The Sweet Running Filly


Book Description

Bruised and battered, standing in muddy water with a chain around her neck, the young horse needed a true friend. Seventeen-year-old Julie had befriended many creatures, but, she had no idea what lay ahead for her and her Bonnie, the filly.




A Horse Called Bonnie


Book Description

“We Won't Let a Girl Ride!”The leader of the delegation of jockeys averted his eyes from Julie as he spoke, but there was no wavering in his voice. The jockeys would boycott the big race rather than let Julie Jefferson ride as a jockey against them. Julie heard those words like the voice of doom itself. After a cruel beating by a bad rider, Bonnie would run well only for her. Julie had defied all prejudices to win her jockey's license - and now, this.Should she defy the jockeys and ruin the entire race? Should she let another rider ride Bonnie and risk a humiliating defeat? Or was there another last desperate card she could play?Julie had to decide fast—the clock was running out!




Six Weeks in Saratoga


Book Description

Semifinalist for the 2011 Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award presented by Castleton Lyons and Thoroughbred Times When Rachel Alexandra thundered to a stylish win against the boys in the 2009 Preakness Stakes, her connections came to the 141st Saratoga Race Course meeting wanting more than just another victory. They wanted Horse of the Year. Her jockey, Calvin Borel, pointed triumphantly to the three-year-old filly beneath him. Rachel Alexandra was the best horse he had ever ridden and it was his job to ensure that she and her connections didn't leave Saratoga Springs without a victory. Hall of Fame trainer and gruff New Yorker Nick Zito felt he could slay the queen. He'd take his shots with two rival horses, Da' Tara and Cool Coal Man, because, as he well knew, you can't win if you don't play. New York Racing Association president and CEO Charlie Hayward knew that Rachel Alexandra could run elsewhere and didn't have to come to Saratoga. The pressure was on him to keep this talented and magnetic filly on his property, but how far could he go without compromising his values? Then there were the other horses at the meet: the Zito-trained Commentator, eight years old and looking for one last try in the Whitney Handicap; Kentucky Derby–winner Mine That Bird, aiming to reclaim his glory if he could only stay healthy; and Summer Bird, the Belmont Stakes winner, who demanded respect. Everyone was in the twilight of their careers. What would be their legacies? How would they be remembered? Never before has the famous racing season at Saratoga been illustrated through these threads, in real time. As we follow the jockey, the trainer, and the executive, we come to understand how they, and so many other racing fans and professionals, were drawn to the magnetism of one special horse, Rachel Alexandra. All of this happens in six weeks, all at Saratoga.




Ruffian


Book Description

"A colorful story...Ruffian was nothing if not a heartbreaker. Her story, dramatically recounted by Jane Scwartz, epitomizes both the adrenaline-pumping glory and gut-wrenching ruthlessness inherent in the sport of horse racing." THE WASHINGTON POST BOOK WORLD Here is the story f the exceptional filly, a horse so dominating, she was likened to legend. Beginning with her earliest days in Kentucky, the book follows Ruffian at every stage of her career and through the agony of her final hours--venturing behind the scenes of the racing world, and exploring the politics and personalities that came together to shape this exroardiinary filly's life.




Horse Diaries #1: Elska


Book Description

Iceland, circa AD 1000 Elska is a silver dapple Icelandic filly. She spends summers frisking about the countryside and winters in the farmyard, where the girl human Amma takes special care of her. But when a powerful neighbor notices Elska, her contented life suddenly changes. Here is Elska’s story . . . in her own words.




Legends Lake


Book Description

“JoAnn Ross triumphs again!” said Romantic Times Book Reviews of Fair Haven. Now the talented author returns to the bewitching Irish countryside in this irresistible tale of love's extraordinary possibilities. In the exclusive world of horse racing, Alec MacKenna is known as a hardheaded trainer who cares more for an animal's welfare than the financial bottom line. After a public altercation with a callous owner leaves his career on the brink of ruin, Alec's only chance for redemption is Legends Lake, a thoroughbred with Triple Crown potential and a dangerous problem that could end both of their careers. Alec escorts the colt from the bluegrass hills of Kentucky to the emerald pastures of Ireland to meet the woman who bred him, in hopes that she may have the answers that will save them. Kate O'Sullivan is happy to see her beloved horse come home, even under such disturbing circumstances. In spite of the irascible Yank who came with him, she has the feeling that something in her life is about to change forever. As Alec and Kate work to unravel the mystery of Legends Lake, they discover their shared concern for the troubled racehorse could turn into something extraordinary for each other.




Esperanza


Book Description

Spirit of Cimarron series.




The Ghost Horse


Book Description

“A rollicking read about how magic and the mystifying thrive at the racetrack” from the New York Times–bestselling author (Joe Drape, author of The Saint Makers). In The Ghost Horse, Joe Layden tells the inspiring true tale of a one-eyed, club-footed thoroughbred racehorse and a journeyman trainer, Tim Snyder, who scraped together every penny he had to purchase the broken and unwanted filly. Snyder helped the horse overcome its deficiencies, eventually naming her in part after his deceased wife, Lisa, the great and only love of his life—a bright and sweet-tempered woman whose gentle demeanor seemed eerily reflected in the horse. The trainer (and now owner) was by nature a crusty and combative sort, the yin to his wife’s yang, a racetrack lifer not easily moved by new-age mysticism or sentiment. And yet in those final days back in 2003, when Lisa Snyder lay in bed, her body ravaged by cancer, she reassured her family with a weak smile. “It’s okay,” she’d say. “I’ll see you again. I’m coming back as a horse.” Tim Snyder did not then believe in reincarnation. But he acknowledged the strangeness of this journey, the series of coincidences that brought them together, and the undeniable similarities between the horse and his late wife. And so did those who knew the couple well, and who could now only marvel at the story of the filly, Lisa’s Booby Trap, and the down-on-his-luck trainer who apparently had been given a new lease on life. The Ghost Horse is a powerful horseracing story of underdogs and second chances. “A heart-warming tale, artfully told.” —William Nack, author of Secretariat




Mercury's Flight


Book Description

Our "American Girl" of horses, each novel in the Breyer Horse Collection—based on Breyer Animal Creations' top-selling horse breeds—tells a compelling story that captures the true essence and personality of each horse. And now, for the first time, we have a historical novel. Annie Wedekind takes us back to Europe in World War II—a time and place that tested the courage of the noble Lipizzaner horses. In 1930's Austria, life for Favory Mercurio, a Lipizzaner stallion bearing the crest of the renowned Piber stud, begins with his mother's abandonment. From that moment on, the young horse feels different, as if he has a missing piece— even though, despite his doubters, he has talent enough to be accepted into the famed Spanish Riding School. Slowly, but doggedly, Mercury perseveres through the rigors of his years of training. But then, as the war bears down on Vienna and the school is forced to flee two advancing armies, his beloved trainer and rider, Max, with whom he has formed a true bond, is suddenly gone, and Mercury is abandoned once more. Will he have the chance to become one of the great Lipizzaner stallions, or will he lose the people, horses, and home that he loves?




A Horse of Her Own


Book Description

A girl who longs for her own horse is given the chance to care for a troubled, damaged horse, who needs her as much as she needs him. Fourteen-year-old Jane Ryan has always dreamed of having a horse of her own—but so long as she gets to ride her favorite school horse, Beau, at Sunny Acres farm, she's content. And this is the summer she means to try out for the advanced riding class. But just as camp begins, Jane receives heartbreaking news about Beau. She loses, not just her favorite horse, but also her chance to ride in the end-of-summer competition. When her trainer asks for her help with an out-of-control chestnut warmblood, Lancelot, a newcomer to the barn, she has no choice but to say yes. There's another new addition to the farm: Ben Reyes, the grandson of the barn's manager. As Jane struggles to go on without Beau, and to make Lancelot the great horse she believes him to be, her feelings for Ben, her relationships with the privileged group of girls she rides with, and her painful, joyous road to self-discovery all lead to a heart-pounding conclusion that is truly a new beginning. Only Jane's faith in Lancelot, and her own rediscovered skill and strength, can see her through the hard journey toward a horse of her own.