Blood Horses: Notes of a Sportswriter's Son

by John Jeremiah Sullivan

From the award-wining author of Pulphead , John Jeremiah Sullivan's first book, Blood Horses, combines personal reflections about his father and an in-depth look at the history and culture of Thoroughbred racehorses.

Winner of a 2004 Whiting Writers' Award

"Sullivan has found the transcendent in the horse."-- Sports Illustrated

One evening late in his life, veteran sportswriter Mike Sullivan was asked by his son what he remembered best from his three decades in the press box. The answer came as a surprise. "I was at Secretariat's Derby, in '73. That was ... just beauty, you know?"

John Jeremiah Sullivan didn't know, not really-but he spent two years finding out, journeying from prehistoric caves to the Kentucky Derby in pursuit of what Edwin Muir called "our long-lost archaic companionship" with the horse. The result-winner of a National Magazine Award and named a Book of the Year by The Economist magazine-is an unprecedented look at Equus caballus, incorporating elements of memoir, reportage, and the picture gallery.

In the words of the New York Review of Books , Blood Horses "reads like Moby-Dick as edited by F. Scott Fitzgerald . . . Sullivan is an original and greatly gifted writer."

Genres: Nonfiction, Sports, Memoir, Essays, Biography, Horses, Horse Racing

272 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2004

About the author

John Jeremiah Sullivan is an American writer and editor. He is a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine, a contributing editor of Harper's Magazine, and southern editor of The Paris Review.

Sullivan's first book, Blood Horses: Notes of a Sportswriter's Son, was published in 2004. It is part personal reminiscence, part elegy for his father, and part investigation into the history and culture of the Thoroughbred racehorse. His second book, Pulphead: Essays (2011), is an anthology of fourteen updated magazine articles.

Reviews

[Bonnie Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book haunted by two ghosts: the author's father, and the great Secretariat, winner of the 1973 Triple Crown. The author tells us that the book grew out of the answer he got when, during his father's last illness, he asked him what he remembered best from his thirty years of sportswriting. His father said Secretariat's Derby - "that was ... just beauty." The answer surprised the author because horseracing had not been his father's favorite sport, or even seemed to have been important to him. Thus, this book.

Although the term "blood horse" can mean any purebred horse, today it is almost always used to mean a thoroughbred, a breed created for racing, the breed of the "sport of kings." In exploring that history the author travels through landscapes and history and memories of his father. The tale is as much about loss, and his father as it is about horses and the relationship humans have with them.

Some of this works for me, some of it doesn't. I was not particularly interested in his father, and some of the historical anecdotes are just puzzling to me - I have no idea why they are included since some have little or nothing to do with horses. Also a puzzle is who thought it a good idea to illustrate the book with mostly small, dark, often murky photos.

The author dips in and out of history, geology, archeology, myth and literature in exploring the history of the thoroughbred. I have to wonder how much poetic license he takes, though, when he writes of the Arabian horse (a progenitor of the thoroughbred):

The Arab horse is something of a scientific mystery. It emerges in the fossil record ... looking exactly as it does today and zoologists have had trouble linking it up with the rest of the family."

Now, the Arabian is a creature of such unearthly beauty that it would be fitting if that were so. But I have read a great deal about horses over the years, including their very well-documented evolution, and never came across such a statement. Nor is the author he cites for this statement included in the "sources" at the end of the book.

The book includes instances of the appalling history of human cruelty to horses, from cart to war horses, that is important but very hard to read. The author also conveys some of Secretariat's magic, and why to this day this horse, long gone now, captures minds and hearts.

D.H. Lawrence* wrote of the horse, "Far back, far back in our dark soul the horse prances...The horse, the horse!" There are parts of the book that deserve four or even five stars, and justify the weight of myth, magic, and history from cave art to the present that the term "blood horses" evokes. But if I were to reread it I would skip large sections and just read the parts about horses.

*NOT one of my favorite authors but I always thought that quote captured something of the horse's power in symbol and myth.

[Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

some parts were transcendently moving and others bored me to the point of numbness. kinda like life in that way i guess. overall cool read

[April WW · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned that I think John Jeremiah Sullivan is a great writer! He apparently writes or wrote for GQ, which I don't have much occasion to read, so I've never read anything else but if this book is any indication of his work, I'm a fan.

Stylistically, I did find the organization of it a bit odd at first until I realized it read like a giant magazine article. The book jumps around a bit abruptly and each little section starts under its own headline, which I found a bit jarring until I caught the rhythm and started to see the big picture. It all comes together beautifully.

I bought this book because the review/recommendation I read (in Powell's Daily Dose) made me think that my brother -- a horse race loving sportswriter's son -- would enjoy reading it. The book is about horses, thoroughbred horses specifically, and covers the history of man's fascination with and strange domination over horses in quite an encyclopedic fashion, with just enough historical details to keep it interesting. It's also a book about a man coming to terms with the loss of his father, and doing so by learning about something his father loved...a thing he discovered too late to share with him while he was alive. Between the horseracing, the sportscasting, and the father/son focus, I felt like this would be a great book for my brother. I found it unexpectedly at Half Price Books and bought it for him for Christmas, then realized that I was breaking my rule (again!) about never giving a book as a gift that I haven't read yet myself. So, I kept it to read first. I was not prepared to love it this much and will be buying a new one for JW. Birthday month is March so I've got a little time to order another copy. I guess I should be less literal sometimes because a sportswriter's daughter also certainly found much to love about this book. Guess that means I need a copy for the other AW too. :)

Even for people who have never thought twice about horses or horseracing, I would say this is a thought-provoking and possibly cathartic book. If you're an adult child who has lost a parent too soon (isn't it always too soon?), much of this book will resonate. That isn't what the book is about, but is certainly what inspired it. I found comfort in it. And also tears, I must admit.

Quotes that I loved (there were many, but these two stood out):

"We are no longer frightened of nature; what frightens us is the idea that we have triumphed over nature, and what that triumph will mean in the long run, when we understand, too late, that we were nature, that our triumph has been a suicide."

"I timed this emptiness -- the space between Secretariat exiting and Twice a Prince entering the image -- with my watch. It lasts seven seconds. And somehow each of these seconds says more about what made Secretariat great than any shot of him in motion could. In the history of profound absences -- the gaps in Sappho's fragments, Christ's tomb, the black panels of Rothko's chapel -- this is among the most beautiful."

(That last quote stood out the most because two very close friends of mine are getting married in the Rothko chapel this weekend! Yet another case of a book unexpectedly falling into my hands at the unexpectedly perfect time. Weird!)

[Mark Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know all this stuff about Secretariat and horses now, but no way to get them into a conversation naturally. Did you know the chronicling of the genealogy of horses predated the chronicling of human genealogy and was potentially the spur for what would become fascist eugenics ideas? Did you know Secretariat was such a powerful runner that his jockey never had to do anything? Did you know at the time of the 9/11 attacks the winner of the Kentucky Derby was owned by a Saudi prince who died under mysterious circumstances eight months later?

I wasn't sold on the format of the book to begin with; it is pulled together more like a collection of notes on horse racing, the history of horses relationship to humans and the author's relationship with his own father, rather than as a unifying narrative, but by the end I was totally in the zone for it. It never all quite fits together, but it is still a fun, engaging and in the end pretty emotional read.

[Carissa]

Seven years ago, John Jeremiah Sullivan published an essay in Harper's magazine called "Horseman, Pass By: Glory, Grief, and the Race for the Triple Crown." I like horses, and I like essays, so I read it. It turned out to be one of the loveliest essays I'd ever read. I photocopied it and forced friends to read it. A tiny footnote published with the essay said that John Jeremiah Sullivan was "writing a book about fathers and horses." A book-long version of the 18-page article I had adored! Although I never forgot about the essay over the seven years that have passed since, I forgot quickly about the future book about fathers and horses, until recently. I finally remembered the book, and bought it. Blood Horses is that book. It arrived in the mail today. Big surprise: I'm already loving it.

[Maya🐛 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely memoir about a boy’s memories of his father but I really don’t care enough about horse racing.

[Ellinor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yesss i just adore Sullivans laconic tone and thorough research. And he`s unafraid of romantic, slightly esoteric stuff aswell.

[Max Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part excavation of horse racing culture, part memoir about father-son dynamics. Chock-full of hooves and heart. I’d read anything this guy writes.

[John Asher · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I have read a good bit on Mr. Sullivan's work, I stumbled upon "Blood Horses" last week in a visit to Frankfort, Ky.'s Poor Richard's Book Store, one my favorite stops. It was a chore to find it - I spotted a book that been shoved behind a shelf of books on various horse racing subjects. That seem an omen that I should purchase the paperback, and was instantly absorbed by a work that is the best book on horses and humans that I have read. It's also a wonderful tale of fathers and sons, and the fact that I knew and admired Mr. Sullivan's father, the late Courier-Journal sportswriter Mike Sullivan, during my early years in Louisville clearly added to my fascination.

I have long held a firm belief of an intrinsic connection between humans and horses, and Mr. Sullivan explores that relationship to the earliest meeting between man and horse, and carries to the Kentucky Derby. "Blood Horses" is beautiful and inspires on many levels.

If you've read Mr. Sullivan's work, you know that the sportswriter's son can really ride. If you don't read "Blood Horses," get something written by John Jeremiah Sullivan in your hands. Your life will be better for it.

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A manic journey through horse history, with a special emphasis on thoroughbred culture, including some close ups of the 2002 and 2003 Triple Crown races. The author protagonist is funny, likable and has a passion for obscure literary works that shed light on his subjects (horses and Kentucky) in peculiar ways. The remembrance of his father was touching and felt real, without being schlocky. The main drawbacks were a tendency to dabble around the events of 9/11 and Iraq without really forming a strong point of view on them, and some of the bleakness surrounding the historical vignettes of horses at war seemed a bit over the top. The style, moving around from war history, to personal memoir to contemporary sports analysis was both a stylistic triumph and also at times could feel ad hoc. In the end, though, I was left feeling that this is the work of an extremely talented writer and one whose career will be a pleasure to watch unfold as he tackles other subjects.

[Parker F · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a 30-something expatriated Kentuckian, my shared background with the author strongly biased my reading of BLOOD HORSES. Nonetheless, I will recommend this book to anyone, especially people who like PULPHEAD. Despite being a memoir seemingly devoted to Sullivan's late father, the book lacks the solipsistic sentimentality that plagues most memoirs. Who would normally be interested in a son's memories of his Louisville-Redbirds-beat-reporter father? Yet, this book is fascinating. It takes a lot of inexplicable turns into such topics as Kaspar Hauser and the life and times of an old timey well digger that make it a pleasure to read.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are interested in horse racing (as I am) you will enjoy this book. It gives a great background on the horse throughout history, which is based on what seems to be exhaustive research. At times I found myself confused as to where the book was headed; sometimes it was about the history of the horse, other times about horse racing, and still at other times a chronicle of a man and his somewhat absent sportswriting father. It did however all come together in the end in a very satisfying book. I would recommend it even if you are not a racing enthusiast.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Words fail me. This book explores many themes - death, remembrance, and grief central among them, as Sullivan recalls his father - but it does so as it faithfully follows the horse through history, its stints as food, idol, instrument of war, and finally the precious blood horses, bred first by Bedouins and later by Englishman to be fast and beautiful and very little else. I have never read a book which describes Thoroughbreds with such a lyrical touch. I loved every page.

[Dylan Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

“What we experience today when we look at a river whose course is controlled by the Army Corps of Engineers, or an animal in the forest whose species would be extinct if the right dollar amount were simply mentioned to a legislator somewhere, or at a colt in harness, is not the sublime but a kind of vast, disembodied tristesse. We believed all along that the thing we were fighting to dominate was at bottom unconquerable. Jefferson thought it would take a thousand years to populate the frontier. We did not know our own strength.”

John Jeremiah Sullivan blew me away earlier this year with Pulphead, and Blood Horses (somehow, tragically) seems to be the only other full-length book he’s ever written, so I knew it was only a matter of time before I ended up here. And I’ve gotta say: God damn! This thing got me pretty excited about those horses!

It’s difficult to say what this book is about. I want to just say it’s about horses, but it’s also kind of about the author’s dad, it’s kind of about history, it’s kind of about horseracing and the Kentucky Derby… There are long digressions on 9/11, art history and Kentucky itself. (If I was trying a bit harder, I’d say this is about Sullivan’s long pilgrimage to understand horseracing after, on his deathbed, his sportswriter father cites the experience of watching Secretariat as his greatest memory). But really none of that matters, because my reading experience with JJS has always been the same. Something like: “Well okay, I don’t know how much I really care about Iroquois cave paintin–Oh my god this guy is just brilliant.”

Thoughts:

I’m touching on it above, but JJS can make anything compelling. Proof – when I tell you I got excited about horses, I’m talking about stuff like THIS:
- (“The entire genius of evolution had gone into crafting… this verb made flesh, this thing whose every atom wanted to run…”) Hell yeah.
- (“[Secretariat] is running easily. Nor is the form deteriorating. There remains the pendulumlike stride of the forelegs and the drive of the hindlegs, the pumping of the shoulders and the neck, the rise and dip of the head. He makes sense of all the mystical pageant rites of blood through which he evolved as a distillate, a climactic act.”) HELL yeah.

Also, apart from the great writing itself, I was again impressed here by JJS’ research skills. There are some brilliant little notes in here: the weird stealth-auctions between famous people at these horse auctions, the stories about how upon first contact indigenous Americans seemed to pretty-much universally worship not colonist Europeans but their HORSES, the fact that Secretariat (who ran in the 1970s) is still faster than any horse who’s come since (obviously NOT how other sports work).

Pulphead might’ve been the funniest thing I read this year, and JJM is still hilarious here. He really reminds me of DFW in the way that his stories involve these jarring, incredible oscillations between funny/sarcastic and sentimental/genuine/emotional. And the funny stuff in here is pretty funny:
- (“The New Testament, when you think about it, is an implicitly antihorse document.”)
- (“Who could not love a sport with its own battalion of wee men, their bright, gay silks, their young faces, their ambiguous quasi-midgetry. They are perfect little people.”)

And then you get the emotional gut punch, and I think jarring is the right word here, because that’s how it feels, in the best, most stunning way. The quote at the top of this review is probably the best, lump-in-my-throat example, but there are others:
- Describing the race horses lined up for auction: ("It is something to see these animals looking back at all that Arab royalty and Irish aristocracy, the Japanese billionaires and the old Southern money and the New Economy arrivistes searching for a hobby, and you… There is an innocence to these creatures… Their pride is undeniable, too: they seem to know that the whole affair, the hundreds of millions changing hands every year, the roaring crowds, the vainglory, the tears, are about them, and are nothing without their power. Yet their power is ambiguous, for they have already accepted the halter.”) Their power is ambiguous, for they have already accepted the halter. Unreal.
- (“Funny. I did not think that I wanted this horse to win all that badly… But when I finally drop the binoculars, my eyes are full of tears.”)

I should also talk about Mr. Sullivan, because if this thing is one-half love letter from JJS to racehorses, it’s other half is a warts-and-all love letter from JJS to his father. And there are strong emotional beats here too. The stuff about his dad constantly trying/failing to quit smoking is especially vivid (and brutal):
- (“The long walks, ‘to relax,’ from which he would come back chewing gum, or the thing he would be stuffing into his pocket as he left the store. Sooner of later he would tire of the effort involved in these shams and simply pull out a pack while we sat in the living room, all of us, and there would be a moment, which grew familiar over time, when we would be watching him sidelong, looks of disappointment barely contained in our faces, and he would be staring ahead at the television, a look of shame barely contained in his, and then, just as the tension neared the point of someone speaking, he would light the cigarette, and that would be it. We would go back to our books.”)

I think his dad would’ve really loved this. I know I did.

[Denise Spicer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very well written book by the son of sportswriter Mike Sullivan The author gives us part memoir, part history of horses. Interspersed amongst his recollections of his father, he comments, sometimes quite eloquently, on horses, horse racing, and history He includes sections on individual horses and races, (especially the Derby and Secretariat) but also an inside look at the horse breeding business. Lots of miscellaneous, interesting or even weird, facts about horses, (including a very sad section on horses in war). The book includes an Index and a list of Illustration Credits. These are oddly placed at the back of the book but this list would have been more useful as captions for each individual illustration (some are famous, Da Vinci, etc.) as they are situated randomly throughout the text. This writing does wax philosophical at some points as when on page 221 he interjects some comments about their childhood pets, mother and son “Lab-like” dogs. “Dogs were meant to be like Remnant and Ruggles, large idiotic creatures who ran around and did as they pleased until you screamed at them, who terrified strangers but would never hurt one, who gave and craved unconditional affection in out-sized doses, and who agreed to live with you until one of you died.”

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first job after college was to take bets at the Saratoga Race Track. It was...memorable. I didn't know much about horses, but seeing the hoi polloi gather each day to drink, gamble, and drink some more was quite an introduction to the real world.

Since then I've always been intrigued by the horse racing world. I loved Pulphead, JJS's book of essays, and thought this book about his father, and horse racing, would be a wonderful deep dive. Indeed, the parts about his father, who was a sportswriter that often covered horse races, were tremendous; full of humor and emotion. But the structure of the tale was strange. The deep dives into horse history were somewhat random and esoteric. There wasn't a lot of context and it was hard to tell what Sullivan was trying to convey.

Blood Horses came out in 2004, when Sullivan was, by writing standards, a youthful 30 years old. I think if he wrote this book now, as a more seasoned writer, it would be a different story. Of course, the middle of a race is far different from the start...

[Zola Zyndschnur · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wenn man die Tage zu sehr mit artsyfartsy Texten Schreiben verbracht hat, könnte man sagen der Auto mäandert schlaglichtartig durch die Kulturgeschichte des Pferdes, teilweise mit einem Fokus auf Vollblutpferde hence the title. Ein zusätzlicher, roter Faden ist die Saison einer Triple Crown Hoffnung und dann geht es irgendwo noch um seinen Vater, die Verbindung da habe ich nicht ganz gerafft: Er hat als Sportreporter auch über Pferderennen geschrieben, aber nothing deep was die tiefe Pferd-Auseinandersetzung begründet.
Also irgendwie so ein bisschen die Interessen und das Leben eines reichen (think "Trent war mein Golfpartner, als wir elf waren"), weißen, amerikanischen Mannes, so its exactly that: Akribisch recherchiert, gut geschrieben und belanglos.
(sehr schön bebildert aber bei gott macht doch die Bildunterschriften unter die Bilder und nicht in den Anhang)

[Meteorite_cufflink · Rating 4 out of 5]

A re-read for comfort. And to check if my yearning for the long-announced-often-delayed "The prime minister of paradise" is justified. Short answer: yes, it is. John Jeremiah Sullivan's essay collection "Pulphead" is one of my favourite books, and since I've read all stories multiple times it was time to read his debut for the second time.

I remember feeling "Blood Horses" was pretty good, but packed less punch than his essays, which often walk a high wire between nerdy research, creative and meandering writing and emotional heft. Turns out all these things are already firmly in place in this book, albeit with some slight peaks and valleys in the way it kept my attention. So, yes, recommended!

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Books like this make me so grateful for the Goodreads community. I feel completely validated in my feeling that this was two different books loosely (and not entirely successfully) stitched together. Where I'll differ from a lot of reviews is in the half I preferred -- I was immediately hooked by Sullivan's descriptions of and anecdotes about his father.

The horse racing and general equine history was also interesting, it's just that in the context of a personal memoir that I was starting to get into, it always sprung up as an unwelcome interruption. I appreciate Sullivan's ability to engage his audience on topics they may not have cared about before starting one of his essays. I will be dropping Triple Crown trivia into conversation for months to come, I'm sure.

[Marian Bello · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very entertaining !

Fast reading, bought book because I love reading about horses, especially Secretariat, &horse racing, and enjoyed everything else the author wrote about. His childhood, his father, sportswriter Mike Sullivan, growing up in Kentucky & then also bringing in the history of the horse from prehistoric times, brilliant! Also good recount of Secretariat's Triple Crown performance. Found myself laughing out loud and also crying at times! Read it in one day. Good job, Mr Sullivan!

[Marta · Rating 4 out of 5]

it took me a second to get into this book. from page one, the reader is sort of just thrown into this world of horse racing, expected to understand this foreign language which sullivan is describing. by the end of the book, i was fluent. sullivan’s father had a passion for horse racing, sullivan loved his father so thus he had a passion for horse racing, and because sullivan wrote this book and i read it, i too feel a passion for horse racing. not only was this book incredibly informational but it was also emotional and tender.

[Nick Rabkin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A complex, penetrating, creative, and personal meditation on his relationship with his father, Kentucky and the role of horses in history, culture, and our imaginations. The book has enormous centripetal force -- it is hard to imagine how it holds together, yet it somehow does, perhaps because it is so poetically written.

[Cristina - Athenae Noctua · Rating 3 out of 5]

«Nessuno aveva mai visto un cavallo correre in quel modo»: bastano queste parole del padre morente a spingere John Jeremiah Sullivan ad avventurarsi nella maggiore competizione ippica americana e negli anfratti della storia dei cavalli. Aneddoti e curiosità si alternano a lunghe digressioni, in un racconto che ha il valore di un documentario e, insieme, di un servizio giornalistico.
http://athenaenoctua2013.blogspot.com...

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written, especially the horse bits. I wish this had been either a book exclusively about horses or exclusively about his father, instead of both. Sullivan is a delightful stylist, with a particular brand of confidential levity that I enjoy, but the merging of the two very different subjects dimmed my enthusiasm for an otherwise perfect little book of nonfiction.

[Abhee Subramani]

A very strange and meandering book about horse racing and it's place in Kentucky. Touches many topics on the way such as eugenics, father-son relationships, horse symbolism in our culture, 9/11 and the history of cavalry. It absolutely gripped me for the duration of a flight, check it out!

[Kyle Jennings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this. Love Sullivan’s writing style, and I was pleasantly surprised by how interesting the content was. I really enjoy the way he switches between different stories & historical context, it all comes together so nicely.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Sullivan brilliantly uses the history of the relationship between humans and horses as a way to celebrate his father’s life. You’ll learn a thing or two about horses and maybe even call your estranged father.

[Stefanie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author of this book got to know his father later in life by ruminating over various memories from his career as a sportswriter. He covered some incredible horses and events in the racing world. This was a decent book.

[Gabrielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is magnificent.

[Abigail Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got me right in the feels.