Crazy Good: The True Story of Dan Patch, the Most Famous Horse in America
by Charles Leerhsen
from Simon & Schuster
A hundred years ago, the most famous athlete in America was a horse. But Dan Patch was more than a sports star; he was a cultural icon in the days before the automobile. Born crippled and unable to stand, he was nearly euthanized. For a while, he pulled the grocer's wagon in his hometown of Oxford, Indiana. But when he was entered in a race at the county fair, he won -- and he kept on winning. Harness racing was the top sport in America at the time, and Dan, a pacer, set the world record for the mile. He eventually lowered the mark by four seconds, an unheard-of achievement that would not be surpassed for decades.
America loved Dan Patch, who, though kind and gentle, seemed to understand that he was a superstar: he acknowledged applause from the grandstands with a nod or two of his majestic head and stopped as if to pose when he saw a camera. He became the first celebrity sports endorser; his name appeared on breakfast cereals, washing machines, cigars, razors, and sleds. At a time when the highest-paid baseball player, Ty Cobb, was making $12,000 a year, Dan Patch was earning over a million dollars.
But even then horse racing attracted hustlers, cheats, and touts. Drivers and owners bet heavily on races, which were often fixed; horses were drugged with whiskey or cocaine, or switched off with "ringers." Although Dan never lost a race, some of his races were rigged so that large sums of money could change hands. Dan's original owner was intimidated into selling him, and America's favorite horse spent the second half of his career touring the country in a plush private railroad car and putting on speed shows for crowds that sometimes exceeded 100,000 people. But the automobile cooled America's romance with the horse, and by the time he died in 1916, Dan was all but forgotten. His last owner, a Minnesota entrepreneur gone bankrupt, buried him in an unmarked grave. His achievements have faded, but throughout the years, a faithful few kept alive the legend of Dan Patch, and in Crazy Good, Charles Leerhsen travels through their world to bring back to life this fascinating story of triumph and treachery in small-town America and big-city racetracks.
Seabiscuit: An American Legend
by Laura Hillenbrand
from Ballantine Books
He didn't look like much. With his smallish stature, knobby knees, and slightly crooked forelegs, he looked more like a cow pony than a thoroughbred. But looks aren't everything; his quality, an admirer once wrote, "was mostly in his heart." Laura Hillenbrand tells the story of the horse who became a cultural icon in Seabiscuit: An American Legend.
Seabiscuit rose to prominence with the help of an unlikely triumvirate: owner Charles Howard, an automobile baron who once declared that "the day of the horse is past"; trainer Tom Smith, a man who "had cultivated an almost mystical communication with horses"; and jockey Red Pollard, who was down on his luck when he charmed a then-surly horse with his calm demeanor and a sugar cube. Hillenbrand details the ups and downs of "team Seabiscuit," from early training sessions to record-breaking victories, and from serious injury to "Horse of the Year"--as well as the Biscuit's fabled rivalry with War Admiral. She also describes the world of horseracing in the 1930s, from the snobbery of Eastern journalists regarding Western horses and public fascination with the great thoroughbreds to the jockeys' torturous weight-loss regimens, including saunas in rubber suits, strong purgatives, even tapeworms.
Along the way, Hillenbrand paints wonderful images: tears in Tom Smith's eyes as his hero, legendary trainer James Fitzsimmons, asked to hold Seabiscuit's bridle while the horse was saddled; critically injured Red Pollard, whose chest was crushed in a racing accident a few weeks before, listening to the San Antonio Handicap from his hospital bed, cheering "Get going, Biscuit! Get 'em, you old devil!"; Seabiscuit happily posing for photographers for several minutes on end; other horses refusing to work out with Seabiscuit because he teased and taunted them with his blistering speed.
Though sometimes her prose takes on a distinctly purple hue ("His history had the ethereal quality of hoofprints in windblown snow"; "The California sunlight had the pewter cast of a declining season"), Hillenbrand has crafted a delightful book. Wire to wire, Seabiscuit is a winner. Highly recommended. --Sunny Delaney
Seabiscuit was one of the most electrifying and popular attractions in sports history and the single biggest newsmaker in the world in 1938, receiving more coverage than FDR, Hitler, or Mussolini. But his success was a surprise to the racing establishment, which had written off the crooked-legged racehorse with the sad tail. Three men changed Seabiscuit’s fortunes:
Charles Howard was a onetime bicycle repairman who introduced the automobile to the western United States and became an overnight millionaire. When he needed a trainer for his new racehorses, he hired Tom Smith, a mysterious mustang breaker from the Colorado plains. Smith urged Howard to buy Seabiscuit for a bargain-basement price, then hired as his jockey Red Pollard, a failed boxer who was blind in one eye, half-crippled, and prone to quoting passages from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Over four years, these unlikely partners survived a phenomenal run of bad fortune, conspiracy, and severe injury to transform Seabiscuit from a neurotic, pathologically indolent also-ran into an American sports icon.
Author Laura Hillenbrand brilliantly re-creates a universal underdog story, one that proves life is a horse race.
From the Hardcover edition.
Seabiscuit was one of the most electrifying and popular attractions in sports history and the single biggest newsmaker in the world in 1938, receiving more coverage than FDR, Hitler, or Mussolini. But his success was a surprise to the racing establishment, which had written off the crooked-legged racehorse with the sad tail. Three men changed Seabiscuit's fortunes: Charles Howard was a onetime bicycle repairman who introduced the automobile to the western United States and became an overnight millionaire. When he needed a trainer for his new racehorses, he hired Tom Smith, a mysterious mustang breaker from the Colorado plains. Smith urged Howard to buy Seabiscuit for a bargain-basement price, then hired as his jockey Red Pollard, a failed boxer who was blind in one eye, half-crippled, and prone to quoting passages from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Over four years, these unlikely partners survived a phenomenal run of bad fortune, conspiracy, and severe injury to transform Seabiscuit from a neurotic, pathologically indolent also-ran into an American sports icon. Author Laura Hillenbrand brilliantly re-creates a universal underdog story, one that proves that life is a horse race.
Picking Winners: A Horseplayer's Guide
by Andrew Beyer
from Houghton Mifflin
Just as football evolved with the introduction of the forward pass and basketball with the development of the jump shot, so too was handicapping forever changed by the use of speed figures--and it all started with Andrew Beyer's Picking Winners. This edition features a new foreword in which the author discusses the changes that have swept the sport since the book's original publication. Picking Winners remains a classic in the field of thoroughbred racing.
The Whole Horse Catalog: The Complete Guide to Buying, Stabling and Stable Management, Equine Health, Tack, Rider Apparel, Equestrian Activities and Organizations...and ... Else a Horse Owner and Rider Will Ever Need
by Steven D. Price
from Fireside
Chances are that if you have a question about your horse, you'll find the answer--and a whole host of related advice and information--in The Whole Horse Catalog. First released in 1975, this expertly organized guide to everything horsy has been substantially updated and revised for the 1990s and beyond, and includes chapters on selecting a horse, stabling, stable management, horse health, tack, apparel, equestrian activities, holidays on horseback, and equestrian organizations. Hundreds of helpful illustrations accompany the straightforward text and useful charts, making The Whole Horse Catalog "the one-stop book for all of your equestrian needs."
THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO OWNING, MAINTAINING, AND ENJOYING HORSES.
The Whole Horse Catalog, the definitive horse guide, is now completely revised and updated to include everything from advances in nutritional thinking to sources on the World Wide Web. With hundreds of illustrations and a detailed, easy-to-understand text, this new edition of The Whole Horse Catalog is the one-stop book for all your equestrian needs.
- Where to look for a horse
- How to select a horse
- How to choose stable construction and furnishings
- Horse health care, feeding, and grooming
- Tack: from bits, bridles, and saddles to halters and harnesses
- Apparel and new equipment advances for riders
- Equestrian sports for participants and spectators alike, including ideas for "holidays on horseback"
- Equestrian magazines, organizations, and Web locations
Filled with advice and contacts, The Whole Horse Catalog is a complete resource guide for the novice and experienced equestrian alike.
My Guy Barbaro: A Jockey's Journey Through Love, Triumph, and Heartbreak with America's Favorite Horse
by Edgar Prado
from Harper
A new superstar appeared on the American sports landscape in the spring of 2006: Barbaro, a three-year-old racehorse, won the Kentucky Derby by six and a half lengths, the largest margin of victory in sixty years. Barbaro's impressive performance immediately stirred talk of a possible Triple Crown. But in the opening yards of the Preakness Stakes two weeks later, the horse suffered a catastrophic leg injury that ended his undefeated career and left him fighting for his life.
Edgar Prado, a native of Peru and one of the world's top jockeys, rode Barbaro to glory and then stood beside him for months as the horse valiantly struggled to survive and millions of fans held their breath. Having ridden in more than twenty-five thousand races over the previous two decades, Prado thought he had been around too long to fall for any one horse, but Barbaro—intelligent, charismatic, and resourceful in sickness as well as in health—stole his heart.
In My Guy Barbaro, Prado recounts his own story, a tale of grit and dreams that moves from his impoverished childhood in Lima, Peru, to the winner's circles of the greatest racetracks in the world, and memorably chronicles his emotional time with Barbaro before, during, and after the horse's breakdown. Their bond was special and immeasurable. With Prado still reeling from a wrenching personal loss, Barbaro lifted his spirits by giving him “the ride of a lifetime” in the Derby. When the tables turned and the horse needed support two weeks later, Prado was there, going out of his way to make a succession of visits to the New Bolton Center, the animal hospital in Pennsylvania where Barbaro underwent more than two dozen surgeries and was ultimately put down.
Barbaro made worldwide headlines for eight months, and now Prado's poignant, clear-eyed narrative takes us where no reader has gone before—onto Barbaro's back in the heat of a race and into the intensive care suite where Barbaro's life-and-death drama played itself out. My Guy Barbaro is a heartwarming, unforgettable story of a man and his love for a beautiful animal and an irreplaceable teammate.
Betting on Horse Racing For Dummies (For Dummies (Sports & Hobbies))
by Richard Eng
from For Dummies
How to enjoy a day at the races-and bet to win!
The last two years have seen a record number of Americans tune in for climatic Triple Crown races featuring Smarty Jones and Funny Cide; in 2004, television viewership jumped a whopping 61 percent over the record set in 2003, and the Belmont Stakes race itself drew a record crowd of more than 120,000! This easy-to-understand guide shows first-time visitors to the track how to enjoy the sport of horse racing-and make smart bets. It explains what goes on at the track, what to look for in horses and jockeys, how to read a racing form and do simple handicapping, and how to manage betting funds and make wagers that stand a good chance of paying off. Complete with coverage of off-track and online betting, it's just what anyone needs to play the ponies-and win!
Richard Eng (Las Vegas, NV) is a racing writer and handicapper for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a columnist for the Daily Racing Form, and the host of a horseracing radio program in Las Vegas. He was formerly a part of the ABC Sports team that covered the Triple Crown.
Bet With the Best 2: Longshots
by Andrew Beyer
from DRF Press
Everyone that regularly plays the horses is in constant pursuit of the player's holy grail: the humongous longshot. Many of the authors from the first 2001 edition of Bet With The Best have gathered together again to contribute their expertise on where and when these high-priced horses can be found. By using various successful and proven handicapping theories and angles, the reader learns how to uncover live horses that regularly return boxcar prices while most of the racing public still remains in the dark.
Exotic Betting: How to Make the Multihorse, Multirace Bets that Win Racing's Biggest Payoffs
by Steven Crist
from DRF Press
In Exotic Betting, the horseplayer takes a colorful wagering ride by learning to maximize profits by betting on a multitude of exotic wagers including the daily double, exacta, trifecta, quinella, superfecta, pick 3, 4, and 6.
The Horse God Built: The Untold Story of Secretariat, the World's Greatest Racehorse
by Lawrence Scanlan
from St. Martin's Griffin
“For anybody who loves horses, and for all of those who are thrilled by horse racing and the behind-the-scenes drama of the track, The Horse That God Built is must reading."
--Michael Korda, author of Horse People
Most of us know the legend of Secretariat, the tall, handsome chestnut racehorse whose string of honors runs long and rich: the only two-year-old ever to win Horse of the Year, in 1972; winner in 1973 of the Triple Crown, his times in all three races still unsurpassed; featured on the cover of Time, Newsweek, and Sports Illustrated; the only horse listed on ESPN’s top fifty athletes of the twentieth century (ahead of Mickey Mantle). His final race at Toronto’s Woodbine Racetrack is a touchstone memory for horse lovers everywhere. Yet while Secretariat will be remembered forever, one man, Eddie “Shorty” Sweat, who was pivotal to the great horse’s success, has been all but forgotten---until now.
In The Horse God Built, bestselling equestrian writer Lawrence Scanlan has written a tribute to an exceptional man that is also a backroads journey to a corner of the racing world rarely visited. As a young black man growing up in South Carolina, Eddie Sweat struggled at several occupations before settling on the job he was born for---groom to North America’s finest racehorses. As Secretariat’s groom, loyal friend, and protector, Eddie understood the horse far better than anyone else. A wildly generous man who could read a horse with his eyes, he shared in little of the financial success or glamour of Secretariat’s wins on the track, but won the heart of Big Red with his soft words and relentless devotion.
In Scanlan’s rich narrative, we get a groom’s-eye view of the racing world and the vantage of a man who spent every possible moment with the horse he loved, yet who often basked in the horse’s glory from the sidelines. More than anything else, The Horse God Built is a moving portrait of the powerful bond between human and horse.
Praise for The Horse God Built:
“Scanlan's scope is encyclopedic…”
--Publishers Weekly
"The author's tribute is heartfelt..."
--Kirkus
"...detailed in all its equine awesomeness."
--Maxim
"...will satisfy those who can't get enough of Secretariat."
--The New York Times
“…an informative read that hardboots and novices alike can enjoy.”
--The Lexington Herald Leader (Kentucky)
"Eddie Sweat's story represents the last great untold chapter in the Secretariat saga. Larry Scanlan has honoured both groom and horse by giving it to us at last.
--John Jeremiah Sullivan, author of Blood Horses: Notes of a Sportswriter's Son
"This well-researched book is a must for readers who are fans of the horse, but if you just want a good read, you're going to love this animal/human interest story."
--Monty Roberts, author of The Man Who Listens to Horses
To the Swift: Classic Triple Crown Horses and Their Race for Glory
from St. Martin's Press
A dramatic compilation of the finest writing on the Triple Crown of horse racing by bestselling and award-winning authors.
Horse racing’s Triple Crown is one of the most sought-after, demanding and elusive brass rings in all of sport. Since 1919, when Sir Barton became the first three-year-old to capture the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes in a single year, only ten other horses have duplicated the feat, and not a one since Affirmed in 1978. It’s not surprising, then, that the names of the Triple Crown winners have an almost mythical ring to them: Gallant Fox, Whirlaway, War Admiral, Assault, Citation, Count Fleet, Secretariat. But memorable, too, are many of those that fell short, as did Spectacular Bid, Sunday Silence, Alysheba and two recent upstarts who won the hearts of fans everywhere, Funny Cide and Smarty Jones. There have been horses that seemed destined to wear the Triple Crown but didn’t, such as Native Dancer, whose late charge in the Kentucky Derby wasn’t quite enough, and Barbaro, whose tragic misstep at the Preakness turned into a heartrending drama of courage and hope.
Now, for the first time, the story of the Triple Crown is told in the words of some of horse racing’s greatest writers. Combining on-the-spot reportage as it appeared in the pages of The New York Times with new and original essays, To the Swift covers the biggest wins, the toughest rivalries, the wildest flukes and the biggest personalities, equine and human. With classic photos and complete lists of the winners, it is a must-have for racing fans everywhere.
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