racing books

twotogo · racing books

Just finished reading T J Murphys autobiography,just wondering what the forum feel is there best racing book they have read.Weather it is a autobiography or about a certain horse ,maybe a book about the history of a racecourse or race.What about the fiction writers Francis,Francome Pitman,what do think about there books,any comments. As a reader of many books on racing i enjoy autobiographys the best.

geordie_racer

"A Long Time Gone" by Chris pitt, a brilliant book about the closed Racecourses of Britain

Gorg_George

I like some of John Francomes thrillers. He's got a nice style. Frankie's autobiography is a really good read and I really enjoyed Enemy Number One by Patrick Veitch.

twotogo

[quote="geordie_racer"]"A Long Time Gone" by Chris pitt, a brilliant book about the closed Racecourses of Britain[/quote]
Is the book new or old ,sounds a good read

geordie_racer

jennywales

You can sometimes pick up second hand copies of "A Long Time Gone" at racecourse bookstalls, but they are usually thought of as collector's items and can be quite expensive.

My own favourite is "A Fine Place to Daydream" by Bill Barich - a sort of outsider's (he's American) view of one NH season in Ireland - impeccably written and very informatiive.

"Horsetrader" by Paul Robinson (I think) is also extremely good and informative; about Sangster and the development of Coolmore/Ballydoyle.

For racing thrillers, you can't beat Dick Francis.

I also quite liked the couple of books written by David Ashforth, which are amusing and realistic accounts of the life of a professional punter.

Brough Scott's "Of Horses and Heros" is also very good, well written and shows how much he loves the game in all its aspects.

geordie_racer

oh i can add "from aintree to york" which was previously published as "racing around britain" which is an "ordinary punters" visit to each racecourse in mainland GB

glennie1970

Freud on Course is good and quite amusing

Ian Balding Autobiography is good too called making the running

jetcrowts

From Red To Amber, Ginger McCain's autobiography is a great read.

Jet........

jennywales

"The Grey Horse" by Richard Burroughs - on Desert Orchid - by far the best (so far) book I have read about a specific horse.

geordie_racer

racingcrazy

Horsetrader, about Robert Sangster and the rise of coolmore is very good

Jimbob

One of the best racing books I've read is Days Like These by Jamie Reid. Born To Bet by Michael Church is quite good as well.

For individual horses, 'Horse Of A Different Colour' by James D Squires is a masterpiece if you are into the breeding side of things. It's about Monarchos.

Jimbob

theBear

I've read quite a few racing/betting/gambling books over the last few years -

Books i've really enjoyed -
[autobiogs] AP McCoy 'The autobiography' - Pure dedication
Graham Bradley 'The Wayward Lad' - I really like Brad and this tells a good story
Timmy Murphy 'Riding the Storm' - He did well to conquer his demons and tells a good story
Barney Curley 'Giving a little back' - Awesome book with tales about Yellow Sam etc. Highly recommended
Frankie Dettori 'Frankie' - You cant help liking him
Vincent O'Brien 'the official bigraphy' - What can you say?
[non biogs] Highrollers of the Turf by Raymond Smith - My favourite racing book ever! Different stories about famous gamblers and trainers and the coups they pulled off or narrowly missed out on.
Racing Posts 500 strangest racing stories [or similar title] - Excellent book for easy reading and small titbits.
Dave Nevisons 2 books are ok,[A bloody good winner and No Easy Money] but I preferred Patrick Veitch's [Public Enemy Number 1]
I recently picked up a book in a car boot sale for a quid that was quite good too - Best Mate 'Triple Gold' by Hen Knight. Tells the story from the first time they saw him right up until the end of his career - very good read!

A couple that I didnt particularly enjoy -
Richard Johnson 'Out of the shadows' - A huge chunk of the book is a page about every jumps track in GB - WHY??
Mick Fitz - Hard to put my finger on why i didnt really enjoy this but I got the impression from it that he liked the sounds of his own voice a bit too much and likes to pad things out. Maybe im being a bit harsh?
From Aintree to york, Racing around Britain - Very boring and dull

Im sure there's a few i've missed out on too!!

Theres a couple of books that I'd like to read [off the top of my head]
Paul Nicholls - A Lucky Break
Kieran Fallon
Ruby's got one coming out next year and that should be a good read

Has anyone done a book about Aiden O'Brien?? That would be a good story

Cath_EVN

Great thread got me looking along my bookshelves!
Agree with the positives for 'The Grey Horse' and 'a Wayward Lad'
Also add 'Valley of the Racehorse' by Robin Oakley. Year in the life of Lambourn (2000). Like this one because i worked there for 5 years and it brings back happy memories and mentions people and places i knew. Interesting re-reading the fly sheet - it mentions 'upcoming' trainers Mark Pitman, Marcus Tregoning and Brian Meehan and promising young horse 'Monsignor'!
Also for similar reasons 'Crossing the Line' by Charlie Brooks.

Can't leave out the voice of racing 'Calling the Horses' by Peter O'Sullevan

Agree with TheBear about the racing stories book - not sure if it was an RP one i had but there was one with great stories about the early days of racing when races were run in heats and finals on same day and if there was a dead-heat the race was re-run even 4 mile ones! No wonder the modern TB is a weaker breed!

Also agree that i was disappointed with Mick Fitz book, I was big fan of his riding and like him on TV but i thought book was weak, no real insight , poorly written and inaccurate - i may be picky but one inaccuracy was he said he bought his first house for £32,000 then few pages later it had gone up to £39,000. That may have been inflation but that sort of thing irritates me!

I have several of those mentioned by others on my 'to read' list

Royal Derbi

The Robert Sangster and Vincent O'Brien books are fantastic for the insight into Coolmore and I'm not a flat fan. The vision to establish the empire is brilliantly portrayed.

Long Time Gone is absolutely essential for any racing fan. Did I see an updated or revised version on sale recently?

Best book ever though? The story of the mighty The Dikler, the greatest horse ever. I might be a bit biased though................

racingcrazy

Just finished the "unofficial" Fallon book, rather poor I thought, its apparent the author doesn't like him personally which comes across constantly through snide digs at him personally, especially towards the end of the book. Quite unprofessional I thought.