I bet there's going to be a big race at the end of the season, but at the last minute the jockey gets hurt, and dustin hoffman has to step in because he's the only one small enough. Maybe it will be the gambler's horse, and if dustin hoffman doesn't win they have to sell it.

I think they just get it on occasionally. He was pissed at her for a while because he thought she had been indiscreet with the horse info which caused cowboy to buy the horse, then when she confronted him about it he said he decided it wasn't her so everything was back to normal.

I'm confused by Escalante's hostile behavior toward hoffman/farina after the claiming race. Was he just annoyed because he lost his horse and couldn't help himself? Had he met hoffman before that day?