Racing Maxims & Methods of Pitssburg Phil


Book Description

This legendary classic, originally published in 1908, and still sought after today, reveals the observations and handicapping techniques of Pittsburg Phil, AKA George Smith, the most successful handicapper of his time. Smith won over $1.7 million, a fortune in the early part of the 20th century. The author covers topics as time handicapping, class and weight, honest jockeys, effect of drugs on performance, the impact of time and weight, and includes dozens of winning tips on successful handicapping. The book contains some of the best horseplaying advice ever and has stood the test of time for generations of horseplayers. The basic principles of beating the track are the same today as before, with readers getting a chance to learn from one of the greatest horse bettors ever.




Racing Maxims & Methods of Pittsburg Phil


Book Description

A legendary classic packed with some of the best horseplaying advice ever, which reveals the observations and handicapping techniques of Pittsburg Phil, the most successful handicapper of his time. This legendary classic, originally published in 1908, and still sought after today, reveals the observations and handicapping techniques of Pittsburg Phil, AKA George Smith, the most successful handicapper of his time. Smith won over $1.7 million, a fortune in the early part of the 20th century. The author covers topics as time handicapping, class and weight, honest jockeys, effect of drugs on performance, the impact of time and weight, and includes dozens of winning tips on successful handicapping. The book contains some of the best horseplaying advice ever and has stood the test of time for generations of horseplayers. The basic principles of beating the track are the same today as before, with readers getting a chance to learn from one of the greatest horse bettors ever.




Yankee Doodle Dandy


Book Description

In the 1890s the world of racing was turned on its ear by a young American who rodeøhorses as no professional jockey had ever ridden: Tod Sloan hitched up his stirrups and thrust his weight far forward. Traditionalists laughed at first and dismissed him as a novelty, but as he came to dominate racing on both sides of the Atlantic, his style of riding became widely imitated, and his famous ?forward seat? remains universally practiced to this day. Sloan?s place in racing lore and popular culture was cemented in 1904 when George M. Cohan wrote and starred in Little Johnny Jones, a Broadway musical based on Sloan?s rise and fall in England. John Dizikes?s portrait of Sloan (1874?1933) shows a small-town, hard-luck, midwestern boy who became an overnight sensation and an international celebrity in a world of breeders, bookmakers, gamblers, hustlers, bluebloods, and princes. As the King of Jockeys in the sport of kings, Sloan lived in high style, until he was banned from British racing and forced to eke out a living on the margins of the sport for thirty years.







The Winning Horseplayer


Book Description

This advanced guide to handicapping, which includes a new Foreword by the author, is chock-full of the wit and wisdom that have made Beyer a legend in the sport. The Winning Horseplayeroffers the sophisticated bettor invaluable advice on handicapping and betting. "(Beyer) is the grand guru . . . of handicapping".--Boston Globe




The Gigantic Book of Horse Wisdom


Book Description

Can you recall the first time you rode a horse or galloped down an empty beach? The first time you heard the knowing “neigh” as the saddle shifted on the proud stallion’s back? Bring back those wonderful memories with this enormous 800-page anthology. Featuring personal insights from some of the world’s foremost equestrian writers, including Anna Sewell, Nicholas Evans, Cormac McCarthy, and others, it will surely pull the heartstrings of serious jockeys and casual riders alike. Traveling from the open plains to the cattle ranches of the beauteous Midwest, from the quiet seclusion of small town America to the clamor of New York, this special volume reminds us of all the little bits of wisdom we can learn from our equestrian friends. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Sports Publishing imprint, is proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in sports—books about baseball, pro football, college football, pro and college basketball, hockey, or soccer, we have a book about your sport or your team. In addition to books on popular team sports, we also publish books for a wide variety of athletes and sports enthusiasts, including books on running, cycling, horseback riding, swimming, tennis, martial arts, golf, camping, hiking, aviation, boating, and so much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to publishing books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked by other publishers and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.




The Publishers Weekly


Book Description




Murder, Inc., and the Moral Life


Book Description

In 1940 and 1941 a group of ruthless gangsters from Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood became the focus of media frenzy when they—dubbed “Murder Inc.,” by New York World-Telegram reporter Harry Feeney—were tried for murder. It is estimated that collectively they killed hundreds of people during a reign of terror that lasted from 1931 to 1940. As the trial played out to a packed courtroom, shocked spectators gasped at the outrageous revelations made by gang leader Abe “Kid Twist” Reles and his pack of criminal accomplices. News of the trial proliferated throughout the country; at times it received more newspaper coverage than the unabated war being waged overseas. The heinous crimes attributed to Murder, Inc., included not only murder and torture but also auto theft, burglary, assaults, robberies, fencing stolen goods, distribution of illegal drugs, and just about any “illegal activity from which a revenue could be derived.” When the trial finally came to a stunning unresolved conclusion in November 1941, newspapers generated record headlines. Once the trial was over, tales of the Murder, Inc., gang became legendary, spawning countless books and memoirs and providing inspiration for the Hollywood gangster-movie genre. These men were fearsome brutes with an astonishing ability to wield power. People were fascinated by the “gangster” figure, which had become a symbol for moral evil and contempt and whose popularity showed no signs of abating. As both a study in criminal behavior and a cultural fascination that continues to permeate modern society, the reverberations of “Murder, Inc.” are profound, including references in contemporary mass media. The Murder, Inc., story is as much a tale of morality as it is a gangster history, and Murder, Inc., and the Moral Life by Robert Whalen meshes both topics clearly and meticulously, relating the gangster phenomenon to modern moral theory. Each chapter covers an aspect of the Murder, Inc., case and reflects on its ethical elements and consequences. Whalen delves into the background of the criminals involved, their motives, and the violent death that surrounded them; New York City’s immigrant gang culture and its role as “Gangster City”; fiery politicians Fiorello La Guardia and Thomas E. Dewey and the choices they made to clean up the city; and the role of the gangster in popular culture and how it relates to “real life.” Whalen puts a fresh spin on the two topics, providing a vivid narrative with both historical and moral perspective.




The Racing Game


Book Description

This study of a unique social world probes beneath the thrill and spectacle of horse racing into the lives of the "honest boys," the "gyps," the "manipulators," the "stoops," and the "Chalk eaters"--the constituents of race track society and the players of the racing game. With scientific precision and journalistic vigor, Scott describes the everyday activities--the objectives and strategies--of those whose lives are organized around track proceedings and who compete with chance and one another. The players in the racing game range from track owners to stable boys, from law enforcers to lawbreakers, and from casual sportsmen to pathologically addicted gamblers. Considering the self-interests, the normative and operational codes, and the interactional relationships among the major types and subtypes of participants, the author defines the components of strategic movement within the framework of rules and resources to show how a player's relations to the "means of production" governs his behavior. The fruitful application of sociological theory and method to an unusually interesting social context makes this particularly useful still for courses in social problems and the sociology of organizations and of leisure.




The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime


Book Description

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. As the sport became a national industry, the New York metropolitan area, along with the resort towns of Saratoga Springs (New York) and Long Branch (New Jersey), remained at the center of horse racing with the most outstanding race courses, the largest purses, and the finest thoroughbreds. Riess narrates the history of horse racing, detailing how and why New York became the national capital of the sport from the mid-1860s until the early twentieth century. The sport’s survival depended upon the racetrack being the nexus between politicians and organized crime. The powerful alliance between urban machine politics and track owners enabled racing in New York to flourish. Gambling, the heart of racing’s appeal, made the sport morally suspect. Yet democratic politicians protected the sport, helping to establish the State Racing Commission, the first state agency to regulate sport in the United States. At the same time, racetracks became a key connection between the underworld and Tammany Hall, enabling illegal poolrooms and off-course bookies to operate. Organized crime worked in close cooperation with machine politicians and local police officers to protect these illegal operations. In The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime, Riess fills a long-neglected gap in sports history, offering a richly detailed and fascinating chronicle of thoroughbred racing’s heyday.