1 Of the Lads : Racing on the Inside - Hardcover

Gallier, Susan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0091736986 ISBN 13: 9780091736989

Publisher: Stanley Paul & Co., LTD, 1988

Synopsis

Stable lads are not just race people: they are a race apart. Their work is dirty, dangerous and badly paid. They totter under heavy mucksacks while most people are still snoring. They canter over freezing heathland in the dead of winter, aboard highly strung thoroughbreds who may suddenly, for obscure horsey reasons, decide to rear or bolt. The horse valets live in often squalid hostels, gambling, guzzling beer and fast food, pinching bottoms and insulting one another with a brutal, indignant wit.

Yet the life of a 'lad' has an irresistible allure - even for girls. Susan Gallier is one of the flood of young women coming into racing, most of whom will never actually reach the top because of strong prejudice, tough talk and a rigid hierarchy separating lads from apprentices and jockeys. The girls do the job, as all lads do, because they adore horses and develop a secret rapport with their charges beyond the ken of trainers, tycoons, remote owners or star riders.

This book is full of inside information on stable life and the race game both in Britain and France, from the thrill of race days to the tension of putting yearlings through their paces, from the social hubbub of the sales to the private messages from four-legged friends who would like an itch scratched or a blanket adjusted.

A horsey story so fresh and entertaining, you can almost smell the straw.

Edition details

• Publisher: Stanley Paul & Co., LTD
• Publication date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0091736986
• ISBN 13: 9780091736989
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176