Jenny Pitman: The Autobiography

by Jenny Pitman

This autobiography of Jenny Pitman describes how she became successful in the male-dominated profession of horse racing. Pitman was one of the first women to be granted a professional license to train horses, and in 1983 she became the first female trainer to win the Grand National.

Genres: Memoir, Autobiography, Biography, Horses, Racing

414 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1998

Reviews

[Fiona]

I have followed horse racing for well over 40 years & I read any books I can on the subject.
This is a very honest, human account of the author's life & the problems she encounters on the way. It is warm & in places very moving. The book shows Jenny Pitman's love & understanding of horses; highly recommended.

[Darla Ebert]

I should have "gone with my gut" on this one. Since I am not a "horsey person", the summary on the back should have tipped me off that I would not enjoy Ms. Pitman's autobiography. But since I cannot resist any book with biography, autobiography or memoirs on the cover, I took a gamble. And was disappointed. Ms. Pitman's family recollections were compelling enough but the horse talk was extensive. This is not a "diss" of the book, it just was not to my personal taste.
If all of the author's memories of homelife could be collected into a book, THAT I would read with gusto.

[Tricia]

I didn't know anything about Jenny Pitman before leafing through a novel at the library and noticing that the author was a 'horsewoman from Leicestershire', my new home county. The book involved horses, so I figured this author was following the sage advice 'write what you know'.

I enjoyed the book (Double Deal) despite it being a sequel to a book I never read. I read the first book, and when I searched for more by Jenny Pitman, I reserved her autobiography.

It is even better than the novels, because it really happened. Pitman has an amazing way of telling it straight. She writes very honestly and her accounts of her trials and triumphs are so vivid that you feel like you were practically there while the events were happening. Her life has been an amazing one, yet she comes across as real and without a tremendous ego or sense of entitlement. In fact, she seems to be sitting down to tell her life story with a sense of amazement, as if she is trying to figure out why her, why this all happened.

There was a bit of horse jargon that I didn't know, and I would have hoped to understand racing a bit better, but it didn't stop the story from coming clearly through, and it was interesting to be plunged into a world so far removed from my own, even though the places she mentions are ones near my home.

Her love of horses shines through the book, and makes you want to get out there and currycomb them right alongside her. What a fascinating woman!

[Nick]

Jenny trained some of favourite horses, Burrough Hill Lad, Royal Athlete, Willsford, Corbiere and Garrison Savannah so I was always interested in her views of them all. Really enjoyed its honesty and warmth.

[Sydne]

I am not really interested in racing horses, yet my love for horses in general brought me to this book.
Jenny Pitman's life story is indeed an interesting one and her successful struggle in a male dominated world makes for a good and uplifting read.

[John Andrews]

Very good on all counts.
Honest & direct-brilliant read

[Rosell Dador]

its very nice story