at some unstated trouble weighing on the protagonist's mind.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Homestretch Head ache Though Jackie Reed could conscientiously ride a gee-gee with the best By David X. Manners _ of them, this time he galloped to the barrier with a crime cloud over his head. ACKIE REED felt chilled and un- J easy as he walked down the path from the jockey house. His flam- ing silks and riding pants were weirdly unfamiliar to him. His cap felt strange on his head. When he got to the paddock where the nags were pacing the walking ring, waiting for the fifth-race bugle, he Was so scared it took him half a minute te pick eut Bad Boy, his own mount. “T kuow you ain’t raced im eight ——_ menths,” said skinny Mttle Hollister te Jackie, “but you get nothin’ to wersy about.” Hollister and a shiny, black Care- lina stableswipe were handling Bad Bey in the sing. “You feel all right, Jackie?” “Yeah, I feel fine,” Jackie said, and felt his heart hammering hollowly in hie ehest. He looked about for his boss, Tip Murray, owner of the Boy, hoping that Tip’s presence might steady Ifim. “Tip’s down at his broadcast,” the book (E©)