Virginia Horse Racing: Triumphs of the Turf

Virginia, mother of presidents, is also the mother of American horse racing. From the very beginning, Virginians have risked it all on the track as eagerly as on the battlefield. Follow the bloodlines of three foundation sires of the American Thoroughbred through generations of rollicking races and larger-than-life grandees wagering kingly stakes, sometimes on horses not yet born. How did the horse nicknamed Damn His Eyes get protection money from other horse owners? What did it mean to tap the claret to break a neck-and-neck tie? Why was Confederate cavalry so much better than Union was it the riders, or was it the mounts? All these and many more stories of horsemanship on and off the track fill the pages of Virginia Horse Racing: Triumphs of the Turf."

Virginia Johnson is a professional librarian at the Central Rappahannock Regional Library in Fredericksburg where she is the web content writer for HistoryPoint.org, the regional history page of the library s web site. She has a B.A. in anthropology from William and Mary, a Master of Library Science from The University of Maryland, and is the Northern District Coordinator for Virginia Press Women.

Barbara Crookshanks received a B.S. in Journalism from the University of West Virginia and is a freelance journalist who has worked for Ladies Home Journal, Fredericksburg s The Free Lance Star, Fredericksburg/Tideland Times, and Fredericksburg Parent.