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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
Subtitle: The Making of a Champion
I think everyone knows about this horse and his extraordinary Triple Crown victory. Nack followed the horse from early on and was present at the track and at the farms to observe his workouts and races. He did extensive interviews with the people involved: owner Penny Tweedy, trainer Lucien Laurin, jockey Ron Turcotte, and groom Ed Sweat, as well as the many others surrounding the horse.
I have always loved horse racing and have read many books about famous thoroughbreds, but for some reason had never gotten around to reading this one. I saw the movie adaptation and it was fantastic, but the book is much more detailed, and paints a slightly less favorable picture of Penny Tweedy.
This starts slowly, going back generations to expound on the history of the people and the horses that ultimately led to this one spectacular animal and his human team. But once he begins racing, the book really takes off. I remember watching those races. My husband was at Belmont for the final leg of the Triple Crown and saw that extraordinary performance in person. Nack makes the telling of the races almost as nail-bitingly exciting as they were to watch.
The book was originally published in 1988. The 2010 edition I read included a new forward that spoke about the movie, as well as additional notes and updates on the horse’s death in 1989 and his legacy as a sire of broodmares.
I think everyone knows about this horse and his extraordinary Triple Crown victory. Nack followed the horse from early on and was present at the track and at the farms to observe his workouts and races. He did extensive interviews with the people involved: owner Penny Tweedy, trainer Lucien Laurin, jockey Ron Turcotte, and groom Ed Sweat, as well as the many others surrounding the horse.
I have always loved horse racing and have read many books about famous thoroughbreds, but for some reason had never gotten around to reading this one. I saw the movie adaptation and it was fantastic, but the book is much more detailed, and paints a slightly less favorable picture of Penny Tweedy.
This starts slowly, going back generations to expound on the history of the people and the horses that ultimately led to this one spectacular animal and his human team. But once he begins racing, the book really takes off. I remember watching those races. My husband was at Belmont for the final leg of the Triple Crown and saw that extraordinary performance in person. Nack makes the telling of the races almost as nail-bitingly exciting as they were to watch.
The book was originally published in 1988. The 2010 edition I read included a new forward that spoke about the movie, as well as additional notes and updates on the horse’s death in 1989 and his legacy as a sire of broodmares.
this book was really good. I really like how we got to read what really happened because the movie Secretariat doesn't give all the info. I did think it was a little slow in the beginning but it does eventually pick up.
If you aren't a horse person you'll get bored at the beginning. The author is a former track reporter and goes into a LOT of detail about the history and breeding before he even talks about Secretariat...even I was a little bored reading about his great great great grandsire. Once it gets into the actual story its an easy read but you have to get through the first 150 pages of imported stallions and sales and breeding first...
I think I was expecting more... story and less facts. The story that was there was still fascinating but that is probably only because I love horses and the KY Derby.
There’s a lot of information here that will more than satisfy any big fan. I learned a lot about a great horse, and that final race at Belmont was told spectacularly.
It's not that this book was badly written. It's simply that this book had a narrative lost in all the details that didn't belong. If it simply been the narrative it would've been a good book but there was too much history that was not applicable to what was going on. More than just like it is disappointment and how this book turned out and how uninteresting it was.
Definitely packed with bloodlines, race records and workout times, so if you're not familiar with horse racing you may have trouble getting through the first few chapters of this book. However, Nack tells Big Red's story brilliantly and all of the background information thrown at you in the beginning chapters remains relevant and comes full circle by the end of the book. If you'd rather hear the real story than the tampered-with Disney version, and aren't afraid of some bloodlines and race records, you should find this biography to be the best on Big Red ever published.
Bill Nack is a self-important jerk, but he mostly managed to hide it in this book, amazingly enough. Some of his descriptions are a little overboard (I generally think of 'legs snapping' as meaning the legs are breaking, but he apparently likes to use it to describe running, which is a more fluid motion, to me...).
He does have an insider look, having pretty much stalked Secretariat during his career and haranguing the people around him into talking about 'Big Red'. The reader is the one who benefits, however, because we get to see Secretariat's playful side, and understand a lot of the behind-the-scenes activity during his career. We also come to understand why certain people were the way they were, or did the things they did. Penny Chenery's devotion to the Meadow, for example, is spelled out through a description of her father's devotion to it and to winning the Derby.
All in all, it's a very good book, especially for Secretariat devotees. Even if you feel the same way about Nack that I do, you can still freely enjoy this book, as he mostly manages to set his ego aside on this occasion.
He does have an insider look, having pretty much stalked Secretariat during his career and haranguing the people around him into talking about 'Big Red'. The reader is the one who benefits, however, because we get to see Secretariat's playful side, and understand a lot of the behind-the-scenes activity during his career. We also come to understand why certain people were the way they were, or did the things they did. Penny Chenery's devotion to the Meadow, for example, is spelled out through a description of her father's devotion to it and to winning the Derby.
All in all, it's a very good book, especially for Secretariat devotees. Even if you feel the same way about Nack that I do, you can still freely enjoy this book, as he mostly manages to set his ego aside on this occasion.
Awesome book. I learned so much about racing and the thoroughbred industry. Now have to watch the movie!
3.5 there was so much background of the horses and people that it took a long while for the story of the horses journey to begin. Good story overall.