The Dick Francis Complete Treasury of Great Racing Stories

by Dick Francis (Editor), John Welcome (Editor)

From his extensive experience as a Steeplechase rider, he and John Welcome—a fellow best-selling writer—have gathered 28 of the most classic horse racing stories around. The authors range from Arthur Conan Doyle and Beryl Markham to John Taintor Foote and Francis himself. Damon Runyon’s “Pick the Winner” introduces us to the unforgettable, ironically named Hot Horse Herbie and his ever-loving fiancée, Miss Cutie Singleton. In her “Pullinstown,” Molly Keane brilliantly evokes racing among the Anglo-Irish gentry. Horse loving readers will definitely judge this a winner.
From his extensive experience as a Steeplechase rider, he and John Welcome—a fellow best-selling writer—have gathered 28 of the most classic horse racing stories around. The authors range from Arthur Conan Doyle and Beryl Markham to John Taintor Foote and Francis himself. Damon Runyon’s “Pick the Winner” introduces us to the unforgettable, ironically named Hot Horse Herbie and his ever-loving fiancée, Miss Cutie Singleton. In her “Pullinstown,” Molly Keane brilliantly evokes racing among the Anglo-Irish gentry. Horse loving readers will definitely judge this a winner.

Genres: Horses

464 pages, Hardcover

First published June 14, 1989

About the author

Dick Francis was a British jockey and crime novelist whose life and work were closely connected with the world of horse racing. Raised in Berkshire in a family involved with horses, he left school at fifteen with the ambition of becoming a jockey and began training horses as a teenager. During the Second World War, he served in the Royal Air Force as a pilot, flying fighters and bombers before returning to racing after the war. He became one of Britain's leading National Hunt jockeys, winning more than 350 races and becoming champion jockey in the 1953–54 season. From 1953 to 1957, he was jockey to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and his most famous race came in the 1956 Grand National, when her horse Devon Loch fell suddenly while apparently heading toward victory. After retiring from racing following another serious fall, Francis turned to journalism and writing. His autobiography, The Sport of Queens, led to sixteen years as racing correspondent for the Sunday Express, while his first thriller, Dead Cert, established the formula that would make him an international bestseller. He went on to write more than forty novels, most set against the backdrop of British horse racing but featuring protagonists from a wide range of professions. His stories combine detailed knowledge of racing with tightly constructed mysteries, dangerous investigations and protagonists forced to overcome serious physical and personal obstacles. Among his best-known recurring characters is Sid Halley, a former jockey turned private investigator who appears in Odds Against, Whip Hand, Come to Grief and Under Orders. Francis's wife, Mary, was an important collaborator throughout his writing career, conducting research, editing manuscripts and contributing to plot and character development. Their son Felix later became his father's collaborator and continued the Francis tradition after his father's death. A three-time winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel, Francis also received the Gold Dagger, the Cartier Diamond Dagger and the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award. His novels brought the specialized world of horse racing to an international readership and established him as one of the most influential writers of the racing thriller.

Reviews

[Rena Sherwood]

Dick Francis and John Welcome collaborated for two anthologies of horse racing stories. These are for adults, not children. This 1991 edition combines the two. Oh, joy. The first collection was much stronger than the second. Both of these are aimed for UK audiences. Most of the selections focus on the people in racing, and betting not the horses. There are really long introductions before either part commences.

Stories:

Part One

* "The Dream" by Richard Findley. Predictable downer about a steeplechase.
* "Silver Blaze" by Arthur Conan Doyle. I'm beginning to think that it's illegal for a horse story anthology to exclude this beloved Sherlock Holmes short story.
* "A Glass of Port with the Proctor" by John Welcome. Amusing and entertaining tale of revenge in steeplechasing.
* "Carrot for a Chestnut" by Dick Francis. This well-written downer seems to be the most anthologized story that Dick Francis wrote.
*"The Look of Eagles" by John Taintir Foote. Perhaps his best loved story, the basis for the Academy Award winning movie Bluegrass.
* "Prime Rogues" by Molly Keane. What at first seems to be an Upper Class Twits at the Races story takes a sudden twist.
* "The Coop" by Edgar Wallace. This often hard-to-follow thingamajig is about betting, not about horses. For some inexplicable reason, this can be found in horse anthologies for children.
* "The Splendid Outcast" by Beryl Markham. A rare gem in this anthology -- a story about a horse. The setting is an auction ring, not the track or the stables.
* "I'm a Fool" by Sherwood Anderson. This is a love story set in the old American harness race scene at county fairs.
* "Had a Horse" by John Galsworthy. Heartbreakingly lovely story if a little bookie that is given a racehorse to pay off a debt. It has a very Irish flavor to it, although there aren't any Irish characters in it.
* "The Major" by Colin Davy. Yeah, it's a fixed race story, but it's funny.
* "What's It Get You?" By J.P Marquand. Beautiful but sad little gem.
* "Harmony" by William Fain. About an English jockey near the end of his career in France. Worthwhile reading.
* "The Bagman's Pony" by E. De Somerville & Martin Ross. Nice way to end Part One, about a highly unusual trotting race in Colonial India.

Part Two

* "Spring Fever" by Dick Francis. All is false in love and racing.
* "My First Winner" by John Welcome. Entertaining reminiscence of Welcome's first winner over hurdles in the 1930s.
* "The Man Who Shot the 'Favourite'" by Edgar Wallace. If you took a shot every time you saw an apostrophe, you'd be blind drunk by the third page. Horrible story.
* "Pick the Winner" by Damon Runyon. People story. Betting story. Crap story.
* "A Night at the Old Bergen County Race-Track" by Gordon Grand. The big favorite for a race in old New Jersey has been messed up the night before the race.
* "Blister" by John Taintor Foote. It's cute, and a bit more horsey than most if the stories so far.
* "The Dead Cert" by J. C. Squire. Another betting story, and one that might have actually happened.
* "The Inside View" by C. C. L. Browne. A slice of life story from betting shop to the exhaustion of a winning horse. Very good story.
* "The Tale of the Gypsy Horse" by Donn Byrne. Predictable story of an old Gypsy woman wanting to win the English Derby that goes on forever.
* "Pullinstown" by Molly Keane. This story happens before "Prime Rogues" in Part One. Nice placement, editors. No warning, either. A nothing story about Upper Class Twits at a local race meet.
* "Occassional Liscenses" by E. De Somerville & Martin Ross. No idea what was going on here, besides absolute bollocks.
* "The Good Thing" by Colin Davy.
* "The Losers" by Maurice Gee. That's what we all are, reading this book.
* "The Oracle" by A. B. (Banjo) Paterson.

[Michael Morrison]

Dick Francis is the author of some of the greatest stories available to the reading public -- especially stories about or relevant to horse racing.
Alas, as a picker of other people's stories, he is not quite the master.
This collection does indeed have some excellent stories, but, oy, some are just irritating and/or depressing.
In other words, probably every reader will like some and dislike others, so I guess my recommendation is, borrow it, don't buy it -- at least until you decide if you like more than you dislike.
Certainly there are plenty of stories to choose from. It's a fairly large collection, and Sturgeon's Law does NOT apply.