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

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.

Richard Sowers, a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was a sportswriter for two Virginia newspapers before spending five years as sports editor of The Gastonia Gazette, North Carolina's largest afternoon newspaper. He subsequently spent four years with The Courier-Journal, hometown newspaper of the Kentucky Derby, where his duties included the horse racing beat. During an eight-year stint with The Sporting News, most of that spent as News Editor, Sowers also covered thoroughbred racing for that national magazine.

Sowers is the author of two widely acclaimed books about stock-car racing—The Complete Statistical History of Stock-Car Racing: Records, Streaks, Oddities, and Trivia and Stock-Car Racing Lives.

The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing: Separating Myth From Fact to Identify the Genuine Gems & Dandies 1946-2003 is Sowers' first book about thoroughbred racing.

Sowers lives in suburban Atlanta.