Seventeen officers are riding in the three-mile race. The race begins two hundred yards before the track, and the first of nine obstacles is a seven-foot-wide stream. After three false starts, the race finally begins.

To the spectators, the horses appear to have all started simultaneously, but the riders are acutely aware of the fractions of seconds between them. For the first moment, Vronsky is not in control of the mare, and they are racing in third behind Gladiator and a horse named Diana, whose rider is nearly paralyzed with fear. As he and Frou-Frou are jumping the first stream, he sees a floundering Diana and her rider on the ground below them; only with great agility is his horse able to avoid trampling them.

After they land, Vronsky has complete control of his mare. Gladiator is the only horse in front of them, and as the race continues, the distance between the two horses remains constant. At the same moment he thinks they should begin to overtake Gladiator, Frou-Frou seems to be thinking the same thing and suddenly moves alongside the larger horse.

Soon they pass the lead horse, though they can still hear Gladiator’s hoofs and breathing immediately behind them as they cross the next two water barriers. Now it seems to Vronsky that he is going to win the race, and he longs to look back but cannot. Only one obstacle is left, and Vronsky tries to keep the same amount of energy in reserve for the mare that he feels Gladiator has.

Heading into the final obstacle, he feels a moment of hesitation. Frou-Frou, however, knows what he needs and wants and she rises smoothly and lands effortlessly far beyond the ditch. He hears the cheers of the men in his regiment and listens for what happens behind him. Gladiator has cleared the obstacle as well. All that remains is the final ditch, five feet wide and filled with water.

As they approach the ditch, Vronsky lets his mare have her way, feeling that she is on her last reserves but knowing she has more than enough strength to finish the race. As she sails over the water, Vronsky fails to pay enough attention and realizes that he has made an unpardonable error. His position has shifted and he cannot even determine the fatal mistake he made as Gladiator passes them.

Vronsky is touching the ground with one foot and suddenly the mare falls to the ground at his feet. She lays gasping at him and gazing at him with her “exquisite eyes.” Vronsky tries to pull the mare to her feet, but she is unable to stand and falls again into the mud. With a “hideous passion,” Vronsky kicks her in the side, but she simply looks at him with her knowing eyes.

Now Vronsky is full of remorse for losing the race and ruining the mare. A team of doctors and officers appear; Vronsky is unhurt but the mare must be shot. He turns and walks away; for the first time he feels “utterly wretched” at the misery he has caused. The misery is beyond remedy and he caused it. Yashvin takes him home. Half an hour later, Vronsky regains his composure, but the memory remains, the “cruelest and bitterest memory of his life.”