Trama

After a Wall Street broker sets fire to his stable - killing his underachieving racehorses in the process - the team visits Kentucky to help the heartsick trainer, Eliot's high school love.

Eliot Spencer's ex's father is blamed for the fire in his stable. The team agrees to make Nathan's former insurance company IYS pay 'their way' so he can hold on to Kentucky Thunder, the only survivor of nine thoroughbreds. So they pose as horse traders to play a sting on New York financial investors' agent Alan Foss.—KGF Vissers

Spencer's high school sweetheart, Aimee, and her father, Willie Martin, stable and train racehorses. Willie calls the crew when Alan Foss, an obnoxious Wall Street broker, burns down his stable, killing beautiful, defenseless horses for profit. The crew has a complex con to take down Foss. Nate's former colleague insurance investigator at IYS, opportunistic Jim Stirling (Mark Sheppard), intervenes, making his debut.—LA-Lawyer

Kensington Racetrack Stables, Kentucky

A woman pulls up in a truck to see a barn on fire and horses running out. But they don't all make it. Nine dead, they tell the Leveragites. The man's a trainer, he didn't own any of them. He tells them about Mr. Foss, the rich owner who wasn't happy with how they were performing. They think he burned nine horses to get his investment back. But the trainer doesn't want money. He wants the horse that lived back: Baltimore. The grown daughter walks in. She knows Eliot. Amy tells him her husband is gone. "Seems I have a weakness for men with one foot out the door," she says.

At Leverage HQ, Alec briefs them on Alan Foss. A hedge fund manager who also likes to play high stakes poker. Parker wants to be excused from the mission. She once saw a horse kill a clown. Flash to her as a child, watching a man dressed up as a clown killed by someone dressed up as a horse. Parker notices Ford's old insurance company IYS holds the $2 million policy on the dead horses. Foss has a big race coming up this weekend. "Ms. Devereaux, how is your Southern belle?" Nate asks.

Cut to Sophie ambling through a race track grandstands doing her best "hi yalls." She sidles up to Foss and orders a bourbon, introducing herself as Kitty. She lifts his wallet and passes it to Parker who scans his credit card and notices he bet on Kentucky Thunder. Alec reads the card online and sees he has a $50,000 limit. Meanwhile, Eliot practices playing poker with a special deck of cards that can be read by something akin to extra. Sophie, who has charmed Alan, mentions that she has to scoot for a poker game. He's intrigued and wants in. She tells him the buy-in is $50,000. She introduces him to the team. Alec as a sheik, Eliot as a trainer, Nate as an owner - who razzes him about letting his stable burn down. Parker deals. But before they start, Alan wants to use his own cards. They have to agree. They play. After a while, Alan's down $40,000. Nate asks if they're playing for cash or horses. "Do you still have one of those left, or did you lose that, too?" he razzes him. Alan takes the bait. He thinks he has Nate beat with four 9s, but Nate has four jacks. Flash to the team doing a complicated card pass around the table so the right cards end up in Nate's hand. Alan tries to welch, but Nate threatens to tell everyone if he does and ruin his rep.

Sterling, the man who got Nate's old insurance job drives up, asking Nate why he was playing poker with his client. He thinks Nate is trying to get his old job back by busting Foss first. Knowing the real reason sounds much worse, Nate says he'll back off. Sterling likes the trainer, Nate's client, for the fire. Sophie drives up. Sterling knows her, too. They need a new plan.

The next day, they try to figure out what to do with Sterling in the picture. Sophie says Sterling once spent five days in the trunk of a car to catch someone. Anything Nate does, Sterling will try to undo. Nate gives assignments.

Eliot comes up with a stable, with help from Amy, for cover. "Anything else you need so you can wrap this up and go back to being a somewhat disappointing memory?" she asks him. Ouch.

In the parking lot, Alec and Parker spy on Sterling from inside a black van. He drives up in a car heavy on electronics. They hack in and trap him in his car as the alarm goes of. They have a tap on his phone and hear him dial 911 and report hearing screams coming from inside a black van. And seeing blood. And maybe guns, too. Sterling waves at them, busted, in the van. "He's like Nate," Parker says. "Evil Nate."

Sophie, Nate and Eliot work Foss at their fake stables. Foss says the insurance agent won't let him sell the horse until the claim's settled. He wants to buy Baltimore back for the $40,000 he's worth, but Nate wants $2 million. Nate and Sophie leave and Foss chats up Eliot, telling him he's going to form hedge funds using horses instead of stocks.

Eliot and Amy argue. He left because she got married. But she's mad he never called. Flash to him being beaten up on a job. He was detained. They fight and this, of course, leaves to making out and heading into a stall.

Sophie and Nate brainstorm. She worries about his judgment because his old company is involved. Alec tries to talk Parker out of her horse fear, citing Mr. Ed, whom Wilbur loved like a second cousin once removed. "That's it," Nate says. "The lost heir." A classic European scam. You pose as a long-lost descendant of the royal family and reap the perks. They'll try it with a horse. They're going to sell Foss the greatest horse that ever lived.

Later at the track, Sophie cautions Eliot against chasing Amy. (Even thought it's a good movie.) Alec suggests painting Baltimore and hacking into the horse database to change his bloodlines. But Baltimore is still recovering from the fire and can't run. Instead, they'll steal Kentucky Thunder and pass him off as greater.

Cut to Sophie, doing British, visiting the horse's trainer as if she's there to do an interview for Sports Illustrated. Alec hacks the trainer's phone so when he checks his voicemail he sees that Sophie's been calling all day. He heads off to the track, leaving Kentucky Thunder available for borrowing.

Alec has Shanghaied two Chinese tourist from the airport, but he complains that the younger woman has a tiny bladder. At the track, Eliot sets up the horse's back story to Foss, which involves a Chinese horse hedge fund that was busted. Supposedly every horse died. Every horse but one. The rigged bloodline shows he descended from War Admiral and Secretariat. Eliot tells Foss Nate is bidding on it. Foss's hedge fund has six investors that put up $2 mil each. They're going for $12 mil.

Armed with this, Sophie tells him Nate bid $11 million and when Foss offers $12 mil, she says it's his. She and Alec both speak Chinese, naturally. The young Chinese woman asks for a picture with Foss, who obliges, and then she says she has to go to the bathroom again. Instead, she meets Sterling, who also speaks Chinese, and gives him his camera back. He checks the video.

Nate drinks alone and Sterling visits him, rubbing in Nate's drinking history and how it ruined his life. Sterling accuses Nate of being a common criminal. Nate says he thinks Sterling is doing what he always does, giving his client enough rope to hang himself. Sterling says there's enough rope for two.

Time to get the money from Foss, but they can't get Kentucky Thunder again -- he's off to stud. Eliot wants to continue and when Nate says he won't risk the team so Eliot can prove something Sophie talks him into it.

Outside the stud barn, they can't get in so Parker crawls through the air vent to let them in from the inside. She comes nose to nose with a horse and doesn't die. Fear conquered.

Sophie leads Foss through the stables in circles, trying to stall. Amy, Eliot, Parker and Alec get stuck in traffic and a police cruiser drives by. They figure they're all going to jail and they won't get the horse there in time. Instead, Eliot gets the horse out of the trailer and rides off on him, getting to the stables just in time to show him off to Foss. They complete the transaction.

Just then Sterling comes around the corner, breaking Foss the bad news that the horse is Kentucky Thunder. Sterling has Thunder's trainer there to prove it. They open the stall, but it's not Kentucky Thunder. Flash back to Parker switching the stall names and numbers. It's Baltimore. Sterling tells Foss that because he insured him before for $40,000 and just tried to insure him for $12 million, it's fraud and he's denying the fire claim. The investors are also concerned about their $10 million. $10 million is all he has left. They'll take it. Nate gives Willie the results. He gets Baltimore and $12 million. In return, Willie's going to name is his first horse Mr. Ford. Eliot says good-bye to Amy. Again. She says she's glad he found a family, even if it wasn't her.

Nate goes home. Sterling is there. Without turning around to see him, Nate compliments him on the move with the tourists and the camera. Nate helped saved the company money by making Foss commit fraud, which Sterling appreciates. Sterling says that Nate thinks he's above the law, but Nate thinks of it as he just picks up where the law leaves off. Sterling warns that he's not going to be so nice next time. Neither will Nate.