The most recommended horse racing books

I’ve always enjoyed Dick Francis’s hair-raising novels about steeplechase racing, crime, and intrigue, and it was difficult to choose only one. His inside knowledge of the sport and his connection with horses makes all his novels authentic and informative. Break In features the jockey Kit Fielding, who comes to the aid of his twin sister, Holly, when her racing stable owner husband is slandered by the newspapers. Kit has a telepathic relationship with his sister, which adds to the mystique of this fast-paced adventure.

While learning letters youngsters can also learn about the most exciting two minutes in sports. Jaime Corum's illustrations are deeply moving and the action springs to life through them and the poetry that Helen Wilbur's words provide. Although a young reader wouldn't be able to read the book to themselves, that is actually a benefit. I love how the book demands that an adult sit down, slow time, and enjoy it with the youngster they are reading to. There is no more beautiful ride than that.

Jimmy “Wink” Winkfield was an accomplished athlete of his day though his memory today has faded. Crystal Hubbard's powerful narrative and Robert McGuire's gorgeous drawings transport readers to another time and place and shine a light on the last African American jockey to win the Kentucky Derby. I love how the story unfolds and shows a loving child growing into a determined young man overcoming every obstacle the world sets in front of him. The tale is timeless and the historical context provides an important learning point to open a dialogue between the old and young. 

Shanghai, which was once called the “Hollywood of Asia,” has always been a cinematic city par excellence, so a good way to describe the charms of this book is via movie terms. In one sense, it zooms in tightly on a specific day in the history of the city and what was happening in a single setting. It mixes close-ups of a horse race and some people who came to watch it, though, with wide-angle shots and flashbacks. The author, a skilled historian with deep knowledge of Chinese history and a stylish writer, moves effortlessly between Shanghai in the early 1940s as the Japanese military’s World War II era grip on the city and much of China was tightening and earlier points in its past. He also moves fluidly between the racecourse—a potent symbol, as during the height of the British imperial period, Britons would often build these to mark… show more.

As a skilled mystery/thriller author, Dick Francis always wrote stories with interesting protagonists fighting uphill against all odds, and this fascinating story is no different.

I personally loved this attention-grabbing plot set in the Scottish highlands about an offbeat young painter who gets drawn into a complex family drama. As the most unlikely character chosen to protect his ancient family heritage, I found the ever-changing story with an unexpected ending a sheer delight to consume rapidly.

Actually, I could have chosen any of the Dick Francis mystery books for this list as they are wonderfully consistent in quality of writing and story. Plus, as a former steeple chase jockey, Francis knows horse racing. It’s surprising how many “horse books” out there get racing so wrong. I can’t count how many of his books I read while sitting in the barn waiting to race my own horses.

A book centering on England’s Derby Stakes may seem like a strange place to launch an interest in American Thoroughbred racing, but I first read Bloodstock Breeding when I was fifteen.

Decades (and many rereadings) later, it became the inspiration for my first book. Sir Charles’s understated yet obvious love for these magnificent animals sparked my budding interest in Thoroughbreds as I read through his blend of racing history (complete with odd details and memorable tidbits about individual horses) and practical assessment of breeding practices and horse management.

I still have this book on my bookshelf today, and I probably always will.

This one I read when I was much younger and think about often.

Georgia, a tomboy with an awful stepbrother and a serious lack of parental support, makes friends with an old man in an antique store who gives her the key to traveling to another world.

What sticks with me most about this book is that she spends the majority of it ashamed of her own skin, hiding who she is, dressing as a boy, and shrinking from who she truly is. Throughout the course of the novel, she finds her voice, discovers her strength, and claims the beauty what she has to offer the world.

This was such an important book when I was a teenager, as I felt incredibly uncomfortable in my rapidly changing body. To read about a girl who earns her own love was truly empowering.

When I first picked up Seabiscuit, I was dubious; I had already read too many stories of champion racehorses that were either dry histories or overblown hero-worship.

A hundred pages later (where did the time go?) I was completely engrossed and headed for an all-night read. In Hillenbrand’s hands, carefully researched history became the foundation for a sweeping story of a great horse, the incredible cast of people who gave him what he needed to become a legend, and the world of horses, horse racing, and American life in the 1930s.

If I ever write anything half as good, I will be well content.

Hopeland is a masterpiece of magical realism: only a magician could have crafted such a book, and McDonald’s protagonists are thoroughly human and relatable, which makes them very real, their occasional electromancy and stormtalking (breathtakingly described) notwithstanding.

They live, love, grieve, and help save the world from the climate catastrophe (which, incidentally, is the reality that we are living right now), all the while revealing to you why the world deserves saving.

Beware: you, too, will weep, laugh, love, and end up wanting to help save the world.