Thoroughbred racing was one of the first major sports in early America. Horse racing thrived because it was a high-status sport that attracted the interest of both old and new money. It grew because spectators enjoyed the pageantry, the exciting races, and, most of all, the gambling. As the sport became a national industry, the New York metropolitan area, along with the resort towns of Saratoga Springs (New York) and Long Branch (New Jersey), remained at the center of horse racing with the most outstanding race courses, the largest purses, and the finest thoroughbreds. Riess narrates the history of horse racing, detailing how and why New York became the national capital of the sport from the mid-1860s until the early twentieth century. The sport's survival depended upon the racetrack being the nexus between politicians and organized crime. The powerful alliance between urban machine politics and track owners enabled racing in New York to flourish. Gambling, the heart of racing's appeal, made the sport morally suspect. Yet democratic politicians protected the sport, helping to establish the State Racing Commission, the first state agency to regulate sport in the United States. At the same time, racetracks became a key connection between the underworld and Tammany Hall, enabling illegal poolrooms and off-course bookies to operate. Organized crime worked in close cooperation with machine politicians and local police officers to protect these illegal operations. In The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime, Riess fills a long-neglected gap in sports history, offering a richly detailed and fascinating chronicle of thoroughbred racing's heyday.

Might and Power was a giant in a golden era of exceptional racehorses- the horse of a lifetime for owner Nick Moraitis, the horse of hope for trainer Jack Denham, and the horse of redemption for jockey Jim Cassidy. Despite his awkward galloping style, few thoroughbreds could match Might and Power's sustained speed and stamina, and racing fans loved his freewheeling leader's style. In 1997, after winning the Caulfield Cup by a staggering seven and a half lengths, he again led all the way to capture the Australian turf's greatest prize, the Melbourne Cup - holding at bay valiant stayer Doriemus to triumph in one of the race's closest finishes. No one expects to see another horse do this again. Not like Mighty. When he followed his astonishing Cups double with a victory in the W.S. Cox Plate in 1998, Might and Power was the undisputed champion of the Australian turf, and one of the best horses in the world. Since retiring from the racetrack, he has become a much-loved ambassador for the sport of kings, truly a People's Horse. Now, 20 years after his astonishing Caulfield and Melbourne Cup conquests, Helen Thomas revisits the extraordinary story of this horse called Mighty.