Sixty Years of Jump Racing: From Arkle to McCoy

by Robin Oakley, Edward Gillespie (Foreword by)

Overview

Robin Oakley brings alive the colorful world of those who ride and train jumping horses. With elegant production and gripping images The History of Jump Racing chronicles the social and economic changes which have brought the sport's ups and downs—like the development of sponsorships and syndicate ownership, the near loss of the Grand National, the growing domination of the Cheltenham Festival and the growth of all-weather racing to meet the bookies' demands for betting shop fodder.

Pace and color is provided by stories of the horses who have been taken to the heart of racing crowds, like the Irish-trained hurdler Istabraq and Best Mate, the three-times winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup for England. Famous rivalries and memorable races are re-lived and key victories revisited in portraits of and interviews with the owners, jockeys and trainers who have dominated the sport. The emphasis will be largely on the past fifty years—from Arkle to Tony McCoy—but a significant introduction by Edward Gillespie encapsulates the past history of what was previously known as 'National Hunt Racing' and sets the stories in context.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472935090
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	05/09/2017
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	7.71(w) x 10.06(h) x 0.98(d)

About the Author

Robin Oakley: After being an assistant editor of the Sunday Express and the Daily Mail, Robin was Political Editor of The Times (1986-1992) and of the BBC (1992-2000). He then became European Political Editor of the international broadcaster CNN from 2000-2009 and remains a CNN contributor. He has written the Turf column in The Spectator since 1995.

Edward Gillespie (Foreword): Edward Gillespie was for 32 years managing director at Cheltenham Racecourse, responsible for the hugely popular Cheltenham Festival each spring, the Olympics of jump racing. He is a member of the Jockey Club and chair of the Pony Racing Authority as well as being on the board of a series of non-racing festivals in Cheltenham. He also works with Jonjo O'Neill, the former jockey who is main trainer for JP McManus, the biggest owner in jump racing.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 6

Racing's acronyms and abbreviations 7

Foreword Edward Gillespie 8

The Cheltenham Gold Cup 88

The Champion Hurdle 88

The Grand National 100

The Champion Trainers 176

Women in Racing 188

The Jockey's Life 200

The Champion Jockeys 206

Ireland $

Finding the Horses $

The Royals and Racing $

Running Racing 260

Paying for Racing 277

Betting on Racing 280

Epilogue 284

Bibliography 285

Index 286

Editorial Reviews

"A very fine book indeed . . . a love letter to a sport the two authors adore . . . Readers of this will be grateful to Oakley and Gillespie. A good job has been done" - Racing Post

"A labour of love written with Edward Gillespie . . . it charts National Hunt racing from the mid-1960s when the incomparable steeplechaser Arkle’s reign ended to the retirement of the 20-times champion jockey Sir AP McCoy in 2015. At its heart is a series of insightful interviews with leading trainers that illustrate the sport’s evolution" - Yorkshire Post

"Highly recommended . . . People bitten by jump racing after watching the National, the Champion Hurdle or the Cheltenham Gold Cup will find this book a useful guide to a sport with deep roots. Whether it will help them pick out winners is another matter . . . " - The Pink, Southampton

"For the true racing fan Sixty Years of Jump Racing will revive a host of memories" - XtraTime

"A colourful anecdote-packed history of steeplechasing and hurdling. This is a thoroughly enjoyable romp through the sport that maintains the strong gallop right through the 280-odd pages" - Blackpool Gazette

"This beautifully produced book encapsulates a majestic history" - Cotswold Life

"A great coffee table read" - Three Counties Race Club Magazine

"This book lays out the history in a way that has not been achieved before . . . A must for all horse racing fans" - Firetrench

From the Publisher