Download or read book The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime written by Steven A. Riess and published by Syracuse University Press. This book was released on 2011-06-24 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book The Sport of Kings written by C. E. Morgan and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2016-05-03 with total page 561 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize Winner of the Kirkus Prize for Fiction • A Recipient of the Windham-Campbell Prize for Fiction • A Finalist for the James Tait Black Prize for Fiction • A Finalist for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction • A Finalist for the Rathbones Folio Prize • Longlisted for an Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence • One of New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Book Named a Best Book of the Year by Entertainment Weekly • GQ • The New York Times (Selected by Dwight Garner) • NPR • The Wall Street Journal • San Francisco Chronicle • Refinery29 • Booklist • Kirkus Reviews • Commonweal Magazine "In its poetic splendor and moral seriousness, The Sport of Kings bears the traces of Faulkner, Morrison, and McCarthy. . . . It is a contemporary masterpiece."—San Francisco Chronicle Hailed by The New Yorker for its “remarkable achievements,” The Sport of Kings is an American tale centered on a horse and two families: one white, a Southern dynasty whose forefathers were among the founders of Kentucky; the other African-American, the descendants of their slaves. It is a dauntless narrative that stretches from the fields of the Virginia piedmont to the abundant pastures of the Bluegrass, and across the dark waters of the Ohio River; from the final shots of the Revolutionary War to the resounding clang of the starting bell at Churchill Downs. As C. E. Morgan unspools a fabric of shared histories, past and present converge in a Thoroughbred named Hellsmouth, heir to Secretariat and a contender for the Triple Crown. Newly confronted with one another in the quest for victory, the two families must face the consequences of their ambitions, as each is driven---and haunted---by the same, enduring question: How far away from your father can you run? A sweeping narrative of wealth and poverty, racism and rage, The Sport of Kings is an unflinching portrait of lives cast in the shadow of slavery and a moral epic for our time.
Download or read book The Last Black King of the Kentucky Derby written by Crystal Hubbard and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Born into an African American sharecropping family in 1880s Kentucky, Jimmy Winkfield grew up loving horses. The large, powerful animals inspired little Jimmy to think big. Looking beyond his family's farm, he longed for a life riding on action-packed racetracks around the world. Like his hero, the great Isaac Murphy, Jimmy "Wink" Winkfield would stop at nothing to make it as a jockey. Though his path to success was wrought with obstacles both on the track and off, Wink faced each challenge with passion and a steadfast spirit. Along the way he carved out a lasting legacy as one of history's finest horsemen and the last African American ever to win the Kentucky Derby. The Last Black King of the Kentucky Derby brings to life a vivacious hero from a little-known chapter of American sports history. Readers are transported trackside to witness the heart-pounding story of a vibrant young man chasing down his dream.
Download or read book My 50 000 Year at the Races written by Andrew Beyer and published by HMH. This book was released on 1980-04-01 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Harvard dropout’s memoir of playing the horses—a great read for handicappers or those who enjoyed Ben Mezrich’s Bringing Down the House. In 1977, before he was known as the creator of “The Beyer Speed Figure,” Andrew Beyer set out on a gambling odyssey, determined to prove himself as a horseplayer. He would marshal all his handicapping skills for assaults on four racetracks: Gulfstream Park, Pimlico, Saratoga, and the Barrington Fair. The then thirty-three-year-old Harvard dropout had the credentials for this undertaking: two years earlier, his book Picking Winners had won a claim from bettors and critics alike. But the theory of handicapping and the practice of it are two very different things, and Beyer did all he could to prepare himself for this new challenge. He consulted with other professional horseplayers. He undertook detailed analyses of trainers and their methods. He refined his speed-handicapping techniques. He developed a revolutionary method for evaluating horses shipped from one track to another. He formulated a bold betting strategy. During the year, he experienced the dizzying thrill of winning more than $10,000 in an afternoon, and agonizing frustration that drove him to bash a hole in the wall of the Gulfstream Park press box. When it was over, Beyer had amassed a profit of $50,664. His account of the year offers a rare, unromanticized look at the world of professional gambling. For horseplayers who have dreamed of beating the races, he proves that the dream is, sometimes, attainable. And he explains, in specific detail, how it can be done. There are no gimmicks in My $50,000 Year at the Races. Instead, there is a proven method of beating the races—and Andrew Beyer’s marvelously entertaining story of how he put it in practice.
Download or read book Horse racing written by Horse-racing and published by . This book was released on 1863 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book King of the Wind written by Marguerite Henry and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2001-06 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Born in the stables of the Sultan of Morocco, an Arabian stallion named Sham is taken to England, along with the loyal yet mute Arab stable boy who tends to him, and becomes one of the founding sires of the Thoroughbred breed.
Download or read book Encyclopedia of British Horse Racing written by Dr Joyce Kay and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2012-10-02 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Encyclopedia of British Horse Racing offers an innovative approach to one of Britain's oldest sports. While it considers the traditional themes of gambling and breeding, and contains biographies of human personalities and equine stars, it also devotes significant space to neglected areas. Entries include: social, economic and political forces that have influenced racing controversial historical and current issues legal and illegal gambling, and racing finance the British impact on world horseracing history and heritage of horseracing links between horse racing and the arts, media and technology human and equine biographies venues associated with racing horseracing websites The Encyclopedia of British Horse Racing provides a unique source of information and will be of great interest to sports historians as well as all those whose work or leisure brings them into the world of racing.
Download or read book The General Stud book written by and published by . This book was released on 1840 with total page 676 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Horse racing written by Dennis R. Craig and published by . This book was released on 1963 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Duel for the Crown written by Linda Carroll and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-04-22 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gripping look at the great duel between Affirmed, the last horse to win the Triple Crown—comprised of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes—and his archrival, Alydar. From the moment they first galloped head-to-head in Saratoga Springs, the two chestnut colts showed they were the stuff of racing legend. Alydar, all muscle with a fearsome closing kick, was already the popular favorite to win the Kentucky Derby. Affirmed, deceptively laid-back streamlined elegance, was powered forward by his steely determination not to settle for second place. In the Sport of Kings, the Triple Crown is the most valued prize, requiring a horse to win not just one race, but three: the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes. And 1978 would not be just for the record books, but also one of the greatest dramas ever played out in the racing world. There were names to conjure with, worthy of the Sport of Kings. The bloodline of Native Dancer. The teen wonderboy jockey Steve Cauthen. The once unbeatable Calumet Farm—the Damn Yankees of the racing world—now in eclipse and hoping for a comeback. The newcomer Harbor View Farm—owned by brash financier Louis Wolfson, who wouldn’t let even a conviction and a prison sentence for securities violations stand in the way of his dreams of glory. And the racetracks themselves: Belmont, Saratoga, Pimlico. And, of course, Churchill Downs. It has been thirty-five years since Affirmed and Alydar fought for the Triple Crown, thirty-five years when no other horse has won it. Duel for the Crown brings this epic battle to life. Not just two magnificent Thoroughbreds but the colorful human personalities surrounding them, caught up in an ever-intensifying battle of will and wits that lasted until the photo finish of the final Triple Crown race . . . and Alydar and Affirmed leaped into the history books.
Download or read book American Classic Pedigrees 1914 2002 written by Avalyn Hunter and published by Eclipse Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 790 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a monumental and important work for the Thoroughbred industry, author and pedigree researcher Avalyn Hunter provides extensive pedigree analysis of every American classic race winner from 1914 through 2002.
Download or read book The American Stud Book written by and published by . This book was released on 1907 with total page 1394 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Containing full pedigree of all the imported thorough-bred stallions and mares, with their produce.
Download or read book Secretariat written by William Nack and published by . This book was released on 1988-03-21 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There has never been a horse like Secretariat. Winner of the Triple Crown in 1973 and record setter in all three races—an unprecedented feat—he still owns the track records at Churchill Downs, Pimlico, and Aqueduct. William Nack, formerly the racing writer for Newsday and currently contributing editor to Sports Illustrated , fell in love with the horse the first time he saw him run. He has written one of the most complete, thrilling, and memorable accounts ever written of the horse-racing world, and its greatest champion.
Download or read book Official Gazette written by Philippines and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 1190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Wish s Derby written by Carl O'Callaghan and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2013-07-27 with total page 34 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wish, a horse with an Autism spectrum disorder is teased and taunted by the other horses at Irish Stables, but he rises to the call of duty when the star horse is injured during training for the Woodward Derby. Wish runs the race in his place and finds that he can fulfill his dreams with the support and encouragement he receives from his trainer.
Download or read book Horse racing in France written by Robert Black and published by . This book was released on 1886 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Eclipse written by Nicholas Clee and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2012-03-29 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Watching Eclipse is the man who wants to buy him. An adventurer and rogue who has made his money through gambling, Dennis O'Kelly is also a known companion to the madam of a notorious London brothel. Under O'Kelly's management, Eclipse would go on a winning streak unparalleled for the next two centuries. As journalist Nicholas Clee explores in this captivating romp, while O'Kelly was destined to remain an outcast to the racing establishment, his horse would go on to become the undisputed, undefeated champion of the sport. Not only a consummate winner, Eclipse exemplified the perfect thoroughbred -- a status he retains even today. Eclipse's male-line descendants include Secretariat, Barbaro, and all but three of the Kentucky Derby winners of the past fifty years.
