The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing: Separating Myth From Fact to Identify the Genuine Gems & Dandies 1946-2003 - Hardcover

Sowers, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0975439200 ISBN 13: 9780975439203

Publisher: Old Sport Pub Co, 2004

Synopsis

Only one filly since World War II has earned at least three major North American stakes victories as a two-year-old and five or more at three. Yet she wasn't selected a champion in either campaign and hasn't been enshrined in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing: Separating Myth From Fact to Identify the Genuine Gems & Dandies 1946-2003, available September 1 from Old Sport Publishing Company, not only reveals the identity of that exceptional, yet largely forgotten, performer, but countless others, both human and equine, in thoroughbred racing since World War II. This exciting new book uses objective criteria to identify the greatest participants in thoroughbred racing in North America since World War II by including only their efforts in the 6,461 major stakes races held during that period.

Even the most ardent fans of thoroughbred racing, and certainly novices, often find the sport intimidating. The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing is an easy-to-use reference material that identifies major events and uses the performances in those events both to simplify and amplify the records of human and equine participants, enlightening both longtime observers of and newcomers to the Sport of Kings with more relevant—and easier to understand—information than ever has been available before.

Learning the identity of the aforementioned superstar filly who has been overlooked by history previously could have taken months of research. Thanks to The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing, however, fans of thoroughbred racing will find that this exciting, easy-to-use reference book not only reveals the identity of that filly, but answers thousands upon thousands of similar questions in a matter of minutes.

The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing includes an alphabetical list of every thoroughbred with an in-the-money finish in the 6,461 stakes classified as major since World War II. Each contains the horse's foaling year and an annual record of its in-the-money finishes in major races. Major victories in each season, including the race and the winning horse's name, are listed alphabetically for jockeys, trainers, owners, sires and broodmare sires, and each section includes the standings in those categories since World War II, the year-by-year leaders in each category and separate listings for performances in the Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup races.

The book also includes chapters on dams and birthplaces of major North American winners and introduces the Sire Line Index, which objectively rates the male-line contributions of each of the more than 1,600 stallions who have appeared in the first four generations of any major North American winner's male-line pedigree since World War II. A host of easy-to-use, straight-to-the-point charts—from those for the fastest times in major races at each distance by performers in each division and on each surface to the leading breakthrough jockeys each season—also contribute to making The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing an invaluable reference source. Separate indexes for all human and equine participants, the latter which includes sires, broodmare sires and the outstanding dams of the thousands of winners of major North American races since World War II, further enhance this reference book's considerable value.

Author Richard Sowers, whose previous books were the highly acclaimed The Complete Statistical History of Stock-Car Racing: Records, Streaks, Oddities, and Trivia and the best-selling Stock-Car Racing Lives, long has enjoyed a reputation as one of the country's leading sports historians and covered thoroughbred racing extensively for more than a decade for The Courier-Journal, hometown newspaper of the Kentucky Derby, and for The Sporting News.

"The genesis of this book was that I was considered an 'expert' on the sport, yet I knew so much more about so many others," he said. "Eventually, I realized that, regardless of the intense desire that me or anyone else has to learn about the history of the sport or objectively measure the sport's truly outstanding performers, there simply were no outstanding reference materials that made that possible. In few sports have our mythic performers been simply that—mythic—because of the lack of truly meaningful data that made valid comparisons possible.

"That data actually has existed all along, but identifying it and categorizing it into the type of reference work to which fans of other sports have become accustomed wasn't easy. In fact, it took three years."

To purchase The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing, check your local bookstore, or order directly from Old Sport Publishing Company, P.O. Box 2757, Stockbridge, Ga. 30281. The retail price is $49.95, with an additional $3.95 for shipping and handling and $3.50 in sales tax for Georgia residents.

About this title

From the Publisher

The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing: Separating Myth From Fact to Identify the Genuine Gems & Dandies 1946-2003 is an important reference material that will rate a prominent place on the shelf of virtually anyone who is interested in horse racing.

The 536-page hardcover book is long on facts and short on descriptions. To author Richard Sowers' credit, just as he did in The Complete Statistical History of Stock-Car Racing: Records, Streaks, Oddities, and Trivia, he skillfully manages to transform statistical data into juicy tidbits of information by picking just the right plums that will leave readers spellbound.

The book's primary premise, which has considerable merit, is that grouping the results of the some 60,000 races held annually in North America and perhaps that many more events in various worldwide locales, often results in cumbersome and sometimes meaningless data to judge not only the best race horses, but the best jockeys, trainers, owners, sires, dams and broodmare sires.

The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing includes the performances of participants, both human and equine, in the 6,461 major North American races held from 1946-2003.

The bulk of the book is comprised of the records of the competitors in major races and, if nothing else, are undoubtedly the most complete such directories ever published. Not only are all horses with in-the-money finishes in major North American races since World War II—and their placings in those races—listed alphabetically, but so are the victories earned by all jockeys, trainers, owners, stallions and broodmare sires. Numerous charts and tables, the standings in each of those categories from 1946-2003, year-by-year leaders and separate listings for Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup races in each category make this an invaluable reference source. And the Sire Line Index, which is introduced in this book, indeed may prove to be the best device to measure the contributions of stallions both as sires of runners and as sires of sires.

Careful examination of the records of many of the sport's most revered horses and horsemen confirm that they truly earned their status as gems and dandies. The accomplishments of many familiar figures, however, at least in major races, may leave readers pondering how they have been accorded such lofty acclaim. And, as the subtitle promises, the facts and statistics in this book indeed reveal many forgotten participants in thoroughbred racing whose accomplishments indeed should be remembered.

And, unlike any other reference material ever produced about the sport, this book offers valid means of comparison. You can quickly learn not only who ranks as the most successful jockey since World War II, but who the 35th or the 75th most accomplished jockeys are and by what margins their accomplishments trail the leader. This book includes hundreds of other interesting tables and tidbits—from the largest winning margins at each particular distance at which or surface on which major races have been contested since World War II to the leading "breakthrough" jockeys each year to a list of the sires whose offspring have recorded 10 or more major North American victories who have sired stallions whose victory totals actually exceeded that of their sires—and much, much more.

The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing should appeal equally to three categories of readers:

—This book will prove to be an invaluable reference source for those who already own virtually every available reference book about horse racing. The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing, which features complete human and equine indexes that make cross-referencing the connections of any participant a breeze, will narrow a three-hour, three-week or frequently futile search for information into a matter of minutes.

—For those on a budget who'd like to add the definitive reference source about thoroughbred racing to their personal libraries, The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing is the only logical choice.

—Finally, those who go to the races once or twice a year or watch the Triple Crown, the Breeders' Cup or the occasional additional race on television—who enjoy what they see and would like to embrace the sport—will revel in The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing. That group, which well may find other reference materials too intimidating or too different from the frames of reference they have about other sports to be meaningful, will find this is exactly the book they've been seeking.

From the Author

Few sports match the beauty and excitement of thoroughbred racing.

Yet many people who have enjoyed an outing at the track or never miss the Kentucky Derby on television find the sport intimidating. One reason is that few reference sources have embraced thoroughbred racing as a fantastic sport rather than a gambling venture.

Because of the inherent differences in class of the some 60,000 races held annually in North America, the data generally used to rate the achievements of horses, jockeys, etc., is usually cumbersome and frequently meaningless. The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing: Separating Myth From Fact to Identify the Genuine Gems & Dandies 1946-2003 uses meaningful, easy-to-understand, objective data to identify the sport's top human and equine performers since World War II.

The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing uses the results of the 6,461 major North American races contested since World War II to chronicle the achievements of the sport's human and equine competitors and enlightens veteran horsemen and horseplayers about the sport's "genuine gems and dandies," often with surprising results.

After I wrote The Complete Statistical History of Stock-Car Racing, no less an authority than NASCAR's all-time King, Richard Petty, said that book "should be the bible for our sport." A similar goal for this book is a lofty ambition, yet I sincerely hope The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing will serve as the premier reference book about the Sport of Kings.

Edition details

• Publisher: Old Sport Pub Co
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0975439200
• ISBN 13: 9780975439203
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 536