As the show starts Bill Sutton, the horse jockey, is discovered murdered by the California Bureau of Investigations team. As the team investigates they find a ring lying next to Sutton with a note that says "forgive me". This clue leads the CBI team to Dalinda, who recently broke up with Sutton because of his abusive temper. Looking distraught over the news of Suttons death and the contents of the note Dalinda sadly discloses a violent incident that put Sutton in jail.

Bill had just returned to the racing world and was graciously accepted as a jockey for Cobb Holwell's stable. Cobb Holwell is the owner of Holwell stables, whose horses had been competing for many years against their fiercest competitor the Lockhart stable. Frank Lockhart who owned the Lockhart stable would do anything to win and even said that any jockey who raced

ode for Holwell could never race for his team. Frank wanted to ensure that the racing network knew he was serious about winning, sending Ellis Barnes to spook Sutton out of racing for Cobb.

As the episode unfolds we find out with the help of Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) that there is more to the story than meets the eye. Jane meets a new jockey Sam Starks (Olesya Rulin) who was offered the jockey position for the big race after Sutton's death. As Jane makes friends with Starks he learns more about the horses in Holwell's stable. After Jane meets with Holwell he finds out that the horse that Sutton and Starks were riding has an identical twin that is faster but not quite ready to race. Patrick Jane calls on the help of agent Van Pelt (Amanda Righetti) to help him determine if the horse is what Holwell says it is. Since Van Pelt has previous riding experience she is the perfect one to assist.

Patrick Jane pulls another one of his brilliant maneuvers. Just before the race Jane tells Howell that he switched the two horses and bet ten thousand dollars on the race because it was a sure win. Confused and upset Howell gets angry with Jane because that was his strategy all along and he had already switched the two horses. Holwell's strategy was to get the first horse to have bad odds and the switch the twin horses without anyone knowing and win the big money. This was just the evidence that Jane needed to accuse Holwell of the murder of Bill Sutton. Jane said that Holwell murdered Sutton because he was too honest to go along with this plan.

Of course Patrick Jane had another trick up his sleeve because he knew Holwell was going to do this, he never really switched the horses, he only said he did. Patrick Jane ended up winning his bet, although the CBI wouldn't let him keep his winnings. Another great episode of The Mentalist is in the books and definitely one to watch if you haven't done so already.