Equestrian Memoir

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. In The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime, author Steven Riess fills a long-neglected gap in sports history, offering a richly detailed and fascinating chronicle of thoroughbred racing's heyday.

Broken: Tales of a Titanium Cowgirl shares the journey of Michelle Scully’s calamitous riding accident and devastating injury. It also provides a panorama of her path of deep personal discovery as she unexpectedly finds herself in a joyful journey of recovery. Love of horses commingles with a personal quest to improve her horsemanship to spur on her healing.

The forthright, fascinating memoir of Peter Moody, trainer of Black Caviar and one of Australia's most high-profile and best-liked racing identities. The classic story of a boy from the bush who worked his way from outback Queensland all the way to Royal Ascot. As a kid growing up in tiny Wyandra, Peter Moody learned to ride almost before he could walk. Horses were part of life, and as a teenager working for local trainers he learned many lessons - some of them painful - as he built his understanding of them. A mate's introduction got him a stablehand's job for the legendary trainer Tommy Smith in Sydney, and his life changed forever.

Being a stable lass is probably one of the hardest jobs in the country, and yet for Gemma Hogg it is the most rewarding. She works in the beautiful Yorkshire market town of Middleham, and if her colleagues are occasionally challenging, then the horses are downright astonishing. Now, in Stable Lass, she takes us into the closed world of a top racing yard, from the elation of having several winners in one day to the almost indescribable grief of losing a horse.

It was a cold and foggy February night in 1983 when a group of armed thieves crept onto Ballymany Stud, near The Curragh in County Kildare, Ireland, to steal Shergar, one of the thoroughbred industry's most renowned stallions. The thieves demanded a hefty ransom for the safe return of one of the most valuable Thoroughbreds in the world, but the ransom was never paid and Shergar's remains have never been found.

Barry Geraghty is an Irish horseracing legend. From his first win in 1997 he has gone on to ride almost 2,000 winners, making him the fourth most accomplished rider of all time. With more wins at Cheltenham than any other jockey riding today, he has worked with all the greats - Moscow Flyer, Kicking King, Monty’s Pass. But while they have retired, he has kept on going....

A natural on a horse since he was able to walk, and imbued with a pure love of riding, Declan Murphy became one of the most brilliant jockeys of his generation before his world came crashing down at the final hurdle of a race at Haydock Park. His skull shattered in 12 places, he was believed to be dead, the last rites were read and the Racing Post published his obituary. Miraculously, and the word is not used lightly, he survived and defied medical thinking in recovering to the extent that 18 months after his fall, he was able to saddle up for one more race.

Detective Samson O'Brien is ready to settle down to a nice cup of tea, but it's not long before he's called on for help with a new case. In order to execute a recent will, solicitor Matty Thistlethwaite requires a copy of a death certificate for a young woman who died when Samson was a child. It should be straightforward, but things in Bruncliffe rarely are. Particularly when Matty insists that Delilah Metcalfe, with her wealth of local knowledge, works alongside Samson on the sensitive investigation.

Czechoslovakia, October 1937. Vast crowds have gathered to watch the threatened nation's most prestigious sporting contest: the Grand Pardubice steeplechase. Notoriously dangerous, the race is considered the ultimate test of manhood and fighting spirit. The Nazis have sent their paramilitary elite-SS officers on a mission to crush the 'subhuman Slavs'. The local cavalry officers have no hope of stopping them. But there is one other contestant: a countess riding a little golden mare.

As a Jew whose parents survived the Nazi concentration camps, I learned life is fragile, and survival arbitrary. As a jockey, I developed an approach to life of living in the moment, of pushing the envelope, of reacting first, because not reacting can cost you the race, or maybe your life. Jockeys are modern day serfs that travel the country picking up rides where possible, for the most part earning scraps, guaranteed to be seriously injured. Did I bend the rules? Yes. Did I break many of them? Most certainly, because that's the way the game is played.

David Watts and Johnny Winall have over 30 years’ experience as independent bookies. Their shocking story takes you behind the scenes that some in the horseracing world would rather not see the light of day. Their roller-coaster journey takes in some staggering tales from the Grand National, Cheltenham Festival, and Royal Ascot. Along with a refreshingly honest account of some calamitous business dealings, the book reveals how bookmakers think and hot to improve your chances of winning.

The Jockey is the true story of a young boy from the wrong side of the tracks who, because of his size and toughness, is offered a position to train as a jockey. It soon becomes clear that the business is less about winning horse races than it is about making money. He resists the temptation to join the extralegal side of the business until he is confronted by the facts of racing life: Horse racing is a blood sport, and jockeys rarely survive without life-altering injuries.

In 1904, at age 23, two-time Kentucky Derby-winner Jimmy Winkfield was forced from American horseracing by a virulent combination of racism and hard times. Wink left his beloved Kentucky, bought a steamer ticket for Europe, and made the world his racetrack. There he embarked on a decades-long odyssey, rising to superstardom and winning and losing two fortunes. Driven at gunpoint from Russia by the Bolshevik Army and from France by Nazi occupiers, the 105-pound jockey proved himself the most resilient, courageous athlete of the 20th century.

Two brothers live parallel lives on either side of the US-Mexico border. This is the dramatic true story of how their worlds collided in a major criminal conspiracy. José Treviño was raised in Nuevo Laredo, a Mexican border town and major smuggling gateway. He grew up loving the sprawling countryside and its tough, fast quarter horses, but in search of opportunity he crossed the border into Texas.

STRAIGHT FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH! Smarty Jones-the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and near Belmont Stakes Triple Crown winner finally opens up about his life on and off the racetrack. The Thoroughbred Thinker hurls some zingers, and throws a few ringers on the horseracing establishment. In this fact-based fable, America's horse touches on topics spanning leadership and motivation to humor and humility.