Great Horse Racing Mysteries: True Tales from the Track: Amazon.ca: John McEvoy: Books

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From Publishers Weekly

Did the IRA steal Shergar, Europe's most famous racehorse? Is he dead, or living a life of quiet obscurity in the Irish countryside? Did jockey Ron Hansen accused but never found guilty of race fixing jump off the San Mateo bridge, or was he pushed to his death? In Great Horse Racing Mysteries: True Tales from the Track, horse racing reporter John McEvoy explores 12 of the sport's weirder tales, including the poisoning death of legendary Australian racehorse Phar Lap. The book features some shady characters, among them William McCandless, who stole the valuable broodmare Fanfreluche, and more than two decades later, in 1998, was accused of "sponging" horses (inserting sponges in their nostrils to stop their breathing). Racing enthusiasts should love this book, but even those who can barely tell the Kentucky Derby from a hat should find this book an engaging look at a bizarre international subculture.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Titillating and informative. Well-researched and well written. What more could a reader want? -- Ann Hagedorn Auerbach, author of Wild Ride: The Rise and Tragic Fall of Calumet Farm, Inc., America's Premier Racing Dynasty --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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4.2 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Luridly revealing the worst in human nature, Jun 8 2004

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great Horse Racing Mysteries: True Tales from the Track (Paperback)

Great Horse Racing Mysteries: True Tales From The Track presents true stories of crime, unsolved puzzles, and cases that remain debated to the present day concerning the world of horse racing. Tales of murder, suicide, arson, fraud, and animal kidnapping reveal the dark side of this popular sport. Luridly revealing the worst in human nature in the racing and racehorse raising profession and keeps a tight grip on the reader's attention and does not let go.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Horse Racing Mysteries, Oct 23 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Great Horse Racing Mysteries (Hardcover)

Wow! You can tell this author was a newspaperman, yet this book reads like fiction. You don't have to be a racing fan to love this book, though if you are, you will enjoy the constant stream of racing stats - stuff you always wanted to know or stuff you forgot. It makes you want to take McEvoy out for dinner and pick his brain about all things racing. Each chapter is a roller coaster ride - you might not solve the mystery, but it's a wild ride. See the Woodward chapter. It makes Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio's marriage look like a walk in the park! The story unfolds like a movie in your mind. All the chapters are told with juicy details and multiple perspectives. Pray for a follow up book.

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5.0 out of 5 stars True Tales from the Track, July 24 2001

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E. A. Lovitt "starmoth" (Gladwin, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Great Horse Racing Mysteries (Hardcover)

"Great Horse Racing Mysteries" was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Award for best mystery/suspense book of 2000. It presents twelve true racetrack mysteries in chronological order beginning in 1932 with the death of Phar Lap, the great Australian Thoroughbred who won his first and only race in the United States before his mysterious demise. The author interviewed the few remaining eyewitnesses to Phar Lap's spectacular American debut, including Noble Threewit who is still involved with horses at age ninety-two. (I hope someone names a good horse after Noble Threewit---one of the most euphonious monikers in racing. Hint to Thoroughbred breeders: Clyde Van Dusen was named after a trainer, and both trainer and gelding went on to win the 1929 Kentucky Derby).

Anyway, Phar Lap was put on display in a Melbourne museum, and John McEvoy has presented a very detailed and even-handed account of his death. Did the "Australian Man O'War" die of arsenic poisoning? Was the poisoning deliberate, or was he put out to graze on grass that had been sprayed with insecticide? The author presents all of the remaining pieces of this fascinating puzzle.

There are other mysterious deaths in "Great Horse Racing Mysteries": a trainer; jockeys; a racing commission official; William Woodward, the owner of Nashua, who was shot by his own wife; the decline and fall of Calumet Farm after the death of the stallion Alydar.

McEvoy, a former reporter for the "Daily Racing Form" also describes two Thoroughbred kidnappings, a racetrack arson, and two stories involving the possible drugging of Derby horses---one to help the horse win, and another to make the horse lose.

The latter story was a shocker for me, because the horse involved was Holy Bull, one of my favorite Thoroughbreds. The eventual 1984 horse of the year, "ran the worst race of his life in the Derby, a departure from form so startling and disturbing as to raise numerous questions in its aftermath. His horrified owner-trainer [Jimmy Croll] subsequently became convinced this dismal effort resulted from the fleet gray colt's having been drugged prior to the Derby."

Once again, the author presents all of the evidence. Even great Thoroughbreds throw in a clunker now and then. But Holy Bull was not only fast, he was courageous. As Tom Dawson of ESPN's 'Racing Across America' series said, "It's so hard to get the horses with the talent and charisma...[Holy Bull] was the real thing."

If Holy Bull was drugged before the Derby---well, I'm glad to see him doing so well at stud. His son, Macho Uno won the Breeder's Cup Juvenile and an Eclipse award last year, giving Holy Bull's true fans the hope that one of his get will win the Kentucky Derby in some future May, and wipe away the only spot of tarnish on their sire's racing record.

"Great Horse Racing Mysteries" should appeal to horse lovers and mystery fans alike. It is a well-researched, thrilling page-turner.

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Most recent customer reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Great Horse Racing Mysteries
Ripped off by Amazon. Maximum price of this book was $24.95 new through the vendor Half.com. Amazon charged $38.94. Shame on me for trusting Amazon. Read more

Published on Dec 19 2003 by Jerry R. Anderson

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read
I have been a Thoroughbred racing fan for 35 years, and have been reading about racing almost as long. Read more