Women currently occupy a wide variety of extremely significant roles in Thoroughbred racing. Their presence and influence are apparent in every aspect of the sport, which is remarkable when one recalls that hardly more than a generation ago racing was still--as it had been for centuries--almost completely dominated by men. Where did these women come from? What prompted them to penetrate this male bastion and seek such vocations as jockey, trainer, owner-breeder, television commentator, veterinarian, photographer, track official, clocker, chart caller, pari-mutuel clerk, and groom? In Women in Racing, John and Julia McEvoy provided the answers by interviewing eighteen women whose backgrounds ranged all over the socio-economic spectrum, from the landed gentry to former migrant worker, with a rich layer of twenty-first century Americana in between. Donna Barton Brothers, Barbara D. Livingston, Zoe Cadman, and others tell their stories and affirm that they were driven by a shared passion: a love of horses and Thoroughbred racing. This updated edition includes an interview with horse-racing pioneer Diane Crump, the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby.

Man o' War has been acclaimed as the greatest racehorse of all time, and nearly three-quarters of a century after his death his legend continues to grow. In Man o' War, veteran racing historian Edward L. Bowen recounts the life and times of "Big Red." Bowen traces not only Man o' War's life but also those of the people connected to him-his breeder, August Belmont II; his trainer, Louis Feustel; and his famed owner, Samuel D. Riddle-weaving their stories into that of the great horse. Man o' War became the greatest sports hero of his era, mentioned with the same reverence as Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, and Red Grange. Man o' War's legend began at age two when he won nine of ten starts. Due to his great popularity, his only loss was surrounded by rumor and intrigue. Man o' War never knew defeat again. He dominated his rivals at every turn, even winning one race by a recorded 100 lengths. Retired to stud in Kentucky, Man o' War welcomed tens of thousands of fans to Faraway Farms where faithful groom Will Harbut would regale visitors with tales of Man o' War's exploits. The sons and daughters of Man o' War-including Triple Crown winner War Admiral-and their descendants carry on his legend in the Thoroughbred breed today. This edition includes a new epilogue by the author.

This unique "behind the scenes" description of British flat racing is based on first hand experiences in Newmarket, the Suffolk town regarded as the international headquarters of the sport. Cassidy offers an insider's look at the rituals of horseracing--including those on the racecourse and at the bloodstock auction--and shows how racing, betting and the bloodstock industry are connected. Her insightful descriptions of the class structure of Newmarket explain how racing professionals preserve both the sport and their status quo.

"He was the perfect horse, it was said, "the horse God built.""
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 thesidelines. More than anything else," The Horse God Built "is a moving portrait of the powerful bond between human and horse.

In more than a century of American Thoroughbred racing, only thirteen horses have won the Triple Crown (the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes, all won in the same season). Veteran turf writer and racing historian Edward L. Bowen takes us through the rich history of one of the most formidable and exciting challenges in all of sport. Bowen covers the trainers, owners, and jockeys who etched their names into the annals of thoroughbred racing, and the "lucky thirteen" who captured all three jewels of the Triple Crown, racing's most prestigious prize.

Drawing on the unique resources of the Racing Post, the tale of one of the sport's most popular racehorses is told. Since almost literally bursting onto the scene in the 2010 Champion Bumper at Cheltenham, when an unconsidered 40/1 shot, he hasn't left the Racing public's affections. Charismatic connections have helped colour the story but it is the achievement on the racecourse, the toughness in battle and the willingness to do it all over again, year in year out, even after that crunching, "million pound fall" in the 2016 Gold Cup. that has garnered this horse such a remarkable following. With the blessing and help of the Bishops (Cue Card's owners), plus the most heartfelt work of the Racing Post's formidable writers through the years, a fitting tribute is produced to a really special horse.

Beloved for his thunderous, commanding voice and affable personality, Phil Georgeff, known as "The Voice of Chicago Racing," holds the world record for calling the most horse races an astounding 96,131. During his fifty years in the sport, Georgeff brushed shoulders with every great jockey and saw just about every great horse, from 1948 Triple Crown winner Citation to 1973's Secretariat. Part memoir, part historical analysis, and part nostalgic remembrance, this book is the quintessential guide to the history of thoroughbred racing in the twentieth century.

A failure at most things but not storytelling, this is Mick Channon Jnr's finest book to date. This is also his first book. Framed within the tribulations of a turbulent year in a racing yard, How's Your Dad? examines the relationship between a father and son. Mick Channon Snr, an arthritic workaholic and "grumpy old bastard", played football at the highest level for over twenty years. Almost uniquely, he followed up this sporting career with another, scaling the heights of racing. Mick Channon Jnr had plenty to live up to and despite enjoying the benefits of such a heritage he felt that pressure, as well as the relative anonymity of always being 'Mick's son'.

'The incredible story of the man who went from trying to win the Grand National to playing a key role in co-ordinating the French Resistance.' Daily Express An English racehorse trainer and horse dealer's son, John Goldsmith was born and brought up in Paris and spoke fluent French. In 1942 he was recruited in to the legendary Special Operations Executive, or SOE, and dropped three times behind enemy lines. In 1943 he organised the escape of a French air force general across the Pyrenees but a few months later he was caught by the Gestapo in Paris only to engineer his own getaway from a locked third floor hotel room. By the end of the war he had been awarded the DSO, MC, Croix de Guerre and Legion d'Honneur. Resuming his peacetime occupation in 1946 Goldsmith was sent numerous French racehorses to train. He found uncanny similarities between the secret agent's milieu and the black market world of Britain's post war racetracks and, in partnership with a high stakes Mayfair bookie, he orchestrated some of the most audacious betting coups in racing history.

Exotic Betting at the Racetrack is unique as it covers the efficient-inefficient strategy to price and find profitable racetrack bets, along with handicapping that provides actual bets made by the author on essentially all of the major wagers offered at US racetracks. The book starts with efficiency, accuracy of the win odds, arbitrage, and optimal betting strategies. Examples and actual bets are shown for various wagers including win, place and show, exacta, quinella, double, trifecta, superfecta, Pick 3, 4 and 6 and rainbow pick 5 and 6. There are discussions of major races including the Breeders' Cup, Pegasus, Dubai World Cup and the US Triple Crown from 2012-2018. Dosage analysis is also described and used. An additional feature concerns great horses such as the great mares Rachel Alexandra, Zenyatta, Goldikova, Treve, Beholder and Song Bird. There is a discussion of horse ownership and a tour through arguably the world's top trainer Frederico Tesio and his stables and horses in Italy.Related Link(s)

Exotic Betting at the Racetrack is unique as it covers the efficient-inefficient strategy to price and find profitable racetrack bets, along with handicapping that provides actual bets made by the author on essentially all of the major wagers offered at US racetracks. The book starts with efficiency, accuracy of the win odds, arbitrage, and optimal betting strategies. Examples and actual bets are shown for various wagers including win, place and show, exacta, quinella, double, trifecta, superfecta, Pick 3, 4 and 6 and rainbow pick 5 and 6. There are discussions of major races including the Breeders' Cup, Pegasus, Dubai World Cup and the US Triple Crown from 2012-2018. Dosage analysis is also described and used. An additional feature concerns great horses such as the great mares Rachel Alexandra, Zenyatta, Goldikova, Treve, Beholder and Song Bird. There is a discussion of horse ownership and a tour through arguably the world's top trainer Frederico Tesio and his stables and horses in Italy.Related Link(s)

Horse racing in America dates back to the colonial era when street races were a common occurrence. The commercialization of horse racing produced a sport that would briefly surpass all others in popularity, with annual races such as the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes growing to rank among America's most celebrated sporting events. From the very onset, horse racing and gambling were intertwined. As the popularity of racing and betting grew, so, too, did the controversies and corruption. Yet, despite the best efforts of social reformers, bookmakers stubbornly plied their trade, adapting and evolving as horse racing gave way to team sports as the backbone of their business. In Sports Betting and Bookmaking: An American History, Arne K. Lang provides a sweeping overview of legal and illegal sports and race betting in the United States, from the first thoroughbred meet at Saratoga in 1863 through the modern day. The cultural war between bookmakers and their adversaries is a recurring theme, as bookmakers were often forced into the shadows during times of social reform, only to bloom anew when the time was ripe. While much of bookmaking's history takes place in New York, other locales such as Chicago, Las Vegas, and Atlantic City-not to mention Cyberspace-are also discussed in this volume. A comprehensive exploration of the evolution of bookmaking-including the legal developments and technological advancements that have taken place over the years-Sports Betting and Bookmaking is a fascinating read. This informative and engaging book will be of interest to anyone wanting to learn more about America's long history with gambling on horse racing and team sports.

It is generally assumed that anthropologists do their research in remote and uncomfortable parts of the world--places with monsoons, mud huts, and malaria. In this volume, social anthropologist Kate Fox has taken on an altogether more enjoyable assignment, the study of the arcane world of British horseracing. For Fox, field research meant wandering around racetracks in a pink hat and high heels (standard tribal costume) rather than braving killer insects and primitive sanitation. Instead of an amorphous racing crowd, the author finds a complete subculture with its own distinctive customs, rituals, language and etiquette. Among the spectators, she identifies Horseys, Addicts, Anoraks, Pair-Bonders, Day-Outers, Suits, and Be-Seens--all united by remarkable friendliness and courtesy. Among the racing professionals, the tribal structure includes Warriors (jockeys), Shamans (trainers), Scribes (journalists), Elders (officials and stewards) and Sin-Eaters (bookies). Fox includes witty and incisive descriptions of the many strange ceremonies and rituals observed by racegoers--the Circuit Ritual, Ritual Conversations ("What do you fancy in the next?"), Celebration Rituals, the Catwalk Ritual, and Post-Mortem Rituals (naturally, a horse never loses a race because it's too slow)--and their special codes of behavior such as the Modesty Rule, the Collective Amnesia Rule, and the Code of Chivalry. The Racing Tribe is also a refreshingly candid account of anthropological fieldwork, including all the embarrassing mistakes, hiccups, short-cuts and guesswork that most social scientists keep very quiet about.

How do the class and gender inequalities found in horseracing affect the working practices of women within the industry? Drawing on the work of Bourdieu and his concepts of field, capital and habitus, this book shows the inequalities that are prevalent within the world of racing, both historically and currently, by illustrating the classed and gendered nature of racing and how it has developed since the eighteenth century when it was the sport of the aristocracy. Using research obtained through her year-long ethnographic study of a racing yard, Deborah Butler demonstrates that the racing field is an arena of power conflicts, and that men and women who work in racing acquire a contradictorily gendered racing habitus. This is achieved by learning certain elements in a formal setting but mainly informally, by 'doing', developing practical skills and participating in a (gendered) community of practice. For female stable staff this means adapting their behaviour and working practices in order to be accepted as 'one of the lads'. This book will appeal to both scholars and students of the sociology of sport, the sociology of work and gender studies.

Each year on the first Saturday in May, the world turns its attention to the twin spires of Churchill Downs for the high-stakes excitement of the "greatest two minutes in sports," the Kentucky Derby. No American sporting event can claim the history, tradition, or pageantry that the Kentucky Derby holds. For more than 130 years, spectators have been fascinated by the magnificent horses that run the Louisville track. Thoroughbreds such as Secretariat and Barbaro have earned instant international fame, along with jockeys such as Isaac Murphy, Ron Turcotte, and Calvin Borel. The Kentucky Derby: How the Run for the Roses Became America's Premier Sporting Event calls this great tradition to post and illuminates its history and culture. Rising from its humble beginnings as an American variation of England's Epsom Derby, the Kentucky Derby became a centerpiece of American sports and the racing industry, confirming Kentucky's status as the Horse Capital of the World. James C. Nicholson argues that the Derby, at its essence, is a celebration of a place, existing as a connection between Kentucky's mythic past and modern society. The Derby is more than just a horse race -- it is an experience enhanced by familiar traditions, icons, and images that help Derby fans to understand Kentucky and define themselves as Americans. Today the Kentucky Derby continues to attract international attention from royalty, celebrities, racing fans, and those who simply enjoy an icy mint julep, a fabulous hat, and a wager on who will make it to the winner's circle. Nicholson provides an intriguing and thorough history of the Kentucky Derby, examining the tradition, spectacle, culture, and evolution of the Kentucky Derby -- the brightest jewel of the Triple Crown.

In his own words Bob talks of his early life, his path to becoming a professional jump jockey and how it felt being at the top of his game only to have it come crashing down with a life-threatening diagnosis. The depths of despair going through the radical new cancer treatment he was offered and the heights of joy with that famous Grand National victory. This new biography also looks at the whirlwind adventure his life has been since that glorious spring day at Aintree and examines the tremendous fund raising efforts of the Bob Champion Cancer Trust. Today Bob is the face of that Trust, the UK's most successful small cancer fund that has been responsible for raising almost GBP15Million, money which has allowed research efforts that have all but eradicated testicular cancer death and furthered new research enquiries into prostate cancer. For the first time Bob shares his thoughts on his life so far, the highs, the lows, injuries, illness and of course just what it felt like to win 'the ultimate test of horse and rider.'

Bill Hartack won the Kentucky Derby five times, and seemed to hate every moment of it. ""If only Bill could have gotten along with people the way he got along with horses,"" a trainer said. His tragic, impoverished upbringing didn't help: his mother was killed in an automobile accident; the family home burned down; his father was murdered by a girlfriend; and he was estranged from his sisters. Larry King, his friend, said it was just as well the termperamental Hartack never married, because it wouldn't have lasted. Hartack became one of racing's most accomplished jockeys. But he was inveterate grouch and worked at giving the press a hard time. At 26, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Whenever the media tried to bury him, he would win another Derby. At the end of his life, he was found alone in a solitary cabin in the Texas hinterlands. Drawn from dozens of interviews and conversations with family members, friends and enemies, this book provides a full account of Hartack's turbulent life.

Robin Oakley brings alive the colourful world of those who ride and train jumping horses. With elegant production and gripping images The History of Jump Racing chronicles the social and economic changes which have brought the sport's ups and downs-like the development of sponsorships and syndicate ownership, the near loss of the Grand National, the growing domination of the Cheltenham Festival and the growth of all-weather racing to meet the bookies' demands for betting shop fodder. Pace and colour is provided by stories of the horses who have been taken to the heart of racing crowds, like the Irish-trained hurdler Istabraq and Best Mate, the three-times winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup for England. Famous rivalries and memorable races are re-lived and key victories revisited in portraits of and interviews with the owners, jockeys and trainers who have dominated the sport. The emphasis will be largely on the past fifty years-from Arkle to Tony McCoy-but a significant introduction by Edward Gillespie encapsulates the past history of what was previously known as 'National Hunt Racing' and sets the stories in context.

This is the second edition of the classic on the history of British horse racing. It provides a detailed and far-ranging social and economic analysis of the major changes in British flat racing, in particular in the period between 1830 and 1939. Four major themes are explored. Firstly, the changing character and structure of the sport. Secondly, the morality of racing, which was a corrupt sport par excellence for much of the nineteenth century. Thirdly, on four categories of participants in racing jockeys, trainers, owners and breeders. Here, the author assesses whether or not these could make money out of racing. Fourthly, the book examines gambling and its important symbiotic relationship with racing. The televised, sponsored, carefully governed sport today is a vastly different affair from that of the 18th century. Then racing was a free, social event, the highlight of the entertainment calendar for the bulk of the local community. By the late 19th century most race meetings were highly commercial enterprises, requiring payment from all spectators, many of whom had travelled some distance to attend. The excitement and historical interest of these meetings is well captured here."

In horse racing greatness is defined by speed. Being the second fastest counts for little. You have to win. And win. And keep winning until every challenger of your generation is put to the sword. Of the twelve horses lined up on Newmarket Heath that 2011 day, one would do just that. And more. To become the greatest racehorse that has ever lived. Frankel was born on 11 February 2008, with four white socks and a blaze, from impressive equine lines on both his parents' sides. Simon Cooper revisits the whole of the horse's life, giving readers an inside tour of the calm oasis that is life a stud farm, where a foal will live with his mother for the first year of his life. Next, the atmosphere of heady possibility that marks the early days of training. Roadwork. Gallops. Trials. Turning raw potential into something more. Frankel begins to set himself apart. A detailed and fast-paced narrative breathlessly recounts the racing career of the horse who, by his retirement to stud at the age of 4, would be rated the greatest of all time. Cooper weaves the horse's tale with those of his trainer, battling cancer, the stablehands who coped with his explosive nature, the work rider who tamed him, the the jockey who rode in all fourteen of his races, and the owner who saw his potential from the very beginning. The result is a rich and multifaceted tale of modern horse racing, the lives of everyone involved, human and equine, and the unadulterated glory of winning. And winning everything.

This book surveys the practice of horse racing from antiquity to the modern period, and in this way offers a selective global history. Unlike previous histories of horse racing, which generally make claims about the exclusiveness of modern sport and therefore diminish the importance of premodern physical contests, the contributors to this book approach racing as a deep history of diachronically comparable practices, discourses, and perceptions centered around the competitive staging of equine speed. In order to compare horse racing cultures from completely different epochs and regions, the authors respond to a series of core issues which serve as structural comparative parameters. These key issues include the spatial and architectural framework of races; their organization; victory prizes; symbolic representations of victories and victors; and the social range and identities of the participants. The evidence of these competitions is interpreted in its distinct historical contexts and with regard to specific cultural conditions that shaped the respective relationship between owners, riders, and horses on the global racetracks of pre-modernity and modernity. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of the History of Sport.

As the woman who trained the great Best Mate to win three consecutive Cheltenham Gold Cups, no one could be better qualified than Henrietta Knight to discover what makes today's top jumps trainers succeed.

From eccentric, outspoken Yorkshireman Mick Easterby, to elegant, aristocratic Venetia Williams, from Irish wizard, Willie Mullins, to perfectionist champion trainer, Paul Nicholls and young pretender, Dan Skelton, here is a dazzling cast of extraordinary characters, all with their quirks and foibles, but with one single-minded ambition – finding first-class horses and training them to win big races.

Henrietta shares their dramatic journeys, methods and secrets of working in a tough, competitive industry. For the trainers, every win reignites the thrill of the sport and a craving for success that never dies. Their stories are fascinating, each one illustrated with unique photographs from private albums.