In 1955, Reginald Gill - milkman and part-time illegal bookie - took his 12-year-old son Roy to the Spring meeting at Epsom Downs Racecourse. It was a trip that started a life-long passion for racing. In the half-century since, Roy Gill has visited every racecourse in the UK and Ireland at least once. Many courses have been closed down, some have moved their location, but every racecourse he visited is vividly recalled in this very personal and highly readable account. By the time he reached Tralee in 1992, Roy Gill was 99 not out on individual racecourses, and continues to attend race meetings whenever he can. He has included the new courses at Great Leighs and Ffos Las, and returned to Wolverhampton and Limerick, which have moved from their original locations. Along with brief histories of every racecourse visited, the highs and lows of both Flat and National Hunt racing are revealed here by an acknowledged expert - and bona fide Turf Accountant. The book is beautifully illustrated with photographs (many of them previously unseen and unpublished), course diagrams and fascinating racing memorabilia.It includes the noteworthy occurrences and behind-the-scene stories of each venue, as well as personal anecdotes about the courses, the horses, the jockeys and trainers. Told with humour and passion, this entertaining and informative work is essential reading for all lovers of the Turf, and also a valuable spotlight on the sporting and social history of these sceptered isles.

How badly do you want to be a successful horse player? Are you passionate and ready to step up to the next level? Start by thinking of yourself as a horseplayer and think of playing the horses as a business. Bill Peterson has been playing the races for decades and will guide you race by race through the process of finding the right races to play, evaluating the runners, creating a hierarchy of probability, and finally, matching the right win or exacta bet to the race. This is not a book of theory, but an actual workbook that will teach you the complete process. You will learn to avoid some races while playing the races that you have a chance to win. Learn to handicap the race to determine each horse's ability and then match the right betting strategy to the race with this complete guide.

Through years of experimenting and altering the formula has produced more WINNERS, EXACTAS, TRIFECTAS, and SUPERFECTAS than ever before. And now after field testing the formula and reaping the rewards Joseph Peter has decided to share it. As you will find out, you don't need bogus tips and results from tipsters for 12 tracks. Instead, all you need is good information from one track to have a successful night. What does this translate to? Actually winning money.

During two short seasons at the track, Ruffian was hailed as the greatest thoroughbred filly of all time. Unbeaten in her first ten starts, she shattered one record after another, dazzling crowds with both her beauty and her brilliant speed. Then tragedy struck on the afternoon of July 6, 1975. Ruffian broke down–on the lead–in the middle of a match race at Belmont Park. Later that night she had to be destroyed.

Ruffian: Burning from the Start is the story of this exceptional filly, a horse so dominating, so powerful, that writer Walter Farley once suggested she was more like the fictional legend, the Black Stallion, than any colt he had ever seen. Beginning with her earliest days in Kentucky, the book follows Ruffian at every stage of her career and through the agony of her final hours– venturing behind the scenes of the racing world and exploring the politics and personalities that came together to shape this extraordinary filly’s fate.

In the bestselling tradition of Seabiscuit, the extraordinary true story of the world's most famous racehorse, and the rogue who owned him.
Epsom Downs racetrack, 3rd May, 1769: a chestnut with a white blaze scorches across the turf towards the finishing post, leaving his rivals in the dust. Awestruck, his spectators know they are in the presence of greatness.
This is a vivid portrait of high society and low life, of passionate sport and ferocious gambling. It's the story of Eclipse's owner, an adventurer who made his money through roguery and gambling -- a rank outsider who went on to become a national celebrity -- and of his horse, which went on to become the undisputed champion of horse racing; founded dynasties that dominated the bloodstock market in every country where Thoroughbreds raced; and whose influence was such that ninety-five percent of horses racing today are Eclipse's male-line descendants.

In the wake of World War II, as turmoil and chaos were giving way to a spirit of optimism, Americans were looking for inspiration and role models showing that it was possible to start from the bottom and work your way up to the top-and they found it in Stymie, the failed racehorse plucked from the discard heap by trainer Hirsch Jacobs. Like Stymie, Jacobs was a commoner in "The Sport of Kings," a dirt-poor Brooklyn city slicker who forged an unlikely career as racing's winningest trainer by buying cheap, unsound nags and magically transforming them into winners. The $1,500 pittance Jacobs paid to claim Stymie became history's biggest bargain as the ultimate iron horse went on to run a whopping 131 races and win 25 stakes, becoming the first Thoroughbred ever to earn more than $900,000. The Cinderella champion nicknamed "The People's Horse" captivated the masses with his rousing charge-from-behind stretch runs, his gritty blue-collar work ethic, and his rags-to-riches success story. In a golden age when horse racing rivaled baseball and boxing as America's most popular pastime, he was every bit as inspiring a sports hero as Joe DiMaggio and Joe Louis. Taking readers on a crowd-pleasing ride with Stymie and Jacobs, Out of the Clouds -- the winner of the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award -- unwinds a real-life Horatio Alger tale of a dauntless team and its working-class fans who lived vicariously through the stouthearted little colt they embraced as their own.

Hook to the BookThere are two, I repeat, two things standing in the way of your personal success with exotic wagering. One of the two is you. The other is a paradox involving your approach, the standard approach, to playing the exotics. I will provide you a quick, yet thorough explanation in this book. Realizing your vision of winning exotic wagers consistently necessitates a brand-new mindset, and then soon you will be on the surefire road to unparalleled success. You are only a couple of hours away from identifying the other hurdle, thus obliterating the hindrances and obtaining your long-elusive dream.

The best payoffs I've had at the track were generated by extreme pace aberrations. Those nice payoffs didn't come from pedestrians. I'm talking about thieves and carpetbaggers, opportunists who were ordinary but found themselves in extraordinary situations - the right place, the right time. When I started playing the extreme pace way, it made such a difference that I dedicated my handicapping life to it. Extreme Pace Handicapping will show you what made the difference and why. It's simple, really. I like to call it pace picture doodling. If you doodle it, they will come: The Thief, The Clever Thief, The Loner, and the Carpetbagger. Includes one FREE month of the PACEAPPRAISER PPs. Here's how: Buy the book. Go to the author's website (see About the Author at the end of the book for website address). Send a copy of your Amazon receipt along with your first and last name. You will receive your login information by return email.

Punters have never had it so good. In a world of rapidly progressive technology and ever-changing ways to bet, the days of punting solely in the betting shop and on the racecourse are long gone. Since the invention of Betfair in 2000 and the mass move online, bookmakers have never been closer to their customers. Punters are able to place bets at the click of a button - on the move, from the pub and even in the office - and the gambling industry has boomed because of it. Football has taken over as the market leader but horseracing is still hugely popular, while odds on other popular sports have opened them up to a fresh audience - the punters. But in a world of flickering screens and rifling numbers can come confusion. Whether you're a newcomer or a seasoned bettor, the Racing Post Betting Guide provides a lighter look at betting in the current climate, covering horseracing, football and other major sports such as golf, cricket and tennis. The views of our unparelled team of experts can help shape your thinking. Call on the Racing Post's unrivalled expertise, soak up all the knowledge you can and become a better bettor. Among the chapters to consider are: Ten top tips by Pricewise supremo Tom Segal-Studying the form by tipping judge Paul Kealy-Football accas and in-play by Mark Langdon-Punting at the big festivals by David Jennings-Golf betting and the Majors by Steve Palmer-Betting on the favourites by Richard Birch-Tackling the handicaps by Keith Melrose. Other forms of betting covered are: Betting exchanges, pool betting, multiple bets, ante-post betting, pedigree punting plus betting on NFL, darts, rugby, UFC and cycling plus more!

An American champion at heart, "The Magnificent Sham" achieved an unofficial record for the second-fastest time in the history of the Kentucky Derby. He remains second only to the legendary Secretariat. Ironically, challenging Secretariat for the 1973 Triple Crown abruptly shattered his quest for fame and almost ended his life. This compelling book unfolds that brilliant animal's spellbinding story-the story of a courageous underdog born in the wrong place in time.

The opportunity to make money in the fast-growing sport of Quarter Horse racing--more than $350 million is wagered in the US, Mexico, and Canada--is greater than ever. However, few racing fans understand the sport because very little published literature exists. "Fast Horses, Fast Money" educates and entertains racing fans by providing an in-depth analysis of the sport--from a veteran horseplayer's unique point of view. Featuring new research on 286 actual winning racehorses, the book teaches all levels of gamblers, horseplayers, handicappers, and horsemen how to win more gambling and purse money--and hit long shots. Every important racing factor--including jockeys, trainers, breeders, owners, speed indexes, post positions, class, recent form, the tote board, and much more--is analyzed. The book has been featured on TVG and endorsed by a number of leading Quarter Horse analysts, horsemen, and handicappers.

Calumet, Claiborne, King Ranch - these iconic names are among the owners and breeders revered by Thoroughbred industry professionals and racing fans around the world. As campaigners of many of the 20th century's top racehorses, their prestige has been confirmed by decades of competition in the Triple Crown, the most esteemed series in American Thoroughbred racing. Even with these substantial legacies, their success is measured against the benchmark set by one of racing's earliest dynasties, the historic Belair Stud. The story of this legendary operation began with William Woodward's childhood memories of grand days at the racetrack, inspiring dreams of breeding a champion or two of his own. During a year working for the American Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Woodward frequented English racetracks, rekindling that childhood dream of breeding and owning champion Thoroughbreds. Woodward turned those dreams into reality, building Belair Stud on his family's Maryland estate, launching what would become the preeminent Thoroughbred breeding and racing empire in America and chasing racing's biggest prizes in both the United States and England. The defining moment for Belair came when Woodward bred the imported stallion Sir Gallahad III to his mare Marguerite. Their colt, Gallant Fox, became only the second horse in history to win the Preakness Stakes, the Kentucky Derby, and the Belmont Stakes in the same year. In 1935, the farm cemented the Triple Crown as the gold standard for three-year-olds when Gallant Fox's son, Omaha, duplicated his sire's trio of victories, a sweep that sealed the farm's legacy and carved its name in the annals of racing history. In The Foxes of Belair: Gallant Fox, Omaha, and the Quest for the Triple Crown, Jennifer Kelly examines the racing legacies of Gallant Fox and Omaha and how William Woodward's service to racing during the 20th century forever changed the landscape of the American Thoroughbred industry.

How well do you know your racing? You follow the form, share in the agony of defeat and the elation of success, but how much of that information do you remember? The Racing Post Quiz Book will provide hours of entertainment and challenge horse racing know-it-alls to prove themselves. Categories range from where this uniquely historic sport started right up to the modern day, taking in the best horses, most successful trainers, the heroic jockeys and many more besides. With 1,000 questions, many fiendish, some infuriating, this is the ultimate test for any racing fan.

In The Ghost Horse, Joe Layden tells the inspiring true tale of a one-eyed, club-footed thoroughbred racehorse and a journeyman trainer, Tim Snyder, who scraped together every penny he had to purchase the broken and unwanted filly. Snyder helped the horse overcome its deficiencies, eventually naming her in part after his deceased wife, Lisa, the great and only love of his life - a bright and sweet-tempered woman whose gentle demeanour seemed eerily reflected in the horse. The trainer (and now owner) was by nature a crusty and combative sort, the yin to his wife's yang, a racetrack lifer not easily moved by new-age mysticism or sentiment. And yet in those final days back in 2003, when Lisa Snyder lay in bed, her body ravaged by cancer, she reassured her family with a weak smile. "It's okay," she'd say. "I'll see you again. I'm coming back as a horse." Tim Snyder did not then believe in reincarnation. But he acknowledged the strangeness of this journey, the series of coincidences that brought them together, and the undeniable similarities between the horse and his late wife. And so did those who knew the couple well, and who could now only marvel at the story of the filly, Lisa's Booby Trap, and the down-on-his-luck trainer who apparently had been given a new lease on life. The Ghost Horse is a powerful horseracing story of underdogs and second chances.

In 2021, horse racing's most recognizable face - Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert - had five horses that failed postrace drug tests, including that year's Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Spirit. While the incident was a major scandal in the Thoroughbred racing world, it was only the latest in a long string of drug-related infractions among high-caliber athletes. Stories about systemic rule-breaking and "doping culture" - both human and equine -have put world-class athletes and their trainers under intense scrutiny. Each newly discovered instance of abuse forces fans to question the participants' integrity, and in the case of horse racing, their humanity. In Unnatural Ability: The History of Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Thoroughbred Racing, Milton C. Toby addresses the historical and contemporary context of the Thoroughbred industry's most pressing issue. While early attempts at boosting racehorses' performance were admittedly crude, widespread legal access to narcotics and stimulants has changed the landscape of horse racing, along with athletic governing bodies' ability to regulate it. With the sport at a critical turning point in terms of doping restrictions and sports betting, Toby delivers a comprehensive account of the practice of using performance-enhancing drugs to influence the outcome of Thoroughbred races since the late nineteenth century. Paying special attention to Thoroughbred racing's purse structure and its reliance on wagering to supplement a horse's winnings, Toby discusses how horse doping poses a unique challenge for gambling sports and what the industry and its players must do to survive the pressure to get ahead.

Burned out by working the baseball beat for years, in the summer of 1922 Damon Runyon was looking for a new sport to cover for The New York American as a change of pace. Having pilloried golf just a few years before, he went to Saratoga that August to sample horse racing and found that "There, right in front of him, were so many of the characters he so loved from his time covering the comings and goings of the Manhattan night crowd." This was just the tonic Runyon needed to emerge from his malaise. Runyon didn't just cover the great races and which horse won: he would get to the track days before and roam along the backstretch, speaking with the trainers, the gamblers, the rich owners, and the wise guys, many of which became model characters in his fiction and in the musical Guys and Dolls. This book collects the best of Runyon's horse racing columns to 1936, when he moved on to other beats. In addition to an introduction, Reisler will include a "cast of characters" that will provide short biographies of a number of people Runyon discusses in his columns.

In between his romances with baseball, in early 1969 Bill Veeck took up the challenge of managing Boston's semi-moribund Suffolk Downs racetrack. "Being of sound mind and in reasonable possession of my faculties," Veeck wrote, "I marshaled my forces, at the tender age of fifty-four, and marched upon the city of Boston, Massachusetts, like a latter-day Ben Franklin, to seek my fame and fortune as the operator of a racetrack. Two years later, fortune having taken one look at my weathered features and shaken its hoary locks, I retreated, smiling gamely." When he took over the track, Veeck had yet to learn that the normal daily output of some sixteen hundred horses (including straw) would amount to so much, or be so hard to dispose of. But that was the least of his problems. In the tough-minded and Tabasco-tongued prose that is his trademark, Veeck recalls the battles he won and lost, the fun he had, and what he discovered about horse racing at "Sufferin' Downs." It's a zesty, complicated story but a relentlessly fascinating one about the inside workings of one of the most popular sports in America.