Makibao does not look like a racehorse. He is small and white with a wide face — more donkey than thoroughbred, as his critics note frequently. What he lacks in conventional appearance, he compensates for in guts and raw speed, and his career is built on winning races that his physical profile suggested he had no business entering. Two goals drive his seasons: defeating Superhorse Cascade, the rival horse that has defined his competitive identity since before his first race, and winning back his mother — taken as payment for the family farm's debts before his career began. The path to both runs through races that do not care what you look like.