Tag Archives: book reviews

Sham: Great Was Second Best

Sometimes the second fiddle gets to play in the first chair. Alydar finally beat Affirmed (albeit through disqualification) in the Travers; Easy Goer vanquished his nemesis Sunday Silence in the Belmont. Though often on the losing end of the rivalry, … Continue reading

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Bill Heller on Jose Santos: Above It All

The life of a jockey would, inherently, seem to have more than enough drama to make its narrative compelling. Small of stature, often from modest (at best) beginnings, the men who make their living on horseback daily risk injury or … Continue reading

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The poetry of Kentucky Derby

“One of my earliest memories,” recalls poet Andrea Cohen, “is Dreamland. When one is going off to Dreamland, one is riding a stallion.  When I was very young, before going off to sleep, my brothers and I would say, ‘See … Continue reading

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Steve O’Brien’s Bullet Work

Steve O’Brien picked up the phone on Sunday, April 10th, the day after the Wood Memorial, and before I finished identifying myself, he asked, “What happened to Uncle Mo?” O’Brien is a racing fan. He grew up in Grand Island, … Continue reading

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Juliet Harrison’s Track Life in Saratoga Springs

Photographer Juliet Harrison describes herself as “your typical horse crazy kid.” Perhaps atypically, she knows exactly when that horse craziness hit. “When I was five years old,” she recalled recently by phone from her home in the Hudson Valley, “I … Continue reading

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Thinking about Lord of Misrule

In 2010, my racing and literary worlds collided spectacularly when Jaimy Gordon’s Lord of Misrule came out of nowhere to win the National Book Award, catapulting both book and author right into this country’s literary conversation and splendidly blending books … Continue reading

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Racing books: Women of the Year: Ten Fillies Who Achieved Horse Racing’s Highest Honor

…fillies and mares who do defeat males are highly special. In American racing heroines have come along with enough frequency that a female’s outrunning a male is not seen as a freakish occurrence, but it is not so commonplace as … Continue reading

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Book review: Horses in Living Color by Barbara Livingston

“…grey is not a coat. Then what is it? It can only be a strange pigmentation disease…” Federico Tesio A study of genetics focusing on horses’ colors resulted in Tesio’s mid-20th century declaration. Aesthetic observation brings Barbara Livingston, fortunately, to … Continue reading

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Book review: The Training Game by Karen M. Johnson

A maxim of authorship, it is said, is to write what you know. And there may well be no turf writer who knows trainers better than Karen M. Johnson, author of The Training Game: An Inside Look at American Racing’s … Continue reading

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A look at a couple of racing books

As I headed to Florida in March, I filled a bag with books, many more, I knew, that I would actually read. (One of the benefits of driving everywhere is that there are no luggage fees or limits. I can … Continue reading

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