Horse Fever: The Mandrake Sting

Thanks to his magic smile. Bruno is engaged to Lauretta , who is also the owner of a bar like his previous flame, who he had promised that he would sort out his life. In fact, officially.

Bruno works as a bit-part actor at Cinecittà. But in the “less official” moments, which actually means almost always, Mandrake still bets on the horse and carriage racing, more often than not facing ruin rather than winning.

Pomata, his partner, has died, much to the anger of many betting people in Tor di Valle to whom he owed money. Mandrake has substituted him with Micione and the Engineer, two unlucky good for nothings, who also only think about betting. Micione, who’s a lazy as a sloath, who still lives with his parents, stealing the change from the shopping and borrowing money from the caretaker.

The engineer, who’s a student from Bologna who failed to complete his studies in the allotted time, lives in Rome supported by money from his father, and instead of studying, he’s invented an “infallible” system of betting with the computer. Though infallible by word doesn’t necessarily mean infallible in deed – and of course when our brave betters put it to the test, they lose!

However, Mandrake, is a man of a thousand resources. During an unlucky journey to the racetrack in Montecatini, he’s notices a real nag which looks just like a champion racer at Tor di Valle. And suddenly he thinks of a “supermandrakata”. To make it happen, apart from Micione and the Engineer, he allows Aurelia to join their group. She is a beautiful but very unlucky actress who’s searching for glory. Then in addition, there’s the unfortunate accountant from Naples, Antonio Faiella, and finally, as a surprise, the mythical Pomata, who had died, but…….