<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Horse Racing 101
Review: A good broad intro to the sport
Rating: 
Summary: Unfactual facts and unhelpful hints about Thoroughbreds
Review: This book has got the imprimatur of the "Daily Racing Form" on its cover, but I knew I'd made a mistake when I turned to the equine anatomy diagram on page 9 and discovered a horse body-part labeled, "leg or gaskin." Oh, oh. I just purchased a book about Thoroughbred racing whose author can't distinguish a horse's leg from its gaskin. Is it all downhill from page 9? Well, not quite... If you skip the first three chapters, the 'helpful hints' and the 'fun facts,' there are some interesting stretches in this book, usually when the author is interviewing a real expert in the Thoroughbred business. My favorite vignette came from trainer, Jenine Sahadi, who pours half-a-cup of red wine into her horse's feed to make it taste better, and to relax the horse. She buys her vino by the gallon at Price Club, so her Thoroughbreds are not likely to end their careers as maitre d's in some fancy French restaurant (although in France, they may end up as the plat du jour.) A couple of other favorite interviews in "Win, Place and Show" were with jockey, Jerry Bailey (read about the race where the starting gate was left on the track) and track announcer, Tom Durkin whose job is a lot harder than it sounds. If you don't believe me try to catch a race on ESPN when the sound feed from the track announcer fails, and the T.V. commentators have to call the race. As might be expected, the "Daily Racing Form" is mentioned roughly a zillion times throughout this book, and even has a whole chapter devoted to it ("Daily Racing Form: The Horseplayer's Bible"). As also might be expected, the most detailed information in this book concerns the handicapping of races and different forms of wagering. For some reason, there's also a chapter on "How to Throw a Great Kentucky Derby Party" that could have been subtitled "Assuming you have lots of time and money and very little taste"--a forty-foot cloth-of-gold pyramid? C'mon! The "Glossary of Racing Terms" at book's end is courtesy of NTRA Communications, and I think they need to do a little buffing up on some of them, e.g. 'black.' "Black: a horse color that is black, including the muzzle, flanks, mane, tail, and legs unless white markings are present." I finished "Win, Place and Show" almost as confused as when I began.
Rating:
Summary: Horse Racing 101
Review: This book has got the imprimatur of the "Daily Racing Form" on its cover, but I knew I'd made a mistake when I turned to the equine anatomy diagram on page 9 and discovered a horse body-part labeled, "leg or gaskin." Oh, oh. I just purchased a book about Thoroughbred racing whose author can't distinguish a horse's leg from its gaskin. Is it all downhill from page 9? Well, not quite... If you skip the first three chapters, the 'helpful hints' and the 'fun facts,' there are some interesting stretches in this book, usually when the author is interviewing a real expert in the Thoroughbred business. My favorite vignette came from trainer, Jenine Sahadi, who pours half-a-cup of red wine into her horse's feed to make it taste better, and to relax the horse. She buys her vino by the gallon at Price Club, so her Thoroughbreds are not likely to end their careers as maitre d's in some fancy French restaurant (although in France, they may end up as the plat du jour.) A couple of other favorite interviews in "Win, Place and Show" were with jockey, Jerry Bailey (read about the race where the starting gate was left on the track) and track announcer, Tom Durkin whose job is a lot harder than it sounds. If you don't believe me try to catch a race on ESPN when the sound feed from the track announcer fails, and the T.V. commentators have to call the race. As might be expected, the "Daily Racing Form" is mentioned roughly a zillion times throughout this book, and even has a whole chapter devoted to it ("Daily Racing Form: The Horseplayer's Bible"). As also might be expected, the most detailed information in this book concerns the handicapping of races and different forms of wagering. For some reason, there's also a chapter on "How to Throw a Great Kentucky Derby Party" that could have been subtitled "Assuming you have lots of time and money and very little taste"--a forty-foot cloth-of-gold pyramid? C'mon! The "Glossary of Racing Terms" at book's end is courtesy of NTRA Communications, and I think they need to do a little buffing up on some of them, e.g. 'black.' "Black: a horse color that is black, including the muzzle, flanks, mane, tail, and legs unless white markings are present." I finished "Win, Place and Show" almost as confused as when I began.
<< 1 >>
| 
