Horse racing is one of the oldest sports in history that managed to keep up its tradition for hundreds of years. Since horse racing is an unpredictable sport, over the year we’ve witnessed a lot of drama and highly exciting action which is a birth of a good story.
Horse racing is often referred to as “The Sport of Kings” and once you start to go deeper into it, you’ll start to understand the whole idea behind horse racing and what it represents.
So, if you are a horse racing enthusiast and want to learn more about the sport, here are some books that you should definitely read.
The Horse God Build: The Untold Story of Secretariat
Even if you are not a die-hard horse racing fan, chances are that you’ve already heard the name Secretariat. Secretariat was probably the greatest racehorse to ever live. This horse managed to set blisteringly fast times in some of the world’s biggest races and was crowned the Triple Crown champion setting record times in every race that are not beaten even today.
This book highlights the story of the Secretariat and will give you inside information about what was going on at that time and how the Secretariat managed to become the greatest racehorse in the world.
This story was adapted to cinemas in 2010 in a movie that includes Diane Lane, Margo Martindale and John Malkovich.
Seabiscuit, An American Legend
At this time, there are definitely more people that have seen the film than read the book. The film was great and beautifully captured the action of Seabiscuit, but the book from Laura Hillenbrand is miles better.
The book will teleport you to the era of an underdog horse that nobody believed in until a few characters show up that gave the horse a chance.
Seabiscuit became an incredible racehorse, and this book is perfect for getting in the right mindset of all the people that build this incredible story that actually happened in the middle of the Great Depression.
So, if you like stories about underdogs, and you still don’t know about Seabiscuit then this is the perfect book for you. You can read some other real Seabiscuit horse facts here about the legendary Derby winner.
Out of the Clouds
Speaking of underdogs, here we have another great horse racing book that tells the story about a very poor Brooklyn city slicker and a failed racehorse that was thrown away from professional competition.
Out of the Clouds focuses more on the training part of the horse as the legendary Hirsch Jacobs transforms the unwanted Thoroughbred into a world-class racehorse.
The horse was named Stymie and was bought for only $1,500 by Jacobs. This quickly turns into a Cinderella story as Stymie becomes the first racehorse to win $900,000 with 25 stake wins.
It is a truly inspiring story that will melt the heart of every horse racing enthusiast.
Doped
This is another interesting horse-racing book to read that is actually the winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award in 2013 written by Jamie Reid.
Doped is a book that will teleport you to the late 1950s and early 60s, to tell you a story about a bookmaker, gambler, and horse doper Bill roper, and his mistress Micheline Lugeon.
The descriptions of the doping operations, as well as all the dirty things that the people did back then just to build a horse racing champion, were shocking. The fact that this book is actually based on a true story is even more shocking.
So, if you want to enter the dark and shady world of horse racing back in the day, “Doped” is the perfect book for you.
The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told
It is hard to imagine horse racing without betting. Since betting is a huge part of horse racing, there are many stories that inspired writers to write incredible books such as this one.
This is a story about a group of friends who place a bet on an underdog horse called Winning Colors who became the longshot winner of the Kentucky Derby in 1988. After the horse amazing won the Kentucky Derby, Mark-Paul and his friends were storming to the bookie to claim their prize money.
However, things are about to go wrong as they realize that they’ve placed their bets with members of a suspected drug cartel in Tijuana, Mexico. This made the three-man chase their earned money through hell and back.
Even though the story might sound ridiculous, it is actually true, and Paul waited years before he can tell it to anyone.
