Secretariat

Thoroughbred Legends #19

by Timothy T. Capps

This book honors the great racehorse who ran with such breathtaking speed, beauty, and power.

Genres: Horses, Horse Racing, Nonfiction

222 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2003

Reviews

[Jay French · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a way, these racehorse biographies are limited in what they cover and in many ways how it is covered. They tend to be chronological, starting with ancestry, followed by breeding, training, racing, breeding, and progeny following, and with owners covered along the way. This book was no exception. I found the first part of the book was a bit more confusing, following many, many horses related, closely and tangentially, to Secretariat. This was overkill for this short book. The author turned it around on the rest of the book. The racing stories were well written and held interest, and the story of Secretariat's non-optimal breeding career was well done. Overall, one of the better ones in the Thoroughbred Legends series. Note that I hadn't previously read a book on Secretariat, so the novelty helped in my opinion. Had I already read one of the many books on Secretariat, I may not have rated this one as high.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third of three book I wanted to read about Secretariat. It is written from a sportscaster’s view, but 40 years later. It is more a summary of the facts, data, and sports writing of the day, but not an actual account. Of the three Secretariat books I have read it is the second best, but is a quicker read.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be honest, there really wasn't a purpose in this book existing. There's enough Secretariat literature out there that a book like this one wasn't strictly necessary. And I wasn't all that impressed with it for myself.

However, I still think this book is actually pretty good. For one thing, most Secretariat books (Secretariat by Woolfe, Secretariat: The Making of a Champion, The Horse God Built) are monsters, very detailed and very big, either in the coffee-table sense or the doorstop sense. This is bad for people who A) are new to horse-racing and just want a general overview, and B) aren't horse-racing fans, but want to know what all this 'Secretariat fuss' is about. This book is good for that--it's a general overview of a subject that may not be particularly well-known by certain people. I would highly recommend it as a place to start reading about Secretariat.

Secondly, this is called the 'Thoroughbred Legends' series. He's definitely one of those, so the series wouldn't be complete if this book didn't exist. Of course, I still don't think it is complete, but not having Secretariat would be a flabbergasting omission.

So, while it's not the best nor the most in-depth of the Secretariat books, I still recommend it, particularly for people new to the subject.

[kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hm. Also disappointing. I guess the best book about a racehorse I read was Stephen Farley's Man O'War which really discussed the relationship of the groom and the horse. I wanted another book that would be similar to that, and so far everything is disappointing. Horses have personalities. They are smart, intelligent, and have mood swings just like People. Apparently Secretariat was easy to get along with. Even though I read this book and it glorified Secretariat, I still think Man O'War is the greatest racehorse ever because of the way that he dominated the field. People fail to realize that Man O'War was rarely let out all the way, while Secretariat's jockey went for record times. Also, Man O'War carried much more weight.

When I read books about the horse, I want more about the horse! This book kind of was a big disorganized as well. I'm still searching for that next good racehorse book.

[Jena Gardner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Snore. I saw a new movie on Secretariat was coming out and I was reflecting on how much I enjoyed the Sea Biscuit book. It was well written and traced the lives of the people, the horses. Anyway, this was more like several chapters of horse lineage followed by several chapters of play by play races. Not my cup of tea, I would like to try another book on the topic though.

[Ann K · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a great book! I <3 Secretariat.

[Jutta · Rating 4 out of 5]

good quik read about this great horse.

read 2007