Racing Reviews

While everyone who reads about Seabiscut will hear about how he defeated the great War Admiral, few who see that story will get the amazing true life story of War Admiral.

Ed Bowen did a wonderful job in capturing the trials and tribulations of one of the greatest Triple Crown winners.

In War Admiral's time they did not have the advanced medicine and treatments and training technique's they have today.

Also the Triple Crown was not spaced apart with 2 week intervals to rest.

Reading this book made me see that even though Seabiscut defeated War Admiral in their match race, nothing can ever take away from his triumphs and accomplishments.

War Admiral was one of the greatest horses of all time, and you should have this book in your collection.

Best Regards to all, MC - TheStickRules.Com

The seventeenth installment of the outstanding "Thoroughbred Legends" series from Eclipse Press, War Admiral by horse racing expert Edward L. Bowen is the story of a singularly remarkable racehorse. The only son of the great horse racing legend Man O' War to become as great racer as his illustrious his father, War Admiral claimed the title at the Triple Crown races, and even ran with a badly cut foot at the Belmont Stakes. The life, training, exploits, great races, and more of this noble animal are painstakingly chronicled in this fine animal biography which is especially recommended reading for racehorse aficionados. Also highly recommended is Edward Bowen's Man O' War: Thoroughbred Legends...

This book was one of the five i used in my presentation, although it gave me the best and the most information. I recommend it to anyone that's intersted in cars at all!!

A book to have it!! A lot of information about how they work every single day. Very easy to read.

A little to perfect, for me. However i really recomend it!! Have fun, get closer to the racing sport in formula 1.

Thanks, :)

By Michael F. Hollander
Managing Editor
Racing Information Systems
An absolutely amazing treatise showing maps, places dates of all the more than 100 auto racing tracks in Los Angeles County and some around the Southern California area. If you're a racing fan on a tourist trip in L.A., this book is the start for a tour of the city unlike anything you'll find in the tour guides. You absolutely must have this book and you'll know things that most of the natives won't. There are also historical photos. Mr. Osmer did this book as his Thesis and the work is absolutely accurate.

An absolutely amazing treatise showing maps, places dates of all the more than 100 auto racing tracks in Los Angeles County and some around the Southern California area. If you're a racing fan on a tourist trip in L.A., this book is the start for a tour of the city unlike anything you'll find in the tour guides. You absolutely must have this book and you'll know things that most of the natives won't. There are also historical photos. Mr. Osmer did this book as his Thesis and the work is absolutely accurate.

William L. Quirin is a genius! All of his works are completely amazing and infinitely helpful. I would suggest his books for everyone!

P.S.- His daughter, Kristin, is a wonderful person and a beautiful woman!

this book is a must have for all serious handicappers....some of the angles alone have paid off for me big time.....a must have

I am not a writer or a reviewer, just your average run of the mill horse raceing fan. This is not a review like the ones above but a recommendation, I really enjoyed this book and will loan it to all my horse raceing buddies. Any other books written by Mr. Murray I will purchase with no hesitation. I couldn't put it down and enjoyed each and every paragraph.

William Murray is, like many of us, hopelessly addicted to the track -- not to betting (although he does that often and, despite the modesty displayed in this book, probably very well), but to all the sights, smells, experiences, highs and lows of the race track. His tales of the track (from the highs of DelMar to the lows of the fair circuit) are sometimes sad, sometimes hilarious, always with an edge. If you wondered whether the characters that inhabit the Shifty books are real, read this. They are all here. And if you wanted to learn a little more about William Murray, then read this. Though essentially a private man, he does share with his readers some wonderful stories on himself -- my favorite is the cribbing horse -- and also lets us know (if we didn't already) that he thinks Del Mar is all the heaven there ever needs to be.

A marvelous miniature, Yankee Doodle Dandy tells what at first blush is the story of Tod Sloan, an American jockey, who revolutionized horse racing by changing the way a jockey sat on the horse. (Prior to Sloan, riders sat comfortably on the horses back, ramrod straight. Sloan leaned forward over the horses withers, leaned over the horses neck.) His innovation initially met with jeers and scoffing from the traditional race crowd, but within less than 5 years, nearly every jockey had adopted the technique. There was no arguing with Sloan's success. Winning two, three, four and even five races at tracks featuring an average of seven races daily, Sloan's new technique, coupled with his remarkable sense of pace and often brilliant strategies, was unstoppable.

By following Tod Sloan's career we are given a vivid tour of the U.S. and England in the latter 19th century, from the life of the lowliest stableboy, to glimpses of the English royalty. We also witness the last gasp of British "imperialism" in its Jockey Club barring Sloan from ever applying for his license again. His infraction, suspected gambling, had never been cause for such a stringent punishment before. But, as Dizikes points out, there had never been anyone quite like Sloan before either. A brash American sportsman, spendthrift, ladies man, vaudevillian (briefly), he was the first sports superstar.

A short, masterful evocation of a uniquely American life, Yankee Doodle Dandy is a great ride!

You may not know who Tod Sloan was, but after reading _Yankee Doodle Dandy: The Life and Times of Tod Sloan_ (Yale University Press) by John Dizikes, you will understand that Sloan was as important to his sport as Babe Ruth was to his. You don't have to be a racing fan to enjoy this book; it is full of racing, but it is full of history and many Gilded Age politicos and capitalists wander through its pages. It covers the rise and fall of Sloan, who introduced the way we all have seen jockeys riding their mounts, forward on the saddles, almost hugging their necks. Before Sloan invented this position, all rode back in the saddle and upright. Sloan introduced the "forward seat," and he won with it, causing a revolution in racing. Many didn't like the new style, but took to it when it won. Many didn't like Sloan. He became a crowd pleaser, and his dandified dress in miniature, his constantly smoking a cigar "as big as a policeman's club," his inability to let others take the tab, and his eagerness with women made him a star of the sport.

Sloan's success was not just due to his gimmick. He was a skilled jockey. He was known for quick starts and blazing finishes. His judgement of pace was unequalled. Horses that had not performed well would succeed under his control. They knew his voice; a trainer said, "When Sloan enters the paddock, horses that he has ridden recognize his voice and turn to look at him."

But Sloan made such a spectacle of himself that he was resented by some members of the British racing establishment, even though he had occasionally been tapped by the Prince of Wales to ride royal mounts. A minor betting incident, not a big deal at the time, led to his being exiled from the sport he had revolutionized. Sadly, his drinking and gambling ruined his two marriages and any business prospects, and he would up as a ticket taker at a race track in Tijuana.

Dizikes's readable book is a beguiling history of racing as it used to be, illuminating a good deal about the history of racing, and the attempts to regulate it, and make it fair. It also is a little parable about what can happen to revolutionaries.

Weaving wonderful characters with beautiful venues and terrific pastimes, this book kindled warm memories of warm places and tugged on heartstrings stretched over some "tender territories". You needn't be a horse race fan to truly love this read, interact with the trials and comedies of relationships or be drawn into the storyline Ted Simendinger beautifully paints from Colorado, to South Beach, to Bimini and New Zealand. His insight into the frailties of Men vs. Women, and his ability to keep you hungry on multiple fronts, is marvelous.

Someone in this book will appeal to everyone, but my affinity for all the characters was established early on. It's a joy to see yourself, some of your past (and hopeful future) in a fast paced, witty and beautifully portrayed journey of men, women and beasts on a romp from flea markets to fame. If you've ever tasted long and unrequited love, thrown your fate to the winds of friendship and longed for life to come together in the most unforeseen of ways, then ride with the girls of the "Kiwi Posse" as they help fulfill the lives of unlikely American men and "Bonefish", the most lovable thoroughbred turned "beach-bum" you can imagine!

This book will help you follow your heart where you know it wants to lead you, have as much fun in as many places as you can, and realize that you need to fish whenever you can, love whenever you can and never give in to doubt that it really can be amazing in the end! Take a gamble, it's a sure thing!

The Indianapolis 500 Yearbooks are a valuable addition to any Indianapolis 500 memorabilia collection. There are various authors such as Donald Davidson and Carl Hungness but all of the authors did an excellent job on these yearbooks. They should be in your collection too.

In the 50s and 60s we had the Coventry Climax 750cc race engine for cars. The present day equiv. is the Reliant 750/850. This book covers that engine completely and in depth.

This is an outstanding story teaching children biblical truths. The author uses delightful characters such as Adam Raccoon and King Aren the Lion.

In this story Adam Raccoon is running in a race to Victory Mountain, but he does not realize all the ways it is easy to stray from the path just as it is in our life as we try to live for God, but kind King Aren gently leads him back. This story symbolizes our walk with God and how easy it is to stray, but also shows how Jesus is always there to gently leads us back.

The illustrations are colorful and pleasing to the eye. This is a great little book and I recommend it.