Thoroughbred Racing Fan Association, Inc.
Thoroughbred Racing Fan Association, Inc.
New York's Greatest THoroughbreds: A Book Review
8/10/2022
NEW YORK GREATEST THOROUGHBRE
A Contemporary History
By
Allan Carter
[A book Review by ThoroFan)
When people think of the Thoroughbred horse, most think first of the blue grass of Kentucky. For years that has been a reasonable approach. A history of the winners of graded stakes races seems to suggest that. This is changing. Recently other states have tried to challenge that state’s prowess. New York chose to get into the breeding game in a powerful way in 1973 with the passage of legislation that created the NY Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund. It added financial incentives to improve the NY breed and compete with other states.
Carter’s book takes the reader on a historical journey spanning five decades with details about the evolution of the New York bred racehorse. In 155 pages the reader becomes familiar with each of the 80 horses to which he introduces us. The format is simple and consistent. In five chapters he presents these horses by the year they were born. It begins in 1973 and travels to 2018. Some like Funny Cide, Fleet Indian, La Verdad and Dayatthespa won Eclipse Awards. Others upset horses that on paper we never expected to lose. These made racing fans across the country to begin to pay attention to the New York Thoroughbred.
For each horse described Carter provides pedigree, breeder/owner, trainer(s), Jockey(s), and career statistics. In an easy-to-read style he then walks the reader through the racing life of each. The highlights of their spectacular wins merged with their failures gives the reader a sense of their prowess and frailty. Readers will imprint in their minds the names of these great horses as they consume this book.
The more than casual fan will want this book in their collections for future reference and refinement of pedigree handicapping. Carters background as a law librarian shows with the details in organization, presentation and references including a short bibliography.
As National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Historian, Michael Veitch, wrote in the Forward, “A good horse, maybe a great horse, can come from anywhere, and …, Allan Carter tells us of the careers of good ones from the Empire State.”
The book, New York Greatest Thoroughbreds: A Contemporary History, should be in every racing fan’s library, regardless of the state they live. It brings horses we all know or heard of back to our consciousness and puts a smile on our face as we read it.
It is a must-read book, written by a true racing fan for racing fans.
[Published by The History Press and on sale now for $21.99]