I Got the Horse Right Here: Damon Runyon on Horse Racing

by Joseph James Reisler

Burned out by working the baseball beat for years, in the summer of 1922 Damon Runyon was looking for a new sport to cover for The New York American as a change of pace. Having pilloried golf just a few years before, he went to Saratoga that August to sample horse racing and found that "There, right in front of him, were so many of the characters he so loved from his time covering the comings and goings of the Manhattan night crowd." This was just the tonic Runyon needed to emerge from his malaise. Runyon didn't just cover the great races and which horse won: he would get to the track days before and roam along the backstretch, speaking with the trainers, the gamblers, the rich owners, and the wise guys, many of which became model characters in his fiction and in the musical Guys and Dolls. This book collects the best of Runyon's horse racing columns to 1936, when he moved on to other beats.

448 pages, Hardcover

Published April 15, 2020

Reviews

[Tom C · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got the book because of a great review in the WSJ and my daughter rides, owns and loves horses. For 25 years. And I love Saratoga. And I am involved with the Runyon foundation. I loved his writing and learned a lot about various people of the time who still are luminaries now. I loved the elegance that he describes. I learned with time which of the race tracks the author loved before he disclosed it on the last page.
The book took me much longer to read than usual because I found each year to be similar and somewhat predictable although always interesting. I am glad I read it.

[Daleo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it more than I thought I would. It seemed odd to read a book that featured races that were run 100 or so years ago, but I found myself enjoying it. Most of the text is original Damon Runyon copy from the era, so it has his recognizable style, though to a much lesser extent than his fiction does. Still, it came through.

I was surprised how much Baltimore has lost prestige since that time. The Preakness was run there (still is) and it sounds like Baltimore was a rather high-status place at the time. Now, you don't get that impression.

The book was also a slice of history, with most of it devoted to the horseracing culture of the 20s and 30s. That was interesting as well.

[Kirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very funny in places, especially about betting and a few close races, but those places are far apart. To enjoy most of the rest, you'd have to be in love with horse racing. Turns out, I'm just in like.

[Cheri Manning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is it time for Saratoga yet?