'From incredible highs to devastating lows, the championship battles and mental turmoil, Derby winners and cancer heartbreak, Pat has left more than a legacy. Read this and you will agree with me – he is iconic.' RUBY WALSH 'Pat tells his story with the same honesty and humility that defined him as a person. He was a remarkable man and his is a compelling story.' SIR ANTHONY MCCOY 'Pat was an amazing man, a man of dignity who went about life with a smile on his face. He is an example to all of us.' FRANKIE DETTORI 'Inspiring, heart-breaking and unforgettable.' BROUGH SCOTT Pat Smullen was one of the greatest Irish jockeys ever. In a career laden with success, his position as one of the country's best ever flat jockeys was long established. And yet, despite being a nine-time champion jockey, his humility defined him. It was this strength of character that sustained him when, in March 2018, Pat was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. There was never any self-pity. He just dealt with it. And more than that, he brought it centre stage: raising funds and awareness, and channelling his energies into helping others. Pat was a champion in all aspects of life, no matter what setbacks were thrown at him. Tragically, his life was cut short far too early in September 2020. Written in the months before his death, with the assistance of Donn McClean and completed by Pat's wife, Frances Crowley, Champion is the inspirational story of the jockey whose legacy lives on.
This is the true rags-to-riches story of Miss Andretti, the horse from nowhere, bred from nothing, who cost nothing, was originally trained by a nobody and yet conquered the racing world to become the greatest thoroughbred sprinter on earth. It is the story of David Mueller, a rough-around-the-edges country boy whose mediocre career belied his burgeoning talent. In Miss Andretti he finds his muse, and with the help of veteran trainer Lee Freedman and jockey Craig Newitt, the mare soars: five-time Group 1 champion, simultaneous holder of five track records, Australian Horse of the Year 2007 and more. But as his 'Princess' rises to superstardom, Mueller's marriage becomes strained and his daughter, chronically ill, faces death. Will he win all only to lose all? This lyrical, heart-wrenching saga will please both horseracing fanatics and newcomers alike and is sure to become a classic. It is not just a story - it is a legend.
In Legends of the Track: Australia's champion jockeys and trainers, best-selling author Alan Whiticker tells the stories of 25 modern-era horse racing greats.This book celebrates the careers of champions trainers such as Bart Cummings, Tommy Smith, Colin Hayes, Gai Waterhouse, Lee Freedman and Chris Waller, and features interviews with the best jockeys of the modern era - Ron Quinton, Darren Beadman, Shane Dye, Hugh Bowman, Damien Oliver, Glen Boss and James McDonald.With full career statistics for each chapter and dozens of rare photos, Legends of the Track details the greatest achievements in a wonderful sporting era of Australian horse racing.
Gai Waterhouse is an Australian horse-racing trailblazer, widely regarded as the most successful female trainers in the world. Gai's diary of the recent racing season encapsulates a year in the life of the most colourful woman in racing. The book features Gai's opinions on major news events of the moment and includes insights into her family life. It delves into Gai's influences and memories, her approach to racing and her motivation to succeed.
The remarkable story of a champion Aussie horseman In March 2016 Peter Moody, the man who took his ‘good mare’ Black Caviar to an unprecedented 25 straight victories, walked away from racing. Suspended for six months after he was found to have presented a horse on race day with an illegal level of cobalt in its system, the trainer made the drastic decision to close down his Caulfield stables altogether. How had it come to this? In Moods, respected journalist Helen Thomas traces Moody’s extraordinary career, and shines a spotlight on the cobalt scandal that engulfed him. Through interviews with family, colleagues and friends, and with Peter Moody himself, Thomas explores the horseman’s life and achievements: from his time with turf legend T.J. Smith to the day he first noticed the bay filly who grew up to become Black Caviar, and the inquiry that led him to quit the job he loves. Articulate yet reticent, tough yet sensitive, Moody is an intriguing character. For the first time, discover what drives the man who will always be remembered as Black Caviar’s trainer, and a true Aussie legend. Helen Thomas has worked as a journalist for more than thirty years in both radio and print. She is the manager of ABC NewsRadio as well as being a thoroughbred breeder and racehorse owner. She is the author of The Horse that Bart Built, Past the Post, A Horse Called Mighty and 42 Days at the Races.
This multivolume set is much more than a collection of essays on sports and sporting cultures from around the world: it also details how and why sports are played wherever they exist, and examines key charismatic athletes from around the world who have transcended their sports. Sports Around the World: History, Culture, and Practice provides a unique, global overview of sports and sports cultures. Unlike most works of this type, this book provides both essays that examine general topics, such as globalization and sport, international relations and sport, and tourism and sport, as well as essays on sports history, culture, and practice in world regions—for example, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, Europe, and Oceania—in order to provide a more global perspective. These essays are followed by entries on specific sports, world athletes, stadiums and arenas, famous games and matches, and major controversies. Spanning topics as varied as modern professional cycling to the fictional movie Rocky to the deadly ball game of the ancient Mayans, the first three volumes contain overview essays and entries for specific sports that have been and are currently practiced around the world. The fourth volume provides a compendium of information on the winners of major sporting competitions from around the world. Readers will gain invaluable insights into how sports have been enjoyed throughout all of human culture, and more fully comprehend their cultural contexts. The entries provide suggestions for further reading on each topic—helpful to general readers, students with school projects, university students and academics alike. Additionally, the four-volume Sports Around the World spotlights key charismatic athletes who have changed a sport or become more than just an outstanding player.
This book traces the tumultuous events in the year 1968 though the eyes of a twenty year-old who lived through it. This was the year when it became clear that the vietnam War would be lost by America and its allies. The assassinations of Martin Luther KIng and Robert Kennedy, the violent clashes of protestors in Paris and at the Democratic presidential convention in Chicago and the urban protests unleashed throughout the West, culminating in the violence and black power controversy at the Mexico Olympics was the defining year in the lives of the early baby boomer generation.
John Lazenby's interest in cricket began with a glimpse of his grandfather's old leather cricket bag stored among the rafters. His curiosity piqued, one day he decided to climb up and explore its contents. The faded blazer, heavy ball and linseed-scented bats exerted a subtle influence on him. This re-emerged decades later when he discovered a box of letters written by his grandfather, the England cricketer J. R. Mason, while on a boat to Australia for the 1897-8 Ashes tour. Inspired by these extraordinary letters, John Lazenby retraces the journey. His tour becomes a cricketing pilgrimage and a voyage of discovery as he passes through Australian cities and remote towns his grandfather visited more than a hundred years ago. During his travels he uncovers a wealth of memorabilia and anecdotes, and his wide-reaching narrative encompasses not only Mason and his team-mates, but also a wider insight into late Victorian mores.