Linda Carroll (3)

I love reading books about famous horses, and Stymie was one horse that is definitely worth knowing about. His breeders wrote him off early on, but Hirsch Jacobs saw his potential and it payed off in a big way during the WWII years when the public needed to rally around a champion.

Stymie was bought by trainer, Hirsch Jacobs in a claiming race for a dirt cheap price. Once under Jacobs care, Stymie blossomed into one of the most powerful racehorses in the history of the sport and earned Jacobs more money than he ever would have dared to imagine.

The story begins with Jacobs as a boy racing pigeons. As he grew older, he became interested in horses and applied his knowledge of pigeons to the horses. Jacobs was an honest family man who did not gamble, but ended up in a partnership with well-known gambler and bachelor, Isador Beiber. What was unusual about the partnership was that neither were part of the Blueblood wealthy horsing world.

There is quite a bit about gambling in the book in reference to horse racing, but overall this is a very clean book and chronicles Jacobs’ lifetime and the life and career of Stymie, a thoroughbred born on the King Ranch in Texas. The book focuses on their appeal to the public as representing the common folk in a sport that tended to only be available to the wealthy and connected

Overall I enjoyed the book and think anyone who loves reading about animals and horse racing will find this an interesting read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Hatchette Books for providing an advance copy so that I could offer an honest review.… (mere)

I'm almost finished with this book, so I'll go ahead and review it.

This non-fiction work, about the rivalry between Affirmed and Alydar during their short racing careers, has been interesting and full of information about not only those two thoroughbreds, but the people surrounding them. As done with another recent read of mine, "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand, this story would pause for a flashback of information about a trainer, or a jockey, or owner. While the authors used this similar literary device to complete gaps in the narrative, I did not feel myself drawn in to the story, nor did I care about the characters as much as with the book about Seabiscuit. In the latter book, I wanted Red Pollard to overcome, but in this story I felt entirely neutral about Steve Cauthen. Too bad.

If you like sports history or horse racing, this book will give you a tremendous amount of information in a non-boring method. I do recommend it, but will probably not read it again.

Addendum: I figured out what is missing from this book...heart!!… (mere)