Randy Romero's Remarkable Ride


Book Description

Former horse jockey Randy Romero, winner of the Breeders' Cup, is a Louisiana sports legend still well loved in racing circles today. In 1985 he was at the top of his game, ranked number two in the country. This gripping biography covers the triumphs and tragedies in his exciting career, until his retirement in 1999.




Politics and Ponies


Book Description

Politics and Ponies is an engaging and compelling biography and memoir of Howard Nolan, a man who was born to love his two passions at an early age and let them lead him on a lifelong journey filled with opportunities and amazing success. The reader is invited to experience his fascinating lifestyle as he shares his globetrotting adventures in the politics of state governance and the world of Thoroughbred breeding and racing. With stunning consistency, Howard won election after election serving as a New York state senator from 1974 through 1994. The record shows that he had more votes on a major party line than any other senator. One of his more memorable elections was in 1983 when he won a surprising victory in the Republican dominated town of Bethlehem, which hadnt elected a local Democrat in its 188 year history. Howard was always pushing for positive change and challenging the status quo, which is why his relationship with Albany mayor Erastus Corning, backed by the powerful Democratic machine, was often tumultuous. He was called Albanys Man of La Mancha, because he dared to take on the unbeatable foe in Corning, which helped to bring Albany into the modern era. So, get ready to be impressed by an American original who built a lasting legacy around Politics and Ponies.




Jockey


Book Description

Being a jockey is more than a career, it's a way of life. The glitz and glamour of the show may belie all the time and effort that goes into it, but the life of a jockey entails a great deal of risk, personal sacrifice and hardship. Often viewed as second-rate athletes, partly because of their small size, these riders are in actuality some of the toughest men in the athletic world. Pound for pound, they are unmatched in physical prowess. Controlling and guiding large thoroughbreds requires a great deal of strength and skill. In addition, there is little room for error during the close-run, high-speed races where the necessity of implementing a winning strategy makes the sport mentally as well as physically taxing. This volume provides an in-depth look at the self-employed, independent contractor known as the jockey and the all-encompassing culture of the race track he calls home. The book details the qualities and abilities of the successful jockey, the transitory nature of horse racing, the jockey's constant battle regarding weight, the financial motivation of the sport and the close-knit nature of the profession. Interviews with over 100 jockeys including Hall of Famers Pat Day, Earlie Fires and Russell Baze, add a personal focus and give the reader an inside glimpse into the world of horse racing. The last chapter includes brief biographical sketches of the most influential riders from the last 50 years.







And They're Off!


Book Description

Beloved for his thunderous, commanding voice and affable personality, Phil Georgeff, known as "The Voice of Chicago Racing," holds the world record for calling the most horse races—an astounding 96,131. During his fifty years in the sport, Georgeff brushed shoulders with every great jockey and saw just about every great horse, from 1948 Triple Crown winner Citation to 1973's Secretariat. Part memoir, part historical analysis, and part nostalgic remembrance, this book is the quintessential guide to the history of thoroughbred racing in the twentieth century.







Diane Crump


Book Description

In 1968, a few women, mockingly labeled “jockettes” by a skeptical press, had begun demanding the right to apply for jockey licenses, citing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which banned discrimination in hiring based on race, religion, sex, or national origin. Most of their applications were rejected by racing’s bureaucracy, which alleged that women were unqualified to participate due to “physical limitations” and “emotional instability.” Female jockeys who attempted to ride met with boycotts by male jockeys. Onto this uneven terrain stepped 20-year-old Diane Crump, who had long since demonstrated her riding proficiency during a thousand workout rides on a thousand difficult Thoroughbreds (“I basically got on all the horses that no one else wanted to ride"). On February 7, 1969, having been granted a permit to ride at Florida’s Hialeah Racetrack, Crump, surrounded by a protective phalanx of police officers, walked calmly toward the saddling enclosure as she endured heckles from the crowd. Diane’s mount would not earn victory that day, but the young rider had earned a more fundamental prize: the right to compete in her chosen field. Just over a year later, on May 2, 1970, after 95 years and 1,055 all-male entrants, Diane Crump shattered tradition by becoming the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby. Over her career she amassed 235 wins. InDiane Crump: A Life in the Saddle, veteran turf writer Mark Shrager relies on Crump's own narrative, magazine and newspaper coverage, and numerous first-hand interviews to tell the story of an extraordinary athlete's life and career.







Memoirs of a Longshot


Book Description

Teenage drinking diverted Cot Campbell onto the perilous slope of alcoholism. This invidious enemy stymied the talents of young Campbell, who lurched from job to job and from jail to jail. Finally disgusted by his personal failures, Cot grasped the aid of Alcoholics Anonymous. Thereafter, he forged a rising career curve with passion, imagination, and integrity, taking his cherished wife and family along on the ride. Campbell founded one of the South's leading advertising agencies, then found a way to turn his love of horse racing into a sporting career, and his success completed a remarkable transformation. Memoirs of a Longshot is a sprightly telling of that unique tale. It is indeed the story of a "Riproarious Life." Praise for Cot Campbell's "Memoirs of a Longshot" "Leave it to a world-class storyteller like Cot Campbell to weave the vague, stumbling beginnings of a lad on a Tennessee horse farm with the raucous highs and desperate lows of big-time horse racing. Sprinkle the tale with such characters as Featherlip Trabue, Rhumba Pete and a one-armed barber named Baker Lane, and come out the other end with an indelible memoir of a life lived in grand and gracious style." Jay Hovdey, Daily Racing Form "Cot Campbell and I have had a strong working relationship for more than a decade. Reading Memoirs of a Longshot gave me a front row seat in the movie of his life all the highs and lows and everything in between. This book is so much more than one man's autobiography, it's an entertaining "how to" manual for an unusual life. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the history of a man I have counted as my friend for many years." Todd Pletcher, North America's Leading Trainer for 3 years Cot Campbell ́s love of horses is matched by his love for writing. He knows the low side and the high side of life, and in "Memoirs", he doesn ́t spare himself. From membership in AA to the winner ́s circle in the Triple Crown and the Breeders Cup, from prep school brat to Saratoga, he has run the gamut, and you can run it with him in this, his third book. Furman Bisher, Senior Columnist, Atlanta Journal-Constitution Cot Campbell's Dogwood Stable has been a mainstay in the world of horse racing for many years. The rollicking tale of how this came to be, and the personal travails overcome to make it so, is at times harrowing and sad, but ultimately uplifting and joyous. Ed Bowen, President Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation Other Books by Cot Campbell: Lightning in a Jar A how-to guide for owning racehorses based on many of the author's own experiences. Rascals & Racehorses Runyonesque stories about racing interspersed with some of the author's candid tales. For more information on Cot Campbell, click here




The Will to Win


Book Description