Round Table: Thoroughbred Legends

Thoroughbred Legends #16

by John McEvoy, McEvoy John

Author John McEvoy chronicles Round Table from his birth at legendary Claiborne Farm to his transcontinental treks to his distinguished stud career.

Genres: Horse Racing, Horses, Nonfiction

144 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2002

About the author

John McEvoy, former editor and senior correspondent for Daily Racing Form, is the author of five non-fiction books on thorougbred horse racing, including the award-winning Great Horse Racing Mysteries. Photo Finish is his fifth mystery novel and fourth featuring the adventurous Jack Doyle. One of McEvoy's earlier novels, Riders Down, won a Ben Franklin Award. He and his wife Judy live in Evanston, Illinois.

Reviews

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I already loved Round Table, but this book introduced details I hadn't been aware of before, such as the records and near-records and equaled records, usually left out of accounts of his races. It was a bit on the short side, and the author has some overused idiosyncrasies that are a tad annoying ("not" 'everything' "needs" to 'be' in "quotes", and words like 'thus' and 'therefore' are usually put at the beginning of a sentence, not after the first word), but overall, I would definitely recommend this book. Round Table was a great horse, and it was definitely fun to read about him.

[Jay French · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a kind of book formula for these race horse biographies in the Thoroughbred Legends series. This book breaks the formula in a couple of ways, leading to a more interesting book. The formula is to cover in some level of detail the subject racehorse’s ancestry, breeders, owners, trainers, jockeys, race history, and progeny. Most of the books in this series follow this list more or less to the letter. And most spend a lot of time discussing progeny, setting where the horse impacted racing’s future generations. This one was quite different in only spending a page or two on progeny. And it wasn’t like there isn’t a story there – Round Table seemed as prolific as the best horses in the series, with many offspring stakes winners to brag about. In “Round Table”, the story told is more in the racing. Another difference here is that the author included a personal anecdote at the beginning of the book and followed up on it at the end. The anecdote concerned a bookie he knew during the time Round Table raced, and how the bookie disliked the horse, but grew to become a fan when he related the horse’s workman-like personality to his own father’s. Nice story, and unexpected. Also unexpected was the use of many interviews of people that had something to do with Round Table, even sometimes without much of a connection. But they tended to be interesting comments. As a Chicago resident I found this very interesting, as many of the key races took place in Arlington and Washington Parks, which is kind of unique in this series, outside of John Henry’s story. All told, I believe this is the best of the series so far, as I’m about 3/4 of the way through.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once upon a time, people raised horses to race, raced them and took care of them properly. This generated some great stories, including the American thoroughbred crop of 1954 which has been considered one of (if not the) best crop of future champions ever. On the same day in the same barn was foaled two of these champions -- Bold Ruler and Round Table.

Round Table was sold to pay off staggering debts at Claiborne Farm. He was not as tall or as flashy as his fellow champs of the 1954 crop but he wound up outlasting them on the track. He was an intelligent horse who seemed to figure out what his job was.

And racing really should be ever thus.



There are a lot of nightmare stories in horse racing but this one has a happy ending. It's a much-too-short biography of Round Table by a fan. There are a bunch of nice black and white pictures and a quick pace. I would have liked it to talk longer about Round Table's quirks (he apparently was a weaver) or his time as a breeding stallion but the book centers on Round Table's racing career. What's a weaver? Horse wastes energy and does this out of boredom:



He's compared to John Henry sometimes in that both of those horses got better as they got older. However, John Henry was a cantankerous gelding while Round Table was a mellow stallion. Seems odd -- usually it's the other way around.

So if anyone is giving the Seabiscuit treatment to a famous race horse of the past -- or even present -- please include some things that horse lovers want to know (or at least this horse lover anyway):

* What's his favorite treat?
* Does he pile his shavings all in the corners or in the center of his stall?
* Did he have a preference for mares of a certain color?
* Did he have a stall buddy?
* Did he ever bite the vet? Or another horse during a race like this fella? And if he did have problems biting, was he ever cured and how?

[Dan Cunningham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Round Table is one of my very favorite racehorses. I often cite him in comparison with the modern super stars who race six or seven times and then retire to the breeding shed to make millions short term for their investor owners.

Round Table was an iron horse, the kind of horse the breeders should aim to produce today...and that trainers should not have to coddle. Author did a nice job recounting the achievements of a champion.

[Robin Lavalle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the book but there was no mention of my grandfather who helped train that horse?... I actually have the original pics u used in the book. My grandfather was Jack Williams...