This is the true story of the most remarkable horse in history. Foaled in the lavish Ottoman stables of the Topkapl Palace in the late 1870s, this dark bay stallion was hard schooled in the disciplines of war. Until now, his remarkable story has never been told.

"Getting Down" is not a typical racetrack story. Seabiscuit, Swaps, Man o' War, John Henry, Secretariat, and Zenyatta may well be mentioned, but this story is about the people of racing, not the horses. It's about racetrack workers, on both the back and front sides of the track. It's about racetrack owners and managers. It's about those who own the horses and train them, and it's about the people who ride them. It's also about the people who pay to go to the races - the patrons, including the rich and famous, along with the not so rich and famous, all the way down the economic ladder to the out and out homeless.

The above categories include some of the strangest, meanest, most dangerous, most pathetic, most ruthless people on the face of this earth. Yet, my list of characters also includes some of the nicest, kindest, most generous, funniest, happiest people one could ever hope to meet. And since this book is also about me and my over fifty yeras working in this industry, I'm going to let you decide in which of the above categories you think I might best fit.

"Getting Down" is about "getting down." The term, getting down, is racetrack lingo having to do with the process of successfully putting one's wager on a given horse, in the right race, before getting "shut out." In other words, it's about successfully making one's bet before the race begins and betting for that race But the scope of this story is, as you will see, much broader than that. Indeed, it is a story about life, because in one way or another, ine one form or another, life itself is about getting down.

The image of the Derby winner with his leg in plaster was broadcast around the world. Alongside Mill Reef stood a baby-faced man who had won the Arc, the King George, the Eclipse, and now the Derby. He trained for the Queen and Queen Mother, and Lester Piggott, Willie Carson and Frankie Dettori all rode for him, but where had he come from and how had he got there? Ian Balding's story is one of heartbreaking loss and outrageous good luck. He left Cambridge without a degree but with a rugby blue, and became one of the outstanding amateur sportsmen of his generation. Balding's burgeoning talent was quickly noticed and he was soon running Peter Hastings-Bass' stables at Kingsclere. Ian had no money and no experience of running a business, but he learnt fast. In Making the Running, Ian Balding reveals the pressure of maintaining the pace and shares the highs and lows of the sport of kings.

"There's a line that runs alongside our ordinary lives, just beyond the grind of things. Jason Beem's novel Southbound derails your ordinary life and shoots you into the thrill, rush, and dark brutal truths of gambling and racing. And he doesn't flinch. A glorious and visceral book. I sweat reading it."-Lidia Yuknavitch, author of The Chronology of Water and Dora: A Headcase.

Based on author Jason Beem's own painful journey with a gambling addiction, Southbound follows Ryan McGuire, a horse racing announcer who faces his gambling demons on a daily basis. Just one bet could cost him everything...his job, his friends, his fans, his girlfriend, and even his own life. Despite knowing that all he loves is on the line, he succumbs to his vices and his life quickly spirals out of control. He's on a straight path southbound to rock bottom and only he has the power to stop it.

"A gritty fearless portrayal of a man in the midst of a gambling breakdown. A relapse to end all relapses. It's as horrifying as it is intense and written with a lean sharp eye."--Willy Vlautin, author of The Free and The Motel Life

"Jason Beem's Southbound begins with the drama of a close horse race - and it never lets up from there. Beem has written a smart, perceptive novel - one that is about the difficulties of addiction and recovery - but also about the yearning for love, and the ways people fill the vacancies in their lives. It's saturated with the sensory joys of the race track, and a pleasure to read." -Pauls Toutonghi, Pushcart Prize winning author of Evel Knievel Days and Red Weather