Walt Disney's Giant Comics #658
In "The Heedless Horseman," Carl Barks delivers a delightfully clever tale where Scrooge McDuck enters the Crystal Orb Derby with high hopes, only to discover that the champion horse Fireball—and every competitor in the race—are secretly advanced robots. With the Beagle Boys plotting to strike while the town’s attention is on the race, Scrooge’s quest for victory becomes a wild ride of surprises. The story, written and illustrated by Carl Barks, features his signature blend of wit, invention, and charm, with the cover by Barks capturing the race’s high-stakes energy.
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Scrooge, determined to win the Crystal Orb Derby and become "king" of Duckburg for the coming year, buys Fireball, the horse that has won the two previous years, not knowing that Fireball is actually an incredibly complex robot designed to win Derbies, and the other horses in the race are robots, too. Meanwhile, the Beagle Boys plan to loot Scrooge's Money Bin while everyone is at the Derby.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).